The Friday Humanitarian Scan #39 & #40

The UN has condemned continued cross‑border attacks by Houthi forces against Saudi Arabia, including an attempted strike on the capital Riyadh, as fighting inside Yemen drives one of the country's fastest displacement surges in years.

As hostilities worsen in Yemen, more people have been fleeing their homes, further intensifying the humanitarian crisis within the region, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Tuesday.

The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) continues to operate under "extraordinary pressure", UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Thursday. 

Aid agencies in Yemen highlighted the growing hunger emergency sparked by renewed fighting between Houthi opposition forces and Government troops, after mobile health clinics reported that hundreds of children displaced by the violence are suffering from the most deadly form of malnutrition.

Critics say sitting down with Johnnie Moore normalised an organisation accused of complicity in high-profile atrocity crimes.

Nearly 300,000 children in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank found respite from violence and hardship through UNICEF-supported summer activities that offered opportunities to learn, play, reconnect with their peers and prepare for the new school year.

As Israel holds territory and continues its bombardment, families face destroyed homes, lost livelihoods, and little clarity over what comes next.

Heavy fighting in Yemen is fuelling concerns of an uptick in cholera, measles and other preventable diseases, as overcrowding at displacement sites threatens to overwhelm the limited healthcare services still open.

Ahmed al-Sharaa's Islamist government has overhauled Assad's protectionist model and exposed businesses to foreign competition

Four in five households in Lebanon struggle to afford basic necessities today, with children increasingly going without food, missing school and being pushed into work as conflict compounds years of economic crisis. "I wanted to buy clothes for my children, but I could not. I also wanted to enrol them in school, but I could not afford that either," said one father of four, cited on Wednesday by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

The UN is continuing efforts to support Palestinians in Gaza amid major challenges to humanitarian access, reconstruction and the restoration of essential services, according to Ramiz Alakbarov, Acting UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

Benjamin Davis says the FAO forced him out because of his work on Gaza. In an interview, he discusses why he's not staying silent and what others can do.

But the board of peace's grand promises ring hollow in the strip

A behind-the-scenes look at how senior, veteran American FAO official, Benjamin Davis, was forced into early retirement by the agency's Chinese leader.

UN Women | World | Afghanistan – **Disruption to the Strait of Hormuz is driving up food prices and putting further strain on the livelihoods and household resources of millions of women and girls, according to a new UN Women analysis.** Geneva – An additional 11.7 million women and girls could face food insecurity by the end of 2026, as the escalation in the Middle East and disruption to the Strait of Hormuz drive up food prices and strain livelihoods and household resources, according to a new

GEOGLAM Crop Monitor | World – ## Overview In **East Africa**, prolonged rainfall deficits since around April and high temperatures resulted in below average yields in many areas, including main producing regions in Ethiopia and western Kenya. In **West Africa**, agro-climatic conditions remain mostly favourable for ongoing cropping activities with some localized areas of dry conditions rainfall deficits along parts of the Sahel. In the **Middle East & North Africa**, rice prospects remain favou

War Child International | Yemen – Renewed fighting is displacing families across western Yemen, as landmines and rising humanitarian needs put children at growing risk. After 11 years of conflict, children in Yemen are once again facing some of the deadliest fighting in years. Renewed clashes in Taiz and Al Hodeidah, in the west of the country, have already displaced [18,500 people in just 72 hours](https://www.iom.int/news/18500-displaced-72-hours-fighting-flares-across-yemen-west-coast), forci

War Child International | Lebanon | Syrian Arab Republic – hile millions of children around the world prepare to return to school, millions more across the Middle East are being denied something every child has a right to: an education. The escalation of conflict in the region since February has damaged schools, displaced families and made it harder for children to access safe, consistent learning. In Lebanon alone, years of crisis and conflict have disrupted children's education, with the lates

Governments are demanding less onward movement while dismantling the conditions that allow refugees to remain where they first find safety.

Rules-based world order

A controversial law that treats harsh punishment as a remedy for insecurity in two South Sudanese states has failed to stem conflict and led to a spate of human rights abuses, acc …

In the remote desert of southwestern Algeria, near the town of Tindouf, life is shaped by hardship and resilience. For more than 5 decades, Sahrawi refugees have lived in camps across this arid landscape.

Nine years after the mass displacement of the Rohingya from Myanmar, their situation remains one of the world's most protracted and complex refugee crises, marked by years of persecution and uncertainty over the prospect of returning home.

A leading media figure and foreign fighter of a notorious group designated as terrorist was sentenced to life imprisonment for "conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, resulting in death". Although outwardly appearing to quench the thirst of esteemed Lady Justice, the criminal charge reveals only part of the picture: in addition… The post Terrorist, war criminal, or both? Towards dual prosecutions of war crimes and terrorist offences appeared first on Humani

"There is a people. A people who can wait no longer.  A people waiting to regain security, to return home to work, to send their children to school, and to freely choose their leaders." Those are the words of the Haitian Prime Minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, who spoke at a special UN meeting on the future of security in Haiti. 

A weekly read to keep you in the loop on humanitarian issues.

The UN said on Friday it remains gravely concerned by the continued deterioration of the security situation across northern Ethiopia, as fighting spreads across multiple fronts and increasingly disrupts humanitarian operations.

Wounded people are arriving at Bay Regional hospital in Baidoa, Somalia, after fighting erupted on 28 September.

MSF teams are scaling up our response to an influx of war-wounded patients across northern Ethiopia as fighting resumes in Tigray.

Transnational repression

An $8 payment barely covers a week's needs. From inside Dzaleka, a refugee describes life as food aid, jobs, and other lifelines disappear.

As social media and gaming platforms create new interfaces between tech-savvy children and armed actors, new questions should be asked regarding how the law prohibiting child recruitment and use in hostilities can be promoted and enforced online. In this two-part post, ICRC Advisers Vanessa Murphy, Siobhan Sparkes McNamara, and Tilman Rodenhäuser consider how the digital… The post Influencer, gamer, soldier, spy: the online era of child recruitment and its implications in international law (Pa

International Organization for Migration | World | Bulgaria – **Highlights** 31,100 children arrived in Greece, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, and Malta in 2025 (22% girls and 78% boys).1 This was 25 per cent less than the total number of child arrivals in 2024 (41,700). More than two thirds of all children who arrived in Europe in 2025 – 20,800 (67%) – were recorded as unaccompanied children (UAC). The highest proportion of UAC arrived in Italy and Spain, where 86 per cent of child arrivals were UAC.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | World – *Trade disruptions contributed to higher cereal quotations, while adverse weather weighs on sugar production prospects* **02/10/2026** **Rome -** FAO's benchmark measure of world food commodity prices increased in September, due mostly to transportation disruptions and weather concerns that constrained availability as well as to higher quotations for crop-based commodity groups, according to [new data](https://www.fao.org/worldfoo

The International Criminal Court has been upholding international law and prosecuting international crimes against humanity since 2002. Now the Trump administration is trying to dismantle it with sanctions against ICC staff.

Sanctions

It's not a silver bullet and there are risks, but experts say using stablecoin in aid responses could thrive under the right conditions.

Cash lets you buy what you need, and it boosts the local economy. But only 22% of humanitarian aid is cash or voucher assistance.

In Ebola-hit DRC, MSF and partners, including the Ministry of Health, are launching a study vaccinating frontline workers against Ebola disease.

MSF will speak at the World Cancer Congress this week, sharing experiences from treating women with cancer in Mali and Malawi.

This week, MSF opened a new 50-bed Ebola treatment centre in Nia Nia, Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Security Council met in New York on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Tuesday, where clashes between Government forces and M23 rebels continue in the east, despite a series of peace agreements. Ambassadors focused on ceasefire monitoring, rising tensions between the DRC and Rwanda and the country's worst Ebola outbreak on record, which has killed more than 3,900 people.  

Stopping the spread of Ebola disease requires multiple coordinated actions to be carried out at the same time.

MSF confirms that one of our staff members who had been working on the Ebola response in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has tested positive for Bundibugyo virus disease.

The enormous challenge of halting the spread of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) just became even harder after a key transit centre for patients requiring treatment burned down in Ituri province.

World Health Organization | World – The global health landscape continues to evolve and people are living longer. Following the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, global life expectancy has returned to close to pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) account for an increasing share of deaths, with conditions such as diabetes, dementia, mental health conditions and drug use disorders contributing to a growing and changing burden of disease. WHO's latest [Gl

This study reports results from a randomized controlled trial of a household-level behavioral intervention designed to improve complementary feeding practices among mothers of children aged 6-24 …

Women in conflicts

The PES Network has released a new study examining how Public Employment Services (PES) can support individuals across their working lives in labour markets shaped by digitalisation, green transitions, demographic shifts and non-linear career trajectories.

International law

The Government Accountability Office says the State Department and USAID were unable to provide evidence of any review process to guide the termination of thousands of foreign assistance programs.

At UNGA81, Ipas' Anu Kumar explains why reproductive justice is an essential, cross-sectoral pillar of global resilience, economic opportunity, and crisis response.

Chatham House fellow gives evidence at UK parliament committee on global AI governance and risks News release thilton.drupal 21 September 2026 Senior Research Fellow Isabella Wilkinson spoke to the House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee at a time when many are calling for greater regulation of AI in the light of emerging risks. Isabella Wilkinson, Senior Research Fellow with Chatham House's Digital Society Programme, gave evidence on the global governance of AI to the UK Ho

As Anthropic and its ilk join the donor class, they must avoid old pitfalls