Edited News , Press Conferences | UNHCR , OCHA
STORYLINE
The UN and humanitarian partners launched on Monday a combined US$ 4.2 billion appeal to donors to bring aid to some 10.8 million people in the war-affected communities in Ukraine but also to Ukrainian refugees and their host communities in the region throughout 2024.
A recent wave of attacks underscores the devastating civilian cost of the war, while a bitter winter is ratcheting up the urgent need for life-saving humanitarian aid.
“14.6 million people, 40 per cent of the population in Ukraine, will need humanitarian aid”, said Martin Griffiths, the UN top aid Coordinator when briefing journalist at the UN in Geneva. “4 million people are internally displaced. That's in addition to those who are externally displaced.”
The UN Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator added that “it's been as bad as it could be this last month […] and that's really been quite shocking. The number of attacks, the broad range across the whole of the country from Russia has been absolutely unrelenting.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) coordinates the response inside Ukraine. This Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan requests $3.1 billion for 2024 and targets 8.5 million people.
According to Mr. Griffiths, “3.3 million people [are] living in the middle of war zones, of daily bombardment, of uncertainty about where the day will end. And that's really a shockingly high number even these days.”
The current humanitarian situation is likely to further deteriorate this year if hostilities persist and attacks targeting energy and other critical infrastructure increase during the ongoing winter, said OCHA.
“In Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, families live in damaged houses with no piped water, gas or electricity in the freezing cold,” said Mr. Griffiths. “Constant bombardments forced older people to spend their days in basements. Children terrified, traumatized, still have lived for the last three years under these circumstances, trapped indoors and many, many, many, many of them with no schooling.”
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, coordinates the Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP), which requests $1.1 billion and targets 2.3 million refugees and host communities this year.
The full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sparked the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War.
Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that “the total displacement, […] is about 10 million people. If you add the almost 4 million estimated to be displaced inside Ukraine and the over 6 million, these are estimated to be refugees worldwide.”
He added that “of the people outside, especially those in Europe that are just over 5 million. So the bulk, some people do go back and forth, but the return has not been in very huge numbers. IOM (International Organization of Migration) estimates about 900,000 people have returned. This is an estimate because it's very, very difficult to count because of the pendulum movement.”
Ukrainian refugees in neighbouring countries also need increased and sustained support, said UNHCR. Despite efforts for inclusion, only half of school-age refugee children are enrolled in schools in host countries, while a quarter of refugees in need struggle to access health care.
According to Mr. Grandi, “the number of refugees in working age who are employed Ukrainians, depending on the country, ranges from 40 to 60 per cent. So, there's an extra push to be made in terms of inclusion.”
Despite extreme access challenges, especially to areas occupied by the Russian Federation, aid workers reached nearly 11 million people in Ukraine in 2023, with the support of the international donor community. Humanitarian organizations made every effort to increase assistance in the front-line communities.
-ends-
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani today urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to reject a bill that was recently endorsed by parliament allowing trials of civilians in military courts. The Uganda People’s Defence Forces Amendment Bill 2025, which was passed on 20 May and now awaits presidential signature to become law, among others broadens the jurisdiction of military courts, authorising them to try a wide range of offences against civilians.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today warned of a further deterioration in the human rights situation in South Sudan at the bi-weekly briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WHO , WMO , OCHA , UNHCR , OHCHR , UNDRR
Michele Zaccheo, Chief, UNTV, Radio and Webcast Section, United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Syria: ‘Staggering’ needs amid insecurity, health care crisis - UN humanitarians
Millions of people in Syria continue to face mortal danger from unexploded munitions, disease and malnutrition and urgent support is required, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO
UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount
Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday, But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.
1
1
1
Press Conferences | WHO , UNRWA , UNHCR
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Health Organization.
1
1
1
Edited News
A war reporter from Lebanon who lost a limb in the line of duty is calling for an end to impunity for attacks against journalists.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) commemorated 160 years dedicated to connecting the world on Saturday, 17 May in Geneva, Switzerland, during the annual World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO , OCHA
Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege
Amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza into Friday killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas and pleaded for the blockade to end.
1
1
2
Press Conferences | OCHA , WHO , OHCHR , UNCTAD
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Trade and Development, and the United Nations Refugee Agency.
1
2
1
Press Conferences | WHO
Launch of World Health Statistics 2025
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Deportations over recent months of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States of America, especially to countries other than those of their origin, raise a number of human rights concerns, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday.