FAO calls for urgent investment to protect food production as crises deepen by UN Geneva press, FAO, IPC update   7 Oct. 2026   FAO calls for urgent investment to protect food production as crises deepen across the Near East and North Africa - More than 45 million people face severe hunger across Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria and Yemen   As conflict, displacement, and climate pressures continue to drive high levels of acute food insecurity across the Near East and North Africa, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is calling for urgent funding for emergency agricultural assistance to help families continue producing food and earning an income.   Conflict and economic shocks are undermining the region’s food productive capacity, while funding shortfalls are limiting assistance to protect food production and livelihoods.   Senior FAO representatives met governments, donors and partners to highlight agriculture's critical role in preventing food insecurity from worsening, protecting livelihoods and supporting recovery.   Across these countries, more than 45 million people face crisis-level hunger or worse, as conflict and economic shocks are derailing food production destroying agricultural infrastructure and disrupting markets.   “Repeated shocks are stripping families of their ability to produce food and earn an income. We must act before those losses become irreversible. Investing early in seeds, livestock, water and other agricultural support can protect livelihoods, prevent hunger from deepening and reduce humanitarian needs over time.   Funding gaps deepen hunger   In Gaza and the West Bank, more than 1.2 million people faced Crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity between April and June 2026, and conditions are projected to worsen during the second half of the year. FAO is seeking funding in 2027 for time-critical agricultural assistance and recovery.   In Lebanon, 1.24 million people are projected to face Crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity between April and August 2026. FAO requires funding support to reach 35,000 conflict-affected farmers and rural households.   In Sudan, 19.5 million people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity. Yet only 23 percent of the $193 million required under the 2026–2028 Emergency Response Plan has been funded.   In Syria, around 7.2 million people were facing acute food insecurity in late 2025. FAO requires $171.5 million in 2027 to assist 5.2 million people, combining immediate livelihood protection with recovery and resilience measures.   In Yemen, 18.3 million people faced Crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity in the latest analysis. FAO has secured less than 1 percent of the $87.9 million required under its 2027 Emergency and Resilience Plan.   Agriculture protects food and livelihoods in emergencies   Protecting productive capacity can provide food and income and help households withstand future shocks.   Emergency agricultural assistance – including seeds, livestock feed, veterinary services, cash and vouchers, irrigation support and other inputs – can help families continue producing food during crises.   “Agriculture must be at the heart of emergency response. The earlier we act, the more lives and livelihoods we can protect,” said FAO Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa Abdul Hakim Elwaer. “When a farmer receives seed before the planting season, or a livestock keeper receives feed and veterinary support before animals are lost, we are protecting food today and the means to produce it tomorrow. But this only works if resources arrive in time.”   Lebanon: conflict takes a toll on agriculture   The delegation’s visit to Lebanon highlighted how conflict and displacement affect agriculture and rural communities, including the experiences of farmers directly affected by hostilities.   More than one million people were displaced following the March 2026 escalation, mainly from rural areas. In southern Lebanon, between 55 and 65 percent of the population in Bent Jbeil, Marjaayoun, El Nabatieh and Sour districts, is projected to face Crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity.   More than 22 percent of the country’s agricultural land has reportedly been damaged, while approximately 50 percent of agricultural land in South and Nabatieh is inaccessible.   In Nabatieh, the FAO team assessed conflict-related damage to farmland, agricultural infrastructure and services, and discussed recovery priorities with farmers, cooperatives and Ministry of Agriculture staff.   “In southern Lebanon, we saw what conflict means for agriculture – damaged farmland, irrigation systems and productive infrastructure, and farmers who have lost the means to produce and earn an income,” said FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol.   “Restoring agriculture cannot wait until after the emergency. Protecting production and livelihoods is part of the response now, and it will also be essential to Lebanon’s recovery.”   FAO is calling on donors and partners to maintain and increase support for emergency agricultural assistance across the region, ensuring that vulnerable farming, herding and fishing communities receive timely support before losses become irreversible.   http://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/fao-calls-for-urgent-investment-to-protect-food-production-as-crises-deepen-across-the-near-east-and-north-africa/en   Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Update September 2026:   Risk of Famine is growing in many conflict-affected areas of Sudan   Conflict, displacement and drought are driving an increased risk of Famine in Sudan, with parts of Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan facing alarming risk. New data indicates rising and alarming levels of acute food insecurity and malnutrition in several localities.   Severe drought across most of Greater Darfur and the combined impacts of conflict and drought in Greater Kordofan will accelerate depletion of remaining food stocks.   Unimpeded access to conflict areas and adequate funding to scale up humanitarian assistance are urgently needed to avoid catastrophic consequences and further loss of lives.   The risk of Famine is growing in many conflict-affected areas of Sudan, with the impact of El Nino-induced drought compounding already dire conditions.   The situation in most areas that were classified as at risk of Famine in the May 2026 IPC analysis remains extremely concerning, while new evidence indicates worsening acute malnutrition in additional localities.   In Greater Darfur, 13 of the 17 surveys conducted since January 2026 recorded a Critical level of global acute malnutrition (GAM), indicative of IPC Acute Malnutrition (AMN) Phase 4. A September SMART survey in Eastern Jebel Marra identified a GAM prevalence above Famine thresholds in two IDP camps; alarmingly, this is occurring alongside severe hunger and high mortality levels.   Between January and August, the percent of children accessing nutrition services that were admitted for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) doubled in Nyala, and the proportion of children dying within 24 hours of admission remained elevated, indicating dramatic conditions on arrival. SAM admissions increased four-fold in Kas between January and June.   Children are going without treatment. As of August, only 26 per cent of those expected to need care for severe acute malnutrition with medical complications had received it. Without treatment, as many as two thirds of them could die.   The outlook is increasingly alarming as severe El Nino-induced drought conditions are widespread across more than half of Sudan.   Conflict, displacement, severe drought, and inadequate funding are driving a growing risk of Famine in parts of Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan. An immediate, significant scale-up of assistance is urgently needed. Without this, catastrophic food insecurity, acute malnutrition, and rising mortality will likely intensify, placing countless lives at risk.   The IPC’s Famine Review Committee said there is not enough survey data for a full analysis, but the evidence points to a rapidly worsening situation. “Famine is the collapse of systems,” the committee said. “We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe, already of historic proportions.”   Somalia: Acute Food Insecurity And Acute Malnutrition   Somalia continues to face a volatile food and nutrition crisis. From July–September 2026, 5.1 million people are in IPC Acute Food Insecurity (AFI) Phase 3 or above (Crisis or worse), a 50 percent increase from 2025. Drought, erratic rainfall, insecurity, high food prices and El Nino impacts continue to drive needs amid declining humanitarian funding.   From October–December 2026, the population in AFI Phase 3 or above is projected to rise to 5.4 million, including nearly 26,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Baidoa who are likely to face Catastrophe (IPC AFI Phase 5). Under a plausible worst‑case scenario, Baidoa IDPs face a risk of Famine.   Acute malnutrition is also worsening, with 1.92 million children aged 6–59 months and 157,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women suffering or expected to suffer from July 2026–June 2027.   Uganda: Acute Food Insecurity And Acute Malnutrition   Two recent IPC analyses from August 2026 covered 60 areas across Uganda, including nine Karamoja districts, 12 refugee-hosting districts, 13 refugee settlements, urban refugees in Kampala, and 25 additional districts. Combined, these analyses found that around 3.6 million people are facing IPC Acute Food Insecurity Phase 3 or above between July 2026 and January 2027, driven by El Nino-induced dry spells, crop and pasture losses, and rising food prices. Conditions are expected to worsen between February and June 2027, with 4.4 million people projected to be in IPC Phase 3 or above.   Acute food insecurity and disease are also driving acute malnutrition in Uganda, particularly in the Karamoja region. From April 2026–March 2027, approximately 465,900 children under five and 246,300 pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering or expected to suffer from acute malnutrition and require treatment across the analysed areas.   Mozambique: Acute Food Insecurity And Acute Malnutrition   Acute food insecurity and acute malnutrition remain severe across parts of Mozambique, driven by conflict, climatic shocks and high food prices. The forecast of a strong El Nino episode—likely to persist into 2027—poses a major threat to food security in Mozambique.   From July to September 2026, an estimated 1.19 million people face IPC Acute Food Insecurity (AFI) Phase 3 or above, across 46 districts impacted by shocks between October 2025 and June 2026. This includes 81,000 people in IPC AFI Phase 4 (Emergency).   Conditions are expected to worsen rapidly with the onset of the lean season, with approximately 1.84 million people likely to face IPC AFI Phase 3 or above, including 254,000 people in IPC AFI Phase 4, between October 2026 and March 2027.   Honduras: Acute Food Insecurity   An updated projection on food security in Honduras shows a deterioration in the outlook for the period from August to October 2026, largely due to the effects of El Nino. It is estimated that around 1.88 million people (18 percent of the population) will suffer from high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above), with an increase of 108,500 people compared with the previous projection..   http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/   UN Geneva press briefing: UNHCR, UNICEF, IFRC, OHCHR, UN WOMEN, IOM, OCHA, WHO   Recovery and preparedness in Nepal   James Elder, for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), speaking from Kathmandu, said that more than 32,000 children in Nepal had been affected by floods that had begun when a mountain of glacial ice and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river in late August.   Parts of towns and villages still looked like war zones. Scientists warned that, as the Himalayas warmed, this kind of disaster was becoming more likely, and the countries that had done least to cause it were being left to pay for it.   Mr. Elder stressed that this problem reached far beyond Nepal. The Hindu Kush Himalaya held more ice than anywhere on Earth, outside the polar regions. Two hundred and forty million people lived in these mountains.   Another 1.65 billion lived downstream and relied on the rivers this ice fed, which was nearly two billion people – about a quarter of humanity. That system was now being pushed out of balance. Faster melting brought more water and more flood risk now, and serious shortages later as the glaciers disappeared. Both were driven by a heating planet.   Nepal produced only around 0.1 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet children, who were least responsible for the climate crisis, were among those bearing its heaviest consequences.   This disaster had not begun when the waters rose. Before the floods, more than half a million children in Nepal had been already exposed to at least multiple overlapping climate and environmental hazards.   On a positive side, the response from Government, communities and the UN was comprehensive, with new bridges built just weeks after a mountain of water and rock ripped through such infrastructure. However, unless the world acted to reduce climate risks, we would keep returning to the same valleys after the next flood and the next landslide, and yet again find children once paying the highest price.   That was true in Nepal, across Asia and the Pacific, and around the world, concluded Mr. Elder.   Caroline Holt, Director for Disasters, Climate and Crises at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), had just returned from Nepal and shared what she had seen. She had witnessed stories of both loss and resilience.   Ms. Holt provided an example of a teacher who had reacted quickly and warned his 900 students, making sure no child in his school lost a life. This teacher had been trained on disaster preparedness by the Nepal Red Cross. Investment in early warning and preparedness mattered and saved lives, stressed Ms. Holt.   Now, the focus was shifting from immediate life-saving assistance to recovery. The Nepal Red Cross was the first organization to provide cash assistance, which allowed people to continue their lives with dignity. In the hardest-hit locations families faced numerous obstacles, and people now needed confidence in the future, which required planning. Sustained, reliable resources were very much needed as the recovery efforts were getting underway, concluded Ms. Holt.   Displacement across the Central Sahel   Abdouraouf Gnon-Konde, Director of the Regional Bureau for West and Central Africa at the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), who had just returned from the region, said that UNHCR was increasingly concerned about the deepening displacement crisis in the Central Sahel, with nearly four million people uprooted across Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, including more than 818,000 refugees and asylum-seekers. This was roughly twice the number recorded in October 2020.   The crisis was being compounded by continued attacks affecting civilians, climate-related shocks and severe humanitarian funding shortfalls. Together, these pressures were forcing more families to flee, eroding livelihoods and limiting opportunities for displaced people to rebuild their lives, contributing to further movements within and beyond the region.   In Mali, the vast majority of refugees were from neighbouring Burkina Faso. In Koro, in the Bandiagara region, the refugee population was now approaching the size of the local host community, placing mounting pressure on already scarce land and water resources, overstretched health services and limited livelihood opportunities.   Climate-related shocks were adding another layer of pressure to communities already struggling with displacement and insecurity. In Koro, agricultural cooperative initiatives bringing together Burkinabe refugees and host-community members had helped expand cultivated land from 21 hectares in 2025 to 45 hectares in 2026, improving food production and household incomes. In Burkina Faso, similar support in Kaya was helping internally displaced people and host communities increase food production, reduce post-harvest losses and generate income.   These efforts remained tiny compared with the scale of displacement, but they showed what could be achieved when people forced to flee were given the means to rebuild their lives while longer-term solutions were sought.   The crisis was also increasingly extending beyond the Central Sahel. For some, displacement did not end in neighbouring countries. When safety and prospects remained out of reach, refugees might move on, often alongside migrants, taking dangerous routes towards North Africa and Europe.   This underscored the wider regional and international consequences of prolonged insecurity and limited opportunities closer to home.   UNHCR had been working with governments and partners to establish multi-purpose service hubs that provide critical information, counselling, referral services and essential assistance. As of September 2026, however, UNHCR's response in the Sahel was only 27 per cent funded, forcing difficult choices over which essential services and activities could be sustained, warned Mr, Gnon-Konde.   Volatile humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo   Damien Mama, Humanitarian Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, had toured the eastern DRC over the recent weeks, traveling to hard-to-reach areas.   Millions of people longed for peace and security, yet both remained out of reach in large parts of the country, particularly in the eastern provinces. More than 6.1 million people were displaced from their homes by conflict and violence.   More than 26 million people in the DRC were food insecure and struggling to put food on the table. Children were disproportionately affected, with over four million under five facing malnutrition. Essential services were under enormous pressure, and for some families who managed to return, home no longer looked like home, with their houses destroyed, schools gone, health centres no longer functioning.   The Ebola outbreak was adding another layer to an already devastating situation. It was spreading through communities that were already dealing with displacement, hunger, insecurity, and the disruption of basic services.   These crises were not separate, stressed Mr. Mama; they fed into one another. When people were forced from their homes, they lost access to healthcare. When health services were disrupted, disease spread more easily. When humanitarian workers could not safely reach communities, both the humanitarian response and the Ebola response were weakened.   Despite the constraints, humanitarian workers remained on the frontlines, reaching some of the most vulnerable communities in the country. Protecting both civilians and humanitarian personnel was not optional, the speaker stressed. It was an obligation under international humanitarian law.   He concluded by stating that humanitarians needed sustained access, greater protection for civilians and humanitarian workers, and to reinforce the Ebola response and the wider humanitarian response at the same time. The international community had to act with the urgency that this crisis demanded.   Situation in Gaza   Sofia Calltorp, Chief of Humanitarian Action at UN Women, stated that the scale of suffering in Gaza could be measured in the lives of women and girls. UN Women estimated that nearly 50,000 women and girls had been killed or severely injured since October 2023: more than 38,000 killed and 11,700 left with injuries so severe that they now lived with lifelong disabilities. This was equivalent to one in every 21 women and girls in Gaza.   While most of the casualties had been recorded during the first two years of the war, women and girls continued to be killed and injured even after the ceasefire agreement entered into effect a year ago. 277 women and girls had been killed in Gaza since October 2025.   Behind every number was a life: women with hopes and ambitions, mothers caring for their children, daughters, spouses and friends, and women contributing to their families and communities.   Today, almost every woman and girl in Gaza remained displaced, with the majority living in tents or among the ruins of their homes. The war had also reshaped family life. The number of women heading households had doubled over the past three years.   Women now headed one in four households in Gaza, often while facing deeper poverty, repeated displacement and the responsibility of caring for their families with increasingly limited resources.   Women's organizations were lifelines to women, girls and their families, but funding cuts were threatening their ability to serve those who need them. The consequences were immediate, and nearly two thirds of the organizations surveyed said they had been forced to put women and girls on waiting lists or turn them away altogether.   UN Women called for the ceasefire in Gaza to be fully implemented, international law to be upheld, and accountability for violations, alongside the protection of women and girls.   Karl Baker, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Regional Crisis Coordinator on Gaza Response, connecting from Amman, said that despite one year since a ceasefire had been announced, nearly the entire population of two million people still required shelter assistance. The reality was that the current shelter response was nowhere near the scale required to protect people. Only 17 per cent of winter-specific shelter needs were covered by the pipeline of humanitarian shelter partners. This was due to the combination of insufficient funding and continued Israeli restrictions on the entry of critical shelter supplies.   According to the Palestine Shelter Cluster, coordinated by IOM, half of all existing tents and makeshift shelters were in poor or very poor condition and required replacement. While tents had been entering Gaza this past year, they were temporary solutions made to last only 6-12 months. Current forecasts indicated that a strong El Nino weather pattern could bring a wetter, longer and more intense winter. Most of the 1.8 million people living in displacement sites were in flood-risk areas.   This was a frustrating situation, stressed Mr. Baker, because humanitarian organizations had shelter solutions ready. IOM, like all Shelter partners, ensured compliance with Israeli security requirements and specifications, yet supplies continued to be turned away at crossing points.   Humanitarian partners were doing everything possible to find alternative materials inside Gaza, but local markets had been exhausted. Mr. Baker concluded by stressing that meeting humanitarian needs and fulfilling the commitments outlined under the ceasefire framework requires the immediate and sustained entry of shelter materials.   Simple tents were allowed in, but more durable solutions were needed and at a higher scale, explained Mr. Baker in a response to a question.   Arrests and detentions of Syrians by Israeli forces   Shabia Mantoo, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that OHCHR was concerned by the continuing impact of Israeli military operations on civilians in southern Syria. Some 280 incidents involving armed Israeli incursions into Syria had been recorded in September alone, through open-source monitoring —the highest monthly number since the start of the year. These included reported raids on homes, restrictions on movement, harassment and intimidation of civilians, arbitrary detention and destruction of livelihoods.   According to information OHCHR had received, 49 Syrians remained in Israeli custody, although OHCHR had not independently verified a comprehensive, current total.   Information from released detainees and other sources described prolonged detention periods - in some cases exceeding a year, detainees reportedly not being informed of the reasons for their detention, as well transfers between several and unknown facilities, and allegations of torture and ill-treatment. These included beatings, prolonged forced standing, setting dogs on detainees, and threats to harm them and their families..   Ms. Mantoo stressed that the Israeli authorities should cease actions that harass or intimidate civilians in Syrian villages, including raids, restrictions on freedom of movement, detention and destruction of crops. No person should be detained absent proper basis in international law.   Situation of children in Yemen   Ricardo Pires, for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said that beyond the immediate dangers of violence and displacement in Yemen, there were deeply worrying signs of a worsening health crisis for children, with alarming levels of malnutrition and a sharp rise in disease outbreaks. Access to healthcare continued to shrink.   More than one in three children recently screened by UNICEF mobile health teams in Yemen had been found to be suffering from acute malnutrition. Around 1,500 pregnant and breastfeeding women had also been identified as malnourished. Mr. Pires said that disease was now spreading. Cholera cases had tripled in just three weeks, while dengue and malaria cases were also rising.   This came as renewed fighting forced families to flee their homes. Since the beginning of September, more than 200,000 people, including an estimated 110,000 children, had been displaced across ten governorates.   Since 3 September, UNICEF verified that 28 children had been killed and 25 injured. Three others are reported missing. For Yemen's children, warned Mr. Pires, the ongoing fighting was creating a crisis within a crisis, and every new wave of violence made their chances of survival more precarious.   Floodwater risks rise in South Sudan   Vijaya Souri, Chief of Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in South Sudan, speaking from Juba, said that for more than a decade, families in South Sudan had been living through protracted displacement. Many had remained displaced since 2013, enduring years of insecurity, repeated flooding and uncertainty about when they would be able to rebuild their lives.   Today, nearly 109,000 displaced people in Bentiu were living in a camp surrounded by flood waters. The camp depended on a system of protective dykes to keep the water out. Continuous pumping removed accumulated water, while regular maintenance helped keep the dykes standing. But these defences were under growing pressure and worsened by the risk of flooding with heavy rains were expected anytime between now and December. Humanitarian operations were facing increasingly severe resource constraints. Funding was becoming more limited, even as the needs of displaced communities remained high.   By the end of November 2026, funding for IOM's critical water, sanitation and flood protection operations in Bentiu and Malakal would run out.   For the nearly 150,000 people in Bentiu and Malakal IDP Camp, this meant water taps could run dry. Around 2,200 latrines could overflow. Drainage pumps could stop operating. Floodwaters could contaminate drinking water sources, increase the spread of disease and trigger further displacement, warned Ms. Souri.   IOM urgently needed USD 8.35 million to maintain these services for another 12 months, from December 2026 to December 2027.   With continued funding, IOM could keep these systems operating and undertake the maintenance needed to reduce the risk of flooding. Alongside maintaining essential services, IOM was working with UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and local authorities towards more sustainable infrastructure and longer-term solutions to displacement. Essential services should not be allowed to stop while longer-term solutions were still being developed. The coming weeks were critical.   World Mental Health Day   Dr. Mark van Ommeren, Head, Mental Health and Substance Use Unit at the World Health Organization (WHO), informed that the theme of this World Mental Health Day on 10 October was the role of lived experience. By putting lived experience at the centre of the conversation in countries, communities around the world would be reflecting on what meaningful engagement really meant; that reflection was fundamental to a much-needed change of culture in mental health care.   De-institutionalization was a gradual and planned shift from managing people in long-stay psychiatric institutions to supporting them through community-based mental health and social care, so people could live the life they wanted to live. The goal was dignity, freedom, choice and the support to live a full life.   In mental health, there now existed vast amounts of advanced science, and there was increasing goodwill for mental health. Yet, at the same time, the paradox was that typically half of countries' mental health budgets remained tied up in institutions that were largely designed for a past era.   Dr. van Ommeren emphasized that listening to people with lived experience was helping see a better path: investing in community-based support, protecting rights, and creating services that people actually want.   Today, WHO was focusing on institutions as the elephant in the room in mental health in many countries. By launching a practical guide to the de-institutionalization of psychiatric hospitals WHO sought to support countries, guiding them to move from managing people in institutions to caring and supporting people in the community to live the lives they wanted to live. This guide supported hospital leaders and policymakers to implement deinstitutionalization locally.   It focused on adults staying in psychiatric hospitals for more than six months. It focused on three areas of action: reducing new admissions and shortening stays; improving care practices in the hospitals; and enabling discharge as appropriate supports became available through building community alternatives.   Nobel Peace Prize   Shabia Mantoo, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), congratulated Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, the former High Commissioner for Human Rights, who had just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She said that Ms. Pillay had been a staunch defender and advocate of human rights. It was important in this day and age to see that accolade being awarded to those who were speaking out on violations of human rights.   Responding to a question on the ongoing protests in France, Shabia Mantoo, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), called on everyone to ensure that the protests in France remained peaceful and that there was no disproportionate use of force.   On another question, she said that the absolute prohibition of torture also prohibited public executions, anywhere in the world.   http://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1c/k1c2udvfld Visit the related web page
	Why the world cannot normalize the killing of those who help by IFRC, OCHA, WVI, Save the Children, agencies   19 August 2026   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls on Member States to respect humanitarian law and protect humanitarian workers around the world:   "On World Humanitarian Day, we honour the dedicated workers who provide life-saving aid to millions in need. We also confront an appalling truth: Serving others has become more dangerous than ever. More than a thousand humanitarians have been killed in the last three years. Most were local staff supporting their own communities. Countless others narrowly survived being shot at, shelled, bombed, kidnapped, or raped.   Schools and hospitals are coming under fire. And new tools of war – including armed drones – are posing fresh risks. At the same time, disinformation is eroding trust. Humanitarian funding is being cut. And humanitarian access is being restricted. We see aid convoys blocked. Aid workers threatened, arrested, and detained. And people in desperate need left without support.   Attacks on humanitarian workers are illegal. And the consequences are devastating. For families struggling to survive. Children waiting for food. Patients seeking urgent care. And so many more. The world has made commitments. Now it must act: To respect the rules of war; Ensure safe access; Hold perpetrators accountable; And provide sufficient resources. Humanitarian workers stand up for people in need. We must stand up for them. We must act for humanity – now".   Aug. 2026   Why the world cannot normalize the killing of those who help. (IFRC)   A joint message from Kate Forbes, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross on World Humanitarian Day:   On World Humanitarian Day, we rightly celebrate the courage of humanitarian workers and volunteers. But honouring their bravery and commitment while aid workers are being killed in record numbers is not enough.   We must not allow the targeting of aid workers to become normalized. Today there is a real risk that the world comes to accept that humanitarian personnel will be attacked, injured or killed as “part of the job” or an inevitable feature of today’s crises.   The answer cannot be to ask our colleagues to be braver. The answer must be to make it possible for them to do their jobs safely.   Every day, somewhere in the world, a humanitarian worker sets out knowing they may not return home. They are medics, drivers, engineers and volunteers. Their courage is extraordinary. But courage does not stop bullets or guarantee safe passage.   The risks are also becoming harder to navigate. In an increasingly polarized environment, facts are contested, trust is fragile and falsehoods spread quickly. Political leaders, public figures, media and online platforms all shape the environment in which humanitarian action takes place.   Rhetoric that dehumanizes humanitarian workers, casts suspicion on impartial assistance or erodes trust in the emblems can make already dangerous work even more dangerous.   Harmful information campaigns deliberately targeted at aid workers often do not remain online. They can have real-world consequences in terms of the danger and hostility our teams face while carrying out their work.   The safety of our colleagues depends on governments and parties to armed conflicts upholding their obligations under international humanitarian law.   Expressions of support for humanitarian workers matter, but words must be matched by decisions from those with power and influence to uphold the rules, defend the space for humanitarian action and make choices that allow aid workers to reach people and return home.   Protecting humanitarian personnel is not a favour to our organizations. It is an obligation and, more importantly, a lifeline for every person who will one day depend on an ambulance that arrives, a volunteer who stays or an aid worker who is able to reach them because the world has preserved the space to do so safely.   Aug. 2026   World Humanitarian Day: National staff bear brunt of record violence against humanitarian workers - Save the Children International:   Nearly all attacks on humanitarian workers over the past five years –96% – were on national staff as parties to conflict flouted laws designed to protect aid workers and violence reached unprecedented levels, Save the Children said on World Humanitarian Day.   New analysis by Save the Children of data from the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD), found that between 1 August 2021 and the end of July 2026, about 3,496 national aid workers were victims of attacks, including deaths, detentions, kidnappings and attacks that result in serious injury, compared with 134 international staff which tend to bring more attention.   The findings come after the deadliest year on record for humanitarian workers. In 2025, more than 1,180 aid workers globally were victims of major attacks, driven largely by the war in the occupied Palestinian territories, where 187 humanitarian workers were killed, 80 injured, 23 detained and two kidnapped.   Assessing the number of attacks on humanitarian workers so far in 2026, national staff account for greater share of victims, accounting for 98% of all attacks, their highest proportion since records began in 1997.   The majority of attacks this year have taken place in Lebanon, South Sudan and Sudan, making them among the most dangerous places to be an aid worker today.   The risks for aid workers are rising despite international law prohibiting attacks on humanitarian personnel, however, attacks on national staff too often go unreported and unnoticed.   Gabriella Waaijman, Save the Children’s Chief Operating Officer, said:   “National staff bear the brunt of attacks year on year. However, when a national aid worker gets killed, detained, injured or kidnapped, it rarely makes headlines.   These are people brave enough to respond to the crises unfolding around them and are often directly affected by the crises themselves.   Sometimes, they're among the displaced people they're trying to support, facing the same hunger and affected by the same bombs and bullets tearing through their communities.   “Every humanitarian worker killed, injured or detained is more than a number. They are a parent, sibling, friend, neighbour, or colleague. Their loss is felt not only by their loved ones, but by the communities and children they serve.   When aid workers cannot safely reach communities, children die. They lose access to food, healthcare, education, protection and other services that they rely on for survival.   “The promise of respect and protection for aid workers under international humanitarian law is broken. We cannot accept a world where those who save lives are targeted for it. The laws are clear. Aid workers should never be a target.”   This World Humanitarian Day on 19 August, Save the Children is demanding urgent action, not simply expressions of concern:   1. International humanitarian law must be applied with children in mind at every phase of conflict, accounting for their unique vulnerabilities. This will reduce the irreparable harm to children and strengthen protection for all civilians.   2. Parties to conflict must respect international humanitarian law, facilitate rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access, and protect humanitarian personnel and civilian infrastructure. As technology advances, from drones to artificial intelligence, so must our protection of civilians, including humanitarian workers.   3. States must use the diplomatic and legal tools and leverage they have to protect aid workers, prevent attacks, safeguard access, and ensure those responsible for any violations are held to account. Impunity only fuels further attacks.   Aug. 2026   Attacks on humanitarian workers surge under new armed conflict tactics, leaving children without life‑saving aid - World Vision International:   A child should not have to know the sound of a military drone. Yet for millions of children living through conflict, the buzz overhead has become as familiar as a school bell.   Drones can now be heard above hospitals in Sudan, over war-torn villages in Ukraine, along roads where aid convoys once moved, and near shelters, where children wait for food, medicine, clean water, and safety.   Their presence signals danger, causing panic and keeping families indoors. Drone threats close roads, empty clinics and prevent aid workers from reaching those who need assistance most.   This World Humanitarian Day, World Vision warns that humanitarian access, protection of civilians, and aid worker safety are being reshaped by the changing nature of conflict, including the growing use of drones and other emerging technologies, leaving children cut off from the help they need most.   In East Darfur, Sudan, a drone attack on Al-Daein Teaching Hospital reportedly killed at least 64 people, including 13 children and healthcare workers, and left 90 others severely injured. The hospital was rendered completely non-functional, cutting off life-saving healthcare services. Drone attacks are being reported across a widening area of Sudan, including UN-reported strikes in El Obeid that hit a power and fuel station, forcing medical facilities to close.   In Ukraine, families describe children hiding in basements, listening to drones above their villages. Some have been separated from their parents for months while seeking safety abroad.   "Technology may be changing how conflicts are fought but it cannot change our responsibility to protect human life and dignity. Every drone strike that closes a clinic, destroys a road or forces aid workers to turn back is also an attack on a child’s chance to survive. Humanitarian workers are not targets. Hospitals are not targets. Children are not collateral damage,” said Isabel Gomes, Global Lead, Disaster Management, World Vision International.   More than 1,000 humanitarian workers have been killed in the past three years, with 350 killed in 2025 alone, the second-highest number ever recorded. At the same time, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack recorded at least 8,566 attacks on education in 2024 and 2025, more than a 40 per cent increase compared with 2022–2023, while the World Health Organization has verified nearly 1,900 attacks on healthcare facilities, personnel and services in 2026.   When aid workers are attacked or blocked from reaching people in need, children are left waiting for food, medicine and protection that may never come. Too often, those risking their lives to help are local people and members of the very communities caught in the conflict.   Last year, World Vision welcomed the "Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel", a commitment to uphold international law and take practical steps to protect humanitarian personnel. This was an important step towards safeguarding aid workers, defending humanitarian access, and strengthening accountability when those protections are violated.   This World Humanitarian Day, World Vision calls on governments and parties to conflict to:   Protect humanitarian workers, civilians, and civilian infrastructure in line with international humanitarian law. Guarantee safe, sustained, and unimpeded humanitarian access for children and families affected by conflict.   Ensure independent investigations, accountability, and consequences for attacks on humanitarian workers, healthcare facilities, and other civilian infrastructure. Address the humanitarian consequences of drones and other emerging military technologies, including their impact on humanitarian access, civilian protection, and children’s safety.   Protecting humanitarian workers is inseparable from protecting children. Every attack that prevents aid workers from reaching a community exposes children to hunger, disease, violence, exploitation, and despair.   “When humanitarian workers are attacked or prevented from reaching communities, children lose the people bringing food, medicine, clean water and protection. Governments must treat every such attack not simply as another statistic, but as a test of whether international law will be upheld,” said Gomes.   This World Humanitarian Day, the global #ActForHumanity campaign reminds us that every humanitarian worker killed is more than a number. It forces us to ask uncomfortable questions: How many more aid workers must die, how many more hospitals stop functioning, before expressions of concern are matched by accountability? Protection requires action, accountability, and consequences when international law is violated.   World Vision honours humanitarian workers who have lost their lives and those who continue to serve in the world’s most dangerous places. Remembrance must now be matched by protection, access, and accountability.   Aug. 2026   Briefing on World Humanitarian Day by Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:   1,000 aid workers killed, injured or kidnapped, and States dominating that violence against humanitarians. And behind it all, this sense we feel of impunity, of a lack of accountability for those who pulled the trigger, those who gave the order, those who supplied the weapon, those who created the environment in which it could be used in that way. I’ve been in the job now for almost two years, and I struggle to think of meaningful investigations into this litany of killing that we’ve seen.   This is a stain. It is the normalization of violence against our community, and we will not accept it. We do not accept it. We will not allow this violence, this killing of humanitarians, to be normalized.   I’m in Ukraine at the moment for World Humanitarian Day. I’ve been in Kherson for the last two days, which is a real epicentre at the moment – it’s saturated by use of drones against civilian areas. It’s become one of the places, I’m afraid, where you get to really understand this dystopian reality that lies ahead, potentially, for many of us, but is an existence day to day for people here and in so many of the crisis areas in which we work, from Somalia to Sudan to Gaza to Lebanon. A chilling alliance between technological ingenuity and modern warfare, and the victims are civilians and they are humanitarians.   I was really struck – I drove the road four times, actually, that Ukrainians call the "Road of Death," between Mykolaiv and Kherson, and until you see it and experience it, it’s hard to describe driving for miles and miles, kilometres, kilometres along these roads covered in netting to try and keep out as many of the drones as possible. That sense when you’re walking around of the constant threat, the alarms going on everyone’s phone incessantly, and the sense of collective anxiety that these drones create.   I’ve not been anywhere – and you know, I spend my time in pretty tough neighbourhoods – I’ve not been anywhere where drones are so much part of the conversation. Everyone – from the kids I met in shelters, civilians, humanitarians, my colleagues – can tell the difference between the sound of a first-person-view drone and a fibre-optic drone and the medium-range drones or the loitering munitions, which are such a threat to our work. And so these weapons have become part of life and part of the language of people here, and that’s pretty chilling.   I met, of course, civilians who've lost limbs to these first-person-view drones that are everywhere. And of course, the terrifying thing here is that the operator of that drone knows exactly what they’re doing. If they fly around the person selling fruit and vegetables in the market, or the humanitarian delivering food, they have a good look at them before they take the shot that will kill or maim them for life.   I visited a hospital where doctors told me around 70 per cent of their wounded patients have blast injuries from drones – 70, seven-zero, per cent – and where they’re moving the wards and the theatres underground to try and escape those drones. We had to run to avoid one example of that. You know, and the drone that had caused such damage to Kherson Hospital, you know, I handled that drone. It was a $300 drone. So, increasingly cheap and available munitions.   And I met the families who are trying to continue their lives in the face of these challenges: sleeping underground, learning online, desperately surviving day to day. And who keep going – they keep going despite those challenges. I met Serhii, who this morning, he delivers – an extraordinary humanitarian – delivers hot meals for his local humanitarian organization, and a drone attack cost him his leg. He turned up at the hospital and asked them to stick it back on. Went back to work within weeks, coordinating the teams delivering food to people who need it.   I met the doctors working around the clock in conditions of extreme danger. The volunteers evacuating people from the communities on the front lines. We were just a kilometre away yesterday from those front lines, and, as always, it’s the civilians who are doing the most to help their fellow civilians and local organizations on whom we depend. And I again pay tribute to their courage globally in the face of these challenges.   So you see this dystopian reality of these kill zones and kamikaze drones increasingly putting lethal power into the hands of more people, and all of that without the accountability that international humanitarian law demands.   We have a sense that it’s not just the killer who’s further from the victim, but that accountability and justice are further from the victim, and that the technology is changing every week as these drones become more sophisticated.   But what doesn’t change or must not change each week is international humanitarian law. The law is meant to protect us, meant to protect civilians from all weapons, however sophisticated they are. So we need investigations. We need accountability. We need the international community to uphold the law.   This isn’t just a Ukraine story. I’ve seen the way that armed drones are transforming war around the world. I was told in Somalia a few weeks ago by women that they were fleeing not famine or violence, but the drones that are following them round, as people are experimenting with cheaper and cheaper and more available technology.   So, from Sudan to Colombia to Gaza to Lebanon, these cheap armed drones are extending the reach of war and allowing people to kill at greater distance. A thousand civilians killed in Sudan in the first five months of the year. These numbers aren’t static – they are going up, including the numbers of kids killed.   We need States to uphold the law, and we need the companies who are manufacturing and supplying these weapons to understand international humanitarian law, to understand how these weapons are being used and to understand their obligations and responsibilities.   I fear, otherwise, that the death toll from these weapons will continue to rise, and we’ll be back again next year with another grim litany of statistics to share with you. Concern from Member States is not enough. We need action right now.   http://www.ifrc.org/article/why-world-cannot-normalize-killing-those-who-help http://www.savethechildren.net/news/world-humanitarian-day-national-staff-bear-brunt-record-violence-against-humanitarian-workers http://www.wvi.org/newsroom/attacks-humanitarian-workers-surge-under-new-armed-conflict-tactics-leaving-children http://alliancecpha.org/en http://www.rescue.org/press-release/aid-worker-deaths-near-record-high-2025-driven-gaza-and-sudan http://reliefweb.int/report/world/acaps-global-humanitarian-access-overview-access-conditions-crisis-affected-countries-july-2026 http://www.acaps.org/en/thematics/all-topics/humanitarian-access-overview http://www.unocha.org/news/world-humanitarian-day-un-relief-chief-says-violence-against-humanitarians-must-not-be http://worldhumanitarianday.org/ http://www.unocha.org/world-humanitarian-day http://www.un.org/en/observances/humanitarian-day http://www.unocha.org/latest/news-and-stories   http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/world-humanitarian-day-remarks-yasmine-praz-director-operations-icrc http://www.icrc.org/en/article/world-humanitarian-day-health-care-not-privilege-it-fundamental-right http://www.who.int/news/item/04-05-2026-joint-call-by-the-president-of-the-icrc--the-director-general-of-who-and-the-international-president-of-msf http://www.msf.org/latest-portal http://www.insecurityinsight.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Executive-Summary-Still-Under-Attack-A-decade-of-monitoring-attacks-on-health-care-after-United-Nations-Security-Council-Resolution-2286.pdf http://www.inew.org/world-humanitarian-day-new-data-shows-impact-of-explosive-weapons-on-humanitarian-work/ http://www.icrc.org/en/article/icrcs-position-use-explosive-weapons-populated-areas http://explosiveweaponsmonitor.org/reports/9/explosive-weapons-monitor-2025/   http://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2026/08/unwavering-duty-protect-humanitarian-workers-and-civilians-world-humanitarian-day http://www.aidworkersecurity.org/ http://humanitarianoutcomes.org/AWSR_2026 http://ngosafety.org/latest/aid-under-arrest/ http://ngosafety.org/ http://protecthumanitarians.org/en/out-now-protect-humanitarians-and-legal-action-worldwides-report-on-justice-and-accountability-for-attacks-against-humanitarian-personnel/ http://reliefweb.int/report/world/children-and-armed-conflict-report-secretary-general-a80723-s2026357-enarruzh http://reliefweb.int/report/world/protection-civilians-armed-conflict-report-secretary-general-s2026390 http://docs.un.org/en/S/2026/390 http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2026/07/at-least-one-million-women-and-girls-lose-access-to-critical-support   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://civiliansinconflict.org/press-releases/joint-civil-society-statement-ahead-of-the-2026-open-debate-on-the-protection-of-civilians-in-armed-conflict/ Visit the related web page
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