Humanitarian Funding

Children from displaced families are dying of starvation in parts of Yemen, according to the United Nations, as extreme hunger and malnutrition take hold. Over 17 million people in Yemen are acutely food insecure, a figure expected to surpass 18 million by February 2026 amid a critical crisis in humanitarian funding.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that a snowstorm has affected thousands of displaced people in Syria, while humanitarian funding continues to shrink. Last week, the storm hit 90 displacement sites in the north of the country, affecting over 150,000 people. According to aid agencies, two infants died due to the extreme cold in Harim, a town in northern Idlib.

While South Sudan anticipates holding its first elections in December 2024, key institutions and legal frameworks are yet to be established, and critical questions remain unanswered, the top United Nations official for the country told the UN Security Council Friday. At the briefing, speakers warned that intercommunal violence and a massive influx of returnees and refugees continue to worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in the country.

Amid the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Sudan, the heads of over 50 human rights and humanitarian organizations have sounded the alarm and called for more aid, solidarity and attention to the Sudan Crisis. In an open letter published Wednesday, the leaders of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also urged the United Nations Security Council (UN SC) to act. Meanwhile, the UN SC heard briefings on the ongoing atrocities in the country and those responsible for committing them.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday that the scale and severity of hunger and malnutrition in Afghanistan is worsening. New food security figures from the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report show that over 17 million Afghans are facing acute hunger this winter — three million more than last year.

As Yemen marks ten years of war, humanitarian organizations including the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warn that a widening gap between humanitarian needs and the funding needed to meet them risks leaving millions of Yemenis without access to food, health care and protection. After a decade of crisis, humanitarian needs in Yemen continue to rise, particularly among children.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that Yemen bears the highest burden of cholera in the world. According to a WHO report released earlier this week, there are approximately 250,000 suspected cases of cholera reported, with more than 860 associated deaths since the beginning of the year, accounting for 35 percent of the global cholera burden and 18 percent of the global reported mortality.

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.

With hostilities in Myanmar escalating, sparked by a military coup in 2021, and millions of people plunged into a deepening humanitarian crisis, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday urged the country's neighbors to "leverage their influence" to achieve peace and a political solution. Meanwhile, an estimated 1 million people in Myanmar are also suffering from the effects of recent deadly floods.

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 International Rescue Committee (IRC) warns that Yemenis are silently suffering from hunger and malnourishment amid a severe lack of funding and ongoing insecurity that are exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. Yemen is one of the most food-insecure countries in the world and now has the highest number of people facing emergency levels of hunger.

Two years after launching a war against the Gaza Strip, Israel signed a ceasefire and hostage release agreement with the armed group Hamas. The agreement aims to pause hostilities in the devastated territory and raise hope for an end to the brutal conflict marked by widespread atrocities perpetrated by Israeli officials. More than 237,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed, injured, or maimed in Israeli attacks.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday that the very real risk of famine continues to stalk Sudan’s war-impacted communities, and appealed for more funding to support immediate needs and boost longer-term recovery across the country. The appeal comes as funding shortfalls are disrupting WFP's operations across Sudan, where famine has been declared in several regions and more areas are at risk.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns of a sharp decline in the humanitarian situation in El Fasher, the besieged capital of Sudan’s North Darfur State. OCHA reports that civilians in El Fasher continue to endure relentless attacks, acute hunger, and cholera. The population faces daily threats from shelling, airstrikes, and drone attacks — with fierce clashes reported in north-eastern districts of the state capital in recent weeks.

Protracted conflict, serious human rights violations and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law are causing grave suffering for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Congolese refugees, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warns. The warning follows a humanitarian assessment visit to the DRC, including the capital Kinshasa and the eastern provinces, by the agency's top refugee protection official.

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.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that it will be forced to suspend its life-saving assistance to one million people in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province unless additional funding is urgently received. In a media briefing Friday, the UN agency said it is also faced with funding shortfalls for the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) that WFP runs on behalf of the entire humanitarian community.

The United Nations and humanitarian partners on Monday launched the 2025 humanitarian and refugee response plans for Sudan, appealing for a combined US$6 billion to support nearly 26 million people inside the country and in the wider region. Nearly two years of war have created a catastrophic crisis, uprooting more than 12.6 million people inside Sudan and across borders into other countries.

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.