Today, on World Refugee Day - and every day - UN Women stands in unwavering solidarity with the more than 123 million people forcibly displaced around the world, including over 42 million refugees, half of whom are women and girls. As growing numbers of people are uprooted by war, disaster, and crisis, we call for urgent, united action, grounded in the principles of human rights and international humanitarian law. This calls for more than just aiding refugees-it's about confronting the crises that drive displacement.
With funding falling and needs rising, the cost of inaction is clear. Displaced women and girls are the first to lose protection, opportunities, and a say in their future. Countries that host refugees, often with limited resources, carry an outsized burden. Local women-led organizations, who are often closest to affected communities and best positioned to provide life-saving support, are too- often under resourced and excluded from decision-making.
As a member of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, UN Women works alongside partners to ensure that humanitarian action responds to the distinct needs and priorities of women and girls.
- As their partners, we call for decisive action to:
Tackle the root causes of displacement. Displacement is preventable. Invest in conflict prevention and resolution, disaster risk reduction and community resilience.
- Support and resource local, women-led organizations, including refugee-led groups, as essential partners-not afterthoughts.
- Promote refugee women's participation and leadership in co-creation of solutions, policymaking and programme design, peace processes, and recovery planning.
- Invest in protection, economic empowerment, and education that ensure refugee women and girls, including older women and girls vulnerable to early marriage, can build their own livelihoods and not only survive-but thrive.
Across host countries - from Bangladesh to Turkiye to Colombia to Uganda, refugee women and girls demonstrate courage, resilience, and leadership every day. They must have resources and space to exercise their rights and shape their futures.
UN Women remains firmly committed to advancing gender equality in humanitarian action and ensuring that refugee women and girls are not left behind.
