As UNHCR’s second largest donor and the largest refugee-hosting country in the European Union, Germany is a key partner to UNHCR in the protection of refugees, stateless persons, returnees and internally displaced people.
Germany’s support for refugees is unwavering and multifaceted. Germany is not only UNHCR’s second-largest donor, but also has become the third largest refugee-hosting country in the world, with 2.2 million refugees, and an important resettlement country. Since the outbreak of the war on the Ukraine, over 900.000 refugees from Ukraine have received temporary protection in Germany.
Moreover, Germany’s provision of flexible funding through the Federal Foreign Office (FFO) allows UNHCR to protect and assist displaced people in some of the largest emergency situations around the world, including Syria, the Ukraine and Afghanistan, and also in crises that receive less international media attention, such as the East and Horn of Africa, Southern or West and Central Africa, the Myanmar situation or the Venezuela situation. Over 80% of Germany’s funding for UNHCR in 2021 and 2022 were softly earmarked, making it UNHCR’s most flexible donor. We are particularly grateful that German funding for acute new emergencies, such as the Ukraine crisis, has been provided on top of previously announced funding levels.
Vital protection activities such as the identification and registration of refugees, documentation support, legal aid and counselling are just a few of key interventions made possible through Germany's assistance.
For decades, Germany has been a pioneer in higher education for refugees. UNHCR’s Refugee Higher Education Scholarship Programme was launched in 1992 by UNHCR and the German government as the “Deutsche Akademische Flüchtlingsinitiative Albert Einstein”, short DAFI scholarship program. As UNHCR’s flagship tertiary education scholarship programme, it is the cornerstone of the UNHCR 15by30 Roadmap, which aims at raising levels of refugee participation in higher education to 15% by 2030. The programme which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022, has supported over 22,500 young refugee women and men in 55 countries to obtain an accredited higher education qualification in their first country of asylum.
Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has become a key strategic partner for UNHCR, supporting the goals of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) and setting a powerful example to the world on the need for increased responsibility-sharing.