In his first statement after being appointed as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Barham Salih has said the world faces “a very difficult moment in history”.

Calling for the world to find “common humanity” amid dramatic change, Mr Barham said repression of immigrants is growing, and the funding to protect them is plummeting.

He said the world was facing a growing humanitarian crisis, made worse by the Trump Administration’s dismantling of US foreign aid.

In 2024 and 2025, funding from the U.S. dropped from $2.1 billion to $800 million.

“We are in a fight, undeniably so, but I think also I’m hopeful and confident that there is enough humanity out there to really enable us to do that,” said Mr Salih, a former president of Iraq.

He also spoke of the need to protect and preserve the 1951 Refugee Convention as the Trump administration attempts to upend existing asylum conventions and rules.

Mr Salih, who took up his role as chief of the UN’s refugee agency on January 1, described the fight to preserve refugee rights as an international legal responsibility and a moral responsibility.

UNHCR data shows there are currently 117.3 million forcibly displaced people around the world from 194 countries.

“Resources made available to helping refugees are being constrained and limited in very, very significant way,” Mr Salih said.

“We have to accept the need for adapting with a new environment in the world,” Mr Salih said.

He said UNHCR was seeking to be more cost-effective.

“We need to really deliver assistance to the people who need it, rather than be part of a system that sustains dependency on humanitarian assistance,” he said.

Mr Salih has already met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. He said he was grateful for the support of the pontiff — the first pope from the United States.

“The voice of the church and faith-based organisations in this endeavour is absolutely vital,” he said.

“His moral support, his voice of the need for supporting refugees and what we do as UNHCR at this moment is very, very important.”

Salih’s experience as a refugee has shaped his work.

He first fled Iraq to Iran as a teenager in 1974. Then, after being arrested and tortured under the Saddam Hussein regime, he fled Iraq again to the United Kingdom in 1979. He returned to Iraq and served as president from 2018-2022.

Since taking on his new role, Mr Salih has visited refugees from Sudan’s ongoing civil war living in Chad, and refugees from Somalia, Congo and Ethiopia living in Kenya.

Despite challenges around funding and rising authoritarianism, Mr Salih said he remained hopeful and called his appointment as “a great honour”.

“Refugees are not just numbers and victims. With protection and opportunity, things can be very, very different for a lot of people. With support, refugees can be contributors,” Mr Salih said.