Critical funding shortfalls are forcing the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to significantly reduce its operations in Syria. On Wednesday, the WFP announced that it had reduced its emergency food assistance by 50 percent, from 1.3 million people to 650,000 in May, and had halted a nationwide bread subsidy program supporting millions daily.
United Nations agencies warned on Tuesday that Israeli military operations and surging settler attacks in the occupied West Bank are killing and maiming Palestinian children. Meanwhile, in Gaza, tens of thousands of people with life-changing injuries lack access to prosthetics or rehabilitation care. Among them are around 10,000 children who remain unable to receive essential treatment as shortages of medical supplies and rehabilitation equipment continue to worsen across the enclave.
The Red Cross and Red Crescent (RCRC) Movement is warning that the situation in South Sudan is becoming increasingly dire, with armed conflict, violence, diseases and natural disasters wreaking havoc on the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across the country. According to the United Nations, the dire humanitarian situation in South Sudan has left 9.9 million people in need of life-saving assistance, while critical funding shortfalls are exacerbating the situation.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that the humanitarian situation in Lebanon remains fragile and volatile despite the ceasefire being extended until mid-May. Hostilities are continuing to cause civilian casualties. On Thursday, Lebanese authorities reported multiple airstrikes and military activity across towns in southern Lebanon, resulting in at least nine deaths and 13 injuries.
Twenty years after the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region first sparked global outrage, children in the region are once again trapped in a catastrophic cycle of violence, hunger, and displacement — but this time, the world is failing to take notice, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday. The UN agency warns that, while the horrors of 2005 are repeating, the scale of the crisis is far greater now, and international attention is dangerously lacking.
Despite signs of political progress, Haiti remains gripped by insecurity, with international support seen as critical to enabling long-delayed elections, the United Nations Security Council was told Thursday. As the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) begins its phased deployment and the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission prepares to leave at the end of April, officials warned that whether recent gains can hold depends on how security conditions evolve.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that more than 41,000 people in central and northern regions of the Central African Republic (CAR) will lose access to vital healthcare services by June due to funding shortfalls. The UN's primary health partner, the International Medical Corps, which assists displaced individuals in these regions, is expected to cease operations due to a lack of funding.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) warns that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is being overlooked as the world’s attention shifts to other parts of the Middle East. Meanwhile, conditions in Gaza are deteriorating at an alarming pace. On Monday, the IRC said there is a real risk that funding will decline, which would slow the already constrained humanitarian response at a time when needs are extremely high.
Addressing the United Nations Security Council on Friday, Tom Fletcher, the UN relief chief, described South Sudan as a nation in despair. Renewed fighting has forced more than 410,000 people to flee, including 110,000 to neighboring Ethiopia. Hostilities have continued to escalate across parts of Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity states, with airstrikes and armed clashes reported in the past week.
The United Nations and humanitarian organizations cautiously welcomed the 10-day ceasefire in Lebanon that took effect at midnight local time on Friday. According to aid agencies, some displaced families have begun returning to Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reports that its peacekeepers have not detected any projectiles fired from north to south or airstrikes in their area of operations since midnight.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) expressed deep concern on Wednesday regarding reports that approximately 250 people are feared dead or missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea. The trawler departed from Teknaf in southern Bangladesh, bound for Malaysia, and reportedly sank last Thursday amid heavy winds, rough seas, and severe overcrowding.
Three years of war in Sudan have created the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis. Tens of thousands of children, women and men have been killed, starved, and maimed. With no signs of the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan and its regional impacts abating, United Nations leaders expressed alarm on Wednesday at the insufficient funding and diplomatic attention being given to the conflict and its consequences.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Monday that UN agencies and their partners, including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), are continuing to support the government-led response in Iran as humanitarian needs rise sharply. The recent US-Israeli military assault has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties, and caused severe damage to civilian infrastructure across the country.
Two leading United Nations agencies are warning that more than a million Sudanese refugees in Chad face immediate and life-threatening cuts to food, water, shelter, protection, and health care as the conflict in neighboring Sudan approaches the three-year mark. Earlier this week, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced that they will drastically scale back essential assistance to refugees in Chad unless the US$428 million funding gap is filled.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that, six months after the ceasefire agreement took effect in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian response led by the UN and partner aid agencies remains constrained, leaving people in dire conditions. According to OCHA, people across Gaza are still exposed to lethal force and the risk of further casualties, destroyed property, and displacement, which deepens humanitarian needs.
Ahead of the third anniversary of the start of the devastating war in Sudan, humanitarian organizations are warning that essential services and survival-critical systems are collapsing. As the conflict approaches this grim milestone, they are drawing particular attention to the needs of those displaced by the war, both within the country and across borders, as well as to the urgent needs of children and women, who are disproportionately impacted by the ongoing emergency.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that aid agencies are working closely with the Lebanese government to support affected communities amid mounting needs, while the death toll continues to rise at an alarming rate. According to Lebanese health authorities, at least 1,497 people, including 130 children, have been killed since Israeli attacks resumed on March 2.
At least 70 people were reportedly killed in attacks carried out by heavily armed gang members in the Petite-Rivière de l’Artibonite region of central Haiti between Saturday and Tuesday. Members of the Gran Grif gang stormed the rural Jean-Denis area late Saturday night into Sunday morning, opening fire and burning homes. Nearly 9,000 people were forced to flee as a result of these attacks.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that military strikes are continuing to severely damage civilian infrastructure across Iran. According to the Iranian Ministry of Health, 309 healthcare facilities and 42 ambulances have been damaged, and seven hospitals have been evacuated since February 28, when the war began. Meanwhile, relief workers continue to be killed.
Civilians and civilian infrastructure in Iran continue to bear the brunt of attacks by the United States and Israel. The Iranian Ministry of Health reports more than 1,900 deaths and nearly 25,000 injuries, including over 1,600 children and at least 4,000 women, since February 28. Casualties have been reported in at least 20 provinces, with the highest numbers in the capital, Tehran, and the province of Hormozgan.
With the humanitarian situation in Lebanon worsening by the day, health authorities report that at least 1,116 people have been killed and over 3,000 injured in Israeli attacks since March 2. Meanwhile, displacement continues to surge, with over 1.2 million people in Lebanon – around a fifth of the population – having been forced to flee their homes.
A new report published on Tuesday by the UN Human Rights Office details the human rights impacts of the expanding reach of gangs in Haiti, including their control over key sea and road routes amid persistent deadly violence. The violence involves gangs, security forces, private security contractors, and self-defense groups, while the majority of deaths are at the hands of security forces.
A hospital in war-torn Sudan has reportedly been attacked, killing at least 64 people and marking the latest in a series of assaults on health facilities. Late Friday, the Al Deain Teaching Hospital in Al Deain, the capital of East Darfur State, was struck, leaving scores of civilians dead, including 13 children, two nurses, a doctor, and multiple patients. The latest attack also injured 89 people, including eight health care workers.
Families across the Gaza Strip began concluding the holy month of Ramadan on Friday amid deepening humanitarian needs, heightened exposure to violence and displacement, and dire conditions for survival. UN human rights officials have warned of ongoing unlawful killings, amid ongoing reports of Israeli strikes and shelling in residential areas. Casualties continue to be reported, including among women and children.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that Colombia's humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating. Escalating armed violence, severe movement restrictions, and repeated climate shocks have left millions in urgent need. In 2026, an estimated 10.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning that the United States' and Israel's war on Iran and the regional spillover across the Middle East could push global hunger to record levels. The ongoing conflict could cause the greatest disruption to lifesaving humanitarian work since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, WFP said on Tuesday.
Humanitarian organizations are deeply concerned about the rising number of civilian casualties, including women and children, the large-scale displacement, and the increasing humanitarian needs resulting from the ongoing Israeli attacks on Lebanon. UN officials and aid agencies continue to call on all parties to protect civilians, civilian infrastructure, humanitarian personnel, and health workers.
More than four million people have been displaced as the United States and Israel continue to wage war against Iran, triggering a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis across the Middle East. Aid agencies warn that the conflict has already caused thousands of civilian deaths and injuries, as well as the widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure, and growing shortages of essential services.
Scores of Ukrainian children remain missing after being deported across Russia and occupied territories, while their families continue to search for them, according to human rights investigators. On Thursday, members of the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, an independent probe into Russia’s full-scale invasion, presented their latest report to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that the ongoing conflict in Myanmar continues to fuel suffering and humanitarian needs. Myanmar is experiencing one of the largest and most severe humanitarian crises worldwide, where hostilities have been marked by airstrikes and violations of international humanitarian law, triggering widespread displacement and harm to civilians.
Military strikes and counter-strikes continue across the Middle East region as the United States and Israel wage war on Iran causing thousands of civilian deaths and injuries. On Friday, UN chief António Guterres warned that "the situation could spiral beyond anyone’s control. " Meanwhile, Tom Fletcher, the UN relief chief, described the current state of affairs as one of "grave peril," appealing for urgent protection of civilians.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) expressed deep concern on Thursday regarding the escalating violence in Sudan’s Kordofan region. Escalating fighting has killed and injured civilians, destroyed homes and hospitals, and damaged other civilian infrastructure, further constraining humanitarian access.
Intense Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon have caused widespread displacement and a rising death toll, following the escalation of hostilities sparked by the U.S.-Israeli initiation of war against Iran. The attacks, which began Monday, have displaced tens of thousands and raised urgent humanitarian concerns throughout the country.
Hundreds of civilians have been reportedly killed following large-scale United States and Israeli missile and air strikes across Iran, according to Iranian state media and humanitarian sources. On Saturday evening, Iran’s Red Crescent reported to state media that more than 200 civilians were killed and more than 700 were injured during the first day of strikes across 24 of Iran’s 31 provinces.
On the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, United Nations officials reflected on the immense human cost of the conflict, appealing to the world to “never get used to war”. The invasion on February 24, 2022, shattered the peaceful aspirations of an entire continent, but war must never be the new normal, said Annalena Baerbock, President of the UN General Assembly, on Tuesday.
Delegates from over 120 countries gathered in Geneva on Monday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), amidst escalating global instability and conflict. Recognizing the dizzying geopolitical uncertainty marked by ongoing conflict and war in Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan, Ukraine, and beyond, UN Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres urged the HRC members to hold the line on human rights, which he warned were under a "full-scale attack."
A joint United Nations convoy led by the World Food Programme (WFP), UNICEF and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has reached Dilling and Kadugli, two cities in Sudan’s South Kordofan State, carrying life-saving supplies for over 130,000 people. This 26-truck convoy marks the first major delivery of aid to the area in three months, as high levels of insecurity along the route had previously prevented such deliveries.
Amid continued violence and mass displacement in Haiti, the recruitment and use of children by armed groups surged 200 percent in 2025, according to a new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Published on Thursday, the report underscores the deep protection crisis facing children in Haiti.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker TĂĽrk called on all parties on Tuesday to take urgent steps toward de-escalation amid the precarious situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Recent fighting between the Ethiopian army and regional forces has highlighted the risk of a deepening human rights and humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia.
As the brutal war in Sudan shows no signs of ending after nearly three years of raging conflict, UN human rights chief Volker TĂĽrk called on the international community on Monday to intervene immediately and stop mass killings and other flagrant war crimes against civilians. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, UN aid agencies warned that famine and malnutrition continue to spread across Sudan, with children wasting away while the world looks away.
At least 53 migrants and refugees, including two babies, died or went missing in the latest tragic incident off the Libyan coast, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). On Friday, a rubber boat carrying 55 people capsized north of Zuwara, Libya, leaving only two Nigerian women alive. One survivor reported losing her husband, and the other reported losing her two babies.
The United Nations and its humanitarian partners, along with the Central African Republic government, launched the 2026 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) this week, calling for US$264 million — the lowest requested amount in recent years — to help 1.3 million of the most vulnerable people in the country. Although humanitarian needs remain staggeringly high, aid organizations are forced to focus on the most urgent, life-saving priorities due to a global collapse in funding.
South Kordofan State is now the epicenter of the war in Sudan, which has caused the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, warned the international humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on Monday. Civilians in this part of southern Sudan face intensified hostilities and a nearly total blockade of humanitarian supplies after a year of starvation and bombardment, said NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland at the end of his visit to South Kordofan.
The European Union (EU) announced on Friday €63 million (US$75 million) in humanitarian aid to help millions affected by the ongoing conflict in Myanmar, as well as nearly 1.2 million Rohingya refugees living in neighboring countries, primarily Bangladesh. The European Commission’s allocation comes as the crisis sparked by the military coup in Myanmar enters its sixth year.
Amid the launch of the US administration’s “Board of Peace” and ongoing reconstruction talks on the Gaza Strip, United Nations aid agencies insisted on Friday that Gazans need immediate relief from the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe. People across the territory continue to struggle to meet their basic needs as Israel's ongoing violations of international law severely obstruct the humanitarian scale-up.
A new report by Action Against Hunger reveals that Nigeria, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC/DR Congo) are among the ten most critical hunger hotspots globally. The report shows that two out of three people suffering from acute food insecurity worldwide live in just ten countries, with over 196 million facing crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of hunger.
Aid agencies marked 1,000 days of war in Sudan on Friday, issuing a stark reminder that the conflict has caused the world's worst hunger crisis and largest emergency of forced displacement. Every day, civilians have been paying "the price for a war they did not choose," said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that a snowstorm has affected thousands of displaced people in Syria, while humanitarian funding continues to shrink. Last week, the storm hit 90 displacement sites in the north of the country, affecting over 150,000 people. According to aid agencies, two infants died due to the extreme cold in Harim, a town in northern Idlib.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told the UN Security Council on Monday that there must be "full respect" for the UN Charter in the face of a US military intervention in Venezuela, as well as the seizure and abduction of President Nicolás Maduro. Guterres also expressed deep concern about the possible intensification of instability in Venezuela, the potential impact on the region, and the dangerous precedent this intervention could set for international relations.
