Humanitarian Crisis

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has instructed UN agencies, funds and programs to suspend all activities in Yemen's Houthi-controlled Saada governorate for security reasons, his spokesperson said on Monday. The measure follows the recent detention by Houthi rebels of eight more United Nations staff members, including six working in the governorate.

Hours before the first anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 141 of 193 United Nations member states have passed a resolution calling for an immediate Russian troop withdrawal and a “comprehensive, just and lasting peace” in Ukraine. Seven states voted Thursday against the resolution text at a special session of the UN General Assembly (UN-GA): Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Mali, Nicaragua, Syria and Russia. 32 countries abstained, including China, India, South Africa and Iran.

The United Nations expressed its deep concern Friday about clashes, which erupted on Monday between armed groups in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince. The fighting affected the neighborhood of Cité Soleil and its surroundings, including hospitals and health centers; there were reportedly many casualties, as well as incidents of sexual violence, the burning of houses and serious human rights violations. 

Syria has announced Thursday it would allow the United Nations the temporary use of Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey for six months to reach millions of Syrians living in areas outside the government's control in the country’s northwest. The United Nations says it is studying the Syrian offer and, as of Friday, had not moved any aid through the crossing.

Renewed violent clashes involving non-state armed groups are exacerbating the hunger and protection crises in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo), leaving 10 million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, the international humanitarian organizations Oxfam, CARE International and the Danish Refugee Council have warned in a joined statement Tuesday.

The United Nations and Ethiopia’s Federal Government - in a joint statement Thursday - have called for urgent funding, to respond to food insecurity across northern regions as an estimated 4 million people in Tigray, Afar, Amhara, and parts of the Oromia, Southern and Southwest regions are affected by devastating drought. While the situation in many of these areas is already alarming, there is still an opportunity to avert a serious humanitarian catastrophe, the UN and the Government stressed.

Anger and frustration from developing countries vulnerable to climate impacts are likely to linger after the conclusion of the COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, as nations adopted a US$300 billion global finance target to help poorer nations cope with climate change, a deal that many recipient countries said was woefully inadequate.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has expressed extreme concern over the impact of escalating violence on civilians in Sudan, especially in Kordofan and North Darfur. On Friday, OCHA reported that the humanitarian situation in the besieged towns of Dilling and Kadugli in South Kordofan has continued to deteriorate.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that around 80 per cent of Haiti’s capital is under the control or influence of gangs.  In a report released Friday, OCHA warns the impact of armed violence on the population has reached unprecedented levels, with more than 5.2 million Haitian men, women and children - almost half the population - in need of humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations has launched an appeal for $1billion (€ 936 million) in emergency aid to help victims in Turkey of last week’s catastrophic earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people. The UN said in a statement today that the funds would provide humanitarian relief for three months to 5.2 million people. A separate appeal for Syria has been already launched on Tuesday.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has unanimously decided Monday to extend the use of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing for the delivery of aid into north-west Syria for six months, as Russia did not veto the resolution. Humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) expressed relieve following the decision, which provides a lifeline to millions of Syrians residing in areas outside government control during winter.

The United Nations said late Tuesday that it had reached agreement with the Syrian government on the use of the main border crossing from Turkey into northwest Syria. The UN cross-border aid operation has been a lifeline to north-west Syria for more than 9 years, reaching millions of people each month with humanitarian aid including food, medicines, and shelter items.

On Wednesday, United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk condemned the recent surge in deadly attacks by the Rwandan-backed M23 and other armed groups against civilians in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). According to the UN human rights office (OHCHR), at least 490 civilians were killed in these attacks in July alone.

Ten million children in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are in dire need of humanitarian assistance – twice as many as in 2020 – largely due to spiraling conflict in the Central Sahel region, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned in an analysis released Friday. According to the UNICEF Child Alert, nearly 4 million children are at risk in neighboring countries as hostilities between armed groups and national security forces spill across borders.

Failure to provide timely humanitarian aid and protection to Syrian earthquake victims has cost the lives of many civilians caught in this catastrophic disaster, according to a United Nations-appointed commission of inquiry on Syria. In a statement Monday, the three-member independent body accuses the Syrian government and other parties to that country's conflict, the international community, and the UN of the abandonment of millions of Syrian civilians in dire need.

Due to the wide-reaching impacts of Israel’s war and its ongoing blocking of aid deliveries, famine is projected to occur anytime between now and May 2024 in northern Gaza, according to a new report published today by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). The rest of the Gaza Strip is also at the risk of famine if hostilities do not cease and humanitarian assistance at scale does not reach those most in need.

The newly appointed United Nations Special Representative for Haiti has said that the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the country demands that Haiti remains at the center of international attention and needs action now. In her first briefing to the UN Security Council Wednesday, Maria Isabel Salvador stressed that gang violence is expanding at an alarming rate in areas previously considered relatively safe in the capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as outside the city.

International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has expressed concern for civilians in the town of Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after M23 rebels reportedly took control of the city. The rebel group's capture of Goma further threatens the lives of civilians and could lead to further displacement, the rights group said.

With Haiti “in the grip of total chaos”, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says "restoring a degree of public order" to prevent further harm to the population from violence and to ensure access to life-saving humanitarian assistance must be the immediate priority. Speaking to the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, Volker Türk also said that humanitarian corridors must be established as soon as possible.