Niger

The humanitarian organization International Rescue Committee (IRC) has released its annual Emergency Watchlist Thursday, highlighting the 20 countries most at risk of deteriorating humanitarian crises in 2024.  This year, Sudan, Occupied Palestinian Territory and South Sudan top the list of humanitarian emergencies, as conflict, climate risk, economic pressures, growing impunity, and waning international support fuel new and ongoing humanitarian crises around the globe.

Climate change is fueling hunger in ten of the world's worst climate hotspots, according to a report published today by the non-governmental organization (NGO) Oxfam International. Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Somalia and Zimbabwe are ten of the world’s worst climate hotspots – those with the highest number of UN appeals driven by extreme weather events since 2000.  Oxfam warns in these countries the rate of acute hunger has more than doubled over just the past six years.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns that, without urgent resources and action, the most vulnerable people in the Sahel region are headed for another dire year. A staggering 53 million people in the region are expected to experience crisis-level hunger, or worse, during the lean season from June to August 2026. Over 13 million children are also expected to suffer from malnutrition.

Protection services are severely lacking for refugees and migrants - including survivors of human trafficking - making perilous journeys from the Sahel and Horn of Africa towards North Africa and Europe, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warns. In a report released 29 July 2022, the eve of World Day against Trafficking in Persons, UNHCR mapped protection services available to asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants as they travel along these routes.

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 United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday that growing instability across northern Nigeria, including a surge in attacks, is driving hunger to unprecedented levels. Despite soaring needs, the WFP will run out of resources for emergency food and nutrition assistance in December, leaving millions without lifesaving support.

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.

The United Nations and its humanitarian partners released the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) for Burkina Faso on Tuesday, supporting the country's national humanitarian efforts. The HNRP requests US$658.5 million for key sectors, including food security, health, and essential services, as approximately 4.5 million people require humanitarian assistance.

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.