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.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
	Humanitarian agencies are witnessing alarming human suffering due to a proliferation of conflicts by WVI, ICRC, NRC, WFP, UNICEF, agencies   Dec. 2025   Humanitarian agencies are witnessing alarming human suffering due to a proliferation of conflicts   This statement is delivered on behalf of 108 Non Governmenmt Organisations, including humanitarian organisations with operations in countries covered by the Global Humanitarian Overview (GHO):   We are witnessing unspeakable human suffering due to the proliferation of conflicts lacking political solutions and the normalization of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations. Indiscriminate attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers, the bombing of schools and hospitals, and the use of starvation and sexual violence as methods of warfare are devastating communities worldwide.   Climate shocks, economic fragility, and protracted conflict are exacerbating humanitarian needs, leading to unprecedented levels of displacement and an escalating global hunger crisis.   Boundary-setting and narrower definitions of people in need are resulting in a highly prioritized 2026 GHO. With limited complementarity with development and other actors, it is unclear who will target those left behind. Despite exceptional prioritization efforts, humanitarian funding lags behind and Overseas Development Assistance cuts impact both humanitarian action and development gains.   We must turn the tide together in 2026. We urge donors to fully fund the 2026 GHO and to provide quality funding as early as possible in the year to enable flexible, timely, and principled humanitarian action.   The catastrophic effects of IHL violations – including on children, women, and people living with disabilities – urgently require donors’ re-commitment to the traditionally underfunded sectors of gender and Gender Based Violence, education and child protection in emergencies, and the stepping up of funding for hunger and forced displacement.   We call for a substantial increase in the volume and quality of funding to local and national actors, including Women’s organizations, whose essential leadership in humanitarian response must be recognized. This should be rooted in accountability to - and meaningful participation of affected people.   All stakeholders must redouble efforts to prevent and resolve conflict, and we urge humanitarian, development, peace and climate actors to work together to make nexus programming a reality and foster resilience. This requires increased Overseas Development Asistance (ODA) directed to fragile settings.   Nothing will reduce humanitarian needs unless civilians are protected. The 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions is also a year of unconscionable IHL violations. We urge parties to conflicts to abide by their obligations, and we call on governments to leverage their influence and ensure that the consistent application of IHL is a top priority.   http://www.wvi.org/newsroom/emergencies/nogs-call-action-and-funding-global-humanitarian-overview http://reliefweb.int/report/world/year-no-other-ngo-statement-launch-new-un-2026-appeal http://www.icrc.org/en/article/humanitarian-outlook-2026 http://www.icrc.org/en/publication/icrc-humanitarian-outlook-2026-world-succumbing-war http://globalprotectioncluster.org/index.php/publications/2393/communication-materials/advocacy-note/high-level-humanitarian-donors-briefing 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.nrc.no/news/2025/december/2026-millions-in-need-will-not-get-aid-unless-global-solidarity-revived http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/2025/12/11/abrupt-transitions-global-humanitarian-overview-pushes-dangerous-trend http://www.rescue.org/press-release/irc-emergency-watchlist-2026-new-world-disorder-driving-unprecedented-humanitarian http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/publications/global-hunger-hotspots-report-2026/   Oct. 2025   One in three organizations have suspended or shut down programmes on ending violence against women due to funding cuts. (UN Women, agencies)   More than a third of organizations surveyed, 34 per cent, have suspended or shut down programmes to end violence against women and girls and more than 40 per cent have scaled back or closed life-saving services such as shelters, legal aid, psychosocial and healthcare support due to immediate funding gaps. 78 per cent reported reduced access to essential services for survivors, while 59 per cent perceived an increase in impunity and normalization of violence. Almost one in four said they had to suspend or completely halt interventions designed to prevent violence before it occurs.   “Women’s rights organizations are the backbone of progress on violence against women, yet they are being pushed to the brink. We cannot allow funding cuts to erase decades of hard-won gains. We call on governments and donors to ringfence, expand, and make funding more flexible. Without sustained investment, violence against women and girls will only rise”, said Kalliopi Mingeirou, Chief of the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls section, UN Women.   Violence against women and girls remains one of the most widespread human rights violations worldwide. An estimated 736 million women—almost one in three—have experienced physical or sexual violence, most often at the hands of an intimate partner.   Earlier this year, UN Women warned that most women-led organizations in crisis settings were facing severe funding cuts, with nearly half at risk of closure—a warning now echoed in the findings of At Risk and Underfunded.   The report’s findings also highlight that only five per cent of organizations anticipate being able to sustain operations for two years or longer. 85 per cent predict severe backsliding in laws and protections for women and girls, and 57 per cent report serious concerns about rising risks for women human rights defenders.   Funding shortfalls are happening alongside a growing backlash against women’s rights in one in four countries. As organizations lose funding, many are forced to focus only on basic services instead of long-term advocacy that drives real change.   At Risk and Underfunded comes as the world marks 30 years since the Beijing declaration and platform for action, a progressive roadmap agreed by Governments to achieve gender equality and women’s rights, that had ending violence against women at its heart.   http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2025/10/one-in-three-organizations-have-suspended-or-shut-down-programmes-on-ending-violence-against-women-due-to-funding-cuts   Oct. 2025   In advance of the October 2025 UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), this open letter was sent to UN Member States on behalf of 661 civil society signatories from 106 countries working on issues related to gender equality and women’s rights, peace and security, human rights, humanitarian assistance, and protection of civilians. The letter calls on the Security Council and Member States to take decisive action to defend the fundamental tenets of the WPS agenda.   http://www.globalr2p.org/publications/2025-open-letter-to-the-un-in-advance-of-the-annual-open-debate-on-wps/ http://www.prio.org/research/topics/gender   Oct. 2025   The United Nations General Assembly will convene the 80th session of its First Committee on Disarmament and International Security from October 8 to November 7, 2025. Country Delegations need to urgently take up the task of disarmament and demilitarization.   Joint Civil Society Statement on Humanitarian Disarmament, delivered by Bonnie Docherty, Senior Arms Advisor Human Rights Watch:   I am pleased to deliver this joint statement on behalf of nearly 100 civil society campaigns and organizations.   Humanitarian disarmament has made a critical difference over the past three decades in saving countless lives around the world and in setting norms that endure over time.   The people centered approach aims to prevent and remediate arms-inflicted human suffering and environmental harm, and it has shown its ability to weather geopolitical tempests.   Since last year’s First Committee meeting, humanitarian disarmament has faced attacks on multiple fronts that have challenged the progress it has made. The use of antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions as well as threats of the use of nuclear weapons highlight the ongoing dangers posed by internationally banned weapons.   Some states have decided to withdraw from the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions, further endangering civilians due to the prospect of additional new use. The failure of states to comply with the Arms Trade Treaty and implement the commitments of the Political Declaration on the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas has meant civilians have not been protected in current armed conflicts.   Progress on a treaty on autonomous weapons systems is not keeping pace with technological developments.   Nevertheless, while not a panacea, humanitarian disarmament has helped reduce the human cost of weapons for decades and will continue to do so.   It has made a concrete difference in the protection of civilians by stigmatizing and decreasing use of certain weapons, reducing stockpiles, and advancing clearance and victim assistance measures.   In the process, it has overcome hurdles, such as the post-9/11 world, changing governments, economic turmoil, and the evolving nature of war.   The central principles of humanitarian disarmament can both sustain this movement and ensure that it responds to today’s global challenges, including the growing disregard for the rule of law and financial shortfalls for the humanitarian sector. Those principles include:   A humanitarian focus: The goal of protecting civilians is a purpose that can transcend political and national differences.   A cooperative approach: States should meaningfully involve and work in partnership with each other, civil society, international organizations, and survivors in decision-making processes to benefit from their expertise and preserve the humanitarian focus.   A commitment to international law: International law, including humanitarian disarmament, creates obligations for states parties and standards that influence states and other actors outside of a treaty. States should not only create new law, but also implement, defend, and strengthen the law that already exists.   Ability to adapt: Humanitarian disarmament is adaptable, as shown by its move from conventional weapons to weapons of mass destruction and its application to new topics, such as the environment and armed conflict, the destruction of cultural heritage during conflict, and torture-free trade.   To maximize the influence of humanitarian disarmament and help it address current challenges, we urge states to:   Ensure that the core characteristics of humanitarianism, cooperation, rule of law, and adaptability guide all efforts addressing disarmament issues; Highlight the humanitarian concerns raised by problematic weapons in the course of discussions at First Committee.   Call, depending on the specific issue, for upholding the existing norms, improving implementation, and creating new or stronger law; and join and fully implement and comply with humanitarian disarmament instruments.   States should act now to push back against the threats to international law and help humanitarian disarmament achieve its full potential. Doing so is in the interest of us all.   http://reliefweb.int/report/world/joint-civil-society-statement-humanitarian-disarmament-17-oct-2025 http://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/17/joint-civil-society-statement-on-humanitarian-disarmament http://disarmament.unoda.org/en http://humanitariandisarmament.org/2025/10/03/civil-society-demands-action-at-the-ungas-disarmament-committee/ Visit the related web page
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