April 2025

An even deeper humanitarian crisis is looming in Afghanistan as hundreds of thousands of Afghans are forced to return from neighboring countries and the global humanitarian funding crisis takes a heavy toll on the country. Numerous United Nations agencies have announced drastic cost-cutting measures in response to massive shortfalls in funding, following brutal cuts by the new US administration in Washington.

The situation for civilians in the Gaza Strip is getting worse by the day. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that food stocks and other essential supplies in Gaza are largely depleted or have run out, and the situation is desperate as no humanitarian or commercial supplies have entered the territory for more than eight weeks. In addition, escalating Israeli attacks, movement restrictions and the expansion of military zones have made humanitarian operations nearly impossible, putting civilians and aid workers at extreme risk.

Amid escalating violence and intensifying humanitarian needs across Colombia, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday that years of progress in protecting and integrating displaced populations are at risk of being lost, and the most vulnerable will pay the highest price. UNHCR said refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) may be forced to move again in search of safety and stability, while returnees will not find conditions to resettle.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reported on Friday that it had made some breakthroughs in humanitarian access in recent weeks, reaching regions in Sudan that had been largely cut off from aid, including people facing or at risk of famine. WFP stressed the importance of pre-positioning food close to vulnerable populations now, as the rainy season is just weeks away, which will make it extremely difficult for large trucks to travel.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Wednesday expressed deep concern about the impact of ongoing airstrikes on civilians in Yemen and the infrastructure they rely on, including health facilities. More than two dozen airstrikes have been reported since Monday. Meanwhile, humanitarian agencies continue to receive updates on the devastating impact of the attacks in recent days.

Hunger and malnutrition are on the rise in Ethiopia as ongoing conflict, regional instability, displacement, drought and economic shocks leave millions without enough food, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday. WFP warned that its life-saving response has been severely hampered by critical funding shortfalls, with 3.6 million of the most vulnerable people at imminent risk of losing food assistance.

Since the beginning of the year, renewed fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) has led to a dramatic deterioration of the humanitarian situation and mass displacement, particularly in North and South Kivu provinces. Widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have been reported, including summary executions, indiscriminate attacks, sexual violence, and the recruitment of children.

In its latest update on Gaza, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that humanitarian supplies are nearing total depletion since Israel imposed a complete blockade on commercial goods and humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip on March 2. More than 2 million people remain trapped, bombed and starving inside the territory, while Israeli attacks on civilians, aid workers, UN personnel, hospitals and ambulances continue with impunity.

The latest food security report on Haiti - out this week - shows that a record 5.7 million people - more than half of all Haitians - are expected to experience acute hunger between now and June 2025, driven by relentless gang violence and ongoing economic collapse. Rising armed violence has also fueled massive displacement as armed gangs seek to expand their control, forcing more than one million people from their homes.

A sharp deterioration in the political and security situation in South Sudan threatens to undermine the peace gains achieved so far and plunge the country back into war, the head of the United Nations mission in the country warned the UN Security Council on Wednesday, stressing the need for all parties to cease hostilities and respect the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement in South Sudan, where three quarters of the population are in need of humanitarian assistance.

As humanitarians around the world marked two years since the start of Sudan's relentless and widely neglected war, large-scale atrocities involving hundreds of civilian deaths and mass displacement have been reported from the Zamzam displacement camp near the town of El Fasher in Sudan's North Darfur state. This follows reports that armed groups affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of the camp over the weekend.

The United Nations has condemned a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday that reportedly killed at least 35 people, including two children, and injured at least 117 others, including 15 children. The two missiles hit a busy street in the center of the city in the northeast of the country, damaging residential buildings, an educational institution and civilian vehicles as people were out celebrating Palm Sunday, a major religious holiday in Ukraine.

Two weeks after 7.7 and 6.4 magnitude earthquakes struck Myanmar, the United Nations and humanitarian partners on Friday launched a $275 million flash appeal as an addendum to the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) to reach 1.1 million people with urgent assistance. The devastating earthquakes have killed at least 3,600 people and left 2 million in critical need of assistance and protection.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Friday that some 400,000 Syrians have returned from neighboring countries since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government on December 8 last year. Over the same period, more than one million internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Syria have also returned, bringing the total number of Syrians who have gone home to over 1.4 million.

Nearly two years after war broke out in Sudan, the heads of five international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have called on world leaders to take immediate, concrete action to end the conflict, protect civilians, and ensure aid reaches those who need it. In a joint statement on Thursday, the humanitarian leaders said "slow, too timid and dangerously inadequate" action has claimed countless lives already.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) continues to sound the alarm about rising violence and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Haiti, particularly in the department of Centre and the department of Ouest, where the capital Port-au-Prince is located. Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,500 people have been killed and more than 570 others injured in gang-related violence, according to a new UN human rights report.

Top United Nations officials on Monday called for urgent global action to save Palestinians in Gaza, highlighting once again the catastrophic humanitarian crisis. For more than a month, Gaza has been cut off from commercial and humanitarian supplies, leaving more than 2.1 million people trapped, bombed and starving. Meanwhile, Israeli attacks on civilians, including aid workers, journalists, UN personnel, hospitals and ambulances, continue with impunity.

Analysts warn that rivalries among Tigrayan political leaders in northern Ethiopia threaten to derail the process of reintegrating the Tigray region into Ethiopia's federal structure, and could rapidly escalate into a wider conflict involving Eritrea. More than two years after a ceasefire ended the war between Ethiopian government forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in which an estimated 600,000 people died, Tigray remains highly fragile.

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) says its peacekeepers have stepped up their presence around and inside displacement camps to provide additional security, amid growing fears that the peace agreement will collapse and South Sudan will slide back into war. Meanwhile, high-level political negotiations are underway to convince the country's leaders to avoid the outbreak of a new war, as fighting continues around Ulang in Upper Nile State.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that recent fighting in Puntland State in northeastern Somalia, as well as in Middle and Lower Shabelle regions in the center of the country, has forced at least 110,000 people to flee their homes. According to OCHA, tens of thousands of people have also been displaced in recent months by ongoing inter-clan clashes in several other areas of the East African country.

As the death toll in Myanmar continues to rise following Friday's historic earthquake, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the country said on Tuesday that the scale and scope of the earthquake's impact is vast, spanning multiple states and regions, particularly the central part of Myanmar. The death toll is expected to rise to more than 3,000, according to the country's military junta, while thousands are reportedly injured and hundreds missing.