ReliefWeb

On the heels of news that the Trump Administration is considering resettling zero refugees next year, a new IRC report shows that America’s retreat from global leadership in refugee protection comes at a time of acute global crisis. The IRC analyzed the latest annual reports from the UN Refugee Agency, Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2018 and Projected 2020 Global Resettlement Needs.

The facts are clear: in the midst of the largest refugee crisis in history when more people have been forced to flee their homes than ever before, the U.S. is stepping away from leadership in refugee protection. And, as the U.S. leads this global race to the bottom, pathways to safety are woefully insufficient for millions of refugees.

Read our report for these takeaways and more:

• The U.S. has turned its back on the most vulnerable refugees worldwide and is no longer the world’s leader in refugee resettlement. Sixty percent of refugees identified as in need of resettlement came from the top five refugee-producing countries in 2018. Yet, that year, refugees from these countries accounted for just 21 percent of U.S. resettlement.

• In the absence of U.S. leadership, resettlement commitments are falling through. While 37 countries made commitments to resettle refugees in 2016, just two years later only 25 countries are resettling refugees.

• From 2016 to 2018, the top three refugee resettlement countries took a drastic step back: refugee admissions dropped by 76 percent to the U.S., 40 percent to Canada, and 54 percent to Australia.

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