Humanitarian Crisis

The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has allocated $5.9 million to support the rapid response to urgent humanitarian needs in Burkina Faso, particularly those of displaced people. This allocation comes amid the ongoing global funding crisis, and Burkina Faso being one of the most neglected displacement crises worldwide driven by insecurity and climate-related factors, such as drought and flooding.

The United Nations and humanitarian aid agencies launched the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) for Yemen on Wednesday, appealing for US$2.47 billion to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to 10.5 million people in need. More than half of the country's population - 19.5 million people - are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection this year, with Yemen's most vulnerable and marginalized groups, including women and girls, at greatest risk.

A top United Nations official has expressed grave concern over the rapid expansion of the M23 armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo), particularly in North Kivu province and its spillover into neighboring South Kivu province. Briefing the UN Security Council on Monday, Bintou Keita, the UN special envoy to the DRC, described the situation as "one of the most serious, complex and neglected humanitarian crises of our times."

The eighth edition of the "Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region" conference took place in Brussels on Monday, but saw only meager pledges from leading donors such as the European Union and the United States for this year's humanitarian response in Syria. In total, more than US$8.9 billion is needed to respond to the Syria crisis, making it the United Nations' largest humanitarian appeal worldwide.

The Sahel region continues to grapple with a complex humanitarian crisis, with approximately 4 million people displaced across the Central Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and neighboring regions — around two-thirds more than five years ago. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warns that this crisis is escalating due to a mix of factors, including insecurity, limited access to services and livelihoods, and the devastating effects of climate change.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports that over 25,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique in recent weeks. They have joined nearly 1.3 million Mozambicans affected by displacement due to armed conflict, tropical cyclones, and drought. With critical funding running low, the UNHCR is raising the alarm and warning that its ability to protect and assist those in urgent need is being pushed to the limit.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Nigerian government officials have launched an appeal for US$910 million to address the escalating humanitarian crisis in the north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY states), where a total of 7.8 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance.

International donors have failed to adequately support the ongoing humanitarian response in Yemen at the Sixth Senior Officials' Meeting of donor countries in Brussels today. The announced funding of just over $791 million represents less than a third (29 percent) of the $2.7 billion needed in Yemen this year to meet urgent humanitarian needs, including those of 9.8 million children.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that persistent underfunding of the humanitarian response in Haiti - amid growing needs and rising violence - means millions of Haitians are missing out on vital assistance. OCHA said Thursday that stepped-up and sustained funding is needed to stem the deepening humanitarian crisis in the country.

The United Nations (UN) says that millions of people in Ukraine are without electricity, water or heating following a wave of Russian missile attacks on Tuesday that hit critical infrastructure in at least 16 of the country’s 24 regions and in the capital, Kyiv.  According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the damage to civilian infrastructure comes at a critical time when the temperature is dropping below zero, raising concerns about a serious humanitarian crisis during the harsh Ukrainian winter if people are unable to heat th

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that ongoing Israeli airstrikes are deepening the crisis in areas of Lebanon already struggling with displacement, as casualties and the impact of the conflict mount. According to the Lebanese government, more than 2,400 people have been killed and more than 11,000 injured since October 2023, most of them in the past four weeks.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is appealing for $413 million in emergency funding to help more than 1.7 million people in Mozambique cope with climate disasters and an insurgency concentrated in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. The UN estimates that 2.3 million children, women and men in the country will need humanitarian assistance in 2024, most of them in Cabo Delgado and the neighboring provinces of Niassa and Nampula.

The United Nations and international aid agencies are warning that the lives of millions of people in Sudan are at risk as the world turns its attention away from the enormous humanitarian needs facing the war-torn country. Today, Sudan entered a year of war that many have called the world's largest human-made crisis, with half the population in need of life-saving assistance, tens of thousands killed and injured, and millions uprooted from their homes.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that several areas of Somalia are at risk of drought due to prolonged extreme dry conditions, with hundreds of thousands of families likely to be hit.  Already, 4.4 million people in the East African country are facing hunger - and conditions are expected to worsen as the April to June rainy season is forecast to start late and receive below-normal rainfall.

As Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory continue, more and more civilians are being killed, injured and displaced. More than 2,100 people have died and more than 10,000 have been wounded in fighting in Lebanon over the past year, including hundreds of women and children. Most of them since September 23 this year. While an estimated 1.2 million people are internally displaced, more than 400,000 Lebanese and Syrians have reportedly fled to Syria.

As the death toll in Myanmar continues to rise following Friday's historic earthquake, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the country said on Tuesday that the scale and scope of the earthquake's impact is vast, spanning multiple states and regions, particularly the central part of Myanmar. The death toll is expected to rise to more than 3,000, according to the country's military junta, while thousands are reportedly injured and hundreds missing.