Humanitarian Crisis

The Red Cross and Red Crescent (RCRC) Movement is warning that the situation in South Sudan is becoming increasingly dire, with armed conflict, violence, diseases and natural disasters wreaking havoc on the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across the country. According to the United Nations, the dire humanitarian situation in South Sudan has left 9.9 million people in need of life-saving assistance, while critical funding shortfalls are exacerbating the situation.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has warned today that aid fatigue is growing at a time when a record number of people are fleeing conflict, persecution, human rights violations, climate change, and grinding poverty. According to the latest figures, 110 million people around the world are currently displaced within their home country or have sought refuge in other countries. 

The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was the most neglected displacement crisis in the world in 2021, according to a report by the non-governmental organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). The analysis, released June 1, lists the top ten least noticed displacement crises in the world in 2021.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that hundreds of thousands of people in South Sudan are at risk of going without life-saving assistance unless additional funding for the humanitarian response is received without delay. Some 9 million people - including 4.9 million children - in the country are in need of humanitarian aid, and the outlook for the coming months is worrying.

South Sudan is facing a rapidly worsening food security crisis demanding urgent donor attention, according to an advocacy note released Friday by the Food Security and Livelihoods Cluster (FSLC). The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis shows that 7.8 million people — more than half the population — are experiencing crisis-level hunger (IPC3) or worse. This includes 2.5 million people facing emergency levels (IPC4) and 73,000 people facing famine conditions (IPC5).

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) expressed deep concern on Thursday regarding reports that two boats carrying over 500 passengers may have capsized near Myanmar's coast in recent days. According to preliminary reports, the vessels departed Myanmar's Rakhine State in late June, carrying primarily Rohingya people, some of whom had reportedly traveled from refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

With an estimated 300 million people in need of humanitarian aid in 2024, the European Union (EU) has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the world's most vulnerable people. The European Commission (EC) announced on Monday that it had approved an initial annual humanitarian aid budget of more than €1.8 billion (US$1.93 billion) for this year, a slight increase of about €100 million compared to the previous year. In 2023, the European Union's (EU) initial humanitarian aid budget was €1.7 billion.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns that acute hunger in Afghanistan is no longer seasonal but a grueling daily reality for millions of people. WFP said today that two-thirds of the country’s population - or 28.3 million - will require humanitarian assistance next year, up from 24.4 million men, women and children in 2022. According to the UN agency, malnutrition in Afghanistan has reached the highest levels since records have been kept.

The lives of more than 35 million people in the Sahel region are being affected by a complex and interdependent pattern of crises, exacerbated by deteriorating security, political instability, and the effects of climate change, leaving them in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection. UN agencies warn that lives will be at risk if aid organizations are not given the resources they need to respond to these crises and help the region's most vulnerable people.

Children from displaced families are dying of starvation in parts of Yemen, according to the United Nations, as extreme hunger and malnutrition take hold. Over 17 million people in Yemen are acutely food insecure, a figure expected to surpass 18 million by February 2026 amid a critical crisis in humanitarian funding.

The United Nations, its humanitarian partners, and the Chadian government launched the 2026 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) in N'Djamena, Chad's capital, on Friday, with the goal of supporting millions of people across the country. The plan requests US$986 million, including $540 million for refugees, to assist 3.4 million of the most vulnerable people in Chad.

Amid rising global humanitarian needs, the European Commission has announced on Wednesday that its initial annual humanitarian aid budget will grow to €1.7 billion in 2023, an increase of about €200 million compared to the previous year.  In 2022, the European Union's (EU) initial humanitarian aid budget was €1.5 billion.

The United Nations and its humanitarian partners, along with the Central African Republic government, launched the 2026 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) this week, calling for US$264 million — the lowest requested amount in recent years — to help 1.3 million of the most vulnerable people in the country. Although humanitarian needs remain staggeringly high, aid organizations are forced to focus on the most urgent, life-saving priorities due to a global collapse in funding.

Some 887 million people living in multidimensional poverty, out of 1.1 billion globally, are directly exposed to climate hazards, such as extreme heat, flooding, drought, and air pollution, according to a new report released Friday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford. The researchers found that poverty is not a standalone issue, but rather, it is profoundly intertwined with the impacts of a changing climate.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) are warning of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with high levels of acute food insecurity and surging emergency hunger, particularly in the conflict-ridden eastern provinces. According to the latest food security analysis, 26.6 million Congolese people are projected to face crisis levels of acute hunger or worse by early 2026.

Since the last attack on El Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur State at the end of October, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports that tens of thousands of refugees and returnees have crossed into neighboring Chad. The Saharan nation is currently hosting approximately 903,000 Sudanese refugees who escaped the conflict that began in Sudan in April 2023.