UNGA 2026 | High-Level Panel and Reception

Eighty years after the UN's founding, the international system faces mounting pressure to prove it can still prevent conflict, uphold international law, and protect people from persecution. Displacement remains at exceptionally high levels, and the 1951 Refugee Convention framework is increasingly tested; not because it's outdated, but because states are less willing to implement it consistently and share responsibility.

As the UN80 initiative and the Humanitarian Reset advance, R-Space and co-hosts convened a High Level Panel and Reception to go beyond institutional reform and ask what must change politically, legally, operationally, and financially. 

The conversation addressed UNHCR's future role, the promise and risks of route-based approaches, the state of durable solutions, and how refugee leaders can help shape credible progress toward UNHCR's goal of reducing protracted displacement by 50% by 2035.