Humanitarian Crisis

Families in Sudan are eating grass to survive in an escalating hunger crisis, with famine-level malnutrition spreading across half of Sudan's 18 states, the international humanitarian organization Save the Children warned on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the United Nations reports that fighting continues to rage in North Darfur, West Darfur, Khartoum, North Kordofan and Al Jazira states, despite repeated calls for the warring parties to cease fighting, ensure the protection of civilians and facilitate humanitarian access.

Somalia and the United Nations have appealed Wednesday for $2.6 billion (€ 2.4 billion) to aid millions of Somalis facing hunger as the country remains gripped by a record-setting drought. Somalia has been struggling against famine-like conditions that aid groups say are forcing thousands of people to flee from the countryside into cities seeking help.

Funding constraints mean that the World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to limit emergency aid to only 6.2 million of the most vulnerable people in need across West Africa, scaling back from an initial target of assisting 11.6 million, the United Nations agency said on Wednesday. Millions in the Sahel will be stranded without aid as the lean season sets in and hunger starts to peak. 

Earth just experienced its hottest three months on record, according to the European Union-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). At the same time, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports global sea surface temperatures are at unprecedented highs for the third consecutive month and Antarctic sea ice extent remains at a record low for the time of year. The developments come as the climate crisis is already having a devastating impact on people and ecosystems and fueling hunger and conflict in the world's worst crisis hotspots.

Nearly 11 months of war in Sudan has shattered millions of lives and created one of the world's largest displacement crises. The humanitarian emergency also risks becoming the world's largest hunger crisis if the fighting does not stop, warned United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain on Wednesday as she concluded a visit to South Sudan, where she met families fleeing violence and an escalating hunger emergency in Sudan.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is sounding the alarm as the ongoing violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) reaches devastating levels. Two years of cyclical conflict in the North Kivu territories of Rutshuru and Masisi have forced more than 1.3 million people to flee their homes within the DRC, resulting in a total of 5.7 million internally displaced people in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri.

Renewed Israeli airstrikes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday killed hundreds of people, including more than 100 children, and injured hundreds of others, Gaza officials said. The collapse of the ceasefire in Gaza and the large-scale civilian deaths have been met with shock by senior United Nations officials and humanitarian organizations around the world.

The international non-governmental organization (NGO) CARE has called Monday on the international community to pay attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan and increase funding. The war in Sudan, which entered its tenth month last week, continues to cause extreme suffering for millions across the country and in neighboring states, with women and children experiencing the conflict’s impacts most acutely.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is urgently appealing for funds to provide life-saving food assistance to two million people in Malawi who are facing the devastating effects of drought. Today's appeal comes just days after Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera declared a state of disaster.  Malawi, like other countries in Southern Africa, is grappling with the effects of a severe period of dry weather, exacerbated by the effects of the El Niño phenomenon.

A scheduled four-day truce in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas came into effect Friday morning at 7 a.m. local time (5 a.m. GMT). According to Qatari officials, who brokered the deal, the truce includes a comprehensive cease-fire in north and south Gaza. According to the deal, which was reportedly facilitated by Egypt and the United States, 50 women and children, who were abducted from Israel by Hamas on October 7, are to be released in exchange for Palestinian women and minors held in Israeli prisons.

A new report by the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) reveals that most people in Myanmar are united in defying military authoritarianism and violence. The report calls for renewed international resolve to end the military’s stranglehold on power. Driven by relentless violence, systemic impunity, and economic collapse, a spiraling human rights crisis has left civilians caught in the crossfire of an increasingly brutal conflict resulting in a dire humanitarian crisis.

A United Nations fact-finding mission warns that repression in Venezuela has worsened following flawed presidential elections on July 28, with Nicolás Maduro's government crushing all dissent in a bid to retain power "at any price." Tuesday's report comes as there is no end in sight to the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, with at least 7.6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the humanitarian community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been forced to reprioritize its response plan due to critical funding shortfalls. The move is part of a "Humanitarian Reset," following a dramatic drop in funding triggered by the United States' brutal cessation of most contributions and cuts to humanitarian assistance by other major donors around the world.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns that this year's record-breaking heat is likely to continue in 2025, further accelerating climate change and leading to catastrophic consequences, unless urgent action is taken to curb the "human activities" behind this looming disaster.  According to the United Nations weather agency, 2024 is set to be the hottest year on record, "capping a decade of unprecedented heat fueled by human activities."

Amid the political stalemate in Syria, United Nations officials on Monday urged the UN Security Council to maintain its focus on the country, stressing that the consequences of neglecting the more than 13-year-old conflict could be grave for both the country and the region. Syria remains one of the world's largest humanitarian crises, with at least 16.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and some 13.6 million people displaced from their homes.