The United Nations, the Government of Cameroon and the humanitarian community have jointly launched the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for the country, where 3.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance this year. The Plan, released this week, targets 2.3 million vulnerable women, girls, men and boys in the most affected areas and requires US$371.4 million.
In Cameroon, millions of people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance due to complex and multifaceted crises. These include armed conflict causing internal and cross-border displacement, intercommunal violence, disease outbreaks, torrential rains and seasonal flooding.
"The renewed commitment of the whole humanitarian community and donors is urgent to address critical humanitarian needs," said Siaka Coulibaly, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Cameroon, in a statement Tuesday.
“We must also contribute to promoting, exploring, and implementing innovative and sustainable solutions to address complex and protracted displacement effects, in cooperation with national authorities, development actors and international financial institutions.”
In 2024, humanitarian agencies plan to respond to the most urgent needs caused by the impact of the Lake Chad Basin conflict, the crisis in the northwest and southwest regions, the influx of Central African refugees, disease outbreaks, and climate shocks.
The Lake Chad Basin - an area covering parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria - remains one of the most fragile regions in the world. Security conditions are dire in parts of the region, as organized armed groups continue to attack civilians, particularly in the Far North region of Cameroon and the North East regions of Nigeria.
The ongoing conflict in the Lake Chad Basin, along with climatic shocks and extreme poverty, continue to fuel the crisis in Cameroon. Neighboring Central African Republic also faces a major humanitarian crisis, with 2.8 million people - nearly half of its population - in need of humanitarian assistance and protection in 2024.
In Cameroon, there are nearly one million internally displaced people (IDPs), with the Far North region experiencing a nearly 20 percent increase in IDPs in one year. IDPs come mainly from the Far North, North West and South West regions of Cameroon. In addition, the country hosts nearly half a million refugees and asylum seekers, most of them from the Central African Republic and Nigeria.
Despite positive trends in some regions, an estimated 2.5 million people will still face acute food insecurity during the lean season between June and August 2024. Among them, more than 113,000 people will face emergency levels of hunger.
In 2023, a lack of funding has led to significant reductions in humanitarian assistance to crisis-affected people. The 2023 HRP for Cameroon was only 35 percent funded.
Despite this and other challenges, humanitarian agencies reached 1.2 million of the most vulnerable people with various forms of humanitarian assistance in the country last year - but less than 50 percent of those targeted.
Last month, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned that vital food assistance to refugees in Cameroon's Far North, Adamawa, East and North regions was at risk of grinding to a halt due to funding shortfalls.
Funding shortfalls have already forced WFP to cut rations for refugees in Cameroon's Far North, Adamawa, East and North regions by 50 percent, the UN agencies said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says increased, timely and flexible funding for the humanitarian response plan is needed to save lives, improve the living conditions and resilience of affected populations, and prevent further deterioration.
“In 2024, millions of lives depend on our continued solidarity with those in need and I urge all of us to consider how we can do more to alleviate suffering of affected populations,” Coulibaly said.
The humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) describes the situation in Cameroon as one of the most neglected displacement crises in the world. According to the aid agency CARE International, the situation in the country is also ranked among the world's forgotten crises that received the least media attention last year.
Further information
Full text. Cameroon: 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), published April 16, 2024
https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/cameroon/cameroon-2024-humanitarian-response-plan-april-2024