The South Sudanese refugee population, with over 65% children, is the largest refugee situation in Africa. They live in precarious conditions, worsened by drought and food insecurity. This protracted situation is Africa's largest refugee crisis. Despite efforts toward peace, South Sudan still faces violence, food insecurity, and flooding. To help alleviate the situation, the UN Refugee Agency () will launch the South Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan on Thursday, March 28. The humanitarian initiative will address the needs of 2.2 million refugees in 2024.
Amidst Yemen's conflict, community-led water projects are revitalizing communities and providing essential access to clean water, transforming lives and easing burdens for millions.
Due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Svetlana and her family had to leave their home in Odessa and seek refuge in the coastal town of Zatoka. When the bridge across the Dniester Estuary was attacked, they decided that Svetlana had to take the children to Moldova while her husband Ruslan stayed behind due to martial law. They have now been separated for 20 months and share how they maintain their family life and love across the border.Throughout Ukraine and neighboring countries, the United Nations Population Fund's () Safe Spaces provide expert psychosocial support to people coping with the effects of war and displacement.
Since 2014, millions of Ukrainians have been displaced by war. Yana Liubymova fled the city of Kadiivka in 2014 and settled in the city of Starobilsk, where she co-founded "The Effective Community" to help displaced people integrate into new communities. In 2020, she became the head of the Council for Internally Displaced People in the Luhansk region. However, on 24 February 2022, she had to flee again as Starobilsk came under Russian occupation. Yana helped others fleeing to find accommodation and access needed help, and after 4 months, she moved to Kyiv for a job at the Ombudsperson鈥檚 Office. Her focus remains on those displaced from the Luhansk region and on creating conditions for voluntary return after the Ukrainian government regains control over occupied areas.
shares firsthand accounts from refugees, aid workers, and experts on the ground about the challenges and the critical assistance being provided due to the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
Months of escalating conflict have turned the Gaza Strip into the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. Every child across Gaza has been exposed to deeply distressing events, witnessing horrors that no child should. Around 1.7 million people are estimated to have been internally displaced by the violence, half of them children. Families desperately searching for shelter are being pushed into tiny, overcrowded areas without adequate water, food, or protection. The little food that is available isn鈥檛 enough to meet children鈥檚 nutritional needs. As a result, thousands of children are malnourished and sick. The lasting impact of this violence will be felt for generations to come.
鈥淢issiles hit the perinatal centre, the maternity ward 鈥 everything,鈥 remembers , a doctor from Mariupol. 鈥淭hey fired directly at the windows: we saw pieces of human bodies flying out.鈥 Immediately after the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Maksym began treating patients in the basement of a gymnasium that had been turned into a makeshift hospital catering to the needs of the 4,000 people sheltering there. For them, Maksym was a pediatrician, surgeon, nurse, and psychologist combined in one, working for 14 hours per day or more. Read more about Maksym and others in the war-affected communities that the International Organization for Migration () is helping.
is the first online platform in T眉rkiye to also provide therapy in people's native languages, founded by Jin Dawod, a former Syrian refugee.
Following the T眉rkiye and Syria earthquakes, the number of child-headed households surged, prompting initiatives like AHF's family reunion programme to address the needs of these vulnerable households.
The conflict that began on October 7 has not only displaced Hala, a mother of four and humanitarian worker from Gaza, but has also resulted in over 22,000 casualties, nearly 2 million displacements.
"Volunteers from all areas of society have helped people who have been directly impacted by the war. They're cooking meals, giving clothing, giving money, opening their homes."
Karolina Lindholm Billing was posted to Ukraine less than a year before the full-scale Russian invasion. As the UNHCR Representative in the country, she draws hope from witnessing the power of community volunteer networks in supporting displaced people in their hour of need.
In this episode, Karolina reflects on Ukrainian resilience, the drive to rebuild, and why people long to stay in their own homes, even in a war zone.
鈥淲hat I鈥檝e seen so clearly during these last 600 plus days of the war in Ukraine, is how quickly people want to recover鈥o when we can be a little enabler of that recovery, I think that feels meaningful鈥
Photo: 漏UNHCR/Oleksii Barkov
Goodwill Ambassador Cate Blanchett and Ke Huy Quan opened the Global Refugee Forum in Geneva with a performance of JJ Bola鈥檚 stunning poem 鈥淩efuge.鈥
The world鈥檚 largest gathering on refugee issues closed with over 1,600 pledges of action and financial commitments worth an estimated $2.2 billion. Filippo Grandi praised the "determined unity鈥 shown by participants, who 鈥 in the face of global division and crises 鈥 pledged transformative action on behalf of refugees and the countries hosting them. The came as the global refugee population has reached a record level of 36.4 million, with a total population of the forcibly displaced of 114 million people.
Investing in Afghan women and girls鈥 menstrual health, preserves their dignity, whose vulnerabilities are exacerbated by displacement and risks of gender-based violence.
Fighting has resumed in Gaza after a temporary humanitarian truce that allowed desperately needed assistance to reach people displaced by the war. The temporary halt provided some respite for residents who endured constant shelling, repeated displacement and sleepless nights. One of them is Asmaa Marouf. A UN Volunteer, Asmaa was working as a geographic information systems specialist with the (UNDP). When the war began, she was forced to flee her home along with her children. Asmaa shares her experience, her fears, her hopes and her belief that the current war is different from the previous escalations she has lived through. Her words underscore the need for a full humanitarian ceasefire.