Refugees

According to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), 25.6 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) continue to face crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity. In a joint statement on Thursday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that armed violence, ongoing conflict and soaring food prices are fueling acute food insecurity among displaced people and returnees.

The European Union (EU) says it is gravely concerned by the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, DRC), which recently led to an immediate system-wide scale-up by the United Nations of humanitarian operations in the eastern part of the country. In a statement Friday by its High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, the EU also expressed outrage at the levels of violence and atrocities that continue to be perpetrated by armed groups with impunity against civilians. 

This Sunday marks 100 days since the devastating war in the Gaza Strip began, killing tens of thousands of civilians – among them more than 10,000 children - and displacing millions of people, following the major attacks that Palestinian armed groups carried out against Israel on October 7 last year. United Nations officials say Palestinians in Gaza are in a state of desperation after three months of being militarily battered and left without sufficient supplies of food, water and medicine. 

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

The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have been displaced last week following clashes between the Congolese armed forces and the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebel group in North Kivu province in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). Since early March, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group has reportedly killed at least 97 civilians in the Beni territory, also in North Kivu Province. 

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, David Beasley, has appealed to the world to invest in the Syrian people and communities to get them on their feet and off food assistance. During a visit to Syria on Friday, Beasley said that 12 million people in the country do not know where their next meal is coming from, while an additional 2.9 million are at risk of sliding into hunger.

The warring parties in Sudan have committed an appalling range of harrowing human rights violations and international crimes, including many that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, United Nations-appointed experts said on Friday. They called for the immediate deployment of an "independent and impartial force" with a mandate to protect civilians.

The United Nations report that fighting continues between the Congolese army and the “Mouvement du 23 mars” (M23) rebel group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu Province. A United Nations spokesman also said Monday that at least 32 civilians have been killed in two separate attacks by other rebel groups in neighboring Ituri province.

East African head of states have renewed their call for an immediate ceasefire by all parties in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). The call came at an extra-ordinary summit in Burundi’s capital Bujumbura on Saturday. The leaders of the East African Community (EAC) also demanded the withdrawal of all foreign armed troops.

Global solidarity is urgently needed to help vulnerable people in the Horn of Africa survive a rapidly unfolding humanitarian catastrophe, driven by the longest and most severe drought in recent history, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said in a joined statement on Monday. As the drought is set to run well into 2023, aid organizations must prepare now to continue their life-saving work in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya in response to extremely high humanitarian needs through to next year.

Despite the tactical pauses that Israel introduced last week to allow some safe passage for humanitarian convoys, the amount of aid that has entered the Gaza Strip remains vastly insufficient for its starving population. United Nations aid trucks continue to face impediments on their way to deliver aid, while UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) continue to face obstructions that prevent them from bringing in and distributing aid at scale.

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.

Over 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Rutshuru Territory in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North-Kivu province, since renewed fighting between the Congolese army and the “Mouvement du 23 mars” (M23) armed group broke out on 20 October, the United Nations report this week.  While at least 188,000 men, women and children are now internally displaced, more than 16,500 others have sought refuge in Uganda.

Amid growing fears of a wider war, the UN Security Council held an emergency session on Friday after Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital Beirut and in the south left at least a dozen dead and more than 60 injured. The meeting came amid an upsurge in cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces and two days of terrorist attacks in Lebanon that used deadly explosions from wireless devices, killing at least 37 people and maiming or injuring more than 3,400.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that the catastrophic situation in the Gaza Strip is the worst it has been since the war began in October 2023. Atrocities continue on a massive scale, and the limited amount of aid entering Gaza falls far short of what is needed to support the more than two million starving civilians following 80 days of a total Israeli blockade of all commercial and humanitarian supplies.

The eighth edition of the "Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region" conference took place in Brussels on Monday, but saw only meager pledges from leading donors such as the European Union and the United States for this year's humanitarian response in Syria. In total, more than US$8.9 billion is needed to respond to the Syria crisis, making it the United Nations' largest humanitarian appeal worldwide.

A third round of peace talks for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo) has ended today in Nairobi with no reported progress toward settling conflicts in the country’s volatile eastern provinces. The talks, facilitated by the East African Community (EAC), are coming to an end as the Congolese government accuses the “Mouvement du 23 mars” (M23) armed group of killing at least 270 civilians in DR Congo’s North-Kivu province.