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Report on the guest lecture“World in Turmoil – Record Displacement (How Today’s World Deals with the Global Refugee Crisis).”(Dirk Hebecker—former Representative of the UNHCR Office in Japan)
For the course Introduction to the United Nations (Instructor: Sachiko Ishikawa), we were honored to host Mr. Dirk Hebecker as a guest lecturer. He is the former Representative of the UNHCR Office in Japan and is currently teaching at several universities in Japan following his retirement from the United Nations.
He delivered a lecture on the theme “World in Turmoil – Record Displacement (How Today’s World Deals with the Global Refugee Crisis).” Before delving into current refugee and IDP issues, Mr. Hebecker noted that many global challenges are already being negatively impacted by the policies of President Trump’s second term. Specifically, regarding refugee and immigration issues—his area of expertise—he expressed concern that actions disregarding fundamental human rights are being carried out under executive orders, citing not only a decline in the number of refugees being accepted but also the repatriation of immigrants to the third countries aside from their home countries.
Furthermore, it was pointed out that due to the steep cuts to contributions to international organizations, humanitarian aid activities worldwide are being affected by budget reductions, leading to a situation where adequate support cannot be provided.
He stated that the world is plunging into political and economic turmoil due to the U.S. adopting a backward-looking stance toward global challenges such as security, climate change, inequality, health, and radicalization (e.g., withdrawal from 66 international organizations and the Paris Agreement), as well as the recent attacks to Iran.
After providing this overview of the current global landscape, Mr. Hebecker explained that the theme of “Displacement” is caused by various factors, including war, internal conflict, natural disasters, environmental destruction, and poverty. It was noted that as of June 2025, the combined number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) stands at 123 million—equivalent to the population of the world’s 13th most populous country, Japan. This indicates that one in every 67 people in the world is a refugee. While there is a common perception that refugees flock to the United States and Europe, the reality is that 75% are sheltered in developing and middle-income countries, making international support for these host nations an urgent priority. A detailed explanation was provided regarding the current situation in each country of origin and host country.
After the lecture, students asked many questions and Mr. Hebecker responded to them thoughtfully. At the end of the class, he assigned the students five questions about refugees and IDPs as homework. Ishikawa decided to discuss these questions with the students during a future class on humanitarian aid.