Humanitarian Response Plan

United Nations humanitarian and human rights officials are calling on Russia to immediately cease its armed attacks in Ukraine, as the intensification of fighting in the northeast of the country in recent days is causing a surge in civilian casualties and displacement, and the destruction of critical infrastructure. They also urge an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and for the UN Security Council to seek an end to the war.

With half a million people one step away from famine in north-eastern Nigeria, UN humanitarian agencies have sounded the alarm bell on Wednesday at a briefing in Geneva asking for urgently needed funding to provide life-saving operations. 700,000 children under the age of five years are at risk of life-threatening severe acute malnutrition, a number which has doubled compared to last year.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is calling for immediate, unimpeded and safe access to conflict-hit areas of Sudan to provide food to millions of displaced people facing acute hunger, amid warnings that this “forgotten war” has potential implications for regional stability. The UN agency says more than nine months of conflict have taken an unimaginable toll on civilians. WFP calls the situation beyond dire, noting that almost 18 million people are facing acute hunger.

The historic power shift in Syria is raising hopes for an end to nearly 14 years of brutal war and one of the world's largest and worst humanitarian crises. Since the fall of the Assad government on Sunday, senior United Nations officials have highlighted the opportunities of the watershed moment, but also reminded of the realities - that more than 16 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and at least 13.6 million Syrians have been displaced by the war.

As humanitarians around the world marked two years since the start of Sudan's relentless and widely neglected war, large-scale atrocities involving hundreds of civilian deaths and mass displacement have been reported from the Zamzam displacement camp near the town of El Fasher in Sudan's North Darfur state. This follows reports that armed groups affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of the camp over the weekend.

A new study by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warns that millions of Ukrainian refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) face an uncertain future as Ukraine enters its third year of war with Russia and its battle for survival risks becoming a protracted crisis.  Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is seeking to clarify the fate of 23,000 persons whose families have no news of them, either because they have been captured, killed, or because they lost contact after fleeing their homes.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warns that urgent action is needed to save lives in Nigeria, where the malnutrition crisis is escalating. Without immediate intervention, 1.8 million children could die from severe acute malnutrition (SAM). The Nigeria Red Cross Society (NRCS) reports that 84 percent of healthcare facilities in six northern states have insufficient supplies of lifesaving ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF).

The ongoing ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is allowing United Nations agencies to provide life-saving food to more desperate people, but the UN warns that greater access is necessary to prevent famine from spreading. Since the ceasefire took effect on October 10, the World Food Programme (WFP) has brought in over 6,700 metric tons of food — enough to feed nearly half a million people for two weeks. However, this falls far short of the daily target of around 2,000 tons.

Since the beginning of the year, renewed fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) has led to a dramatic deterioration of the humanitarian situation and mass displacement, particularly in North and South Kivu provinces. Widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have been reported, including summary executions, indiscriminate attacks, sexual violence, and the recruitment of children.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly (GA) on Wednesday, Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), urged UN member states to act to prevent the implementation of Israeli Knesset legislation targeting UNRWA.  He also urged states to maintain funding for UNRWA and not to withhold or divert funds on the assumption that the organization can no longer operate.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning of a looming halt to its food and nutrition assistance to 1.4 million crisis-affected populations in Chad – including newly arrived Sudanese refugees - due to funding constraints. Today's warning comes as aid agencies scramble to respond to a fresh wave of Sudanese refugees fleeing the unimaginable humanitarian crisis unfolding in neighboring Darfur amid reports of mass killings, rapes, and widespread destruction.

Food is slowly returning to the Gaza Strip amid "apocalyptic scenes", but UN humanitarian officials said on Tuesday that supplies are still desperately inadequate. They issued fresh calls for wider access and more border crossings to be opened, as well as continued financial support. Since the resumption of general food distributions on October 13, nearly half of Gaza's population has received food parcels.

The United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports Thursday that up to 300,000 people have fled Al-Jazirah state following the clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) around Wad Madani, the capital of Al-Jazirah State. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), half of them are children. Around 7 million people have been already displaced inside and outside Sudan since fighting broke out between the warring parties on April 15, 2023.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has called for international attention to the humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso, where almost 5 million people currently require humanitarian assistance. In a statement Thursday, the non-governmental organization (NGO) said that over 800,000 women, men, and children live in 26 cities under blockade with limited or no access to basic necessities which has led to an unprecedented food crisis. 

Four months into the war in Sudan, humanitarian leaders are highlighting the devastating impact the brutal conflict has had on millions of people whose lives have been destroyed and whose basic human rights have been violated. In a statement issued Tuesday, they called on the parties to the conflict to end the fighting, protect civilians and give humanitarian organizations unfettered access to all people in need in all areas of the country.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says it is being forced to drop another 2 million hungry people from food assistance in Afghanistan in September, bringing to 10 million the number of people cut off from its support this year in the country. Due to a massive funding shortfall, WFP will only be able to provide emergency assistance to 3 million of the most vulnerable people per month, the UN agency said in a statement Tuesday.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that drought continues to impact millions of people across Somalia.  Somali authorities estimate that more than 4.6 million people, or around a quarter of the population in Somalia, are being affected by the ongoing drought, with more than 104,000 people displaced in November alone due to the extreme dry conditions.

A hunger emergency is looming on the border between South Sudan and Sudan as families fleeing fighting in Sudan continue to cross the border every day, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday. New data shows that among the nearly 300,000 people who have arrived in South Sudan in the last five months, one in five children are malnourished and 90 percent of families say they are going multiple days without eating.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the UN and its humanitarian partners are continuing to deliver aid in southern Syria amid a volatile security situation and limited funding. OCHA states that the security situation in southern Syria remains unpredictable, with ongoing incidents contributing to rural instability.