António Guterres

Haiti's government has declared a 72-hour state of emergency following a fierce battle between the country's police and powerful armed gangs over the weekend. Meanwhile, the whereabouts of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry were unknown Monday, three days after he signed a bilateral agreement in Kenya to pave the way for a possible multinational force to help restore security in the troubled Caribbean nation.

The newly appointed United Nations Special Representative for Haiti has said that the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the country demands that Haiti remains at the center of international attention and needs action now. In her first briefing to the UN Security Council Wednesday, Maria Isabel Salvador stressed that gang violence is expanding at an alarming rate in areas previously considered relatively safe in the capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as outside the city.

Hunger and child malnutrition rose for the sixth consecutive year in 2024, pushing millions of people to the brink in some of the world's most fragile regions, according to a new report released Friday. The 2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) shows that conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes and forced displacement are fueling food insecurity and malnutrition around the world, with catastrophic consequences for many regions.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns of a sharp decline in the humanitarian situation in El Fasher, the besieged capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State. OCHA reports that civilians in El Fasher continue to endure relentless attacks, acute hunger, and cholera. The population faces daily threats from shelling, airstrikes, and drone attacks — with fierce clashes reported in north-eastern districts of the state capital in recent weeks.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says the devastating human rights crisis in Sudan has created the world's largest humanitarian catastrophe. Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva on Thursday, Volker Türk also warned of an increasing risk of atrocity crimes and mass deaths from famine as a result of the conflict, which began in April 2023.

In what they call an "unprecedented emergency," United Nations agencies are warning that humanitarian operations throughout the Gaza Strip will cease within hours or days unless Israel reopens border crossings and allows critical fuel supplies into the Palestinian territory. Virtually no aid has entered Gaza in the past five days, and essentials such as fuel, food and water are in dangerously short supply.

Nearly 580,000 people, including 300,000 children, are internally displaced across Haiti, a 60 percent increase since March, according to the latest data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN agency says the rise is due to the deterioration of the security situation in the metropolitan area of Port-Au-Prince, the country's capital, particularly between the end of February and April. Haiti is now the country with the largest number of displacements globally due to crime-related violence.

The heads of more than a dozen United Nations agencies and international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have issued a rare joint statement Sunday calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Gaza officials reported today that more than 10,000 Palestinians - including more than 4,100 children - have been killed since October 7 by Israel’s retaliatory attacks against the tiny enclave.

In a rare and strongly worded statement released Friday, 30 donors, including the European Commission, condemned attacks on civilians, particularly the brutal attack on a humanitarian convoy in Sudan's North Darfur State earlier this week. Five humanitarian workers were killed, and several others were injured in the assault. At least four of the fifteen trucks in the convoy were destroyed, and five more vehicles were partially damaged.

A prominent international human rights group is calling for the deployment of a protection force in Sudan following a recent wave of attacks on civilians in Al Jazirah state, widely blamed on the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), one of the warring sides in the country's ongoing conflict. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on Sunday that the situation has become so grim that a mission is needed to protect the Sudanese population.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Wednesday launched a Flash Appeal for more than $2.8 billion to allow UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond to the urgent needs of 3.1 million people in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Israeli bombardment of much of Gaza continues, resulting in further civilian deaths, displacement and destruction.

In a joint appeal Wednesday, the heads of UN humanitarian agencies and global non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urged world leaders to help prevent a further deterioration of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children. They also called on Israel to fulfill its legal obligation under international humanitarian and human rights law to provide food and medical supplies and facilitate relief efforts.

Failure to provide timely humanitarian aid and protection to Syrian earthquake victims has cost the lives of many civilians caught in this catastrophic disaster, according to a United Nations-appointed commission of inquiry on Syria. In a statement Monday, the three-member independent body accuses the Syrian government and other parties to that country's conflict, the international community, and the UN of the abandonment of millions of Syrian civilians in dire need.

Independent United Nations human rights experts on Tuesday condemned the sharp rise in violence against civilians in Sudan, as the humanitarian situation caused by the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues to spiral into catastrophic levels. The condemnation comes at a time of increasing displacement, as nearly a third of Sudan's population of 51 million has now been forced to flee, creating the largest displacement crisis in the world.

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.

While negotiations for a comprehensive cease-fire and hostage deal in the Gaza Strip are reportedly underway between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas, a US-led proposal has not been officially accepted by either side. At the same time, the carnage and humanitarian catastrophe on the ground continues as the war entered its ninth month, with people dying across Gaza from Israeli attacks, starvation, or lack of basic resources.

The international humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on Monday called attention to the plight of people fleeing the war in Sudan and to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, as more than 500,000 refugees and returnees have crossed into the neighboring country. Meanwhile, intercommunal violence is affecting the safe delivery of humanitarian aid in the disputed Abyei region following deadly attacks on Saturday and Sunday.

With the support of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, Israel and Lebanon have signed a ceasefire agreement after more than 13 months of conflict. Under the agreement, Hezbollah troops will move north of the Litani River and Israeli troops will withdraw from southern Lebanon. The Israeli cabinet voted on Tuesday to approve the ceasefire agreement, which came into effect at 4am local time on Wednesday.

Amid growing fears of a wider war, the UN Security Council held an emergency session on Friday after Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital Beirut and in the south left at least a dozen dead and more than 60 injured. The meeting came amid an upsurge in cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces and two days of terrorist attacks in Lebanon that used deadly explosions from wireless devices, killing at least 37 people and maiming or injuring more than 3,400.