War

United Nations agencies warn that hunger in conflict-ridden Sudan has reached record levels, with more than 20.3 million people across the country, over 42 percent of the population, facing acute hunger, including 6.3 million who are “one step away from famine.” According to the latest IPC food assessment in Sudan, the number of people projected to be food insecure between July and September has nearly doubled from the last analysis, conducted in May 2022.

Some 800,000 people have been forced to flee Gaza's southernmost town of Rafah since Israel launched a military operation in the area in early May, the head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said on Saturday, urging greater protection for civilians in Gaza, safe humanitarian access and a ceasefire.  The renewed appeal comes as virtually no aid has entered Gaza for more than ten days, and essentials such as fuel, food and water are in dangerously short supply.

The "Illegal Migration Bill", which has now been passed by Parliament in the United Kingdom (UK), is “at variance with the country’s obligations under international human rights and refugee law” and will have profound consequences for people in need of international protection, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned today. In order for the Bill to come into force, it requires the approval – royal assent - of King Charles III. 

Armed groups, including one linked to the Armed Forces of the Central African Republic (CAR), have committed grave human rights violations in the Haut Oubangui region in the south-east of the country, mainly against Muslim communities and Sudanese refugees and asylum-seekers, according to a new UN report. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in CAR remains critical as the population continues to face insecurity, while the ongoing war in Sudan exacerbates the situation.

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.

July saw the highest number of civilian casualties in Ukraine since October 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said on Friday. Coordinated attacks by Russian forces across Ukraine on July 8, which killed dozens of people in a single day, made last month exceptionally deadly.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that deadly hostilities in the Suweida Governorate of Syria continue to endanger civilians, with ongoing reports of significant displacement and damage to critical infrastructure, including water, electricity, and telecommunications networks. According to media reports, the hostilities have claimed hundreds of lives.

According to the latest data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), cholera has been surging across the continent since January 2025, with 206,789 cases and 4,330 deaths reported. The outbreak is affecting nearly half of the continent's countries, marking a sharp rise in both cases and geographical spread compared to 2024. The overall case fatality rate (CFR) stands at 2.1 percent, underscoring the deadly nature of the outbreak.

According to a new United Nations report released on Thursday, sexual violence reached "unprecedented levels" in armed conflicts last year, with the highest number of cases recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Somalia, and Haiti. The report warns of the devastating health and social consequences faced by survivors amid shrinking access to humanitarian assistance.

The international humanitarian organization Save the Children is warning that "time is running out" for the nearly one million residents of Sudan's largest camp for displaced people, many of them children, as food and medical supplies run out. The relief agency said Wednesday that it had just two days' worth of medical supplies left in its mobile health clinics in Zamzam camp in Sudan's western Darfur region.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced Friday that it is facing a deeper funding crisis for its Yemen operations from the end of September onward. This will force WFP to make difficult decisions about further cuts to its food assistance programs across the country in the coming months. The UN agency has already reduced live-saving programs. 

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has expressed concern over the escalation of armed conflict in South Sudan's Upper Nile state, which has displaced at least 20,000 people since August, some of whom have been forced to flee for their lives up to four times. In a statement Wednesday, the UN agency warned that at least 3,000 people have already fled to neighboring Sudan, further exacerbating the refugee crisis in South Sudan, the largest in Africa.

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.

Colombia's Catatumbo region has descended into an acute humanitarian crisis following intensified violent clashes between non-state armed groups (NSAGs), in particular the National Liberation Army (ELN) and splinter groups of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). With more than 80 people killed in armed violence, President Gustavo Petro Urrego suspended peace talks with the ELN.

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.

Multiple unending conflicts, climate change and a blatant disregard for long-established international humanitarian law (IHL) will leave a staggering 305 million people in need of humanitarian aid next year, the UN's top aid official warned on Wednesday, as the United Nations launched an appeal for US$47.4 billion to provide life-saving relief in more than 30 countries and 9 refugee-hosting regions.

A new shocking record of 383 aid workers killed in 2024 must be a wake-up call to protect all civilians in conflict and crisis, and to end impunity, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday, marking World Humanitarian Day. Most of the aid workers killed last year were national staff members who were attacked in the line of duty or in their homes while serving their communities.