Underfunded Emergency

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that the humanitarian crisis in Haiti continues to worsen, largely due to ongoing violence. According to an OCHA update on Friday, more than 700,000 people are displaced in the country, more than half of whom are children, with the latest violence in the capital, Port-au-Prince, displacing an additional 12,000 people in recent weeks.

Independent United Nations human rights experts on Tuesday condemned the sharp rise in violence against civilians in Sudan, as the humanitarian situation caused by the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues to spiral into catastrophic levels. The condemnation comes at a time of increasing displacement, as nearly a third of Sudan's population of 51 million has now been forced to flee, creating the largest displacement crisis in the world.

The international rights group Amnesty International (AI) says newly arrived Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh need urgent access to food, shelter and health care after enduring the worst violence against their communities since Myanmar's military-led campaign in 2017. Bangladesh must stop sending Rohingya back to Myanmar, where they face attacks by the Arakan Army (AA) or indiscriminate military airstrikes by the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF), the rights group urges.

The international humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on Friday expressed grave concern about the intensifying crisis in Mozambique, which has compounded an already dire humanitarian situation. In a statement, NRC said it has had to suspend much of its relief operations as movement in the field remains too dangerous.

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.

Families in Sudan are eating grass to survive in an escalating hunger crisis, with famine-level malnutrition spreading across half of Sudan's 18 states, the international humanitarian organization Save the Children warned on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the United Nations reports that fighting continues to rage in North Darfur, West Darfur, Khartoum, North Kordofan and Al Jazira states, despite repeated calls for the warring parties to cease fighting, ensure the protection of civilians and facilitate humanitarian access.

While the world's farmers produce more than enough food to feed the planet's 8 billion people, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said "hunger and malnutrition are a fact of life" for billions, as 2.8 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet.  In a message ahead of Wednesday's World Food Day, Guterres said 733 million people worldwide lack food because of "conflict, marginalization, climate change, poverty and economic downturns.

Amid rising regional tensions and a worsening humanitarian situation, all actors must put the interests of the Yemeni people first in order to restore peace and stability in the country, Hans Grundberg, the UN envoy for Yemen, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday. Grundberg warned that as the military escalation in the Middle East intensifies, Yemen risks being dragged further into it.

The head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, warned Monday that displacement crises in Lebanon and Sudan could worsen, but said tighter border measures, outsourcing and externalization are not the answer, calling them ineffective and often in violation of international legal obligations. Grandi said an unprecedented 123 million people are now displaced around the world amid other persisting conflicts.

As Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory continue, more and more civilians are being killed, injured and displaced. More than 2,100 people have died and more than 10,000 have been wounded in fighting in Lebanon over the past year, including hundreds of women and children. Most of them since September 23 this year. While an estimated 1.2 million people are internally displaced, more than 400,000 Lebanese and Syrians have reportedly fled to Syria.

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.

Senior UN officials warn that the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) decades-long human rights crisis is on a downward spiral as armed clashes, attacks on schools and hospitals, sexual violence and other forms of abuse escalate. Opening a discussion at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, UN rights chief Volker Türk urged the international community to pay more attention to the plight of Congolese civilians.

Somalia is showing resilience to persistent security, human rights and socio-economic challenges, but needs continued international support as climate change and natural disasters exacerbate suffering, loss of livelihoods and rights violations, an independent United Nations expert said today. In her new report to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), Isha Dyfan highlighted the ongoing insecurity in the East African country.

As brutal gang violence continues to spill over from the capital Port-au-Prince into the Artibonite and other departments of Haiti, the United Nations Secretary-General on Friday joined the Haitian Prime Minister in strongly condemning a horrific gang attack in the town of Pont Sondé, outside the Haitian capital, that left at least 70 people dead, including at least 10 women and three infants. Guterres also called for urgent support for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that floods in the Sahel and other parts of West and Central Africa have reached catastrophic levels, affecting more than 5 million people in 16 countries so far this year. Chad, Niger and Nigeria are among the hardest hit, accounting for more than 80 percent of those impacted.

Protracted conflict, serious human rights violations and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law are causing grave suffering for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Congolese refugees, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warns. The warning follows a humanitarian assessment visit to the DRC, including the capital Kinshasa and the eastern provinces, by the agency's top refugee protection official.

The United Nations Security Council on Monday approved a one-year extension for a multinational police force to help Haiti's embattled national police subdue gangs in the violence-plagued Caribbean nation, and will now consider turning the mission into a full-fledged UN peacekeeping operation. Meanwhile, the number of people facing acute hunger has risen to 5.4 million, according to the latest IPC analysis released Monday.

Millions of Somalis face heightened food insecurity as below-average rainfall between October and December 2024, linked to the La Niña weather phenomenon, threatens to reverse recent gains in food security. United Nations agencies warn that without immediate funding for humanitarian interventions, Somalia - a country teetering on the brink of famine in late 2022 - could plunge back into a severe hunger crisis.

Tackling insecurity in Haiti, where gang violence has killed and injured thousands and displaced tens of thousands, must be the utmost priority, a United Nations report released on Friday said, urging Haitian authorities and the international community to do more to protect people and prevent further suffering. The Caribbean nation is facing a worsening humanitarian crisis, with more than 5.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

At a ministerial meeting on Wednesday, the United Nations and Member States issued an urgent call for stepped-up action to end the war in Sudan and accelerate the humanitarian response in the region. 17 months of brutal conflict in Sudan have fueled the world's worst hunger crisis and one of the world's largest displacement crises, with more than 10 million people forced to flee their homes.

United Nations investigators warn that the humanitarian crisis in Syria is threatening to spiral out of control as violence increases and the collapsing economy keeps the population mired in poverty and hopelessness 13 years after civil war broke out in the country. Across Syria, 16.7 million people - more than 70 percent of the population - are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, with women and children particularly affected.

Persistent heavy rains and severe flooding have hit several countries in the Sahel, affecting millions of people and displacing hundreds of thousands, most recently in northeastern Nigeria. The extreme weather has also exacerbated existing humanitarian crises in Chad, Cameroon, Mali and Niger. Aid agencies are urgently calling for increased international support to reach the most vulnerable.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that hundreds of thousands of people in South Sudan are at risk of going without life-saving assistance unless additional funding for the humanitarian response is received without delay. Some 9 million people - including 4.9 million children - in the country are in need of humanitarian aid, and the outlook for the coming months is worrying.

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously renewed for another year an arms embargo on conflict parties in Sudan's Darfur region, where war between rival generals has intensified in recent months, exacerbating the world's largest humanitarian crisis. But human rights groups and UN experts say Wednesday's renewal of the embargo does not go far enough and should include all of Sudan.

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.

Senior United Nations officials warned the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the world cannot afford to lose focus on Syria as the humanitarian and political crisis continues to devastate the country. Across the country, 16.7 million people - more than 70 percent of the population - are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, with women and children particularly affected.

According to media reports, around 200 people were killed and another 140 injured in an attack by the armed group Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) in the Burkinabe town of Barsalogho over the weekend. The horrific assault comes as large parts of Burkina Faso are controlled by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) and more than 1 million people are trapped in dozens of blockaded towns across the central Sahel country.

August 25 marks the seventh anniversary of the start of a campaign of mass atrocities by Myanmar's security forces in Rakhine State, which forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to seek refuge in Bangladesh. UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Friday expressed grave concern about the sharply deteriorating situation across Myanmar, particularly in Rakhine, where hundreds of civilians - mostly Rohingya - have reportedly been killed while trying to flee ongoing fighting.

Cease-fire talks in Sudan brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia have failed to end the country's 16-month conflict, but have succeeded in securing greater humanitarian access to millions of people who have been deprived of food, medicine, and other essential aid for many months. However, the absence of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) from the talks has hampered progress towards a ceasefire.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that persistent underfunding of the humanitarian response in Haiti - amid growing needs and rising violence - means millions of Haitians are missing out on vital assistance. OCHA said Thursday that stepped-up and sustained funding is needed to stem the deepening humanitarian crisis in the country.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is warning that thousands of civilians remain trapped in heavy fighting in the Sudanese town of El Fasher, where the Saudi Hospital, the only remaining hospital, has come under repeated attack and hospital staff are running out of medical supplies. In a statement Thursday, the ICRC said "to this day" it has been unable to get humanitarian aid into the town.

Acute malnutrition is surging in areas controlled by the Government of Yemen (GoY), with the West Coast reaching "extremely critical" levels for the first time, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) in Yemen said on Monday. After nine years of war, Yemen remains one of the world's most severe and protracted humanitarian crises, with an estimated 18.2 million people - more than half the population - in need of assistance and protection.

Ceasefire talks seeking to end Sudan's 16-month civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began in Geneva on Wednesday, but neither warring side entered the negotiating room. The talks, which also aim to address the world's largest humanitarian crisis, took place without the presence of the rival military factions.

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar has strongly condemned the escalation of violence in the country, which has resulted in heavy civilian casualties. There are alarming reports of civilians being killed in recent days in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State, and Lashio town, northern Shan State, while trying to flee ongoing fighting.

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 confirmation of famine in parts of Sudan's Darfur region must serve as a wake-up call for the international community, a senior United Nations official said on Tuesday. Stopping the famine in Sudan requires political will and leadership, he told the UN Security Council, as speakers urged the warring parties to heed the international community's repeated calls to stop the fighting and avoid further deterioration of an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

United Nations officials have appealed for international support to help Zimbabwe cope with the humanitarian impact of a historic drought that has left 7.6 million people at risk of acute hunger. More than half of the harvest has been destroyed due to a drought caused by the warming El Niño episode in 2023-2024.

The humanitarian crisis in Somalia has faded from the news this year, after a historic four-year drought ended in 2023 and famine was averted, bringing relief to millions of Somalis. But UN officials and humanitarian agencies warn that needs in the country remain critically high as a lack of humanitarian funding delays recovery from the drought.

A United Nations-backed food security report concluded Thursday that more than a year of war in Sudan has pushed parts of North Darfur into famine, including a displaced persons camp that houses more than half a million people. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is urgently calling on all warring parties to allow humanitarian food assistance by freeing up key access points within the country and at its borders.

Senior United Nations officials on Monday expressed alarm at the continued escalation of conflict in Myanmar, amid reports of the direct targeting of civilians in aerial bombardments and the abduction and forced recruitment of children by the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs). Meanwhile, 18.6 million women, children and men in Myanmar are in need of humanitarian assistance - the fifth-largest number in the world.

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, has strongly condemned indiscriminate attacks in the town of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State. Local authorities reported that at least 97 civilians were killed or injured when a hospital, a cattle market and residential areas came under attack on Saturday.

The latest IPC Acute Food Insecurity Analysis, released in July 2024, shows that between April and September 2024, an estimated 2.8 million people in Mozambique will be in crisis levels (IPC3) or worse, including 510,000 people in IPC phase 4 (emergency) and 2.3 million people in IPC phase 3 (crisis). According to the analysis, of the seven districts projected to be at emergency levels, three are located in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, which has been facing armed conflict since 2017.

Amid the political stalemate in Syria, United Nations officials on Monday urged the UN Security Council to maintain its focus on the country, stressing that the consequences of neglecting the more than 13-year-old conflict could be grave for both the country and the region. Syria remains one of the world's largest humanitarian crises, with at least 16.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and some 13.6 million people displaced from their homes.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says it is extremely concerned by the escalation of fighting in Sudan's southwestern Sennar State, which has severely hampered humanitarian aid deliveries in large parts of the country. Meanwhile, the last open border crossing into Darfur from neighboring Chad is inaccessible due to heavy rains and flooding.

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.