War

Insecurity and horrific sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, DRC) have forced tens of thousands to flee across borders, with no sign of the exodus stopping, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. UNHCR reiterated its call on all countries to allow access to their territories for civilians fleeing conflict and violence in DRC, to guarantee the right to seek asylum and to ensure respect for the principle of non-refoulement.

United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk called Friday on Myanmar's military to end all attacks on civilians and civilian objects. He said the unremitting violence against civilians, despite a ceasefire declared after the March earthquakes, underscores the need for the parties to the conflict to commit to and implement a genuine and lasting nationwide cessation of hostilities and a return to civilian rule.

Hunger and malnutrition are on the rise across the flood, drought, and conflict-affected areas of South Sudan, the United Nations (UN) warns. In a joint statement Thursday, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that some communities are likely to face starvation if humanitarian assistance is not sustained and climate adaptation measures are not scaled-up.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is urgently appealing to Myanmar’s neighboring countries to immediately stop forced returns of Myanmar nationals seeking safety from serious harm. Sending them back to the country is "placing countless lives at risk" and a violation of international law, the UN agency said in a statement released Thursday.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that the situation for civilians in Sudan’s volatile Darfur region is worsening as fighting between the country’s two rival armed groups escalates and intercommunal tensions rise. OCHA reported Friday that renewed clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Darfur “have killed dozens of civilians and wounded many more; thousands have been displaced and civilian property has been destroyed or damaged.”

The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) says the number of civilians harmed across South Sudan in 2022 has slightly increased, despite a 27 percent decrease in the overall number of documented violent incidents compared to the previous year. On Friday, the mission's Human Rights Division released its annual report on violence affecting civilians, documenting 3,469 civilian victims affected mostly by killing, injury, abduction, and conflict-related sexual violence.

At least 80 refugees and migrants have died in the Mediterranean Sea in separate incidents off the coasts of North Africa in recent days. Two boats departing from Tunisia and Libya encountered difficulties, resulting in devastating losses of life. These tragedies underscore the ongoing dangers faced by individuals attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean route. Meanwhile, the Tunisian Coast Guard successfully rescued 100 people from a third boat.

According to a new United Nations report published Friday, Myanmar’s overall humanitarian and human rights situation has deteriorated to alarming levels, exacerbated by the military’s strategy to prevent life-saving humanitarian aid from reaching those who desperately need it, including in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Mocha in May. The report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says intentional obstruction or denial of humanitarian assistance may amount to gross violations of international human rights law, and international humanitarian law. 

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the sudden escalation of hostilities in Alamata town and surrounding rural towns in northern Ethiopia since mid-April has displaced about 50,000 civilians - the majority of whom are women, children and the elderly - to neighboring Kobo district in North Wello zone and Sekota town in Wag Hamra zone. An undetermined number of casualties were reported in the fighting.

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2025, published on Thursday, paints a bleak picture of the world's progress towards the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of achieving zero hunger by 2030. With at least 56 countries projected to miss the low hunger threshold, and 42 currently experiencing serious or alarming levels of hunger, the report emphasizes the need for renewed commitment and urgent action.

The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution Thursday condemning the decision of the Taliban to ban Afghan women from working for the United Nations in Afghanistan, saying that it undermines human rights and humanitarian principles. The resolution also demands that Afghanistan's de facto leaders swiftly reverse their restrictions on women's access to education and work.

A new report published on Friday states that up to 11.6 million refugees and others forced to flee could lose access to direct humanitarian assistance from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) this year due to major cuts to humanitarian budgets around the world. This figure represents approximately one-third of the people the humanitarian organization assisted last year.

Officials in Chad say urgent international help is needed to save the lives of more than 2 million of the most vulnerable people caught in a severe humanitarian crisis caused by conflict and climate shocks. The Sahel country is one of the poorest nations in the world, and food is particularly scarce now as hunger peaks in the June-August lean season between harvests.

The Myanmar Armed Forces have carried out deadly airstrikes which reportedly killed as many as 100 people in an opposition stronghold in the northwest on Tuesday. The air strike is one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since Myanmar's military seized power in a coup in February 2021. According to media reports, most of the injured and dead are women and children.

The United Nations has launched an appeal for $1billion (€ 936 million) in emergency aid to help victims in Turkey of last week’s catastrophic earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people. The UN said in a statement today that the funds would provide humanitarian relief for three months to 5.2 million people. A separate appeal for Syria has been already launched on Tuesday.

With hostilities in Myanmar escalating, sparked by a military coup in 2021, and millions of people plunged into a deepening humanitarian crisis, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday urged the country's neighbors to "leverage their influence" to achieve peace and a political solution. Meanwhile, an estimated 1 million people in Myanmar are also suffering from the effects of recent deadly floods.

As protracted and new armed conflicts have continued to rage in 2022, the number of children severely affected by hostilities has remained shockingly high at almost 19,000 children in 25 countries and the Lake Chad Basin region, according to a new UN report published Tuesday. While there were 27,180 grave violations verified overall, the conflicts with the highest numbers of children affected last year were in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Yemen.