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	Governments must restore their aid budgets and shore up the global humanitarian system by Oxfam, WFP, OCHA, agencies   April 2026   Death by aid cuts: Oxfam reaction to OECD preliminary data on aid spending in 2025.   In response to the publication today of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) preliminary data on Official Development Assistance (ODA) for 2025, Oxfam’s Development Finance Lead Didier Jacobs said:   “Wealthy governments are turning their backs on the lives of millions of women, men and children in the Global South with these severe aid cuts. They collectively slashed aid by 23 percent in 2025. Based on aid’s crucial role in combating diseases like HIV-AIDS and malaria, the Institute of Global Health of Barcelona estimated that global aid cuts of such magnitude would kill hundreds of thousands of people in 2025 alone. If this trend continues, aid cuts could kill over 9 million people by 2030.   "At a time where aid cuts are already driving instability and fostering greater inequality, government donors are cutting life-saving aid budgets while financing conflict and militarization. Cuts from donors including Germany, France and the UK will be felt by the world’s poorest. The United States shut down USAID and recklessly cut aid by $37 billion in 2025, and the Trump administration has been preparing to ask Congress for tens of billions in additional funding for bombs, ammunition, and other military equipment relating to its unlawful war against Iran.   "Governments must restore their aid budgets and shore up the global humanitarian system that faces its most serious crisis in decades. There are other ways to find tens of billions, such as by taxing the $2.84 trillions of dollars that the super-rich hide in tax havens.”   http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/death-aid-cuts-oxfam-reaction-oecd-preliminary-data-aid-spending-2025 http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/child-under-five-could-die-every-forty-seconds-2030-due-us-aid-cuts-oxfam-analysis http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-calls-urgent-investment-life-saving-services-children-global-humanitarian http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-projects-food-insecurity-could-reach-record-levels-result-middle-east-escalation http://www.wfp.org/global-hunger-crisis http://www.wfp.org/publications/food-security-impact-reduction-wfp-funding http://www.nrc.no/news/2025/december/2026-millions-in-need-will-not-get-aid-unless-global-solidarity-revived http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2025/12/11/abrupt-transitions-global-humanitarian-overview-pushes-dangerous-trend   http://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports-briefs/a-generational-collapse-tracking-the-toll-of-trumps-humanitarian-aid-cuts/ http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(26)00008-2/fulltext http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01186-9/fulltext http://www.cgdev.org/blog/global-collapse-funding-food-insecure http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2026/article/trends-crises-and-needs-world-breaking-point http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2026 http://reliefweb.int/report/world/year-no-other-ngo-statement-launch-new-un-2026-appeal   * Forbes March 2026: 3,428 billionaires wealth now a record $20.1 trillion, up $4 trillion from last year. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports global military spending of over $2700 billion in 2024. Visit the related web page
	States must act to protect Civilians in Armed Conflict by UN News, OCHA, ICRC, IASC, INEW, agencies   June 2026   Explosive Weapons Drive Persistent Civilian Harm Across Global Conflicts   Civilians around the world continued to bear the devastating consequences of explosive weapons use in 2025 amid a broader pattern of sustained harm, a new report by the Explosive Weapons Monitor has revealed.   The Explosive Weapons Monitor 2025 paints a concerning picture, where civilian suffering from the use of explosive weapons has become a routine feature of warfare rather than an exception.   For the third consecutive year, communities in many conflict-affected countries endured daily bombing and shelling of towns and cities, while new conflicts and emerging patterns of explosive weapons use further expanded the scope of harm.   “The devastating impact of explosive weapons on civilians is both foreseeable and preventable. Yet across numerous conflicts, their continued use has entrenched a pattern of civilian harm that is increasingly treated as routine rather than exceptional,” said Katherine Young, Research and Monitoring Manager of the Explosive Weapons Monitor.   “When explosive weapons are used in populated areas, civilians suffer. What is particularly alarming is that this harm has become persistent across conflicts worldwide, risking the normalisation of civilian suffering on a massive scale.”   More than 22,600 civilians were killed by explosive weapons in 2025 (based on officially verified casualty figures, the exact number is thought to be considerably higher. Tens of thousands more were injured).   Civilian deaths remained alarmingly high, with more than half of all recorded civilian deaths attributed to Israeli armed forces and rising fatalities linked to other state and non-state actors across multiple conflicts.   Civilian infrastructure and essential services also came under growing threat. The report found that the use of explosive weapons in attacks affecting humanitarian aid increased by 52 percent in 2025, placing aid workers and life-saving assistance at greater risk and further limiting access to populations in need.   “We have observed in multiple conflicts that communities have been driven into dependence on humanitarian aid after explosive weapons devastated local food systems through the destruction of agricultural land, water infrastructure, and markets,” said Christina Wille, Director of Insecurity Insight.   “When humanitarian workers responding to these growing needs are attacked and killed, life-saving assistance is disrupted at the very moment people need it most, deepening human suffering and leaving already vulnerable communities at even greater risk.”   The report also recorded a dramatic increase in attacks on education, where explosive weapons damaged or destroyed educational facilities, or killed students and teachers, 64 percent more frequently in 2025 compared with the previous year.   Beyond the immediate death and destruction, the report highlights the long-term humanitarian consequences of attacks on essential services.   In Gaza, a surge in attacks on infrastructure essential to humanitarian relief efforts and food production in 2025 severely undermined Palestinians’ ability to locally produce or access food, while increasing dependence on humanitarian assistance.   Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, more than 3,800 schools have been impacted by explosive weapons, severely disrupting children's access to education and forcing many schools to close or operate under emergency measures.   Attacks on water and related energy infrastructure in Lebanon severely disrupted access to safe water in at least 36 incidents, damaging critical supply systems and leaving many communities dependent on costly alternative sources.   The report findings come at a time of growing concerns over violations of international humanitarian law and increasing pressure on norms designed to protect civilians in armed conflict.   The report warns that the normalisation of such severe civilian harm risks weakening the international commitments that seek to prevent suffering and protect civilians.   The report therefore calls for renewed efforts to bring the 2022 Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences of the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas into effect. Doing so not only includes placing limits on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas but also taking action to reinforce and defend the Political Declaration’s norms and principles.   “States must refuse to normalise the devastating toll of explosive weapons on civilians. By signing the Political Declaration, states are sending a clear message that harm to civilians, and destruction of the infrastructure they need to survive, will not be tolerated,” said Alma Taslidzan, Disarmament and Protection of Civilians Advocacy Manager at Humanity & Inclusion. “The challenge then is to translate the Declaration’s commitments into concrete action that reduces harm."   This international agreement to protect civilians from the devastating effects of explosive weapons in urban areas has been endorsed by 91 countries so far.   http://explosiveweaponsmonitor.org/reports/9/explosive-weapons-monitor-2025/ http://www.hi-us.org/en/explosive-weapons-killed-more-than-22-600-civilians-in-2025-new-report-finds http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/children-and-blast-injuries-the-devastating-impact-of-explosive-weapons-on-children-2020-2025 http://www.inew.org/resources/ http://www.icrc.org/en/article/faq-explosive-weapons-populated-areas http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-iasc-protecting-civilians-armed-conflict-responsibility-member-states-and-un   http://www.unocha.org/news/over-1000-aid-workers-killed-often-hands-member-states-un-relief-chief-demands-action http://www.unocha.org/news/ocha-tells-security-council-protecting-civilians-cannot-be-outsourced-postponed-or-diluted http://humanitarianaction.info/document/mid-year-review-global-humanitarian-overview-delivering-people-crisis-against-odds/article/trends-crises-and-needs-civilians-line-fire http://civiliansinconflict.org/press-releases/joint-civil-society-statement-ahead-of-the-2026-open-debate-on-the-protection-of-civilians-in-armed-conflict/ http://www.prio.org/news/3719 http://www.prio.org/events/9296   http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/05/29/global-failure-to-protect-right-to-health-in-conflict http://insecurityinsight.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025-SHCC-Annual-Report.pdf http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/icrc-ifrc-world-red-cross-red-crescent-day-call-uphold-protections-civilians-medical-personnel-humanitarian-workers-communities-depend-on http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/2026-ECOSOC-HAS-Panel-2-remarks http://globalprotectioncluster.org/publications/2474/communication-materials/advocacy-note/poc-advocacy-note-civilian-protection-2026 http://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/remarks_un_special_adviser_r2p_convening_7_8_may_2026.pdf http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/06/15/global-surge-in-attacks-on-education-continues-rising-more-than-40-percent http://eua2026.protectingeducation.org/ http://www.rescue.org/report/watchlist-midyear-update-2026 http://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/   * Protection of civilians in armed conflict - Report of the Secretary-General: http://docs.un.org/en/S/2026/390 http://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/en/news/year-unthinkable-suffering-record-number-children-conflict-victims-grave-violations-2025 http://watchlist.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-annual-report-press-release_final.pdf http://www.unicef.org/take-action/campaigns/children-under-attack http://www.savethechildren.net/news/every-war-war-against-children-it-must-never-be-accepted-inevitability-statement-save-children http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/unhrc-statement-children-rights-armed-conflict http://alliancecpha.org/en   May 2026   States must act to protect Civilians in Armed Conflict   Protecting Civilians in Armed Conflict is a Responsibility that Member States and the UN Security Council Must Uphold. Statement by Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC):   "As the Protection of Civilians Week unfolds in New York, we strongly condemn and raise the alarm about the growing and blatant violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law meant to protect civilians in armed conflict.   Across conflicts, civilians, including children, are killed, injured, and displaced at an alarming scale. Sexual violence is used as a tactic of war, overwhelmingly affecting women and girls and devastating lives. Homes, schools, places of worship, hospitals, including maternal wards, are destroyed or damaged, as are civilian infrastructure and assets, such as water systems, transport network, markets, food production. Essential services are collapsing. Forced displacement is accelerating.   Conflict-induced hunger and famine are spreading, often driven by unlawful siege tactics, starvation, and the arbitrary denial of humanitarian access. This is happening despite the existence of clear obligations under International Humanitarian Law and the framework reaffirmed by UN Security Council resolution 2417 (2018), which condemns the deliberate starvation of civilians and the use of hunger as method of warfare.   And a decade after the adoption of UN Security Council resolution 2286 (2016) that demands the protection of the wounded, sick, and medical personnel, violence, attacks and threats against healthcare workers and facilities continue with impunity. More than 10,000 incidents against health care facilities and workers have been verified to date.   Aid workers are also under attack and killed in unprecedented numbers. More than 1,000 humanitarian colleagues have been killed over the past three years. Many others are arbitrarily detained. Often the first to respond, staff from national and local organisations and community initiatives pay an unacceptably high toll. Many women-led-organisations addressing lifesaving protection and gender-based violence are being attacked.   From Gaza to El Fasher, and from Kharkiv to Beirut, the use of explosive weapons in populated areas is devastating civilian lives. At the same time, new technologies, including drones and artificial intelligence, are reshaping warfare and expanding the battlefield.   Wars have rules that apply to all parties to conflict. The problem is not a lack of law. The problem is the failure to uphold them consistently, the erosion of accountability and inaction, even in the face of atrocities.   Protecting civilians is a legal obligation and a moral imperative. For the sake of our shared humanity, rules that protect civilians must be upheld.   http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-iasc-protecting-civilians-armed-conflict-responsibility-member-states-and-un http://www.unocha.org/news/un-heads-condemn-failure-protect-civilians-growing-threats-their-security   20 May 2026   Briefing to the UN Security Council on the protection of civilians in armed conflict - by Edem Wosornu, Director, Crisis Response Division for OCHA, on behalf of Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:   "One civilian was killed approximately every 14 minutes in 2025. These are only the deaths that the United Nations could document across 20 armed conflicts. We know the real toll is far higher in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Sudan, in Ukraine, in the occupied Palestinian territory and beyond.   I saw some of this devastation myself over the past year during my visits to countries affected by war.   Civilians, including children, are killed in their homes, in markets, at work, at school, on roads, and while fleeing for safety. All too often, they are not collateral damage. They are the target.   Explosive weapons continue to tear through towns and cities, destroying not only lives but the systems that sustain them such as power grids, water networks, schools, and hospitals.   Health care is under attack. Ten years after this Council adopted Resolution 2286 on the protection of health care in armed conflict, the situation has only gotten worse.   In 2025, the United Nations recorded more than 1,350 attacks on medical care across 18 conflicts. Hospitals and ambulances were hit. Medical personnel were killed, detained, intimidated, or criminalized simply for doing their jobs.   Conflict‑driven hunger has deepened. 147 million people faced acute food insecurity in 2025, driven largely by armed conflict. Two famines were confirmed – not because food was unavailable, but because of the way parties conducted hostilities, used siege tactics, and denied humanitarian access. Food has become a weapon of war.   Sexual violence remains widespread. The United Nations reported over 9,300 cases last year – the overwhelming majority women and girls – many of whom will struggle to get the basic assistance they need. We know that number unfortunately is much higher.   Children are abducted and recruited to fight. Too many are injured and killed – a direct result of the use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas. Information and Communication Technology, including social media, is used to abduct, to extort, and recruit children.   Journalists are targeted. According to UNESCO (the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), 186 journalists were killed while covering wars and conflict zones between 2022 and 2025 – a 67 per cent increase compared to the period 2018-2021.   Persons with disabilities are left behind when bombs fall and warnings fail.   Last month, the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, briefed this Council on attacks against humanitarian workers. Since then, eight more colleagues were confirmed killed in 2025. Already in 2026, 144 humanitarian workers have been reported killed, injured, abducted or detained as they try to serve those in need.   New technologies are intensifying these risks. Armed drones and artificial intelligence are accelerating the pace and reach of violence, often in densely populated areas. The use of drones increased by 4,000 per cent from 2020 to 2024 across conflicts. The impact is not only physical. The impact is psychological – constant fear, constant disruption. The consequences for children are alarming.   None of this is inevitable. These patterns are the result of choices. The choice by parties of conflict to ignore their obligations to protect civilians, and, too often, to target them.   The choice by some to adopt increasingly permissive interpretations of international humanitarian law, hollowing out the very rules designed to protect civilians during war. The choice to subordinate the protection of civilians to claims of military necessity or exceptional threat. The choice to let impunity prevail.   The choice to harness technology to increase lethality, sow devastation, and spread misinformation, instead of using it to better protect civilians.   And the choice to attack the United Nations Charter, humanitarian norms, and the tools built over decades – that extraordinary scaffolding meant to protect people from and during war.   My message to this Council and to the United Nations membership is simple: there is another path. Other choices are possible. They must be made. They must be made because protecting civilians, ensuring respect for the law, and ending impunity is not only a legal and moral obligation.   It is also in Member States’ shared interest. In a world where conflicts are rising and rearmament is accelerating, unrestrained force and unapologetic brutality do not make anyone safer. They put everyone at risk.   Those who believe war will never reach them, their families, or their people are living in a dangerous illusion. War does not respect borders. It does not respect privileges.   So, the law exists. The tools exist. What is needed now is the resolve, the leadership, the courage, and the moral clarity to hold the line and to push it forward.   Protecting civilians requires more than expressions of concern. Protecting civilians requires genuine commitment that translates into concrete action. To uphold the United Nations Charter and prevent disagreements from escalating into armed conflict.   To ensure respect for international humanitarian law, without exceptions, without selectivity, regardless of who the parties are. No reinterpretation. No exceptionalism. No double standards.   To avoid the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and call out those who raze entire cities to the ground. To stop the transfer of weapons when there is a clear risk they will be used against civilians. To safeguard medical care, humanitarian personnel and journalists; not stigmatize them, not criminalize them.   To keep human control over the use of force. To steer AI and technology toward greater, not lesser, protection of civilians. To help victims seek justice. And to end impunity.   Protecting civilians in armed conflict is not charity. It is the minimum that humanity and civilization require. It is central to peace and security.   It is a responsibility of this Council and of every Member State that signed the United Nations Charter. And it is what many people around the world expect the Member States of the United Nations to do. It cannot be outsourced, it cannot be postponed, it cannot be diluted. It is the choice we have to make, now.   http://www.unocha.org/news/ocha-tells-security-council-protecting-civilians-cannot-be-outsourced-postponed-or-diluted http://www.unocha.org/news/over-1000-aid-workers-killed-often-hands-member-states-un-relief-chief-demands-action http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/icrc-president-un-security-council-open-debate-protection-civilians-armed-conflict http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/icrc-ifrc-world-red-cross-red-crescent-day-call-uphold-protections-civilians-medical-personnel-humanitarian-workers-communities-depend-on http://globalprotectioncluster.org/publications/2474/communication-materials/advocacy-note/poc-advocacy-note-civilian-protection-2026 http://civiliansinconflict.org/press-releases/joint-civil-society-statement-ahead-of-the-2026-open-debate-on-the-protection-of-civilians-in-armed-conflict/   April 2026   End impunity for violations of the rules of war - Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee   "We are alarmed by the sustained violations of the rules of war and international humanitarian law.   In just the last month across the Middle East, thousands of civilians have been killed and injured. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced, many multiple times. The numbers continue to rise and essential services are increasingly difficult to access.   Health workers, hospitals and ambulances have been targeted. Schools have been struck. Civilian infrastructure – including bridges, residential buildings, houses, water facilities and power plants – has been destroyed.   This leaves us especially concerned about women and children and others with specific needs. Global supply chains are also impacted, with food and fuel prices on the rise.   Our humanitarian colleagues have been caught up in the hostilities. Aid workers have been killed or injured in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in Iran and in Lebanon in alarming numbers, national staff and local organizations, working courageously on the humanitarian front lines every day.   We strongly condemn all attacks on civilians, including humanitarian and health workers, as well as civilian objects. We demand that all parties – whether Member States of the United Nations or armed groups – respect their legal obligation to protect civilians, including humanitarian personnel, and civilian infrastructure.   All violations must be met with accountability. Even wars have rules, and these rules must be respected".   http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-end-impunity-violations-rules-war-0 http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/icrc-ifrc-world-red-cross-red-crescent-day-call-uphold-protections-civilians-medical-personnel-humanitarian-workers-communities-depend-on   April 2026   Violence against health care in conflict   A decade after world leaders pledged to protect health workers and facilities in conflict, violence against health care has only deepened. In 2025, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition documented 2,546 attacks in 33 countries — including hospitals bombed, medical staff kidnapped, and drone strikes targeting search-and-rescue teams. Funding cuts have further gutted health services in nearly three-quarters of conflict-affected countries. Our report, Care in the Crosshairs presents the full scope of this crisis and calls on states and international institutions to act.   http://insecurityinsight.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2025-SHCC-Annual-Report.pdf http://safeguarding-health.com/2026/05/01/2026-call-to-action-to-end-violence-against-healthcare/ http://safeguarding-health.com http://insecurityinsight.org/ http://phr.org/news/with-hospitals-and-medics-increasingly-under-fire-countries-must-implement-un-resolution-to-protect-health-care-in-conflict-phr/
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