Non-Governmental Organizations

The United Nations, together with the Government of Haiti and other partner organizations, on Tuesday launched the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Haiti, which requires US$674 million. The HRP aims to provide food, shelter, health, education and protection services to 3.6 million Haitians over the next 12 months. More than 5.5 million people - including 3 million children - are in need of humanitarian assistance this year as the security situation in the Caribbean country deteriorates.

The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in the Occupied Palestinian Territory on Sunday issued a stark warning about the deepening humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, as Israeli authorities maintain a blockade on the delivery of humanitarian aid and commercial goods for more than two months. In a statement, HCT, which coordinates relief efforts in Gaza and the West Bank, also condemned Israeli efforts to dismantle the current aid system.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that halfway into 2023, it has only received 20 percent of the US$54.8 billion it needs this year to help people in need around the world. At the same time, the World Food Programme (WFP) continues to cut emergency food aid to millions in urgent need of humanitarian assistance due to severe funding constraints.

More than a year after the start of the war in Sudan, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Friday it remains extremely concerned about shocking levels of violence and devastating risks as many areas across the country remain beyond the reach of aid organizations. Among these areas is Sudan's North Darfur state, where intensifying clashes between the warring parties are preventing aid deliveries to the wider Darfur region.

Hunger levels in many of the world's poorest countries will remain high for another 136 years if the lack of progress in feeding the world continues, according to a new report released Thursday. While global progress in reducing hunger has stagnated, the 2024 Global Hunger Index (GHI) reveals that hunger is at severe or alarming levels in 42 countries.

An estimated 774 million children across the world – or one third of the world’s child population - are living with the dual impacts of poverty and high climate risk, according to a new report by the humanitarian organization Save the Children International. The countries with the highest proportion of children affected by this double burden are South Sudan (87%), Central African Republic (85%) and Mozambique (80%), the analysis released today says.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that casualties, especially among children, are rising in north-west Syria as shelling and airstrikes continue to pound the areas of Idleb and western Aleppo. In its latest situation report, OCHA said Friday that more than 2,300 places have been affected by the violence, resulting in the displacement of more than 120,000 people since the escalation began in early October.

Multiple over-lapping crises are impeding global efforts to tackle hunger, according to the 2023 Global Hunger Index (GHI) released Thursday, which shows that hunger levels are at “serious” or “alarming” levels in 43 countries. The report, which is jointly published by the international humanitarian organization Concern Worldwide and the German charity Welthungerhilfe, finds progress against hunger worldwide has largely stalled since 2015. 

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told the UN Security Council Friday that two months into Israel’s war against Gaza “we are at a breaking point,” and urged members to push for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, but the United States used again its veto to prevent the council from demanding the urgent needed stop in the attacks. Meanwhile, UN leaders says the situation in the tiny enclave is apocalyptic and there is a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system.

Time is running out for millions of people in Sudan who are "at imminent risk of famine" because the country's warring parties are preventing aid from reaching them, major aid agencies warn. Nineteen global humanitarian organizations, including twelve United Nations agencies, urged Sudan's warring parties on Friday to stop blocking food aid from reaching millions of people suffering from acute hunger.

Eight brutal years of conflict have devastated the lives of millions of children in Yemen and left 11 million children in need of one or more forms of humanitarian assistance, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Friday in a statement, warning that, without urgent action, millions could face greater risks of being malnourished. Despite a six-month truce in 2022, widespread suffering persists in the country mainly due to the deteriorating economy and the collapse of basic services.

The United Nations (UN) says that millions of people in Ukraine are without electricity, water or heating following a wave of Russian missile attacks on Tuesday that hit critical infrastructure in at least 16 of the country’s 24 regions and in the capital, Kyiv.  According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the damage to civilian infrastructure comes at a critical time when the temperature is dropping below zero, raising concerns about a serious humanitarian crisis during the harsh Ukrainian winter if people are unable to heat th

After 22 months of relentless conflict, more than half a million people in the Gaza Strip are in the grips of famine, marked by widespread starvation, destitution, and preventable deaths, according to a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released Friday. Projections indicate that famine conditions will spread from Gaza Governorate to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis Governorates in the coming weeks.

Acute food insecurity is on track to reach a ten-year high in the Sahel and West Africa by June of this year - a new study shows - with a worrying expansion of food insecurity into coastal countries, and catastrophic levels of hunger hitting conflict-affected areas of Burkina Faso and Mali where humanitarian assistance is severely hindered by insecurity. 

While civilians are being targeted or indiscriminately attacked in several regions of Sudan, with hundreds reportedly killed, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that Sudan's humanitarian crisis continues to intensify as cholera spreads throughout the country, flooding displaces communities, and thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) return to areas with little to no support.

Persistent heavy rains and severe flooding have hit several countries in the Sahel, affecting millions of people and displacing hundreds of thousands, most recently in northeastern Nigeria. The extreme weather has also exacerbated existing humanitarian crises in Chad, Cameroon, Mali and Niger. Aid agencies are urgently calling for increased international support to reach the most vulnerable.

The year is not yet over, but 2024 has already become the deadliest on record for humanitarian workers, with the war in Gaza driving up the numbers, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday, citing data from the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD). The grim milestone was reached with the recorded deaths of 281 aid workers globally, surpassing the previous record of 2023.

Syria has announced Thursday it would allow the United Nations the temporary use of Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey for six months to reach millions of Syrians living in areas outside the government's control in the country’s northwest. The United Nations says it is studying the Syrian offer and, as of Friday, had not moved any aid through the crossing.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that civilians, including humanitarian workers, are facing serious threats to their safety as hostilities escalate in northern Syria and spread to other parts of the country. The fighting also continues to cause severe damage to critical infrastructure and disrupt aid operations, while Syria is already facing one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.