OVERVIEW I FOREWORD BY HIGH COMMISSIONER FILIPPO GRANDI OVERVIEW I FOREWORD BY HIGH COMMISSIONER FILIPPO GRANDI Republics of Iran and Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon, Sudan, Türkiye and Uganda were among the leaders in welcoming refugees. It takes a wide network of support to safeguard the life and prospects of a person who is forced to flee. In the past half-decade, there has been a restated consensus that responsibilities and burdens must be shared, expressed through the Global Compact and at the Global Refugee Forum, and I hope that the inspiring responses to many tragedies, including the war in Ukraine, will help to spread awareness and give further impetus to the global momentum for action. Amid new crises and growing needs, we are determined to deliver © UNHCR/Santiago Escobar-Jaramillo High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi meets Mileydis López and Emanuel Ruiz, asylum seekers in Colombia, who performed during ceremonies marking World Refugee Day in Barranquilla. They began singing together after meeting at a UNHCR-administered transit centre. Despite the widely-shared view that we are living in a time of increasing division and discord, more and more people are asking themselves the same question: “What can I do to help?” The conflict in Ukraine has awoken millions to their own ability to make a difference, proving that there are great reserves of generosity in our modern society. Ukraine is not the first tragedy to have jolted the conscience of the world: it follows the crisis in Afghanistan in 2021 and 4 UNHCR GLOBAL REPORT 2021 many other displacement situations that have arisen in past decades. Each is a reminder that people who are forcibly displaced or stateless, from anywhere in the world, are ordinary people. They did not want, expect or ask to be displaced or stateless. They are not a type of person. What they have in common – what could happen to any of us – is their misfortune to find themselves in this vulnerable situation and their need for the generosity of others to survive, recover and resume a normal, stable life, hopefully back at home. UNHCR is determined to bring this about, not just for Ukrainians but for all people of concern. But we cannot do so alone. This is why we are so grateful to all the States and communities that host forcibly displaced people, as well as to our donors. In 2021, States such as Bangladesh, Colombia, Germany, the Islamic Our supporters know that each well-publicized crisis they see on their screens is merely the tip of an iceberg of global need. Most crises flare up unnoticed, and they can burn for decades without drawing global attention. In 2021, UNHCR responded to 40 new emergencies, in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Myanmar and elsewhere. The numbers of people of concern to UNHCR continued their relentless rise. Climate change triggered extreme weather events and exacerbated shortages, adding to the risk of displacement events occurring, and to the risks encountered by those who were displaced. There was also far too little progress on eliminating statelessness, an avoidable predicament that probably afflicts many millions. The available statistics fail to tell the true story, highlighting stateless populations in States such as Côte d’Ivoire – which deserves praise for being the first, and so far only, country in Africa to introduce a procedure for determining statelessness. We responded quickly and effectively, with emergency deployments to fortify the protection of people who had been forced to flee, registering them, and providing cash, basic goods, shelter, food and nutrition to meet the most immediate UNHCR GLOBAL REPORT 2021 5