‘Domicide’ on the increase as conflicts proliferate by Balakrishnan Rajagopal Special Rapporteur on housing   5 Mar. 2026   ‘Domicide’ on the increase as conflicts proliferate, warns top rights expert. (UN News)   The mass destruction of homes due to conflict around the world has continued to cause massive destitution and AI has made it far worse, according to Special Rapporteur on housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal.   On the unfolding war in the Middle East, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent expert highlighted reports indicating that AI had been used to hit more than 1,000 targets in the first 24 to 48 hours in Iran.   “I hope that the Iran crisis stops gathering momentum, that steps are taken to bring it to a full stop as soon as possible, and that parties return to the negotiating table to sort out whatever differences that they have instead of trying to bomb each other and destroy everything that they've taken decades to build.”   In his last report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mr. Rajagopal described the widespread or systematic destruction of housing in Gaza, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere as “domicide”.   Following his country visit to Guatemala in July 2025, the Special Rapporteur also highlighted the “widespread practice of forced evictions and the criminalization of Indigenous Peoples and peasant communities” there.   He maintained that many evictions were driven by judicial orders following criminal complaints filed by private developers, with little protection from the authorities for those losing their homes or land.   http://www.unognewsroom.org/story/en/3032/hrc-press-conference-special-rapporteur-on-housing-05-march-2026 http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahcr6143add3-domicide-mass-destruction-housing-and-civilian http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/03/special-rapporteur-housing-launches-guiding-principles-resettlement http://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-housing/annual-thematic-reports http://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-housing   3 Mar. 2026   UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani remarks on the military escalation in the Middle East:   “The fear, the panic, the anxiety experienced by millions of people in the Middle East and beyond is palpable – and was entirely avoidable. The situation is worsening and widening by the hour, playing out our worst fears,” the UN Human rights spokesperson said.   “UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk says he is deeply shocked by the impacts of the widespread hostilities on civilians and civilian infrastructure since the conflict erupted on Saturday with Israel and the United States of America’s attacks on Iran, Iran’s response against States across the region, as well as Hezbollah’s subsequent entry into the conflict,” Shamdasani stated.   “The laws of war are crystal clear. Civilians, and civilian objects are protected. All States, and armed groups, must abide by these laws,” she added.   The High Commissioner calls on all parties to exercise maximum restraint, prevent further escalation, and take all feasible measures to protect civilians, including foreign nationals, as well as critical infrastructure. Returning to the negotiating table is the one and only way to bring an end to the killing, destruction and despair.   “So far, besides Iran and Israel, the hostilities have impacted 12 other States, destroying or damaging private homes, offices and businesses, airports, energy infrastructure, amongst other civilian infrastructure,” Shamdasani said.   “In the single deadliest – and devastating – incident, dozens of girls were reportedly killed and injured when their primary school in Minab in the south of the country was struck during the school day,” she stated.   “I mean, children, little girls in the middle of the school day, at the beginning of the school day, being killed in this manner, backpacks with, you know, blood stains on them. This is absolutely horrific. And I think if there's any image that captures the essence of the destruction, despair and senselessness and cruelty of this conflict, those are the images,” she added.   The High Commissioner calls for a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation into the circumstances of the attack. The onus is on the forces that carried out the attack to investigate it. The UN Human Rights Office calls on them to make public the findings and ensure accountability and redress for victims.   “The Iranian military has responded to the U.S. and Israeli attacks, deploying hundreds of missiles and drones, among other weapons systems, against States across the region, killing civilians and causing damage to civilian infrastructure. In the central Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, nine people were killed when a missile struck a residential area,” Shamdasani said.   “We are also gravely concerned by the escalation of hostilities in Lebanon after Hezbollah fired barrages of projectiles into Israel, and the heavy counterstrikes of Israel, including in Beirut. We urge both parties to immediately end this major escalation in violence and to return to the agreed ceasefire,” Shamdasani added.   Reports say there have been civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure, and significant re-displacement as a result of the Israeli strikes in the south of the country, and southern suburbs of Beirut. Information received indicates that nearly 30,000 residents had fled the affected areas overnight, on top of the already 64,000 already displaced.   “Across Iran, we have grave concerns for the welfare of the population, given the Government’s record of cracking down with lethal force on broad scale against those who oppose their rule and new threats of senior officials against any expression of dissent at this time,” she said.   The spokesperson also voiced concern over that many Iranians are again unable to access the Internet, and hence have limited access to essential information, including that necessary to seek safety from the ongoing hostilities. She called for the immediate restoration of telecommunications services.   “Human rights must not be instrumentalized or used as a bargaining chip by any State – we know from painful history what the results of the use of brute, external force can mean for human rights. Human rights need to be central to Iran’s future,” the spokesperson said.   * Middle East - Civilians at risk across region. (OCHA)   The Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that the United Nations and its partners continue to monitor the rapidly evolving situation across the Middle East, where hostilities are increasingly affecting civilians, humanitarian operations and essential supply routes.   In Iran, authorities report more than 1,000 deaths and damage to over 100 civilian sites, including residential areas, medical and pharmaceutical facilities, Iranian Red Crescent Society bases and schools. The UN Refugee Agency reports that around 100,000 people have been displaced since 28 February, with population movements observed from major cities toward rural areas.   Turning to Lebanon, bombardments in the south of the country and in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut, continue to impact civilians. The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health reported more than 70 fatalities and over 435 injuries since the start of the escalation.   Israeli authorities have issued orders instructing residents south of the Litani River, including those in the cities of Tyr and Bint Jbeil, to move north of the river. A forced displacement order was also issued for Dahieh, an entire neighbourhood in the south of Beirut. According to the Government, more than 95,000 people are sheltering in over 440 collective shelters.   * (More than half a million people in Lebanon have been registered as displaced after fighting restarted between Israel and Hezbollah following the United States and Israel’s war on Iran. Lebanon’s Social Affairs Minister Haneen Sayed told a press briefing on the 8th of March that the total number of people who had registered on a website affiliated with the ministry reached 517,000, including 117,228 in government shelters, since fighting in Lebanon resumed).   OCHA reiterates that civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times in accordance with international humanitarian law. De-escalation, safe humanitarian access and functioning supply routes remain essential to ensure assistance can reach people affected across the region.   The brutality of war measured in children’s lives as hostilities escalate in Iran - UNICEF   “UNICEF is deeply concerned about the deadly impact the ongoing military escalation in Iran is having on children. Over 180 children have reportedly been killed and many more injured.   “Among the casualties are 168 girls killed when a strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in Minab, in southern Iran, on 28 February, while classes were in session. Reports indicate that the majority of those killed were schoolchildren aged between 7 and 12. In addition, 12 children were killed in other schools across five different locations in Iran.   “These child casualties are a stark reminder of the brutality of war and violence on children, which impacts families and communities for generations.   “Children and schools are protected under International Humanitarian Law and must be places of safety.   “As military strikes continue across the region, children are increasingly exposed to violence and the impact on essential civilian infrastructure poses a direct threat to their wellbeing. At least 20 schools and 10 hospitals have reportedly been damaged in Iran, disrupting children’s access to education and critical health services.   “UNICEF urgently calls on all parties to uphold their obligations under international law, and to ensure the protection of civilians. Under international humanitarian law, the lives and wellbeing of children must always be protected.   “UNICEF continues to closely monitor the situation and stands ready to support the humanitarian efforts to assist children and families affected by the escalating violence.”   6 Mar. 2026   Humanitarian crises escalate in Middle East - Press briefing by Tom Fletcher, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.   "This a very tough moment for our humanitarian work. I do think this is a moment of grave peril right now. We’re seeing these crises escalate rapidly with consequences that are out of control for those instigating the conflict, and we’re seeing increasing linkages between these different humanitarian crises – none of them good.   We’re seeing staggering amounts of money, reportedly $ 1 billion a day, funding this war, spent on destruction, while politicians continue to boast about cutting aid budgets for those in greatest need. And we’re seeing an increasingly deadly alliance of technology and killing with impunity.   We’re seeing a sustained attack against the systems and laws meant to restrain us from our worst instincts and from reckless warfare.   So too many warning lights are flashing right now. And as the Secretary-General has said, what we need is de-escalation, an immediate cessation of hostilities, genuine dialogue and negotiations, in line with the Charter of the United Nations. We need calmer heads to prevail.   Actions, of course, have consequences, and once again, civilians are facing those consequences across the Middle East.   Homes, hospitals and schools are being hit. Across the region, UNHCR are reporting hundreds of thousands of people displaced. UNICEF are reporting that over 190 children have been killed since the escalation, including over 180 in Iran, seven in Lebanon, three in Israel, and one in Kuwait. So once again, civilians must be protected – full stop.   We are mobilizing in response, across the humanitarian community. I’m in close contact with our teams in Iran and throughout the wider region, and we’re distributing life-saving help, including food, medicine and shelter.   Yesterday, I spoke to the Permanent Representative of Iran. I reaffirmed the UN’s readiness to help civilians needing humanitarian support. Authorities there are reporting more than 1,000 deaths and damage to over 100 civilian sites. UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration are reporting that over 100,000 people have been internally displaced in the last week.   In Lebanon, more than 100 people have been killed, hundreds more injured. Around 100,000 people are seeking refuge in hundreds of shelters. Even before the escalation, WFP were reporting that 874,000 people in Lebanon are lacking food.   In Gaza, Israel initially shut all crossings and brought many humanitarian movements to a halt a week ago, so aid stocks could not be replenished at the rate necessary. Shortages worsened, prices surged, and while Karem Abu Salem/Karem Shalom has reopened, other crossings, including Rafah, remain closed for now. Medical evacuations suspended. We’ve been able to bring in less than half the fuel we need as a bare minimum to keep services running. Key NGO partners remain restricted, facing unacceptable restrictions on their work, and strikes on residential areas have continued despite the ceasefire.   In Afghanistan, dozens have been killed in fighting on the Pakistan border, many of them women and children, and civilian infrastructure has been damaged. Displacement, already huge, is rising fast. More than 16,000 families have fled their homes, adding to millions already displaced across Afghanistan, and border closures have left more than 168 containers stranded, while flight suspensions and security restrictions are making it harder for us to reach people in need.   Beyond the impact on those country crises, I also fear three knock-on effects of this war.   Firstly, war doesn’t stay neatly within borders or on desktop military plans. It tears through markets, supply chains, food prices. And when that happens, it’s the most vulnerable people who are hit first and hardest.   And so, when maritime corridors, such as the Straits of Hormuz, are disrupted, food prices will rise. health systems will be squeezed, and basic commodities, including our humanitarian supplies, will become much harder to access.   A second-knock on effect: there will be even less attention for crises from Sudan to South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Ukraine and beyond. We sometimes hear that these conflicts have been ended. Let me repeat that they have not.   A third knock-on impact: the last week is part of a pattern of attrition against international law and humanitarian principles. As conflicts spread, the international system pulls further apart and more resources flow towards weapons, rather than the funding, the political will, the diplomatic energy needed for saving lives.   Humanitarian action is always harder in times of war, but this is, of course, when it is most needed. So, I want to end by recognizing the humanitarians who continue to head towards danger to support civilians caught up in this escalation. They must be protected.   The humanitarian movement will once again meet this moment. We’ll continue to serve those who need us. Every day that this continues, we will see many, many more people displaced, often into areas of existing high need.   As I said, attention now and money and time and energy is shifting into different ways to continue this war, rather than into existing humanitarian needs, and now the new humanitarian needs created by the war.   I also worry about other crises. I mentioned Sudan, Gaza and OPT, South Sudan, Ukraine, DRC, which all need sustained engagement, and which are slipping too far down the list. So the warning lights are really flashing right now.   Q: I wonder what the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, could do with a billion a day.   UN Emergency Relief Coordinator: That is, well, it’s a billion-dollar question, and I can tell you, we would save millions of lives with a billion dollars. We’re trying this year to save 87 million lives with $23 billion, so you can do the maths on how many we could save every day with that billion dollars. And it breaks our hearts that this is being spent on this conflict, rather than dealing with the existing huge humanitarian needs.   We’ve lost our bearings somehow in the world, and that this ingenuity and creativity that humans have is being spent on developing more and more sophisticated ways of killing each other. Rather than solving a very solvable problem, which is saving 87 million lives facing life threatening circumstances out of 300 million really in desperate need, as the starting point.   http://www.unognewsroom.org/story/en/3031/un-human-rights-spokesperson-ravina-shamdasani-remarks-on-the-military-escalation-in-the-middle-east http://www.unognewsroom.org/all-stories http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-statement-impact-military-escalation-children-middle-east http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/brutality-war-measured-childrens-lives-hostilities-escalate-iran http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/03/iran-children-must-never-be-collateral-damage-un-committee-says http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-are-bearing-brunt-escalating-violence-lebanon http://www.savethechildren.net/news/every-war-war-against-children-it-must-never-be-accepted-inevitability-statement-save-children http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2026/03/lebanon-israeli-blanket-displacement-orders-bring-more-misery http://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-tells-security-council-exhausted-lebanon-not-asking-help-oxygen   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/turk-deplores-strikes-against-iran-and-retaliation http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/icrc-president-urges-respect-rules-war-major-military-escalation-middle-east http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-almost-700-000-displaced-week-across-lebanon-crisis-deepens http://www.unhcr.org/news/press-releases/unhcr-3-2-million-iranians-temporarily-displaced-iran-conflict-intensifies http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/unhcr-responds-rising-displacement-middle-east-emergency http://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-warns-moment-grave-peril-humanitarian-crises-escalate-middle-east http://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-middle-east-violences-humanitarian-fallout-increasingly-daunting http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/03/1167063 Visit the related web page
	Global Humanitarian Overview 2026: Trends in crises and needs: a world at breaking point by UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs   Dec. 2025   In 2026, millions of people caught in conflict and disaster face their hardest test yet: survival. Funding cuts in 2025 stripped away lifelines, even as crises deepen. Yet, the global humanitarian community is determined to stand with them—from local organizations aiding their own communities, to international partners delivering where it is needed most.   In 2026, humanitarians will aim to collectively assist 135 million people, out of 239 million people in need, with the immediate priority being to save 87 million lives.   The Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO) 2026 is grounded in the harsh reality facing humanitarian action after a year in which thousands of staff were laid off and humanitarian offices were closed around the world.   Humanitarians are appealing for $33 billion through the Global Humanitarian Overview in 2026, of which $23 billion is required immediately to respond to the most life-threatening needs. While these amounts may seem daunting, they pale in comparison to other global expenditures—it is around one per cent of global military expenditure.   The 2026 GHO represents the critical core of the global humanitarian effort. It is focused on the places hit the hardest by crises and the people with the most life-threatening needs.   It reflects excruciating decisions—forced by funding cuts—regarding who and where should be prioritized for assistance, grounded in the principle of impartiality, and its call for humanitarians to reach those in most urgent distress first. The Global Humanitarian Overview reflects intense efforts by every country operation and regional response to take action to to save as many lives as possible.   2026 must be a year of renewed global solidarity following the decimation wrought by funding cuts in 2025. Humanitarian action remains the most effective lifeline for millions of people in crisis and costs just a fraction of global expenditure.   The Global Humanitarian Overview 2026 is the most tightly defined global appeal—focused on saving as many lives as possible—and it must be fully funded.   Trends in crises and needs: a world at breaking point   As 2026 begins, over 239 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection amidst entrenched conflicts that are more violent against civilians and lasting longer than at any time since World War Two, and a climate crisis that is escalating unabated.   From Haiti to Myanmar, Ukraine to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sudan to the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), horrifying violence, hunger, displacement and disease are tearing people’s lives apart—killing and maiming civilians, waging war on the bodies of women and girls, separating families, forcibly uprooting people from their land and livelihoods, fueling the spread of diseases and devastating their mental and physical health.   There are two main drivers of urgent humanitarian needs globally, both of which are man-made and could be reversed with concerted and collective action.   Conflict is the main cause of death, displacement and hunger   Civilians are enduring a record number of armed conflicts marked by increased flagrant disregard for international humanitarian and human rights, including mass atrocities and attacks on health and learning facilities.   More than two years into the Israeli offensive in Gaza, OPT, 69,785 people have been killed, according to Ministry of Health figures, while a recent study estimated that the violent death toll is likely more than 100,000 people. In Sudan, a 500-day siege was followed by the killing of thousands of civilians in El Fasher by the Rapid Support Forces, while similar dynamics are playing out in Kordofan entering 2026, with lack of respect for civilian life and freedom of movement.   In 2025, three out of every four civilian fatalities in conflict worldwide has occurred in countries with a humanitarian plan or appeal. In Myanmar, increased killings, razing of villages, and mass forced displacement have been reported. The spread and intensification of cholera outbreaks have also been driven by conflicts, notably in Chad, DRC, Sudan and South Sudan. In 2025, three out of every four civilian fatalities in conflict worldwide has occurred in countries with a humanitarian plan or appeal.   As wars increasingly move into cities, the rising use of explosive weapons in populated areas is having catastrophic consequences. Civilians continue to make up 90 percent of those harmed by explosive weapons in populated areas and civilian casualties from explosive weapons rose by 69 percent in 2024 compared to 2023, predominantly due to the war in Gaza, OPT.   Attacks by explosive weapons in residential areas and markets can also disproportionately affect women in contexts where they have the primary responsibility for buying food and household goods at markets.   Meanwhile, the withdrawal of Member States from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Ottawa Convention and the Convention on Cluster Munitions—which ban anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions respectively—marks a dangerous retreat from international humanitarian law and weakens fundamental norms for the protection of civilians. Globally, over 84 per cent of landmine victims are civilians.   The accelerating integration of emerging technologies into armed conflict is amplifying already intensifying risks. The use of drones is making conflict more accessible and more asymmetric: between 2022 and 2024, the number of companies making drones has exploded from six to over 200.   Drone attacks in conflict settings increased by 4,000 percent between 2020 and 2024, and more than quadrupled between 2023 (4,525 attacks) and 2024 (19,704). The proliferation of drones is also threatening life-saving humanitarian aid.   Until 2022, fewer than 10 drone-related incidents affected healthcare or aid delivery each year, while in 2024 there were over 300 such incidents. Meanwhile, Artificial Intelligence has significant implications for the way wars are waged. If algorithms are trained in overly permissive targeting rules, the result will be death and destruction among civilians at greater speed and on a larger scale.   Conflict trends in recent years—including widespread violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) by Member States and armed groups and impunity for international crimes—risk eroding protection of civilians everywhere.   ICRC has warned that, unless negative trends—including broadening the notion of who or what constitutes a lawful target, the idea that IHL obligations depend on reciprocity, and the dehumanization of fighting forces of the enemy, and civilian populations—are rapidly reversed, IHL risks becoming a justification for violence rather than a shield for humanity.   The unequal application of IHL and advocacy for compliance, which was pronounced in 2025, also risks respect for humanitarian principles, aid workers and organizations in future conflicts.   More than 295 million people face high acute food insecurity (IPC/CH Phase 3 and above) across 53 countries and territories—a sixth consecutive annual increase and nearly three times the number recorded in 2016.   Famine (IPC Phase 5) re-emerged, driven by conflict in Gaza, OPT and parts of Sudan in 2025, with a risk of Famine emerging in parts of South Sudan. Around 1.2 million people faced catastrophic levels (IPC/CH Phase 5) of acute food insecurity in 2025 across six countries and territories, primarily in Gaza, OPT and Sudan, followed by Haiti, Mali, South Sudan and Yemen.   Afghanistan, DRC, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia and Syria are of very high concern with deteriorating conditions and large populations already facing Emergency levels of acute food insecurity.   Conflict represents a principal driver of food insecurity for 14 out of 16 hunger hotspots where acute food insecurity is likely to worsen. It plays a major role in driving the catastrophic or extremely severe conditions affecting people in hotspot countries at the highest concern level.   Food insecurity significantly undermines protection; when individuals or communities lack reliable access to sufficient and nutritious food, they may resort to harmful strategies such as child labor, child marriage, or transactional sex to survive.   Over 117 million people are forcibly displaced by conflict and violence, including 42.5 million refugees. Sudan remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, while internal displacement doubled in Haiti from September 2024 to October 2025 and rose significantly in Myanmar and South Sudan.   Lack of respect for international humanitarian law (IHL) is fueling mass arrivals of refugees in certain places: Chad hosts 1.47 million refugees, of whom almost 900,000 have arrived since the conflict in Sudan started in 2023 and some 260,000 in 2025 only.   While the global number of people forcibly displaced has dropped due to an increase in returns, including to and within the DRC, Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan, those making long and fraught journeys home require assistance and risk mitigation, support and solidarity during their travel and upon arrival.   Around 520 million children—more than one out of five children in the world—are living in or fleeing conflict zones. Explosive weapons are killing children on a scale never seen before as wars increasingly move into cities and grave violations against children are on the rise.   In OPT, a staggering 64,000 children have reportedly been killed or maimed across Gaza in two years, and around one quarter of people facing life-changing injuries in Gaza are children.   In Sudan, the siege of El Fasher became an epicentre of child suffering, with more than 1,100 grave violations reported in El Fasher alone, including the killing and maiming of over 1,000 children.   In 2024, boys accounted for the majority of children affected by violations, facing significantly higher risks of recruitment, killing and maiming. Meanwhile, girls continued to suffer from sexual violence but the number of boys affected by sexual violence surged by 125 percent compared to the previous year. The highest numbers of grave violations against children were verified in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Nigeria, OPT and Somalia in 2024.   Some 676 million women now live within 50 kilometres of deadly conflict, the highest level since the 1990s and conflict-related sexual violence increased by 87 per cent in two years.   In Haiti nearly two-thirds of the cases of sexual violence involve gang rape. In the DRC, children accounted for up to 45 per cent of nearly 10,000 reported cases of rape and sexual violence in just two months (January-February 2025), during which time, “a child was raped every half an hour.”   Climate change is worsening disasters and geological events are impacting communities already in crisis   The world is perilously close to 1.5ºC warming and it is expected that 2025 will be the second or third hottest year on record after 2024, marked by weather extremes: floods in West Africa and Asia, drought in South America, and heatwaves and wildfires across the globe.   Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall across Cuba and Jamaica in October 2025, was one of the most powerful landfalling hurricanes ever recorded. A hurricane such as this is approximately four times more likely to occur in today’s climate as compared to a pre-industrial time.   As of November 2025, 2192 weather-related disasters were recorded, affecting at least 49 million people and causing thousands of deaths.   Meanwhile, geological events—especially earthquakes—are increasingly impacting communities already in crisis. In Afghanistan, on 31 August 2025, a 6+ magnitude earthquake and several aftershocks struck Nangarhar and Kunar provinces in the east, killing over 2,150 people and causing widespread destruction of homes along the mountainous slopes and valleys.   In Myanmar, two devastating earthquakes struck on 28 March 2025, killing 3,800 people, injuring 51,000, destroying thousands of homes and disrupting communications, water access and electricity supply.   Globally, three in four people who are forcibly displaced live in countries facing high-to-extreme exposure to climate-related hazards and weather-related disasters have caused some 250 million internal displacements—equivalent to around 70,000 displacements per day—over the past ten years.   When development or political action fails, crises become protracted. Conflict duration has nearly doubled in the past thirty years: the average duration of conflicts that ended in 1990 was around 16 years, while in 2020 it was over 30 years.   Since 2010, conflict termination rates have declined by 25 per cent while recurrence rates have risen 44 per cent compared to 1990 to 2009.   Around 204 million people live in areas controlled or contested by armed groups globally—74 million under full control and 130 million in contested areas.   Meanwhile, resources for peace and conflict prevention in contexts facing high and extreme fragility are at their second lowest level since 20046 and development and climate financing remains lowest in countries with the highest fragility and vulnerability.   As a result, international humanitarian action in 75 per cent (18 out of 24) HNRP9 countries has lasted more than 10 years. Humanitarian action in the absence of robust development and political action cannot provide solutions or significantly strengthen resilience.   Amidst this devastation, humanitarians have worked incisively to identify just over 239 million people in 50 countries who have been hardest-hit by crises and face the most severe needs, requiring humanitarian assistance and protection in 2026.   The people facing the most urgent, crisis-driven, needs captured in GHO 2026 therefore represent the tip of the iceberg of global suffering.   Beyond humanitarian crises, millions of people are enduring needs driven by other causes, including deep-rooted economic challenges, while over 1.1 billion people in 109 countries now face acute multi-dimensional poverty, most of whom live in countries that do not have humanitarian plans or appeals but that may face different states of fragility.   More than 400 million children globally live in poverty, missing out on at least two daily needs such as nutrition and sanitation, and it is forecasted that more than 351 million women and girls could still be living in extreme poverty by the end of the decade if current trends persist.   The outlook for these people may worsen unless they receive concerted attention and support—both domestically and globally—focused on securing political will to end conflict, eradicating poverty, eliminating marginalization, bringing sustainable development to those left furthest behind in line with the 2030 Agenda, and climate adaptation.   http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2026/article/trends-crises-and-needs-world-breaking-point http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2026/article/under-fire-and-under-pressure-what-happens-when-humanitarian-action-hindered http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2026/article/humanitarians-action-delivering-2025-amid-extreme-challenges http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2026   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-calls-urgent-investment-life-saving-services-children-global-humanitarian http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-prioritize-feeding-110-million-hungriest-2026-global-hunger-deepens-amidst-uncertain http://www.unhcr.org/news/press-releases/despite-funding-cuts-unhcr-responded-multiple-complex-emergencies-last-year http://www.unfpa.org/emergencies http://www.nrc.no/news/2025/december/2026-millions-in-need-will-not-get-aid-unless-global-solidarity-revived http://reliefweb.int/report/world/year-no-other-ngo-statement-launch-new-un-2026-appeal Visit the related web page
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