Finland's Pekka Haavisto: No 'magic stick' to fix UN refugee funding gap

Pekka Haavisto, a Finnish lawmaker who has served as his country’s minister of the environment, minister of foreign affairs, and minister of international development, is in the race to become the next United Nations high commissioner for refugees, joining a slate of about a dozen candidates keen on leading the financially strapped agency. Haavisto, speaking to Devex by Zoom from a small cubicle in the Finnish Parliament, acknowledged that restoring hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. and European funds this year may not be in the cards. The U.N.’s premier refugee agency has been hit hard by U.S. foreign aid cuts, forcing it to lay off some 5,000 workers this year. But it has also faced a drop off in funding from traditional European donors, who have soured on its previously more receptive attitude towards refugees in recent years. The current high commissioner, Filippo Grandi, said the UN Refugee Agency faces a $300 million hole in funding for 2025, a year in which the overall budget has already shrunk by $1.3 billion since 2024. “I don’t have the magic stick, of course, to replace all the funds that are not coming from the member states,” he told Devex. “I think we need a proper discussion of the … member states duties to the refugees” under the 1951 Refugee Convention. The U.S. is not a signatory to the convention, but it is a party to its 1967 protocol, which binds the U.S. to the key provisions of the convention. The first priority of any new leader, he said, would be to place UNHCR on a “solid financial ground.” “The task of the leadership of the UNHCR is to look at all possible sources of funding,” he said, voicing hope that traditional donors can be persuaded to “do more” and that nontraditional donors — including wealthy Gulf states — can step up contributions. Haavisto also cited the need to solicit more financial support from regional development banks and the private sector, which he said could benefit from a broader integration of refugees into the workforce. “The private sector is not only a source of funding, but also a good source of all kinds of cooperation.” He said refugees provide “market opportunities” for businesses. “I think the private sector has a wide, wide interest on that.” Haavisto, who has spent some six years working for the U.N. Environment Programme, is making the case that his experience as both a donor and a recipient of aid makes him most suitable to navigate the U.N.’s financial straits. “I have been on the donor side and I have been on the U.N. side,” he said. “I know how the donors behave. … From the donor perspective, I can imagine what kind of argumentation and what kind of issues are those that are attractive for the donor community.” “In Europe, we have the phenomenon that more funds are now used for defense and less funding for development and refugees, and specialized U.N. agencies,” he said. At the same time, he suggested that public discussion about refugees is often fueled by misinformation. “Our current refugee debate, for example, in many European countries, including my own country, Finland, is sometimes based on assumptions and not so much on the facts,” he said. Haavisto said he would highlight the “security threats” posed to states by “uncontrolled refugee flows” and the potential radicalization of displaced people. “Too little discussed is what kind of security threats” are posed by neglecting the security implications of withdrawing support for refugee funding. “These are issues that are also quite scary for the decision makers.” He said much of the world, and the global media, has been focused primarily on the fate of refugees and displaced people in conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. But he said he would try to draw their attention to “forgotten conflicts” that have fallen below the radar, including in Afghanistan, Sudan, and Bangladesh, which hosts Rohingya refugees. Haavisto suggested he would address the U.S. cautiously, vowing to speak about it publicly in the face of any blatant violations of the 1951 Refugee Convention. But he said it's important to recognize that the U.S. — despite its dramatic funding cuts — remains the largest financial contributor to UNHCR. “I think we have to continue the dialogue, of course, with the U.S. properly on the basis of their funding, and hopefully the situation will improve at some moment,” he said. “Despite the shrinking funding … the U.S. is still the biggest donor for the UNHCR.” “For Finland, it’s very natural to cooperate with the U.S. in all circumstances,” he said. “I was the foreign minister that negotiated our NATO membership.”