Episode

A lifetime championing refugees, with Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Podcast
Awake At Night
Published
Dec 19, 2025
Duration seconds
2676
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://www.un.org/en/awake-at-night/s12-filippo-grandi-a-lifetime-championing-refugees
Audio
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/unhcr/AAN_S12_-_Filippo_Grandi_v1.mp3?dest-id=719614
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/awake-at-night-769564/episodes/a-lifetime-championing-refugees-with-filippo-grandi-un-high-commissioner-for-refugees
Markdown
/podcast/awake-at-night-769564/a-lifetime-championing-refugees-with-filippo-grandi-un-high-commissioner-for-refugees.md

Actions

  • POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/awake-at-night-769564/episodes/a-lifetime-championing-refugees-with-filippo-grandi-un-high-commissioner-for-refugees/transcription-requests
    Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
  • GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/awake-at-night-769564/a-lifetime-championing-refugees-with-filippo-grandi-un-high-commissioner-for-refugees.md
    Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

Summary

Filippo Grandi has devoted more than three decades to easing the suffering of refugees: "My pride after all these years is that the center of this effort of my lifetime has been on people, and especially on the people that suffer most in the world, including refugees." Now, shortly before his term comes to an end, and as more than 117 million people worldwide remain forcibly displaced, the long-serving UN High Commissioner for Refugees is welcoming a rare moment of hope for one of the world's largest refugee populations. "Home means your house, your family, your friends, your work, your school, and it is fantastic when, like in Syria […] people can go back to their homes. This is what most refugees want." UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, not only helps those who flee war and persecution, but also those who choose to go home when peace returns. Appearing on Awake at Night for a second time, Filippo Grandi reflects on the dangers of divisive politics, the human cost of painful budget and staff cuts, and shares his hopes and dreams for life after the UN.