Food Insecurity

Extreme violence and gross human rights abuses, including mass incidents of murder, gang rape and sniper attacks, have sharply increased in Cité Soleil on the outskirts of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, said a UN report published Friday, creating “a living nightmare” for thousands. The report comes as 5.2 million people – nearly half of the Haitian population – are in need of humanitarian aid, including 2.6 million children.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that around 80 per cent of Haiti’s capital is under the control or influence of gangs.  In a report released Friday, OCHA warns the impact of armed violence on the population has reached unprecedented levels, with more than 5.2 million Haitian men, women and children - almost half the population - in need of humanitarian assistance.

The IPC Famine Review Committee (FRC) issued an alert on Friday warning that famine is likely imminent in areas of the northern Gaza Strip, while the humanitarian situation throughout the territory is extremely grave and rapidly deteriorating. Meanwhile, a report by the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has accused the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) of committing serious violations of international law in Gaza, many of which may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.

While the world’s attention is diverted to Iran following the Israeli government’s launch of another war, Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip continue unabated, resulting in more deaths, maiming, displacement, and destruction of civilian infrastructure. At the same time, Israel continues to hinder United Nations–coordinated aid based on universal humanitarian principles from reaching those in need by the scale necessary.

Climate change threatens to reverse decades of progress toward better health and well-being, particularly in the most vulnerable communities, according to a new report by the UN weather agency. In its annual State of Climate Services report, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Thursday warned that the climate crisis was generating a global health crisis and said that many ill effects of climate change could be tempered by adaptation and prevention measures.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that, as of Sunday, at least 93,000 people have been displaced due to escalating hostilities in Syria’s Suweida Governorate, both within Suweida and towards the neighboring governorates of Dara and Rural Damascus. Credible reports detail widespread atrocities perpetrated by different actors in the governorate.

Next year will set another record for humanitarian relief requirements, with 339 million people in need of assistance in 69 countries, an increase of 65 million people compared to the same time last year, the United Nations (UN) and humanitarian partner organizations said today. The estimated cost of the humanitarian response going into 2023 is US$51.5 billion (EUR 49.3 billion), a 25 per cent increase compared to the beginning of 2022.

The United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) says it is intensifying its efforts to address the complex and persistent humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) as the number of internally displaced people climbs to 6.95 million people across the country – the highest number recorded yet. Meanwhile, the massive displacement of civilians continues in the eastern DRC, following ongoing clashes between armed groups and the Congolese armed forces, leading to soaring humanitarian needs.

Rohingya communities in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State are facing forced labor, food and health crises, severe movement restrictions, and escalating armed conflict, said the rights group Amnesty International on Monday, issuing a warning against premature decisions to repatriate refugees from Bangladesh. This warning comes as the United Nations General Assembly (GA) is set to convene a “High-Level Conference on the Situation of Rohingya Muslims and Other Minorities in Myanmar” on Tuesday.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that, despite severe funding shortages, the UN and its humanitarian partners are continuing to respond to urgent needs in southern Syria, where they are delivering vital aid to communities amid harsh winter conditions. The US$3.2 billion humanitarian response plan for Syria is currently only 30 percent funded, with $953 million received as of mid-December.

International donors have failed to adequately support the ongoing humanitarian response in Yemen at the Sixth Senior Officials' Meeting of donor countries in Brussels today. The announced funding of just over $791 million represents less than a third (29 percent) of the $2.7 billion needed in Yemen this year to meet urgent humanitarian needs, including those of 9.8 million children.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says it is deeply concerned about the escalating humanitarian crisis in Mozambique's northern Cabo Delgado province, as a recent upsurge in violence by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) continues to force thousands of people to flee to southern districts in search of safety. Since the latest outbreak of violence and attacks against civilians in early February, more than 70,000 women, children and men have been forcibly displaced.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has expressed his profound concerns about escalating violence and “bellicose rhetoric” between Israel and Hezbollah along the Blue Line, the demarcation between Israeli and Lebanese armed forces. He warned Friday that the risk of a wider conflict in the Middle East is real - and must be avoided. The warning comes as Lebanon is already facing a severe humanitarian crisis due to socio-economic shocks, ongoing political instability and spillover from the Syrian crisis.

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.

United Nations officials have appealed for international support to help Zimbabwe cope with the humanitarian impact of a historic drought that has left 7.6 million people at risk of acute hunger. More than half of the harvest has been destroyed due to a drought caused by the warming El Niño episode in 2023-2024.

According to the United Nations, large numbers of children are dying every month from malnutrition, measles and diarrhea, and other preventable diseases in Sudan, where armed conflict has displaced more than 5.3 million people from their homes. Between May 15 and September 14, at least 1,200 children under the age of five died from a deadly combination of a suspected measles outbreak and high malnutrition in nine camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Sudan's White Nile state alone.

A local "humanitarian pause" allowed the launch of the emergency polio immunization campaign, with nearly 87,000 children vaccinated in central Gaza on the first day of the campaign on Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of young Palestinian children are on track to be vaccinated. Despite this, Israeli air and land bombardment continues throughout the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian deaths, injuries, maiming, displacement and destruction of civilian infrastructure.