EU Talent Partnerships: From Humanitarian Dependence to Refugee Self-Reliance?

Description

In February 2026, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih set an ambitious objective: to reduce by 50% the number of refugees living in protracted displacement and reliant on humanitarian assistance by 2035. This target reflects a broader shift in refugee policy: from managing protracted displacement to creating practical routes towards self-reliance.

By mid-2025, over 122 million people had been forcibly displaced due to conflict, persecution, violence, and human rights violations, including more than 43 million refugees. Humanitarian assistance remains indispensable, particularly in emergencies. Yet many refugees continue to live for years, and often decades, in protracted displacement: situations of long-term exile with limited access to work, education and predictable legal status.

In response, international refugee policy has gradually shifted towards promoting refugee self-reliance. UNHCR defines self-reliance as the social and economic ability of individuals, households, or communities to meet essential needs sustainably and with dignity while reducing dependence on humanitarian assistance. This approach is also embedded in the Global Compact on Refugees, whose objectives include easing pressure on host countries, enhancing refugee self-reliance, expanding third-country solutions such as refugee resettlement and supporting conditions for safe and dignified return. In the UN High Commissioner’s words, achieving this agenda requires a shift “from managing displacement indefinitely to resolving it collectively”, including through stronger access to rights, work, national systems – such as education, health, and social services – and complementary pathways.