UNHCR

With the full-scale war in Ukraine about to enter its second year, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) today have jointly appealed for US$5.6 billion (€ 5.24 billion) to ease the plight of millions of people affected. The UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, launched the appeal Wednesday in Geneva.

Thousands of refugees and migrants risking their lives on dangerous land routes across the African continent face extreme forms of violence, human rights abuses and exploitation, according to a report released Friday by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC). The organizations say the deaths of refugees and migrants in the Sahara Desert are believed to be twice as high as those at sea.

At least 78 migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, have drowned and hundreds more remain missing and feared dead after their battered and overloaded boat capsized off the coast of Greece early Wednesday. Just over 100 migrants have been rescued and a massive operation to find more continues. The events have raised the question, though, of whether the tragedy, one of Europe's worst migrant disasters, could have been averted. 

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the massive displacement of civilians continues in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo) following recent clashes between armed groups.  Since October 1, more than 145,000 people have fled the violence in Masisi and Rutshuru territories in North Kivu province, amid reports of pervasive human rights abuses.

Tropical Cyclone Chido has affected some 190,000 people in northern Mozambique, a region already severely affected by armed conflict, since making landfall over the weekend, according to preliminary figures reported by the United Nations. Meanwhile, Mozambique's National Disaster Management Authority said on Tuesday that at least 34 people have been killed and more than 300 injured by the extreme storm.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) expressed deep concern on Thursday regarding reports that two boats carrying over 500 passengers may have capsized near Myanmar's coast in recent days. According to preliminary reports, the vessels departed Myanmar's Rakhine State in late June, carrying primarily Rohingya people, some of whom had reportedly traveled from refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

A massive fire broke out Sunday in the middle of a refugee camp occupied by Myanmar Rohingya refugees in southeastern Bangladesh, leaving thousands homeless under the open sky. The number of casualties remains unknown although local officials said they managed to take many people away to safety while some refugees said they had missing family members.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that clan violence in the Luuq district of Somalia's Jubaland state has displaced at least 30,000 people from their homes since July. According to an OCHA situation report released on Wednesday, the security situation remains volatile despite ongoing peace negotiations, limiting access to people in uurgent need of humanitarian assistance.

Diplomats for Afghanistan's ruling Taliban said Wednesday that neighboring Pakistan is implementing a plan for the "imminent" and rapid mass deportation of nearly three million Afghan refugees from its territory. More than 825,000 undocumented Afghans have already been forcibly repatriated from Pakistan since September 2023, as a result of a government crackdown on foreigners living in the country without legal permission or whose visas have expired.

Six days after a devastating earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, the full extent of the damage is coming to light, particularly in the provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar. According to the United Nations, more than 2,200 people have been confirmed dead, at least 3,640 have been injured, and over 6,750 houses have been destroyed, which has affected at least 500,000 people, according to the European Union. As the situation unfolds, however, these figures are likely to rise, as unofficial figures communicated by the Taliban already indicate.

Emergency aid efforts for tens of thousands of refugees who have fled to Armenia from the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in Azerbaijan are gathering speed as the exodus from the disputed region shows few signs of letting up. Since Azerbaijan launched an attack on Nagorno-Karabakh on September 19, some 100,000 refugees have arrived in Armenia, mainly in the country’s southern Syunik region.

A new United Nations report warns that acute food insecurity is worsening in 16 hunger hotspots across the globe, which threatens to push millions more people into famine or risk of famine, with time running out to avert widespread starvation. The report identifies armed conflict and violence, economic collapse, climate extremes, and an unprecedented decline in humanitarian funding as the main drivers of acute hunger.

Five United Nations agencies have called for urgent action to protect the most vulnerable children in the 15 countries hardest hit by an unprecedented food and nutrition crisis. The appeal was published in a joined statement Thursday by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Four United Nations agencies are calling for urgent international attention to address the immense suffering and growing dangers facing the Sudanese population. Over 900 days of brutal fighting, widespread human rights violations, famine, and the collapse of essential services have pushed millions, particularly women and children, to the brink of survival.

Senior United Nations officials today voiced shock and condemnation at increasing reports of gender-based violence (GBV) in Sudan – including conflict-related sexual violence against internally displaced and refugee women and girls – since clashes erupted in the country in mid-April. Fighting in Sudan has now entered its 12th week, with no end in sight after multiple failed ceasefire attempts.

The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon following a large-scale military operation launched by Israel against its northern neighbor this week. Lebanese health officials say nearly 700 people, including more than 50 children, at least 94 women and two UNHCR workers, have been killed and more than 2,000 injured by Israeli airstrikes since Monday.

According to a new report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an estimated 3.9 million people remained internally displaced in Ukraine as of June 2026. While the proportion of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) has remained at around 12 percent of the population since 2023, the report shows that the longer displacement persists, the greater the struggle for families to meet their basic needs.

A toxic mix of conflict, severe drought and devastating floods has forced more than 1 million people in Somalia to flee their homes since the beginning of this year – a record rate of displacement for the country, reported the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on Wednesday.

As Syria enters its fourteenth year of civil war with no political resolution in sight, United Nations aid agencies are appealing to the international community to remember the plight of millions of people who continue to suffer from violence, devastation, destitution and abuse. Thirteen years of crisis have taken an unimaginable toll on the Syrian people, and the UN warns the crisis continues to wreak havoc on the population, worsening an already dire humanitarian situation.