Geneva — Beyond Gaza and Ukraine, emergency aid needs are going unmet in these neglected hotspots around the globe.
At the start of the year, we published this analysis flagging how - even as the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine dominated headlines going into 2024 - it was important to remember the many other crises that were being too easily forgotten by the media and neglected by aid donors.
Tens of millions of affected people in these settings continue to live in extreme hunger or extreme danger, while access restraints and funding limitations mean many can't be reached by an international aid system that is overwhelmed and more intently focused elsewhere.
At this midway point of the year, here's a fresh look at those crises, with updated data and analysis:
Sudan: Millions face famine as conflict rages
Numbers: 10 million displaced since April 2023, 26 million food insecure, 14 areas declared "at risk" of famine.
Now in its second year, the war between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army has produced the world's largest displacement crisis, uprooting nearly 10 million people, and the biggest hunger crisis too. One study has predicted 2.5 million starvation deaths by September, while others are warning of the world's worst famine in 40 years. Fears that Sudan was facing a Libya-style split (between an RSF-held west and an army-held north and east) have given way to concerns that the RSF is seeking power across the entire country. The paramilitary force took over Gezira state (south of Khartoum) late last year, and has now pushed into neighbouring Sennar state. The group is also imposing a brutal siege on El Fasher, the only city in Darfur where the army and aligned groups still have a large presence.
Myanmar: Changing conflict dynamics bring more abuses and needs
Numbers: More than 3 million displaced, including 800,000 between late October 2023 and March 2024 alone. The 2024 response plan is less than 15% funded.
When ethnic armed groups started uniting to take on the ruling military junta late last year, their territorial gains were heralded by some as signs of hope for a new dawn for Myanmar. But there were warnings too that the intensified conflict would worsen the country's humanitarian crisis in the short-term. Since then, not only has displacement soared above 3 million, but one of the most prominent armed groups, the Arakan Army, has been accused of abuses against minority Rohingya Muslims, including forced conscription of young men, the torching of Rohingya homes, and disappearances. The Arakan Army has denied these claims, but Rohingya sources continue to accuse the group of abuses that are not dissimilar from the policies of every government in Myanmar since 1982, when Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship rights. At the same time, the junta, which consolidated power in a February 2021 coup, continues to practise forced conscription itself, and to conduct airstrikes that kill scores of civilians. Given the changing dynamics, the UN and international aid agencies are under renewed pressure to reconsider their policy of only providing assistance through the junta.
Haiti: Foreign police deploy as stabilisation efforts intensify
Numbers: Nearly 5 million Haitians - almost half the population - are facing acute hunger, with 1.6 million at risk of starvation. More than 578,000 people have been displaced by gang violence, including some 300,000 women and girls.
A second deployment of 200 Kenyan police arrived in the capital, Port-au-Prince, on 16 July as part of a UN-approved and US-bankrolled force tasked with reining in rampant gang violence and paving the way towards Haiti's first elections since 2016. The Caribbean nation was plunged into deeper turmoil by the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, but Haitians are wary of outside intervention due to decades of US and UN interference that saw widespread abuses, the introduction of a deadly cholera epidemic, and the perception that corrupt elites are simply being propped up. A transitional presidential council has been trying to move the country forward since coordinated gang attacks in February led to the ouster of acting prime minister Ariel Henry. The rampant violence saw the number of displaced soar to almost 580,000, an 85% increase from the end of last year, while hunger has reached unprecedented levels, along with rape and gender-based violence. A relative lull as the multinational stabilisation force takes shape has done little to alleviate the humanitarian crisis, with aid agencies still struggling for access and trying to muster contingency plans in case of a further escalation.
West African Sahel: Juntas double down as insurgencies worsen
Numbers: As of May, 2.6 million people were displaced across Burkina Faso, Mail, and Niger; 15.2 million people in need.
Civilians are suffering badly as the military rulers of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger entrench their power and step up bloody counterinsurgency campaigns against jihadist militants. Burkina Faso's junta is extending its rule, even as dissent within the military builds after insurgents killed over 100 soldiers in June. Troops have carried out their own massacres, and they continue to kidnap critics and send them to the front lines. In Mali, the regime has also been accused of increasing abuses against civilians, and it too has cracked down on opposition groups and political parties this year, while failing to honour a timeline for a democratic transition. Armed groups - both jihadist and non-jihadist - have been deploying siege tactics as a tool of war, targeting ever larger towns and regions and disrupting local economies. Finally, in Niger, military rulers are facing growing security challenges a year after their coup, with jihadists carrying out attacks and new anti-junta groups kidnapping soldiers and attacking infrastructure.
The Horn of Africa: Droughts, floods, and politically driven disasters
Numbers: Nearly 64 million people in the Greater Horn of Africa are in need of aid and protection - equivalent to 22% of the global humanitarian caseload. Sudan and Ethiopia alone are two of the world's five largest humanitarian disasters.
Across the region, humanitarian needs continue to be driven by conflict, El Niño-induced flooding, and the lingering impact of extreme back-to-back droughts that have destroyed livelihoods. In Sudan, its civil war is causing some of the worst levels of food insecurity ever recorded in the country (see above). In Ethiopia, the lives of 21 million people have been upended by climate shocks, ongoing insurgencies - particularly violent in the Amhara and Oromia regions - and the hit the economy has taken from the unrest. In South Sudan, where the fate of elections scheduled for December - the country's first since gaining independence in 2011 - remains uncertain, insecurity is a significant enabler of a humanitarian crisis that affects half the population. Somalia, meanwhile, is another long-standing emergency zone. However, there have been renewed, tentative calls for dialogue in its stalemated war with the jihadist group al-Shabab, despite the bombs still being detonated in the capital, Mogadishu.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo: Regional conflict and a failed coup
Numbers: 7.3 million internally displaced people; 23.4 million food insecure.
The conflict between the M23 rebel group and the Congolese army has significantly deteriorated, with the fighting increasingly resembling a regional inter-state war. Rwanda has stepped up its support for the M23, placing thousands of troops on the ground, while southern African forces - from Malawi, South Africa, and Tanzania - as well as Burundian soldiers and local militias are fighting with Congolese government forces against them. The M23 has taken over an unprecedented amount of territory and civilian casualties have soared as increasingly heavy and advanced weapons are used. Other armed groups have also intensified their operations, most notably the Allied Democratic Forces, which is killing more civilians than any other militia. A coup attempt in May has added to the instability, with dozens of Congolese and foreign nationals now standing trial.
Syria: Displacement peaks as funding collapses
Numbers: 16.7 million people are in need of aid - almost 1.5 million more than last year. 7 million are internally displaced. A UN-coordinated aid plan is more than 80% underfunded.
More Syrians need humanitarian assistance this year than at any time since the country erupted into civil war more than 13 years ago. A surge in hostilities between the government (with its Russian allies) and various rebel forces in the northwest that started last October has continued into 2024, and Türkiye has also conducted airstrikes on groups it considers linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the northeast. A UN commission says airstrikes and violations on various front lines likely amount to war crimes, at the same time that many in the country are caught in economic freefall. This was made worse by the February 2023 earthquakes, and some 90% of Syrians now live under the poverty line. Aid could at least provide some temporary relief, but donors seem unwilling to continue funding what is now a growing and protracted crisis, and many Syrians are now feeling the impact of cuts. At a May conference, donors said they would give $8.1 billion in loans and grants, but that money is not all for this year, nor will it make a dent in the UN's drastically underfunded plans to aid Syrians inside the country, or refugees in the region.
Yemen: A 10th year of enduring and shifting conflict
Numbers: 18.2 million people are in need of aid. 17.6 million people are at risk of severe hunger. A UN-coordinated aid plan is nearly 80% underfunded.
Yemen entered its tenth year of war this March, and while a de facto truce remains in place between the main warring parties, key elements of the conflict have shifted. Since 2015, Houthi rebels have been fighting an internationally recognised (but fractured and mostly exiled) government, backed by a Saudi Arabia- and UAE-led coalition that has largely stepped back from the fray. But starting in October 2023, the Houthis have also been attacking international shipping targets in the Red Sea. The Houthis say their missiles and drones are a gesture of solidarity for Gazans, and aimed at ships with links to Israel, the US, or the UK - although many of the ships have no clear connection to the war. In response to the Houthi campaign, the US and the UK have carried out hundreds of bombings on Houthi targets. Meanwhile, the US has re-designated the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, a move aid groups say makes their work harder, and that has had an negative impact on remissions in a country already in a state of profound economic collapse: It has two duelling central banks, different exchange and inflation rates, and as of April, a new Houthi coin that has complicated financial matters even further. In late June, the Houthis arrested at least 13 UN staffers and dozens of employees of NGOs, accusing them of being linked to an "American-Israeli" spy ring.
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Venezuela: Pivotal election looms with future at stake
Numbers: 7.7 million refugees and migrants worldwide; including 6.6 million in Latin America. 7.6 million people require humanitarian assistance within Venezuela, including 2 million in need of emergency food aid.
Venezuelans go to the polls on 28 July with everything hanging in the balance. If opposition candidate Edmundo González wins (or is allowed to win) - as the opinion polls clearly suggest he should - then anything might be possible, including a relaxing of US sanctions, a humanitarian aid influx, and the possible return (in time) of some of those who have fled the country's economic collapse and increasing authoritarianism. However, if Nicolás Maduro wins, many of those remaining in Venezuela say they will join the exodus, especially if the president, who has been stepping up his repression, is seen as having blatantly stolen the election. Almost 7.8 million Venezuelans have already left since 2015, and the 30 million or so who remain face shattered healthcare services and growing hunger. Washington restored sanctions after Maduro reneged on a deal reached with the US behind closed doors last year, but there are still hopes that a strong enough showing by González might lead to a transition and a fresh start. Meanwhile, amid growing xenophobia and shrinking economic opportunities in the region, large numbers of Venezuelans have been heading north on dangerous routes towards the United States.
Afghanistan: Baby steps only on engagement
Numbers: 23.7 million people in need of assistance, more than half the population; 12.4 million people food insecure, including 4 million acutely malnourished, most of them children.
For the first time since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban officially attended a UN-led meeting focused on engagement between its Islamic Emirate government and the outside world. The meeting, held at the end of June in Qatar, came shortly after high-level US diplomats indicated they were open to greater engagement despite serious lingering concerns over the rights being afforded to Afghan women and girls. The Taliban hope such meetings will edge them closer to formal recognition, the lifting of sanctions, and the return from the US and the UK of billions of dollars in Afghan Central Bank assets. The need for more engagement - not just from governments, but also from international aid groups - is urgent as Afghanistan represents one of the world's largest humanitarian crises, and the situation is only getting worse. For much of the last year, Pakistan and Iran have been deporting hundreds of thousands of Afghans en masse, adding to a long-term internal displacement crisis compounded by an economic collapse and rising poverty.
