For the second year in a row, Burkina Faso is the world's most neglected displacement crisis, according to a new report by the international humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). According to the analysis released Monday, for the first time all three countries in the central Sahel - Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - are among the top five most ignored crises. Other countries on this year's list are: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Honduras, South Sudan, and Sudan.
The NRC said the normalization of neglect is exacerbating needs and deepening despair.
“The utter neglect of displaced people has become the new normal,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of NRC, in a statement.
“The local political and military elites disregard the suffering they cause, and the world is neither shocked nor compelled to act by stories of desperation and record-breaking statistics. We need a global reboot of solidarity and a refocus on where needs are greatest.”
The goal of the annual NRC report is to draw attention to the plight of people who receive little or no aid, whose suffering rarely makes international headlines and who are never the focus of international diplomatic efforts. The annual list of neglected displacement crises is based on three criteria: lack of humanitarian funding, lack of media attention, and lack of international political and diplomatic initiatives.
The crisis in Cameroon is ranked second this year, and has appeared on the list every year since 2018. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, and Niger follow in the grim ranking.
The report is based on an analysis of 39 displacement crises around the world. The NRC's full list this year, in order, is: (1) Burkina Faso, (2) Cameroon, (3) Democratic Republic of the Congo, (4) Mali, (5) Niger, (6) Honduras, (7) South Sudan, (8) Central African Republic, (9) Chad, (10) Sudan.
Far from the media spotlight, the crisis in Burkina Faso has worsened since topping the list last year. Violence resulted in more deaths and more civilian displacement in 2023 than in any year since the start of the country's conflict in 2019.
Large parts of Burkina Faso are controlled by non-state armed groups. These groups are responsible for the vast majority of human rights violations against civilians in the country, but there are also reports of serious abuses by the security forces and their auxiliaries.
Up to 2 million people are trapped in 39 blockaded towns across the central Sahel country, with hundreds of thousands cut off from aid. The situation is becoming increasingly dire, with some people forced to eat leaves to survive. According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), the number of people killed in Burkina Faso has doubled in the past year to more than 8,400.
The security situation in Burkina Faso continued to worsen following two military coups in January and September of 2022. Military operations intensified, tens of thousands of security auxiliaries were deployed, and states of emergency were declared in several provinces, while security and human rights conditions deteriorated.
“It is becoming increasingly hard to reach people in desperate need in Burkina Faso. Roads are too dangerous to use due to frequent attacks. The minimal air service that exists cannot get anywhere close to meeting the scale of needs, and is also prohibitively expensive,” said Egeland.
“It’s critical that donors and humanitarians continue to prioritize areas that are out-of-sight and ensure they do not become out-of-mind.”
In Burkina Faso, 6.3 million people - nearly a third of the population - are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. Of these, 3.2 million are children. More than 2 million people are internally displaced, including 1.1 million children.
Between June and August 2024, more than 2.7 million people in the country face acute food insecurity, including 430,000 who are at emergency levels of hunger. 800,000 children are out of school.
The total funding for the 2023 Burkina Faso Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) was US$347 million out of the US$876 million requested, leaving the response only 40 percent funded. The 2024 HRP for Burkina Faso seeks $935 million to support some 3.8 million people, but is only 15 percent ($137 million) funded as of June 4.
The humanitarian organization said this year's list represents a "continued race to the bottom". Scores that would have placed a country third on last year's list keep it out of this year's top ten.
“Across all three metrics, we have seen a deepening of neglect, most starkly in the ongoing reduction of humanitarian funding. The lack of international support and attention is further compounded by the insufficient media freedom in many countries featured on this list,” the NRC statement said.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the shortfall between humanitarian appeals and actual funding received amounted to US$32 billion in 2023 - $10 billion more than in 2022. This huge shortfall meant that 57 percent of needs went unmet last year.
While the global funding gap is large, it is far from impossible to close. The NRC found that if each of the world's five most profitable listed companies contributed just 5 percent of their profits in 2023, or $31.8 billion, the funding gap could be closed in a second.
And not all countries are contributing to the funding. The bulk of the funding - about 80 percent - comes from just ten countries or international organizations. These include some of the world's most powerful economies, but by no means all. If all major economies were to provide funding, the funding gap could easily be covered.
Many of the world's largest economies are not participating at all, and numerous others are participating only marginally, resulting in the continued suffering of millions of people. With far too little money raised, humanitarian organizations are forced to decide where to allocate the scarce resources available.
“We urgently need investment for the world’s most neglected crises. These investments must be made both in the form of diplomatic initiatives to get warring parties to come to the negotiating table, as well as funding commensurate with needs from donor countries,” said Egeland.
“Critically, we need those economies not contributing their fair share of global solidarity to step up.”
The Norwegian Refugee Council is an independent humanitarian organization helping people forced to flee. Its headquarters are located in Oslo, Norway. The non-governmental organization (NGO) protects displaced people and supports them. Founded in 1946, the Norwegian Refugee Council started its relief efforts after World War Two and is currently one of the largest NGOs worldwide supporting refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Providing urgent humanitarian assistance during the emergency phase of a conflict or natural disaster is NRC's focus. Today, the Norwegian Refugee Council works in new and protracted crises in 40 countries. In 2023, the humanitarian organization assisted nearly 10 million people worldwide.
Further information
Full text: The world's most neglected displacement crises in 2023, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), report, published June 3, 2024
https://www.nrc.no/resources/reports/the-worlds-most-neglected-displacement-crises-in-2023/