Food Insecurity

Families in Sudan are eating grass to survive in an escalating hunger crisis, with famine-level malnutrition spreading across half of Sudan's 18 states, the international humanitarian organization Save the Children warned on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the United Nations reports that fighting continues to rage in North Darfur, West Darfur, Khartoum, North Kordofan and Al Jazira states, despite repeated calls for the warring parties to cease fighting, ensure the protection of civilians and facilitate humanitarian access.

A new report by Action Against Hunger reveals that Nigeria, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC/DR Congo) are among the ten most critical hunger hotspots globally. The report shows that two out of three people suffering from acute food insecurity worldwide live in just ten countries, with over 196 million facing crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of hunger.

The non-governmental organization (NGO) Save the Children International has today expressed its grave concern for the wellbeing of children and their families in Haiti, amid escalating violence and worsening political and economic crises. The NGO is urgently calling on the international community to ramp up its support to the Caribbean nation, to meet the growing needs of vulnerable children and families.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that an escalation in fighting is devastating communities in Yemen that are already struggling to survive after more than a decade of conflict. According to humanitarian agencies, approximately 34,000 people have been displaced in the governorates of Taiz and Al-Hodeidah since Thursday, when hostilities escalated. Civilians are reportedly among those killed and injured as clashes intensify.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) expressed deep concern on Wednesday regarding reports that approximately 250 people are feared dead or missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea. The trawler departed from Teknaf in southern Bangladesh, bound for Malaysia, and reportedly sank last Thursday amid heavy winds, rough seas, and severe overcrowding.

With Haiti “in the grip of total chaos”, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says "restoring a degree of public order" to prevent further harm to the population from violence and to ensure access to life-saving humanitarian assistance must be the immediate priority. Speaking to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, Volker Türk also said that humanitarian corridors must be established as soon as possible.

The heads of United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) warned in a rare joint statement on Tuesday that escalating conflict is driving record levels of displacement, hunger and gender-based violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) said that without urgent international action, the situation threatens to push the DRC to the brink of catastrophe.

More than one million people are now internally displaced in Haiti, according to new figures released Tuesday by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The latest data shows that 1,041,000 people are struggling amid a worsening humanitarian crisis - many of them forced to flee multiple times. According to IOM, children bear the greatest burden of forced displacement, accounting for more than half of all displaced people.

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.

The United Nations warns that the lack of humanitarian funding is endangering the lives of millions of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). Many aid agencies have been forced to scale back their operations, which has disrupted critical services for those in desperate need. The UN humanitarian office is calling on the international community to take urgent action to address these severe funding gaps and "stave off a humanitarian tragedy."

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.

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) 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.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that disease outbreaks, malnutrition and non-communicable diseases are rising in war-torn Sudan, with devastating consequences for millions of people forced to flee their homes in the face of escalating violence. Since conflict erupted April 15, some 6 million people have become displaced inside Sudan or have sought refuge in neighboring countries.

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.

Amid ongoing Israeli airstrikes and scarce resources, a growing number of women-headed households in war-torn Gaza face “impossible decisions” every day, UN humanitarian officials said on Tuesday. According to a new analysis from UN Women, nearly one in four households in Gaza is headed by a woman, amounting to an estimated 86,290 families. This includes widows and women whose husbands are missing, detained, severely injured, forcibly disappeared, or whose fate remains unknown.

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.

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.

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.

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.