Underfunded Emergency

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.

Haiti's complex humanitarian emergency requires urgent attention and strategies beyond emergency response, three senior United Nations and European Union officials said on Monday as they wrapped up a four-day visit to the Caribbean nation. As clashes continue in Haiti, more than 578,000 Haitians, including 300,000 children, are internally displaced, and some 4.97 million people face acute hunger - nearly half the population - with 1.64 million women, children and men at risk of starvation.

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.

United Nations officials say talks between Sudan's warring parties continued in Geneva on Friday, focusing on regional peace efforts as well as an immediate cessation of hostilities and a resolution of the more than 14-month conflict through dialogue. The development comes as fighting rages in many parts of the country, which has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with some 25 million people - half of Sudan's population - in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

A top United Nations official has expressed grave concern over the rapid expansion of the M23 armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo), particularly in North Kivu province and its spillover into neighboring South Kivu province. Briefing the UN Security Council on Monday, Bintou Keita, the UN special envoy to the DRC, described the situation as "one of the most serious, complex and neglected humanitarian crises of our times."

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is expanding its humanitarian appeal for Sudan as more and more people flee the country's war and widespread hunger in search of safety in neighboring countries. UNHCR reports that more money is urgently needed to help and protect the swelling population of Sudanese refugees, and is revising its appeal to US$1.5 billion, up from the US$1.4 billion it requested in January.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says three million children in the Central African Republic (CAR) face the highest recorded level of overlapping and interrelated crises and deprivation in the world.  The UN agency warned on Tuesday that ten years of protracted conflict and instability in the Central African country had rendered children invisible and at risk of being completely forgotten by international donors, the global media and the public.

The United Nations says there are growing concerns for the protection of civilians in Myanmar as armed conflict continues to spread across the country. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), landmine contamination, explosive hazards, fighting with heavy weapons, and aerial bombardment continue to drive people from their homes in several states, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation.

After months of delays, four hundred Kenyan security officers arrived in Haiti this week as part of a contingent of international police forces sent to quell rampant gang violence in the Caribbean nation. Last October, a United Nations Security Council resolution authorized a Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to help the Haitian National Police combat violence and restore peace in the largely gang-ruled country.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that South Sudan is facing a "perfect storm" of ongoing violence, imminent flooding, economic crisis, underfunding of the humanitarian response, and an influx of new arrivals due to the war in neighboring Sudan. The warning comes as 9 million people in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance. Among those in need are 4.9 million children.

Alarming new food security projections for Sudan released on Thursday show that the country is facing a devastating hunger catastrophe on a scale not seen since the Darfur crisis in the early 2000s, the heads of three United Nations agencies have warned. New data shows that more than 750,000 people are experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, with 25.6 million people at crisis levels of hunger and the threat of famine in several regions.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that halfway through 2024, only 18 percent - or US$8.8 billion - of the US$48.7 billion needed to help people in need around the world this year has been received. This is far less than at the same time last year, when there was already a massive shortfall. At the same time, more than 300 million people around the world are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

United Nations officials have once again outlined the dire situation in Afghanistan, with more than 50 percent of the population - some 23.7 million people - in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024, the third-highest number of people in need in the world. Meanwhile, Afghanistan's de facto rulers, the Taliban, are touting a UN invitation to an international conference in Qatar later this month, which they see as a recognition of their government's growing global importance.

Nearly 580,000 people, including 300,000 children, are internally displaced across Haiti, a 60 percent increase since March, according to the latest data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The UN agency says the rise is due to the deterioration of the security situation in the metropolitan area of Port-Au-Prince, the country's capital, particularly between the end of February and April. Haiti is now the country with the largest number of displacements globally due to crime-related violence.

Independent investigators appointed by the United Nations have accused Sudan's warring parties of driving the country into a humanitarian abyss by flagrantly disregarding basic human rights and international humanitarian law. The three-member International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan presented its first oral update to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday.

United Nations human rights chief Voker Türk has expressed dismay at the extent to which warring parties in many settings have overstepped the bounds of what is acceptable and legal, "trampling human rights at their core." Moreover, data collected by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) shows that the number of civilian deaths in armed conflicts skyrocketed by 72 percent in 2023 compared to 2022.

Amid the alarming humanitarian situation in Sudan, the UN Security Council on Thursday demanded that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) end their siege of the North Darfur capital, El Fasher, as they move to take the last remaining town in the Western Darfur region from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Meanwhile, the humanitarian emergency remains severely underfunded, despite the United States pledging US$315 million in additional funding to Sudan on Friday.

The lives of more than 35 million people in the Sahel region are being affected by a complex and interdependent pattern of crises, exacerbated by deteriorating security, political instability, and the effects of climate change, leaving them in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection. UN agencies warn that lives will be at risk if aid organizations are not given the resources they need to respond to these crises and help the region's most vulnerable people.

United Nations officials say they are deeply concerned by the alarming deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the eastern province of North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, DRC). According to the UN humanitarian office (OCHA), clashes have resumed in several parts of the towns of Masisi, Rutshuru and Sake, while fighting is also moving closer to the town of Kanyabanyonga.

Time is running out for millions of people in Sudan who are "at imminent risk of famine" because the country's warring parties are preventing aid from reaching them, major aid agencies warn. Nineteen global humanitarian organizations, including twelve United Nations agencies, urged Sudan's warring parties on Friday to stop blocking food aid from reaching millions of people suffering from acute hunger.

Violence against children in the central Sahel region increased sharply in the last quarter of 2023, surging by 70 percent compared to the previous three months, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Wednesday. The UN agency said that in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, cases of recruitment and use of children by armed groups, as well as killings and maiming, jumped by more than 130 percent between the two reporting periods.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has urged partners to provide immediate assistance to nearly 185,000 Sudanese who have crossed the border into Chad and continue to await relocation from dangerous border areas, particularly the border town of Adre. The call comes as more than 9.2 million people have fled the war in Sudan, with at least 7.2 million internally displaced and some 2 million seeking refuge across the border

The eighth edition of the "Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region" conference took place in Brussels on Monday, but saw only meager pledges from leading donors such as the European Union and the United States for this year's humanitarian response in Syria. In total, more than US$8.9 billion is needed to respond to the Syria crisis, making it the United Nations' largest humanitarian appeal worldwide.

Alarming reports are emerging of new atrocities being committed in a concerted campaign of violence and destruction by non-state armed groups and the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) against members of the Rohingya people in northern Rakhine State. Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced in recent days in relation to fighting in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. Some 45,000 Rohingya have reportedly fled to areas near the border with Bangladesh.

An alarming six out of ten hospitals in Haiti are barely functioning as the recent escalation of violence in the capital, Port-Au-Prince, continues to deprive children of critical health supplies and medicines, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the non-governmental organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) called on the armed groups involved in the fighting and Haitian authorities to facilitate the delivery of medical supplies to those in need.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya have reportedly been displaced in Myanmar's western Rakhine State following escalating fighting between the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) and the ethnic armed organization Arakan Army (AA). The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has called on the warring parties to cease fighting, protect civilians, and allow immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access.        

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Wednesday that the window to save lives is closing as famine looms in Sudan's war-torn regions, with civilians trapped by intensified fighting in northern Darfur. The threat of famine is growing, especially for 5 million Sudanese already on the brink of starvation. In all, nearly 18 million people are facing acute hunger, while half the population - some 25 million people - are in need of humanitarian assistance. 

The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports that more than 216,000 people were forcibly returned to Haiti in 2023, despite the ongoing humanitarian and security crisis, and despite repeated calls that Haitians should not be forcibly returned to the Caribbean nation. According to an IOM report released Monday, most of the Haitians were returned from the neighboring Dominican Republic - 96 percent - but also from the United States, Cuba, the Bahamas, Turkey, and Jamaica as well as Turks and Caicos.

The humanitarian organization International Rescue Committee (IRC) has expressed concern about the humanitarian impact of growing insecurity in northwest Nigeria due to conflict between various armed groups. In Zamfara and Sokoto states, armed attacks in March and April have displaced more than 10,000 people and killed at least 92, while many others have been kidnapped, the IRC said.

International donors have failed to adequately support the ongoing humanitarian response in Yemen at the Sixth Senior Officials' Meeting of donor countries in Brussels today. The announced funding of just over $791 million represents less than a third (29 percent) of the $2.7 billion needed in Yemen this year to meet urgent humanitarian needs, including those of 9.8 million children.

The United Nations says Myanmar has passed a "bleak milestone," with more than 3 million civilians now displaced across the country amid intensifying conflict. The number has risen sharply, by 50 percent in just six months, according to the UN's ad interim humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, Stephen Anderson.  The situation is one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, with nearly 19 million people nationwide in need of humanitarian assistance this year.

More than a year after the start of the war in Sudan, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Friday it remains extremely concerned about shocking levels of violence and devastating risks as many areas across the country remain beyond the reach of aid organizations. Among these areas is Sudan's North Darfur state, where intensifying clashes between the warring parties are preventing aid deliveries to the wider Darfur region.

The non-governmental organization (NGO) Save the Children says more than 140,000 people in the Malian town of Menaka, including 80,000 children, face malnutrition and disease due to a blockade by Islamic State-linked insurgents. The humanitarian organization warns that the months-long blockade has driven supplies to alarmingly low levels as aid agencies and Malian government programs struggle to deliver basic necessities.

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 heads of United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) warned in a rare joint statement on Tuesday that escalating conflict is driving record levels of displacement, hunger and gender-based violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) said that without urgent international action, the situation threatens to push the DRC to the brink of catastrophe.

A new analysis of the state of global hunger finds that escalating conflict, climate change and economic shocks are driving more people into acute hunger, threatening gains made in recent years toward the goal of ending hunger by 2030. The Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2024, released Wednesday, finds that 281.6 million people in 59 crisis countries and territories faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 2023 - a global increase of 24 million from the previous year.

The head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Monday that 3 million Haitian children caught up in rampant gang violence are in need of humanitarian assistance, including thousands who are at risk of dying from severe malnutrition. Meanwhile, a sharp increase in the number of wounded has put enormous pressure on the few functioning hospitals in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, as they run dangerously low on medical supplies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is appealing for $413 million in emergency funding to help more than 1.7 million people in Mozambique cope with climate disasters and an insurgency concentrated in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. The UN estimates that 2.3 million children, women and men in the country will need humanitarian assistance in 2024, most of them in Cabo Delgado and the neighboring provinces of Niassa and Nampula.

The United Nations, the Government of Cameroon and the humanitarian community have jointly launched the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for the country, where 3.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance this year. The Plan, released this week, targets 2.3 million vulnerable women, girls, men and boys in the most affected areas and requires US$371.4 million.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk has warned that intensified fighting in Myanmar's Rakhine State between the military and the non-state armed group Arakan Army (AA), as well as tensions between the Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine communities, pose a grave threat to civilians. In a statement on Friday, Türk warned of the grave risk of a repeat of past atrocities, such as the horrific state-backed persecution of the Rohingya in 2017.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Wednesday launched a Flash Appeal for more than $2.8 billion to allow UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond to the urgent needs of 3.1 million people in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Meanwhile, Israeli bombardment of much of Gaza continues, resulting in further civilian deaths, displacement and destruction.

Donors committed US$610.1 million to humanitarian operations in Ethiopia at a high-level pledging event on Tuesday, but fell short of the target. One billion US dollars is needed to fund the immediate response and ensure a pipeline of aid for the next five months. But before the conference, the situation was much worse, as the country's UN-backed $3.24 billion Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for 2024 was less than 5 percent funded.

The United Nations and international aid agencies are warning that the lives of millions of people in Sudan are at risk as the world turns its attention away from the enormous humanitarian needs facing the war-torn country. Today, Sudan entered a year of war that many have called the world's largest human-made crisis, with half the population in need of life-saving assistance, tens of thousands killed and injured, and millions uprooted from their homes.

In the latest setback for Myanmar's military rulers, resistance forces have seized near-total control of a key border town on the main land trade route between Myanmar and Thailand. Amid a worsening humanitarian crisis, conflict has escalated in several states and regions of the country. Fighting between the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF), ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), and People's Defense Forces (PDFs) continues to exacerbate the humanitarian situation.

Nearly a year after the outbreak of war in Sudan, the conflict continues to rage, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes every day and creating one of the largest and most challenging humanitarian emergencies and displacement crises in the world. The number of displaced people has now surpassed 8.8 million, with more than 2 million of them having crossed borders.