Patrick Branco Ruivo, CEO of the company that manages the Eiffel Tower, intends to step down from his position, following a wave of criticism sparked by the removal of female employees from the famous landmark during a visit by a Hindu delegation in September, according to the German News Agency.
SETE said on Tuesday that the exclusion of female employees on the day of the Hindu delegation’s visit was an unacceptable situation.
She added that an internal investigation revealed a series of deficiencies and irregularities in organizing the visit.
Following the incident related to the religious group, the company added that an independent protocol department would be created, in addition to implementing new procedures and training to promote gender equality.
The tower's operating company admitted shortly after the accident that excluding female employees from the third floor of the Eiffel Tower at the request of the Hindu delegation during its visit was a mistake.
The employees later organized a one-day strike in protest, which led to the closure of the Eiffel Tower, and the incident also sparked condemnations from a number of politicians.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned on Tuesday that about 8.3 million refugees and forcibly displaced persons may lose vital aid, in light of the decline in protection services due to “severe cuts” in funding.
The UNHCR said in a report on the repercussions of the financial cuts, that “its ability to protect and assist refugees, internally displaced people, and stateless people is being eroded due to a continuing and worsening funding gap.”
It revealed that its funding declined from $5.2 billion in 2024 to $3.9 billion in 2025, while the number of people in need of its assistance is rising to unprecedented levels around the world, according to what Agence France-Presse reported.
She indicated that, as of the end of July, she had only obtained 32 percent of the $8.5 billion she needed this year to protect refugees, which is equivalent to $2.7 billion.
This decline in financial support poses a risk to about 8.3 million forcibly displaced people who “may lose UNHCR assistance,” the UN agency said. She stressed that “the continuing sharp cuts in funding are pushing support for refugees and protection structures to a breaking point, in the most difficult conditions of displacement in the world.”
The Commission indicated that it had adopted reforms and arranged priorities to protect its most prominent activities, but the reductions in their scope and continuing pace even affected the priorities of its work.
Dominique Hyde, who is responsible for external relations at the Commission, stated that “protection cannot be reduced indefinitely, without systems collapsing.”
She explained: “Below a specific threshold, services not only reach fewer people; "In fact, they stop working entirely, leaving those most at risk without the protection they need."
The Commission gave the example of Chad; 319,000 refugees faced delays in registration, which prevented them from obtaining the necessary documents to benefit from services, while about 233,000 children may lose the protection services assigned to them.
In Ethiopia, child protection coverage in some areas declined to about 85 percent.
In Sudan, tens of thousands of survivors of sexual violence and children at risk may lose access to basic protection services, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Hyde warned that when registration and child protection services stop, “the same risks that displaced people fled from will resurface: violence, exploitation and abuse.”
By the end of 2025, about 117.8 million people had been forcibly displaced from their homes around the world, a decrease from the record total recorded in 2024 by 123.2 million, according to UNHCR figures.
35.6 million of these displaced people were protected by UNHCR, two-thirds of whom were from Venezuela, Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and Sudan.
In 2025, the agency was forced to eliminate 5,000 jobs, or more than a quarter of its workforce, while the United States, which was one of the largest donors to the agency, radically reduced its foreign aid, and other donors also reduced their aid.
The Geneva-based agency noted that funding cuts undermine its ability to help people stop relying on aid.
In Iraq, for example, 350,000 displaced people and asylum seekers may lose access to economic integration opportunities, according to the Commission.
When displaced people return to their homes, voluntarily or involuntarily, aid also decreases, according to UNHCR.
In Syria, 162,500 internally displaced persons and displaced returns in fragile situations will not receive initial financial assistance if the agency does not obtain funding quickly, which may limit their ability to rebuild their lives.
