Soon the green carpet will be rolled out again in the city of Zurich and golden eyes will be looking at you everywhere. The Zurich Film Festival ZFF is about to start! 

“Displaced women, children and men are dying of hunger, malnutrition and disease. This is a clear indication of the fragility of people forced to flee, many of them multiple times over”, stated Mamadou Dian Balde, Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Sudan situation, in the beginning of August. 

The Paralympic Games start today on August 28 in Paris. And just like at the Olympic Games, a team of refugees is represented here. It consists of eight athletes and two guide runners from six different countries.

This has exacerbated the biggest humanitarian disaster in the world today. The situation of the more than 10 million people who have had to flee their homes since the war broke out in April 2023 is becoming increasingly critical.

The 2024 Paris Olympics has been a remarkable event, highlighting in particular the incredible achievements of the Refugee Olympic Team, with 37 athletes competing across 12 different sports. 

UNHCR's mission is to provide lifesaving support and safeguard the rights of people forced to flee. This includes refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs), asylum seekers, stateless individuals, and returnees. 

This year in Paris, the team has already grown to 37 refugees, who will be competing in a total of 12 different disciplines. Among them are athletes who have found refuge in Switzerland. 

Leonard Zulu briefly came to Switzerland in June, in his last days as UNHCR’s representative in Afghanistan, and we could talk with him. 

From refugee to Olympic hero - it hasn't been an easy road, as the athlete confided to us in an interview. 

The fighting in Sudan has been going on for more than a year now. More and more atrocities are coming to light and the civilian population is suffering. 9 million people have already had to leave their homes in the East African country and seek refuge in a new location.

The number of people worldwide who were forced to flee from conflict, violence and persecution has risen again: Last May, the staggering number of 120 million has been announced by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in its Global Trends Report 2023. 

“We face impossible decisions to meet the greatest demand we’ve ever seen”

The conflict in Sudan broke on April 15th 2023 - it's going in its second year now. Millions of people had to flee already. They urgently need help, says Dr. Mamadou Dian Balde. He is UNHCR's Regional Director for East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes and the Regional Refugee Coordinator for the Sudan Situation. But UNHCR is lacking resources...