FAQs: Humanitarian Crises

A humanitarian crisis is a situation that threatens the lives, health, and safety of large groups of people. Crises can result from armed conflict, persecution, epidemics, natural disasters, or multiple factors combined. They often lead to displacement, shortages of food, water, and healthcare, and increased risks of violence and exploitation.

A complex emergency happens when multiple crises occur at the same time, such as war, displacement, food shortages, disease outbreaks, and economic collapse. These situations often involve violence, political instability, and breakdown of government services, making them especially difficult to resolve.

Funding often follows media attention and the attention of those in power, not actual need. Media coverage, political and economic interests, as well as public awareness often affect how much aid a crisis receives. Unfortunately, most emergencies are underfunded, especially long-term, related to armed conflict or less visible ones. 

The Humanitarian Coordinator (HC) is the senior UN official in a crisis-affected country. They assess whether international help is needed and ensure that aid organizations work together effectively. The HC chairs the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT), which includes UN agencies, NGOs, and the Red Cross/Red Crescent.

Famine is the most severe level of food insecurity. It is declared when large numbers of people face extreme hunger, high levels of malnutrition, and rising death rates. Famines are usually caused by conflict, drought, economic collapse, or poor humanitarian access, and they require urgent international action.

Climate change exacerbates the frequency and severity of natural disasters, leading to new, more complex and prolonged humanitarian emergencies. Countries like Somalia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Yemen, Myanmar, Syria, and Afghanistan are already experiencing severe impacts.

Sudan is facing the largest humanitarian crisis in the world in 2025, with 30.4 million people - two-thirds of the population - in need and over 12 million displaced due to civil war between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces.

A Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) is a strategic plan developed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), local governments, NGOs, and other partners in response to a crisis. The plan identifies urgent needs, outlines response strategies, and includes an appeal to donors for funding. HRPs are updated regularly, typically yearly, to reflect changing conditions.

Refugees are people who have been forced to flee their country because of war, persecution, or violence, and who cross an international border seeking safety. They are legally protected under international law, including the 1951 Refugee Convention, which guarantees rights such as asylum and protection from being sent back to danger (non-refoulement).

IDPs are people who flee their homes for similar reasons as refugees but remain within their own country. Unlike refugees, they are not protected under international refugee law, but they still require urgent humanitarian support. Many IDPs are among the most vulnerable populations because they remain close to conflict zones. The term "internally displaced people" is also used.

GBV is violence directed against someone because of their gender or perceived gender. It includes sexual violence, domestic abuse, forced marriage, and harmful practices like female genital mutilation. GBV often surges in humanitarian crises, where law and order may break down. Gender-based violence has devastating effects on survivors’ health, dignity, and rights.

Vulnerability describes the level of risk people face during crises. It depends on factors like age, gender, health, disability, poverty, and social exclusion. Vulnerable groups — such as children, elderly people, or people with disabilities — often need targeted support to survive and recover.

Humanitarian space refers to the ability of aid workers to deliver assistance safely and impartially without interference from parties involved in a conflict.

Civilians often suffer from: 

• Death and injury from violence
• Forced displacement and loss of homes
• Hunger and malnutrition
• Lack of access to clean water, shelter, and healthcare
• Gender-based violence and sexual violence
• Trauma and long-term psychological effects

Many humanitarian crises last for years, or even decades, because their underlying causes — armed conflict, political instability, inequality, and weak governance — remain unresolved due to a lack of political will. For example, refugee situations often continue for decades when people cannot safely return home. Protracted crises create overlapping needs, including emergency aid, long-term support for health and education, and assistance for host communities.

Sudan, with more than 12 million people forced to flee since the war began in April 2023. Overall, more than 15 million are currently uprooted by conflict in Sudan, when including those who were displaced before the escalation of the conflict. 

With more than 10.4 million women, men and children internally displaced, Sudan is also the world's largest internal displacement crisis.

Some of the most neglected crises include those in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Sahel region, Haiti, Somalia, and Mozambique. However, many even larger crises are being widely ignored, including those in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Yemen.

Armed conflict! The main cause of humanitarian crises is armed conflict, which often leads to mass displacement, hunger, disease, and the collapse of basic services. Other major causes include natural disasters, climate change, epidemics, and economic collapse — often made worse by poor governance or political instability.

As of 2025, approximately 300 million people around the world are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection.

A humanitarian catastrophe is a humanitarian crisis where widespread loss of life, threat to life, and human suffering on an immense scale occur - often over a short period of time. Such events result typically from violence involving armed actors. Natural disasters can also cause humanitarian catastrophes such as famine. Recent examples of humanitarian catastrophes include Sudan (ongoing) and Gaza (ongoing).

The world's largest humanitarian crises - based on people in need - include Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria, Ukraine, Yemen, Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad, Northern Nigeria, Northern Cameroon). A complete list may also include Ethiopia, Venezuela and Colombia.

Among the world's most severe humanitarian crises are some of the largest, such as Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria, Ukraine, Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad, Northern Nigeria, Northern Cameroon), but also crises in which a large share of the population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid, including Gaza, Haiti, South Sudan, Somalia, the Central African Republic and the Rohingya refugee crisis. 

Climate change is contributing to more frequent and severe weather events, threatening the lives and well-being of millions of people around the world. Humanitarian organizations and other actors are adapting by:

• Investing in preparedness (early warning systems, pre-positioned supplies).
• Supporting resilient measures (flood-resistant housing, drought-resistant crops).
• Integrating climate risk into all aid planning.
• Creating new tools to support timely and life-saving humanitarian action in response to climate-related disasters (such as CERF's Climate Action Account)
• Working more closely with development and environmental agencies, fostering resilience.

Sudan is facing the world's largest hunger crisis due to the war that erupted in 2023. Across the country, some 25 million people are experiencing acute hunger.

WASH stands for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. It refers to efforts to ensure access to clean drinking water, safe toilets, and hygiene facilities such as handwashing stations. In humanitarian crises, WASH programs are essential to prevent the spread of disease and to protect dignity.

At the end of 2024, more than 123 million were displaced worldwide, most of them were internally displaced - some 73.5 million people.

At the end of 2024, Iran was the largest host country for refugees in the world, with 3.5 million refugee residents. Turkey followed with 2.9 million refugees. Colombia hosted 2.8 million refugees (and migrants), and Germany hosted over 2.7 million refugees. Uganda was also among the top five host countries in 2024, with 1.8 million refugees.

Refoulement is the forced return of refugees or asylum seekers to a country where they risk persecution, torture, or serious harm. The principle of non-refoulement is the cornerstone of international refugee law. Refoulement is prohibited because sending people back into danger violates their right to safety and protection. As the principle is a part of customary international law, it is binding on all states, whether or not they are parties to the 1951 Refugee Convention or other conventions of international law. 

Migrants are typically people who move voluntarily and without coercion from one place to another, across borders or within a country, with the intention of establishing a new residence, either temporarily or permanently. Migration can occur for a variety of reasons, such as work, education, family reunification, escape from hunger, poverty, or climate disasters, economic prospects, better living conditions, or a number of other reasons.

Unlike the term refugee, the term migrant is not defined in international law and is used differently by different groups. The term migrant is usually used to refer to people who cross an international border voluntarily and not under duress. International law makes a clear distinction between migrants and refugees. Refugees cross a border in search of safety and are forced to do so.

As a rule, migrants can return to their home country without risk to their life or freedom. Nevertheless, many migrants endure unspeakable hardships and take life-threatening risks to leave their home country and reach a destination country. Some groups of migrants need humanitarian aid and protection, including people who are trying to escape hunger, extreme poverty, or climate disasters, and those who take life-threatening risks to reach a destination country.

Under international law, refugees have certain rights, including the right to seek asylum in another country, the right to protection and assistance, and the right not to be returned to a country where they face persecution or harm. Migrants are only protected by international human rights standards.

Using “migrant” as a generic term for all persons who leave their usual place of residence, regardless of the reasons, is therefore legally and factually incorrect. People who are refugees or likely to seek asylum should be referred to as such, and the word “migrant” should be avoided as a substitute term for all people who cross borders with the intention of settling in another country.

The term “mixed movements” describes cross-border population movements that include, for example, refugees fleeing persecution and conflict, victims of human trafficking, stateless persons, and migrants. These groups of people often use the same services provided by human smugglers and are frequently found together on the same irregular routes and means of transport, but for different reasons.