Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za
15 January 2025 | 12:15 CAT
3-minute read

As of the end of 2025, approximately 30,5 million refugees were recorded by the UNHCR, with about 18% in the Asia and the Pacific region.

Conflict, climate disasters, rising costs, and reduced aid continued to force families from their homes, making access to shelter, education, healthcare, and protection increasingly difficult.

Refugee-enforced displacement in the region is one of the most protracted and under-resourced in the world, with approximately 43,7 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

During this week’s Asia Pacific Report, Co-secretary General of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN) Hafsar Tameesuddin discussed the challenges and opportunities that refugees are likely to face in 2026.

“2026 is a turning point for refugees in Asia and Pacific because the pressure of food aid cards and all sorts of challenges are intensifying, but there are also some opportunities on the radar for a change,” Tameesuddin, who works directly with refugee and stateless communities, said.

Many refugees in the Asia Pacific region have been stuck in limbo for decades without durable solution, legal protection or meaningful inclusion because of inadequate refugee policies and the fact that some countries in the area are not signatories of the 1951 Geneva Convention.

Tameesuddin highlighted the large number of Afghan and Myanmarese refugees within in the Asia Pacific region. As of mid-2025, there were over 3 million Afghan refugees and 3,5 million Myanmar nationals forcibly displaced (including refugees, asylum-seekers, and internally displaced people) in the area, following the respective crises that escalated in 2021.

“The political dynamic in both countries is very complicated,” Tameesuddin explained. “And therefore, the voluntary repatriation of this massive number of refugees from Afghanistan and Myanmar, including Rohingyas, is not yet at the moment viable to return.”

Natural climate disasters and conflict only serve to make it even more difficult for displaced families. Often times, refugees live in areas that are prone to natural disasters such as floods, cyclones, landslides, which deepens the challenges they face.

“Climate vulnerability actually deepen the risks for the refugees, such as protection risks, gender-based violence, and tension with host community because there is already social tension between local communities versus refugees, particularly in the developing countries where the local communities also are struggling with their poverty and employment, et cetera,” Tameesuddin said.

Rights groups advocate for government support that will strengthen local economies to benefit both refugees and members of host communities. Tameesuddin highlighted the importance of providing employment opportunities for refugees instead of cultivating dependence on free aid and beneficiaries.

“Refugees are educators… Refugees are also entrepreneurs. Refugees are also human rights defenders, and they are also community leaders. They come with the skills and the ability to lead the causes for their own communities, and we just need to give them opportunities to do so. And refugee-led organisation, we need to think about it instead of top-down approach,” Tameesuddin said.

She argued that investing in refugee-led organisations is more effective than top-down approaches, particularly amid global funding cuts in 2025. Such organisations, she said, are often more trusted, cost-effective, and better informed by conditions on the ground. Even in countries that have not signed international refugee conventions, she said governments can pursue socioeconomic inclusion policies, including access to work.

Evidence from regions such as Asia and the Pacific shows that refugees contribute economically when allowed to work, through skills recognition, digital and remote employment, social enterprises, and filling labour shortages. Tameesuddin added that proven models exist that can uplift both refugee and host communities simultaneously, countering the idea that support for refugees comes at the expense of locals.

Listen to the Asia-Pacific Report on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat.