U.S. sanctions against Cuba are endangering lives and must be lifted by UN Office for Human Rights, agencies   6 Aug. 2026   UN human rights experts today condemned recent measures by the United States against Cuba, denouncing them as an attempt to alter the constitutional order of a sovereign State through threats and coercion.   They urged the international community and civil society to act swiftly to prevent a “silent Gaza” from unfolding on the island, as recently invoked by four members of the US Congress during their visit to Cuba.   The US has expanded unilateral sanctions targeting key sectors of the Cuban economy since June 2026. The latest sanctions announced on 23 July, include energy companies, which has further blocked fuel procurements, even for humanitarian reasons, at a time when Cuba is facing acute fuel shortages and has recently experienced its third major nationwide blackout. Energy, transport, irrigation and basic services are failing simultaneously, disproportionately affecting women, children, older persons and other vulnerable groups, including peasant farmers in the rural economy.   “The humanitarian consequences are already unfolding into a full-blown crisis, threatening the rights to health, to life, to food and to development,” the experts said, following reports that uncollected waste is accumulating in parts of Havana, deepening the serious risk of diseases spreading.   UN agencies in Cuba have warned of mounting risks of food insecurity and shortages of medicines and basic necessities, with repeated national grid collapses and prolonged blackouts disrupting health care services and causing critical shortages of medicines and cancer-treatment capacity.   "Food must never be used as an instrument of political pressure. Measures that knowingly deprive a population of the means to survive strike at the most basic guarantees of the rights to life and diminish the core of human dignity," the experts said.   On 20 July, the US State Department released a report entitled "Cuba: The Capital of 21st-Century Communism" describing Cuba as a multifaceted threat to US national security and hemispheric stability. The experts observed that the report offers no concrete evidence that Cuba supports terrorism or subversive activity, and expressed concern that only political and ideological considerations appear to justify the continuation of coercive measures.   The experts stressed that the US’s unlawful unilateral coercive measures against Cuba contravene Article 2 of the UN Charter, and form part of a broader regime-change strategy encompassing the decades-long embargo on Cuba.   “The US Government must cease all threats and hostile acts against Cuba's sovereignty and revoke all measures it has imposed on the country that stand contrary to international law,” said the experts.   “The UN Security Council and General Assembly should urgently address these threats as a matter of international peace and security,” they added.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/08/cuba-un-experts-condemn-new-us-sanctions-humanitarian-crisis-deepens   May. 2026   Fuel shortages push Cuba into deepening crisis. (OCHA)   The UN remains deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in Cuba, driven by the inability to import fuel. This has triggered an energy crisis.   Cuba’s already strained health system is approaching a critical point. Hospitals face frequent power outages, shortages of essential medicines, inability to operate critical equipment, and major disruptions to oncology care, dialysis, emergency services, infant and maternal care, cold‑chain systems, as well as chronic and non-urgent care.   As an example, some 16,000 cancer patients needing radiotherapy and more than 12,000 depending on chemotherapy cannot get the treatment they need due to power outages and resource shortages. Ambulances are struggling to obtain fuel, delaying urgent care.   Regarding access to water, nearly one million people depend on water delivered by tanker trucks, which require fuel to operate. More than 80 per cent of water‑pumping infrastructure relies on electricity, resulting in widespread and prolonged service disruptions.   Food supply chains – from production to storage to distribution – are increasingly impacted, with cold‑chain systems failing, transport routes increasingly interrupted, and reductions in the availability of basic food items across the country.   Humanitarian partners on the ground are working to provide assistance, but the lack of fuel is forcing food and water trucks to operate at a limited capacity.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/06/us-sanctions-against-cuba-are-endangering-lives-and-must-be-lifted http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/05/united-states-must-end-energy-starvation-cuba-severe-human-rights-impacts-un http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/06/un-experts-strongly-condemn-new-us-threats-and-coercion-against-cuba http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/04/1167254 http://cepr.net/publications/us-sanctions-and-the-sharp-rise-in-infant-mortality-in-cuba http://progressives.house.gov/press-releases?ID=A8BBF296-7749-46EF-9910-ECE0C5169F77   Feb. 2026   Cuba: UN warns of possible humanitarian ‘collapse’, as oil supplies dwindle. (UN News)   The UN on Wednesday warned of potential humanitarian “collapse” in Cuba, following US efforts to block oil supplies from reaching the island. The United States has threatened to impose tariffs on any country providing oil to Cuba, increasing pressure on the island nation following a decades-long trade embargo and the US seizure of Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro last month.   Venezuela had been the main supplier of oil to Havana but Washington has been ratcheting up pressure on Cuba in recent weeks, including an executive order last Thursday threatening to impose additional tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba, including Mexico.   “I can tell you that the UN Secretary-General is extremely concerned about the humanitarian situation in Cuba, which will worsen, and if not collapse, if its oil needs go unmet,” said UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.   The UN chief noted that the General Assembly has been calling for an end to the US embargo for more than three decades: “The Secretary-General urges all parties to pursue dialogue and respect for international law.”   The fuel crisis has pushed up food prices for Cubans, led to severe fuel shortages and major power cuts throughout the country.   Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Marta Hurtado:   "We are extremely worried about Cuba’s deepening socio-economic crisis – amid a decades-long financial and trade embargo, extreme weather events, and the recent U.S. measures restricting oil shipments. This is having an increasingly severe impact on the human rights of people in Cuba.   Given the dependence of health, food, and water systems on imported fossil fuels, the current oil scarcity has put the availability of essential services at risk nationwide.   Intensive care units and emergency rooms are compromised, as are the production, delivery, and storage of vaccines, blood products, and other temperature-sensitive medications.   In Cuba, more than 80 percent of water pumping equipment depends on electricity, and power cuts are undermining access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. The fuel shortage has disrupted the rationing system and the regulated basic food basket, and has affected social protection networks – school feeding, maternity homes, and nursing homes – with the most vulnerable groups being disproportionately impacted. The electricity cuts also affect communications and access to information.   Access to essential goods and services, including food, water, medicine, and adequate fuel and electricity, should always be safeguarded, as they are fundamental in modern societies to the right to life and the ability to enjoy many other rights.   The long-term, sustained impact of sectoral sanctions creates economic hardship and weakens the State's capacity to fulfill its core responsibilities, including providing protection and assistance services.   UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk reiterates his call on all States to lift unilateral sectoral measures, given their broad and indiscriminate impact on the population. Policy goals cannot justify actions that in themselves violate human rights.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/02/1166895 http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2026/02/concerns-over-cubas-deepening-economic-crisis
	We need to see countries step up to support people living through crisis by OCHA, NRC, agencies   June 2026   Millions of people are being completely abandoned by the world, warns the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).   “2026 is a make-or-break year for millions in desperate need around the world from Venezuela to Sudan. Families whose lives have been shattered by conflict are increasingly struggling to survive.   Violence and displacement continue unabated, while spiralling inflation puts basic goods out of reach all at a time when aid is declining due to a lack of funding. If the world doesn’t choose to change course, we will see a massive loss of lives,” said Jan Egeland, NRC’s secretary general.   Six months into the year only 30 per cent of the funding needed to support 143 million people out of the 252 million people in need of aid globally has been received.   “Global generosity for victims of conflict and disasters is abysmal. Without a dramatic increase of support, countless communities in need of aid will have little chance of being helped this year. We urgently need to see countries able to fund massive defence budgets and space missions step up to support people living through crisis,” said Egeland.   “Families I have spoken to in Sudan, Iran, Gaza and Ukraine this year all told me they felt forgotten by the world. But it is not too late to change this.”   The drop off in funding from countries in North America, Europe and other affluent nations is hurting those in dire need especially hard. Some of the world’s most chronically neglected crises are seeing desperately low levels of funding.   Millions face of people displacement, worsening protection conditions, and the loss of basic services. Alongside the dire levels of humanitarian funding, the sharp decline in development financing has weakened already fragile systems and left schools and health facilities struggling to function.   “Humanitarian funding is essential, but without longer-term investment the conditions that leave people increasingly vulnerable, such as lack of services and rising displacement, will only deepen. Investing now is key to reducing future crises. It is a necessity for millions of people,” said Egeland.   “We must ensure parents can give hope to their children that ends the cycle of neglect. 2026 must not go down in the record books as the year the world turned its back.”   * In 2026, a total of 252 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. A total of 33.66 billion US dollars has been requested to support 143.2 million of them. As of 24 June, 10.23 billion US dollars have been delivered – just 30 per cent of what is needed. The amount requested is the lowest since 2019.   Of the targeted 143.2 million, 88.7 million are urgently prioritised as needing life saving aid. 24 billion US dollars is required to reach this group of which just 9.83 have been delivered.   The United States and the United Kingdom have provided just a third of what they gave in 2024 in humanitarian funding.   * 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.   17 June 2026   Remarks to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Humanitarian Affairs Segment by Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:   "For over a year, you have heard me saying that the humanitarian system is overstretched, underfunded and under attack.   Today, the challenge that we face collectively goes further. The question is no longer how we respond. It is whether we can respond at the scale and speed that people need. Our question to you today is this: is help coming?   Because the world around us is shifting – fast. Technology reshaping conflict. Politics fragmenting. Rules are ignored. Protections are eroding. And the humanitarian mission itself is being contested.   We are operating in environments which are more complex, more constrained and more dangerous than ever before. The past three years have been the deadliest on record for humanitarian workers. Over 1,000 of our colleagues killed. And we renew our sense of commitment to this humanitarian mission in their memory and in their honor.   These are not trends. They are lives. The child who goes without a meal. The patient who cannot reach a clinic. The family forced once again to flee.   On my visits to the frontlines over the past year, I have met those people again and again. And they ask me: is help coming?   This year, we aim to reach 87 million people with life-saving support. Not because needs have fallen – over 252 million people still require aid – but because resources have plummeted.   And that leaves us with the hardest decision humanitarians face: who we can reach – and who we cannot reach.   The gap, though, is no longer just between needs and funding. It is between needs and our ability, our willingness to act. Those who pay the price are those already closest to the edge. Families making impossible choices. Children going hungry. Clinics closing. Water running dry. Women and girls exposed to violence, exploitation and abuse.   And so, we ask again: is help coming?   Because we cannot accept this as the new normal. Not for the people who we serve. Not under the humanitarian imperative. And not for our collective conscience. This is not only a test for our humanitarian system. It is a test for all of us.   Over the past year, we have prioritized harder, cut bureaucracy and duplication, and pushed decision-making much closer to people we serve. But reform is not retreat. The choices we make reflect constraints – not diminished need. The principle of humanity remains unchanged: we must help people wherever they are.   Our second discussion, as part of the Humanitarian Affairs Segment, focuses on international humanitarian law.   Because there is no humanitarian action without it. Access. Principles. Protection of aid workers. These are not abstractions. They determine whether we can reach people at all. And there is no delivering without defending. So, we will defend, firmly, the values at the heart of humanitarian action: impartiality, neutrality, independence.   Our third discussion in our conversations is of course, about funding. Without resources, there is no response at scale.   We have received now $9.3 billion, updated this morning, of the $23 billion required to save 87 million lives. This is of course less than one per cent of global defence spending right now.   But humanity is not measured only in dollars and pledges and commitments.   We pay tribute also to the countries and communities often carrying the heaviest burdens themselves, who continue to open their doors and provide safety and refuge to people forced to flee.   We know that the resources exist. The question is how we choose to use them. Because budgets are not numbers. They are choices. And the future of humanitarian action will not be decided by humanitarians alone.   Parties to conflict must uphold international law. States must protect humanitarian space. Donors, development partners and the private sector must invest in resilience. In a fragmented world, humanitarian action remains proof that collective action is still possible.   So far, we have reached nearly 23 million people with life-saving support, even facing the unprecedented pressures that we do. And I can reassure you and commit to you that we can reach many more if we receive the necessary funding to do so.   Because saving lives, reducing suffering and protecting dignity is not optional. It is our shared responsibility. Our shared humanity. And so, I leave you with that question: is help coming?   http://www.unocha.org/news/ecosoc-has-un-relief-chief-warns-widening-gap-between-humanitarian-need-and-ability-act http://humanitarianaction.info/document/mid-year-review-global-humanitarian-overview-delivering-people-crisis-against-odds/article/trends-crises-and-needs-civilians-line-fire http://www.unocha.org/latest/news-and-stories http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/alarming-lack-of-funding-for-lifesaving-aid-in-2026   * 2026 Global Humanitarian Policy Forum: Navigating Global Risks: Priorities for the Future of Humanitarian Action: http://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k15/k15g5o0twt   * Global Network Against Food Crises: From Global Reform to Local Leadership: Leveraging the Humanitarian Reset to combat acute food insecurity, malnutrition and famine: http://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k18/k18va690em   http://www.fightfoodcrises.net/events/global-reform-local-leadership-leveraging-humanitarian-reset-combat-acute-food-insecurity   * USAID’s demise comes a staggering human cost. The Lancet medical journal has published a study finding that more than 14 million people — a third of them children — will die by 2030 if current U.S. foreign aid cuts remain in place: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01186-9/fulltext   http://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-humanitarian-assistance-report-2026-enar http://alnap.org/help-library/resources/global-humanitarian-assistance-gha-report-2026/ http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/localisation http://www.ifrc.org/happening-now/advocacy-hub/localization http://startnetwork.org/learn-change/resources/library/localisation-works-locally-led-humanitarian-action-context-reset http://www.forus-international.org/en/news/locally-led-development-wont-work-without-shifting-real-power http://www.forus-international.org/en/news/from-reporting-to-reality-a-pacific-call-for-justice-and-locally-led-development http://www.centreforhumanitarianleadership.org/research/publications/sudanese-crisis-response-leaders-humanitarian-system/ http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/hundreds-sudans-community-kitchens-forced-shut-last-six-months-new-islamic-relief-research-finds http://near.ngo/ http://gh.bmj.com/content/10/9/e018331#ref-39 http://www.afd.fr/en/resources/opinion-g7-countries-international-partnerships
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