Niger

Amid the worst malnutrition crisis to hit north-east Nigeria in five years, the United Nations relief chief and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, has released $6 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the region. In a statement on Monday, Fletcher stressed the need to deliver food to those in urgent need and establish systems to mitigate the risk of future crises.

A new joint United Nations report warns that people in five hunger hotspots — Sudan, Palestine (Occupied Palestinian Territory), South Sudan, Haiti, and Mali — face extreme hunger, starvation, and death in the next five months unless urgent humanitarian action is swiftly taken to de-escalate conflict, stop displacement, and provide full-scale aid.

The United Nations, the Government of Cameroon and the humanitarian community have jointly launched the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for the country, where 3.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance this year. The Plan, released this week, targets 2.3 million vulnerable women, girls, men and boys in the most affected areas and requires US$371.4 million.

An independent rights expert warns that multifaceted crises facing Mali, propelled by increasing attacks from Islamist armed groups, are leading to a rapid deterioration of the country’s security situation and surging human rights violations, with potentially serious effects in the region. The warning comes as Mali is experiencing enormous humanitarian needs, with 30 percent of the population - 7.1 million - in need of assistance this year.

A new United Nations report - out this week - warns that the spread of conflict, armed violence, climate hazards and economic stress are driving severe hunger and, in some cases, famine conditions in 22 countries and territories, with no likelihood of improvement in the next six months. Acute food insecurity in these hotspots will increase in scale and severity, pushing millions of people to the brink.

A report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) finds the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, economic uncertainty and other crises have halted progress in human development and reversed gains made over the past three decades as 9 out of 10 countries fall backwards in human development.

Humanitarian needs in dozens of conflict zones from Yemen to Somalia, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo are rising, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warns today. The humanitarian organization fears that this pattern will continue in 2023. ICRC says for the millions of people in these conflicts reliant on humanitarian assistance greater support is desperately needed to save lives and avert further suffering.

As global humanitarian funding plummets due to extreme funding cuts by the United States, the United Nations on Thursday released US$110 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to scale up life-saving assistance in ten of the world's most underfunded and neglected crises in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In total, more than 307 million people around the world are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

The Humanitarian Coordinator in Chad, Violette Kakyomya, warned on Monday that the country is facing multiples humanitarian crises and called for urgent support.  The conflict in Sudan is having a strong impact on neighboring Chad, with nearly 490,000 Sudanese refugees – mostly women and children – having crossed the border into the eastern part of the Sahel country to seek safety. In total, there are currently one million refugees living in Chad. 

United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) Martin Griffiths on Tuesday released US$100 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support underfunded humanitarian emergencies in seven countries in Africa, the Americas and the Middle East. The crises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Sudan and Syria top the list, receiving $20 million each.

Nearly one in ten people in Burkina Faso have been displaced by conflict. Most worryingly, the rate of severe food insecurity has nearly doubled compared to last year, with over 600,000 people in emergency hunger levels during this lean season, warn 28 international aid organizations operating in the country. In a joint statement released today, the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) say an urgent increase in funding for humanitarian assistance is required to respond to the current situation in Burkina Faso.

Amid rising global humanitarian needs, the European Commission has announced on Wednesday that its initial annual humanitarian aid budget will grow to €1.7 billion in 2023, an increase of about €200 million compared to the previous year.  In 2022, the European Union's (EU) initial humanitarian aid budget was €1.5 billion.

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.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) released its annual Emergency Watchlist on Wednesday, spotlighting the 20 countries most likely to face escalating humanitarian needs in the coming year. According to the dire ranking, the top five crises are Sudan, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Myanmar, Syria and South Sudan, as war and climate change fuel new and ongoing humanitarian emergencies around the world.

With an estimated 300 million people in need of humanitarian aid in 2024, the European Union (EU) has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the world's most vulnerable people. The European Commission (EC) announced on Monday that it had approved an initial annual humanitarian aid budget of more than €1.8 billion (US$1.93 billion) for this year, a slight increase of about €100 million compared to the previous year. In 2023, the European Union's (EU) initial humanitarian aid budget was €1.7 billion.

Next year will set another record for humanitarian relief requirements, with 339 million people in need of assistance in 69 countries, an increase of 65 million people compared to the same time last year, the United Nations (UN) and humanitarian partner organizations said today. The estimated cost of the humanitarian response going into 2023 is US$51.5 billion (EUR 49.3 billion), a 25 per cent increase compared to the beginning of 2022.

A new report published on Friday states that up to 11.6 million refugees and others forced to flee could lose access to direct humanitarian assistance from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) this year due to major cuts to humanitarian budgets around the world. This figure represents approximately one-third of the people the humanitarian organization assisted last year.

The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has allocated $5.9 million to support the rapid response to urgent humanitarian needs in Burkina Faso, particularly those of displaced people. This allocation comes amid the ongoing global funding crisis, and Burkina Faso being one of the most neglected displacement crises worldwide driven by insecurity and climate-related factors, such as drought and flooding.