CARFMS’s Statement on the Current State of World Affairs in Support of Refugee Rights

Since 2025, our world has become a much more complicated place with complex relationships and issues. As the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies (CARFMS), one of our mandates is to work with scholars, policymakers, and others to advocate for refugees and the advancement of refugee rights. Central to the Association’s vision is the advancement and the protection of the rights of all refugees and forced migrants.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) noted that the number of armed conflicts continues to rise with over 130 in 2024-2025 and it is expected to be similar in 2026 (ICRC, 2026; SIPRI, 2025). The persecution, violence, armed conflicts, and wars in many parts of our world have contributed to the mass exodus of people from their homelands to seek asylum for safety and protection in neighbouring and third countries. The UNHCR Global Appeal 2026 estimates that 136 million people will be forcibly displaced or stateless by the end of 2026. The Russia-Ukraine War which began in 2014 and escalated into a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022 continues to accelerate. As of 2026, there are over 10 million displaced Ukrainians (UNHCR, 2025). The civil war and inter-communal conflicts in Sudan since 2023 have displaced 13.4 million refugees, asylum-seekers, and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The protracted humanitarian crisis in Myanmar with the mass flight of Rohingyas in 2017 and military coup in 2021 have exacerbated this protracted conflict, and more than 3.5 million have been internally displaced with 1.5 million as refugees or asylum seekers (UNHCR, 2025). The conflict in the Gaza Strip in the State of Palestine escalated in 2023 when Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, leading to the Israel military offensive that continues to create a devastating humanitarian crisis with 72,135 Palestinians killed and 1.9 to 2 million displaced people (UNHCR, 2025, UNRWA, 2026). The UNHCR (2026) states that there are 3.2 million displaced people in Iran since the beginning of the US/Israel-Iran War in February 2026. Israel’s attack on Lebanon has displaced more than 1 million people (BBC, 2026). Not only is this war causing mass civilian casualties and displacement of people, but it is also hitting the global economy with surging oil and gas prices, airline tickets, and fallen stock markets.

All of this is occurring at a time when the rest of the world is becoming more nationalist, more exclusionary, and significantly more restrictive on migration. Anti-immigrant sentiments have risen across Europe. Tighter border controls and restrictions on asylum seekers are much more common. The United States’ traditional role as a leader in human rights, and a safe place for refugees has been systematically dismantled under the current administration, suspending the US refugee resettlement program, introducing travel bans, and setting historically low refugee admission caps. Deportations have increased dramatically with some 60,000 asylum seekers being detained in deplorable conditions every day (Gottlieb & Cruz, 2026). The fear of violence, raids, detention, and denial of due process have made the CARFMS community question how Canada can continue to have a Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States.

Canada is also having its own crisis of immigration and refugee policies. On March 26, 2026, Bill C-12 Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act received royal ascent and became law. The law contains several new restrictions that curtail migrant rights, including newly restrictive timelines and significantly curbed access to in-person judicial hearings and appeals. It will disqualify approximately 19,000 of the 50,000 refugee applications between June and October 2025 who have not made an asylum claim within a year after entering Canada (Baxter, 2026). Canada has restricted immigration so much that its population actually decreased this past quarter, for the first time in history (Zimonjic, 2026).

Canada has historically been a world leader on its compassionate treatment and acceptance of refugees and asylum seekers. CARFMS urges Canadian leaders and citizens to continue that leadership, and remember the profound, positive legacy that the many displaced people who have entered our borders and lands have left on our country and communities. CARFMS calls on all States to uphold their obligations under international human rights and refugee laws, and to end political violence, armed conflicts, and wars. We urge all political leaders, states, and international organizations to work together to address the root causes of conflict and to find peaceful means to resolve armed conflicts and wars that are the cause of so much suffering and misery in the world today.

References

Baxter, D. (2026, February 23). Senate committee recommends removing immigration powers from border bill. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senate-refugee-claims-c12-9.7103017

BBC. (2026, March 27). Why did US and Israel attack Iran and how long could the war last? BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2dyz6p3weo

Gottlieb, A. & Cruz, I. (2026, January 8). Trump’s actions on immigration explained. American Friends Service Committee. AFSC. https://afsc.org/news/trumps-executive-orders-immigration-explained.

ICRC. (2025, November 12). Humanitarian Outlook 2026: A world succumbing to war. ICRC. https://www.icrc.org/en/article/humanitarian-outlook-2026#:~:text=Armed%20conflict%20is%20now%20a,longer%2C%20and%20becoming%20more%20complex.

Simonjic, P. (2026, March 18). Canada’s population shrank last year – a first for the country, StatsCan says.” CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-population-decline-first-time-9.7133643

SIPRI (2025). SIPRI Yearbook 2025 – Armaments, Disarmament and International Security. https://www.sipri.org/yearbook/2025

UNHCR. (2025, February 21). Explainer: War in Ukraine – the human cost and humanitarian response. https://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/explainer-war-ukraine-human-cost-and-humanitarian-response

UNHCR. (2025). Mid-Year Trends 2025. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/unhcr-mid-year-trends-2025#:~:text=Analysis%20Source,Ethiopia%20(438%2C100)

UNHCR. (2025, November). Global Appeal 2026. https://www.unhcr.org/publications/global-appeal-2026

UNHCR. (2026, March 12). UNHCR: Up to 3.2 million Iranians temporarily displaced in Iran as conflict intensifies. https://reliefweb.int/report/iran-islamic-republic/unhcr-32-million-iranians-temporarily-displaced-iran-conflict-intensifies-enarfres

UNRWA. (2026, March 18). UNRWA Report on the Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip, and the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. https://www.unrwa.org/resources/reports/unrwa-situation-report-213-humanitarian-crisis-gaza-strip-and-occupied-west-bank