Humanitarian Organizations

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.

A new report by the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) released on Friday accuses all parties involved in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) eastern provinces of North and South Kivu of committing severe violations of international humanitarian law that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The report comes as continued violence in the eastern part of the country continues to claim civilian lives and cause new displacement.

The United Nations has condemned a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday that reportedly killed at least 35 people, including two children, and injured at least 117 others, including 15 children. The two missiles hit a busy street in the center of the city in the northeast of the country, damaging residential buildings, an educational institution and civilian vehicles as people were out celebrating Palm Sunday, a major religious holiday in Ukraine.

The food security situation in Yemen’s districts under the control of the Government of Yemen (GoY) slightly improved during the first five months of this year, while acute malnutrition increased, compared to the same period in 2022, a new analysis suggests. However, the outlook for the period between June until the end of 2023 indicates the need for more investments, as the modest improvements may be eroded, UN agencies warned on Thursday.

The head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Monday that 3 million Haitian children caught up in rampant gang violence are in need of humanitarian assistance, including thousands who are at risk of dying from severe malnutrition. Meanwhile, a sharp increase in the number of wounded has put enormous pressure on the few functioning hospitals in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, as they run dangerously low on medical supplies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concludes in a new report released Wednesday that Russian armed forces have committed crimes against humanity by murdering civilians with drones. The report states that the drone attacks have been widespread and systematic, and have been conducted as part of a coordinated state policy. These findings come as Russian airstrikes continue to kill and maim civilians, including children, and destroy civilian infrastructure.

While negotiations for a comprehensive cease-fire and hostage deal in the Gaza Strip are reportedly underway between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas, a US-led proposal has not been officially accepted by either side. At the same time, the carnage and humanitarian catastrophe on the ground continues as the war entered its ninth month, with people dying across Gaza from Israeli attacks, starvation, or lack of basic resources.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has condemned the widespread human rights violations and abuses committed on a massive scale and with impunity against migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in Libya. Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, Türk also accused Libya's leaders of crushing political dissent in order to cling to power, leaving the country divided, and its people mired in crisis, poverty and misery.

Children make up about half of all armed gang members in Haiti, the head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday, calling for their protection to be stepped up. Meanwhile, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) says it is ramping up its operations in Haiti in the face of a hunger crisis caused mainly by violence and displacement. Some 5.5 million Haitians are in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024, a number that is expected to rise.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced Tuesday the pause of general food distributions in areas of Yemen under the Sanaa Based Authorities' (SBA) control. The pause is driven mainly by limited funding and the absence of an agreement with the authorities on a smaller program that matches available resources to the neediest families.  Sanaa and northern regions of Yemen are under the control of the Ansar-Allah movement - also known as the Houthi group.

More than half of all children living in conflict areas in 2021 – an estimated 230 million – lived in the deadliest conflict countries, a 9% increase from the previous year, reveals new analysis from the humanitarian organization Save the Children International released today. High-intensity conflict zones are defined as conflict zones with more than 1,000 battle-related deaths in a year. The report also shows that about 449 million children worldwide were living in a conflict zone in 2021, a slight drop from the previous year.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that aid agencies are working closely with the Lebanese government to support affected communities amid mounting needs, while the death toll continues to rise at an alarming rate.  According to Lebanese health authorities, at least 1,497 people, including 130 children, have been killed since Israeli attacks resumed on March 2.

More than 40 million people in West Africa - predominantly in the Sahel - and parts of Central Africa are struggling to feed themselves in the 2024 post-harvest season. This number of acutely food insecure people is expected to rise to 52.7 million by mid-2025, including 3.4 million people facing emergency levels of hunger (IPC Phase 4), according to a recent analysis by Cadre Harmonisé. In a joint statement on Friday, UN agencies called for scaled-up humanitarian action and durable solutions to hunger.

Just ten days after Tropical Cyclone Fytia unleashed heavy rains and flooding across the island nation, Madagascar was struck again — this time by the far more powerful Tropical Cyclone Gezani. On Tuesday evening, Gezani made landfall along Madagascar’s northeastern coast, directly hitting Toamasina, the country’s second-largest city and principal port.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced Friday that it is facing a deeper funding crisis for its Yemen operations from the end of September onward. This will force WFP to make difficult decisions about further cuts to its food assistance programs across the country in the coming months. The UN agency has already reduced live-saving programs. 

More than 60,000 Somalis, mainly women and children, have fled to Ethiopia’s Somali region in the past few weeks to escape violent clashes and insecurity in the city of Laascaanood (Laas Caanood), in Somalia’s Sool region, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports. More than half of them arrived earlier this week, UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado Mur said Friday at a news conference in Geneva.

An alarming six out of ten hospitals in Haiti are barely functioning as the recent escalation of violence in the capital, Port-Au-Prince, continues to deprive children of critical health supplies and medicines, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the non-governmental organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) called on the armed groups involved in the fighting and Haitian authorities to facilitate the delivery of medical supplies to those in need.

The United Nations human rights office has condemned the increasing frequency of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) strikes on schools in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians have sought shelter, carried out "with apparent disregard for the high rate of civilian fatalities." The condemnation follows dozens of IDF attacks on schools-turned-shelters in July, and horrific early Saturday morning strikes that killed up to 100 people.

The United States government this week labelled the actions of Sudan's paramilitary forces as genocide and imposed sanctions on its leader for the "horrific, systematic atrocities" committed by his forces in a war that has gripped Sudan for nearly two years, killing tens of thousands of people and driving more than 12 million from their homes. Yet at the same time, the US administration denies that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are being committed in the Gaza Strip.