A record 166 million people worldwide will need help and protection in crises spanning more than 50 countries in 2020, the UN’s emergency relief chief said, in an appeal for nearly $29 billion in humanitarian aid from donors.
Climatic shocks, large infectious disease outbreaks and intensifying, protracted conflicts have resulted in global needs increasing by some 22 million people in the past year, Mark Lowcock told journalists in Geneva.
“In 2020, nearly 168 million people worldwide will need humanitarian assistance and protection,” he said. “That represents about one person in 45 on the planet. It is the highest figure in decades.”
Another disturbing trend is that armed conflicts “are killing and maiming a record number of children” Mr. Lowcock explained. “More than 12,000 in fact were killed or maimed in conflict in 2018 and 2019 has been worse.”
In addition, women and girls were at higher risk of sexual and gender-based violence than in the past, and one in five people living in conflict areas has a mental health condition, he said.
In a call to donors, the UN relief chief said that the UN and partner organisations including the Red Cross and other non-governmental organisations “will be aiming to assist 109 million of the most vulnerable people”.
More communities had been affected by conflict and yet more “were affected by climate change-related events than we had projected”, Mr. Lowcock insisted, in reference to more frequent drought, flooding and tropical cyclones that tend to disproportionately affect poor and vulnerable individuals.
“Thirteen of the 20 countries most vulnerable to climate change are places in which we have an inter-agency appeal,” he noted.
In terms of sheer scale, Yemen “is still going to be the world’s worst humanitarian crisis” in 2020 after nearly five years of war, the UN official maintained. “The number of people in need is expected to remain close to this year’s levels, that’s around 24 million people, 80 per cent of the population.”
Detailed in the Global Humanitarian Overview 2020, the appeal for Yemen is $3.2 billion.
Funding is also needed for a multitude of other protracted conflicts, including Afghanistan ($732 million for 9.4 million people), Burundi ($104 million for 1.7 million people), Iraq ($520 million for 4.1 million people), Syria ($3.3 billion for 11 million people) and the Central African Republic ($388 million for 2.6 million people), among others.
To illustrate a growing disregard by combatants for international humanitarian law, Mr. Lowcock highlighted nearly 800 attacks against healthworkers and healthcare facilities in the first nine months of 2019, which claimed 171 lives.
The unexpected scale of infectious disease outbreaks has also helped drive needs to unprecedented levels.
“In Africa, in the first three months of this year, there were 700 per cent more measles cases than in the same period last year,” Mr. Lowcock said, a likely reference to the more than 5,000 measles fatalities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since January.
Turning to Venezuela, where the funding requirement is $1.35 billion for 3.8 million people in 2020, needs are “substantially outstripping resources”, the UN official said.
A “substantial increase in humanitarian assistance for Venezuelans” was needed for those inside their country” and an approximate doubling of assistance for those who’ve left the country, Mr. Lowcock insisted.
“On current trends, our projections show that more than 200 million people could be in need of assistance by 2022,” he added.
1
1
1
Edited News , B-roll | OCHA
Gaza: ‘Worst-case scenario’ unfolds as two-month aid blockade deepens suffering - OCHA
Two months into a devastating aid blockade of Gaza food has run out and people are fighting over water amid relentless bombing, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said on Friday.
/Includes OCHA footage from Gaza City/
1
1
1
Edited News | UNRWA
Children in Gaza are going to bed starving, says aid agency
The biggest UN aid agency in Gaza on Tuesday condemned the two-month Israeli blockade on Gaza that has left families sharing a single tin of food at mealtime and the sick and injured without lifesaving medical help, amid daily bombardment.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
Ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine force frontline areas to empty: UNHCR
With Ukrainian cities still reeling from this week’s deadly Russian missile and drone attacks, communities on the front line continue to be targeted too, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday. “We also see attacks on frontline regions increasing and it's, as always, civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Funding and supply shortfalls for the UN World Food Programme (WFP)'s work in Ethiopia will halt lifesaving treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children at the end of the month. “We are at the breaking point,” it said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians, the UN Human Rights Office warned today.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNWOMEN , UNDP
Sudan: Aid teams report massive displacement after latest Darfur atrocity; women’s bodies ‘turned into battlegrounds’
In Sudan’s North Darfur, tens of thousands of people have fled a displacement camp following the massacre of civilians and aid workers as the country enters the third year of a conflict marked by horrific levels of sexual violence, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | ITC
Global trade could shrink by three per cent as a result of the United States’ new tariff measures which in the longer term could reshape and boost as-yet untapped regional commercial links, a top UN economist confirmed on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Warring parties in Sudan are overseeing a wholesale assault on human rights amid global inaction, the UN Human Rights Office said on Friday, as the conflict is about to enter its third year.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office on Friday said Israel’s increasing issuance of so-called “evacuation orders” for Palestinians in Gaza have resulted in their forcible transfer.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR , UNHCR , UNWOMEN , WFP , WHO
Two years of war in Sudan have created epic suffering, aid agencies say
Two years since Sudan’s brutal conflict began, UN agencies warned that famine is spreading and civilians of all ages continue to suffer shocking abuse, including rape and gang rape.
1
1
Edited News | UNMAS
In Gaza, ongoing Israeli military operations and the aid blockade have continued to add to daily fears and hardships confronting those in the devastated enclave, the UN Mine Action Service, UNMAS, said on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNDP
Dangers grow for Myanmar earthquake survivors, health system 'overwhelmed' - UNDP
In earthquake-shattered central Myanmar people are sleeping in the streets in fear of buildings collapsing, facing early monsoon rains and the risk of waterborne diseases, the UN Development Programme warned on Tuesday.