Israel's total blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza entered its tenth consecutive day on Tuesday. This gross violation of international humanitarian law and blatant war crime threatens the lives of more than two million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. On Monday, Israel cut power to a desalination plant for drinking water in Gaza, depriving civilians of water essential to their survival.
With hostilities in Myanmar escalating, sparked by a military coup in 2021, and millions of people plunged into a deepening humanitarian crisis, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday urged the country's neighbors to "leverage their influence" to achieve peace and a political solution. Meanwhile, an estimated 1 million people in Myanmar are also suffering from the effects of recent deadly floods.
Leading international humanitarian organizations on Friday have expressed shock and deep concern for civilians in the Gaza Strip after Israel ordered the entire population - more than 1.1 million people - to leave the northern part of Gaza as airstrikes continue and the humanitarian crisis worsens. Fearing catastrophic consequences, they warn that neither the demand to leave nor the total siege of Gaza imposed by Israel is compatible with international humanitarian law (IHL).
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.
Children are being denied access to life-saving humanitarian aid in conflict zones around the world in blatant disregard for international law, a senior United Nations official told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday. Speakers at the hearing focused in particular on the alarming situation for children in Gaza and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Sudan, Haiti, Yemen, Myanmar, Mali, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has released US$125 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to boost underfunded humanitarian operations in fourteen countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East. Afghanistan and Yemen top the recipient list with $20 million each.
After a year of heightened insecurity and violence against civilians, the humanitarian situation in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) is now at a tipping point, putting millions of civilians at risk, the international humanitarian organization Danish Refugee Council (DRC) warned on Friday. Since early February, a resurgence of fighting between the Congolese army and the M23 armed group has forced thousands of people from their homes.
Global solidarity is urgently needed to help vulnerable people in the Horn of Africa survive a rapidly unfolding humanitarian catastrophe, driven by the longest and most severe drought in recent history, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said in a joined statement on Monday. As the drought is set to run well into 2023, aid organizations must prepare now to continue their life-saving work in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya in response to extremely high humanitarian needs through to next year.
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 and its humanitarian partners, together with the Government of Mali, launched on Tuesday a $770 million Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) to help millions of people across Mali this year. The plan aims to respond to the urgent needs of 4.7 million people affected by conflict, displacement, health emergencies and climate shocks, out of a projected 6.4 million people in need of assistance in 2025.
The passage of Tropical Cyclone Mocha across western and northern Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh on Sunday and Monday has caused widespread damage, leaving at least 500 people dead and hundreds injured, according to initial reports. While some 100,000 people were evacuated, 5.4 million people in Myanmar were in the cyclone's path, with estimates suggesting nearly 3.2 million of the country's most vulnerable are in need of humanitarian assistance.
The 2020s have not been kind. The decade began with the COVID-19 pandemic and has since seen numerous climate disasters and brutal conflicts that have affected millions around the world. 2023 was particularly grim. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said Friday in a new report that it responded to the highest number of humanitarian emergencies in a decade last year.
While South Sudan anticipates holding its first elections in December 2024, key institutions and legal frameworks are yet to be established, and critical questions remain unanswered, the top United Nations official for the country told the UN Security Council Friday. At the briefing, speakers warned that intercommunal violence and a massive influx of returnees and refugees continue to worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in the country.
On March 28, 2025, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Myanmar, causing widespread destruction and reducing homes, hospitals, schools, and vital infrastructure to rubble in areas inhabited by more than 17 million people. It was the strongest earthquake in Myanmar for over a century and one of the deadliest in recent history. The main quake was followed by a powerful magnitude 6.2 aftershock, which further compounded the devastation.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that halfway through 2024, only 18 percent - or US$8.8 billion - of the US$48.7 billion needed to help people in need around the world this year has been received. This is far less than at the same time last year, when there was already a massive shortfall. At the same time, more than 300 million people around the world are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
A sharp deterioration in the political and security situation in South Sudan threatens to undermine the peace gains achieved so far and plunge the country back into war, the head of the United Nations mission in the country warned the UN Security Council on Wednesday, stressing the need for all parties to cease hostilities and respect the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement in South Sudan, where three quarters of the population are in need of humanitarian assistance.
Despite Colombia’s 2016 landmark peace agreement, armed groups that did not adhere to the accord continue to maintain a presence in rural areas and impose their own rules, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) warned on Friday. The humanitarian organization said the growing number of fighters and armed activities within these groups are isolating the civilian population and cutting them off from essential state services and humanitarian assistance.
An estimated 774 million children across the world – or one third of the world’s child population - are living with the dual impacts of poverty and high climate risk, according to a new report by the humanitarian organization Save the Children International. The countries with the highest proportion of children affected by this double burden are South Sudan (87%), Central African Republic (85%) and Mozambique (80%), the analysis released today says.
In the latest setback for Myanmar's military rulers, resistance forces have seized near-total control of a key border town on the main land trade route between Myanmar and Thailand. Amid a worsening humanitarian crisis, conflict has escalated in several states and regions of the country. Fighting between the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF), ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), and People's Defense Forces (PDFs) continues to exacerbate the humanitarian situation.
Officials in Chad say urgent international help is needed to save the lives of more than 2 million of the most vulnerable people caught in a severe humanitarian crisis caused by conflict and climate shocks. The Sahel country is one of the poorest nations in the world, and food is particularly scarce now as hunger peaks in the June-August lean season between harvests.
