UNHCR

A new report by the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) reveals that most people in Myanmar are united in defying military authoritarianism and violence. The report calls for renewed international resolve to end the military’s stranglehold on power. Driven by relentless violence, systemic impunity, and economic collapse, a spiraling human rights crisis has left civilians caught in the crossfire of an increasingly brutal conflict resulting in a dire humanitarian crisis.

Monday marks another grim milestone in the conflict in Sudan. Since the fighting started 100 days ago, thousands of civilians have been killed and injured, and millions displaced as a result of the nightmarish violence that broke out. UN agencies and international humanitarian organizations around the world today called attention to the plight of the people of Sudan and demanded action to end the war and improve the humanitarian response to the crisis.

Afghan and Pakistani troops continue to fight fiercely along their shared border, marking eleven days of ongoing clashes between the neighboring countries. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) continues to verify and record incidents of civilian casualties in Afghanistan resulting from the cross-border conflict.

The second Global Refugee Forum (GRF) closed Friday after three days with a range of pledges to improve the lives of the world’s refugees and the countries and communities that host them. States also pledged to resettle 1 million refugees by 2030, while governments and foundations launched a pledge backed by a new global sponsorship fund to help 3 million refugees access third countries through community sponsorship. 

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that Israeli displacement orders followed by airstrikes continue to drive panic among civilians in Lebanon, particularly in the suburbs of the capital Beirut. According to Lebanese officials, more than 3,300 people, including more than 200 children, have been killed and more than 14,000 injured by Israeli airstrikes since October 2023, most of them within the past six weeks.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says a funding shortfall has forced it to cut by one-half food rations for more than 50,000 people in Malawi at the country's only refugee camp. The food cuts come at a time when refugees at the Dzaleka camp, who are mainly from the Great Lakes region, are already facing deteriorating food security.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that, despite severe funding shortages, the UN and its humanitarian partners are continuing to respond to urgent needs in southern Syria, where they are delivering vital aid to communities amid harsh winter conditions. The US$3.2 billion humanitarian response plan for Syria is currently only 30 percent funded, with $953 million received as of mid-December.

The United Nations and partner agencies renewed a call Tuesday for countries to immediately suspend mass deportations of Afghan nationals, citing the onset of a harsh winter and the worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The call comes amid reports that Iran and Pakistan have collectively forced out more than 500,000 Afghans over the past two months, with the number of deportees growing by the day.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the air strike in the Sudanese city of Omdurman on Saturday, which reportedly killed at least 22 people, and left dozens injured. Guterres “remains deeply concerned that the ongoing war between the armed forces has pushed Sudan to the brink of a full-scale civil war, potentially destabilizing the entire region”, according to his spokesman.

Amid continuing uncertainty over the impact of deep cuts in United States funding for humanitarian work worldwide, the head of the United Nations program coordinating the fight against HIV/AIDS warned on Monday that an additional 6.3 million people will die over the next four years if support is not restored. Several UN agencies have also recently warned that the radical cut in US support - on top of chronic underinvestment in humanitarian work worldwide - is putting millions of lives at risk across the globe.

Widespread attacks on civilians continue across South Sudan, driven primarily by subnational armed violence involving community-based militias and civil defense groups, according to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Its latest quarterly report, released on Wednesday, comes as the country faces an underfunded humanitarian response, an influx of new arrivals due to the war in neighboring Sudan, as well as looming flooding and an economic crisis.

The United Nations and humanitarian agencies have launched on Monday a combined US$ 4.2 billion appeal to donors to bring relief aid to some 10.8 million people in the war-affected communities in Ukraine but also to Ukrainian refugees and their host communities in the region throughout 2024.  A recent wave of Russian attacks underscores the devastating civilian cost of the war, while a bitter winter is ratcheting up the urgent need for life-saving humanitarian assistance.