Humanitarian Crisis

With half a million people one step away from famine in north-eastern Nigeria, UN humanitarian agencies have sounded the alarm bell on Wednesday at a briefing in Geneva asking for urgently needed funding to provide life-saving operations. 700,000 children under the age of five years are at risk of life-threatening severe acute malnutrition, a number which has doubled compared to last year.

United Nations officials have once again outlined the dire situation in Afghanistan, with more than 50 percent of the population - some 23.7 million people - in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024, the third-highest number of people in need in the world. Meanwhile, Afghanistan's de facto rulers, the Taliban, are touting a UN invitation to an international conference in Qatar later this month, which they see as a recognition of their government's growing global importance.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says thousands have been displaced after clashes broke out Friday morning between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the outskirts of the Sudanese town of Wad Madani. As of Sunday, the fighting in the capital of Al-Jazirah State, located some 136 km southeast of Sudan’s national capital Khartoum, is ongoing.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Monday of a sharp deterioration in the situation in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State. This warning comes amid reports that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the Sudanese army headquarters in the city on Sunday. In light of the situation, UN relief chief Tom Fletcher has called for an immediate ceasefire in El Fasher, across Darfur, and throughout Sudan.

United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) Martin Griffiths on Tuesday released US$100 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support underfunded humanitarian emergencies in seven countries in Africa, the Americas and the Middle East. The crises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Sudan and Syria top the list, receiving $20 million each.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that, six months after the ceasefire agreement took effect in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian response led by the UN and partner aid agencies remains constrained, leaving people in dire conditions. According to OCHA, people across Gaza are still exposed to lethal force and the risk of further casualties, destroyed property, and displacement, which deepens humanitarian needs.

The United Nations and humanitarian partner agencies have called Thursday for the immediate opening of a humanitarian corridor in Haiti to allow fuel to be accessed at the country’s main fuel terminal. They are deeply concerned about the serious consequences of the blocking of the Varreux Terminal on the humanitarian situation, in particular the resurgence of cholera.

In a joint appeal Wednesday, the heads of UN humanitarian agencies and global non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urged world leaders to help prevent a further deterioration of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children. They also called on Israel to fulfill its legal obligation under international humanitarian and human rights law to provide food and medical supplies and facilitate relief efforts.

The trauma of mass displacement and humanitarian supply chain disruptions throughout the world are among the devastating impacts of the war in Iran and the wider Middle East, UN humanitarian officials warned on Tuesday. As the conflict shows no signs of easing, the breakdown of supply networks is worsening global hunger, putting up to 45 million additional people at risk and pushing already vulnerable communities closer to catastrophe.

Nearly a year into the war in Gaza, the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic. Israel's all-out war and blockade have devastated Gaza, displaced 1.9 million people who have been repeatedly forced into ever smaller areas, and cut off access to desperately needed food, water and medicine. Meanwhile, another humanitarian disaster looms in the region as Israeli security forces escalate their war against Lebanon.

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.

The United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) reports that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have carried out brutal attacks on the besieged city of El Fasher and the Abu Shouk camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Sudan’s North Darfur State which hosts some 25,000 children, women, and men. These attacks resulted in the killing of at least 89 civilians over a ten-day period until Wednesday.

International donors have convened today in Geneva to jump-start funding for the humanitarian operation in Yemen. The high-level event was being hosted by the UN Secretary-General and the Governments of Sweden and Switzerland. Despite a six-month truce in 2022, widespread suffering persists in the country mainly due to the deteriorating economy and the collapse of basic services.

While the world's farmers produce more than enough food to feed the planet's 8 billion people, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said "hunger and malnutrition are a fact of life" for billions, as 2.8 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet.  In a message ahead of Wednesday's World Food Day, Guterres said 733 million people worldwide lack food because of "conflict, marginalization, climate change, poverty and economic downturns.

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.

United Nations agencies warn that South Sudan continues to face a severe food and nutrition crisis which threatens to worsen unless urgent humanitarian action is mounted. According to the latest food security report, over half of South Sudan's population — around 7.56 million people — will experience crisis-level or worse hunger during the lean season from April to July 2026 while, in the coming months, tens of thousands are at risk of famine.

Amid the launch of the US administration’s “Board of Peace” and ongoing reconstruction talks on the Gaza Strip, United Nations aid agencies insisted on Friday that Gazans need immediate relief from the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe. People across the territory continue to struggle to meet their basic needs as Israel's ongoing violations of international law severely obstruct the humanitarian scale-up.

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.