Humanitarian Crisis

Millions of people in Syria remain at risk of death from unexploded ordnance, disease and malnutrition, and urgent assistance is needed, United Nations humanitarian officials said on Friday. Despite some progress, humanitarian needs in Syria remain immense as years of conflict have pushed 90 percent of the population into poverty, with nearly 7.5 million people displaced inside Syria and more than six million living as refugees.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) expressed grave concern on Tuesday as intensifying attacks on villages and the rapid spread of the conflict into previously safe districts forced tens of thousands of people to flee across northern Mozambique. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), recent attacks have displaced some 108,000 people from Memba District in Nampula Province alone.

The United Nations peacekeeping chief said Friday that the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebel group is advancing on the South Kivu provincial capital of Bukavu, after seizing control of Goma in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo) earlier this week. Meanwhile, UN agencies warn that the situation continues to deteriorate for civilians trapped by days of intense fighting in and around Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

South Sudanese farmers who have relied on United Nations agencies operating in the country say they fear losing a ready market for their produce if the UN follows through on its threat to scale down operations in the world's newest nation. This comes after the United States, the European Union and other countries expressed concern over Juba's decision to impose taxes on some goods purchased by the UN.

The number of people experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity and requiring urgent food and livelihood assistance has increased for the fourth consecutive year in 2022, a new report said today.  Over a quarter of a billion people were estimated to face acute hunger last year because of conflict, economic shocks and weather extremes related to the climate crisis, with the Ukraine war contributing to the increase.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is seeking $1.4 billion to meet the needs of 2.3 million South Sudanese refugees living in five neighboring countries - Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) - through 2024. A similar number of people living in local communities in the countries of asylum will benefit from services and support, according to the Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) released on Thursday.

Amid the ongoing humanitarian and human rights crisis in Afghanistan, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are urgently calling for international support as the country faces one of the largest return movements in recent history. According to the latest UN figures, more than 2.2 million Afghans returned or were forced to return from Iran and Pakistan in 2025 alone. Over 1.8 million came from Iran and nearly 400,000 arrived from Pakistan.

The European Union (EU) says it is gravely concerned by the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, DRC), which recently led to an immediate system-wide scale-up by the United Nations of humanitarian operations in the eastern part of the country. In a statement Friday by its High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, the EU also expressed outrage at the levels of violence and atrocities that continue to be perpetrated by armed groups with impunity against civilians. 

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says it is extremely concerned by the escalation of fighting in Sudan's southwestern Sennar State, which has severely hampered humanitarian aid deliveries in large parts of the country. Meanwhile, the last open border crossing into Darfur from neighboring Chad is inaccessible due to heavy rains and flooding.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that deadly hostilities in the Suweida Governorate of Syria continue to endanger civilians, with ongoing reports of significant displacement and damage to critical infrastructure, including water, electricity, and telecommunications networks. According to media reports, the hostilities have claimed hundreds of lives.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday it is concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in eastern Chad amid a massive influx of refugees and returnees from neighboring Sudan. More than 55,000 Sudanese refugees and 39,000 Chadian returnees have been registered in Chad's Ennedi-Est and Wadi Fira provinces since violence escalated in Sudan's North Darfur state in April.

The town of El Fasher, located in Sudan's North Darfur State, once again became the scene of brutal violence over the weekend as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continued their assault on civilians. Since Friday evening, at least 60 civilians have been killed in RSF drone attacks. This follows a series of RSF attacks earlier last week that left another 53 civilians dead and many more injured.

As the situation in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State, continues to be catastrophic, more details are emerging about the atrocities committed during and after the city's fall to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on October 23. Reports indicate that nearly 500 patients and their companions at the Saudi Maternity Hospital were slaughtered on Tuesday alone. Local sources report widespread killings, abductions, maiming, and sexual violence, as well as the detention and killing of aid workers.

Leading international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have announced that they will suspend their humanitarian work in Afghanistan, at least temporarily. The move comes after the Taliban de facto authorities reportedly issued an order Saturday barring all female employees of national and international organizations from going to work with immediate effect.

Violence in Myanmar is spiraling as the military junta increases its attacks on monasteries, schools, and camps sheltering people uprooted by the civil war, a top independent human rights investigator warned Wednesday. This warning comes as the number of people in Myanmar in need of humanitarian assistance has risen to an unprecedented 22 million, following four years of fierce civil war and devastating earthquakes three months ago.

A new report published on Friday states that up to 11.6 million refugees and others forced to flee could lose access to direct humanitarian assistance from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) this year due to major cuts to humanitarian budgets around the world. This figure represents approximately one-third of the people the humanitarian organization assisted last year.

The abrupt suspension of foreign aid by the United States has fueled a global humanitarian catastrophe, according to UN human rights experts. The extreme cuts in funding are expected to cost millions of lives worldwide. On Thursday, the experts said the situation was made worse by the US administration’s failure to publish a mandatory review of contracts and disbursements by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

According to a new United Nations report released on Thursday, sexual violence reached "unprecedented levels" in armed conflicts last year, with the highest number of cases recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Somalia, and Haiti. The report warns of the devastating health and social consequences faced by survivors amid shrinking access to humanitarian assistance.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), humanitarian operations in Niger are currently on hold following the attempted coup in the country. The United Nations, the United States, the West African economic bloc ECOWAS, the African Union and the European Union have called for the release of Niger’s president, Mohamed Bazoum, after a group of soldiers claimed to have removed him from power Wednesday. President Bazoum has urged democratic forces in the country to resist the power grab.