The Friday Humanitarian Scan #25

As representatives of Iran and the United States reportedly prepared to sign a new peace agreement at the end of the week, the UN on Monday stressed the urgent need to open an aid corridor to transit the choked-off Strait of Hormuz and prevent a global hunger crisis.

Despite the agreement announced on Sunday between the United States and Iran, displaced people in Lebanon continue to face difficulties in returning to their communities, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported. 

Although United Nations peacekeepers continue to observe violence and exchanges of fire in Lebanon, the level is significantly reduced when compared to the weekend, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Tuesday. 

Conflict

The Security Council debated conditions in Gaza at the request of its 10 elected members amid concern that the territory's humanitarian crisis is being overshadowed by wider regional developments. The meeting took place under a ceasefire that has existed in name since October 2025 – but nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed, and most Gazans remain displaced. Relief chief Tom Fletcher told ambassadors that "fragile gains" since the truce are "the bare minimum of what Palestinians need." Foll

The United Nations has again called for freedom of movement for its peacekeepers in Lebanon who continue to closely monitor developments in the south of the country, including in the wake of the recent provisional agreement signed by the United States and Iran.

Post-conflict societies

The odyssey begins in Indonesia and ends, 15,000 kilometres later, in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Along the way, critical food aid destined for young Afghan students crosses nine countries, over land and sea, skirting geopolitical unrest and conflict zones.

Despite the recent scale-up in the Ebola disease response in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), major gaps in surveillance, diagnosis, contact tracing and community engagement persist.

Across Africa, norms regulating the conduct of hostilities long predate the codification of modern international humanitarian law (IHL). The ICRC Tool on African traditions and the preservation of humanity in warfare highlights how many African societies developed rules limiting violence, protecting civilians, and preserving human dignity during conflict. These traditions resonate strongly with contemporary IHL… The post African traditions and the protection of children in armed conflict appea

In Ebola-stricken Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), winning the race against the disease requires earning the community's trust first and foremost, humanitarians said on Tuesday.

In late 2024, serious allegations of sexual abuse were reported by Sudanese refugee women against MSF staff in eastern Chad.

Following the closure of Nduta refugee camp, MSF is concluding our activities in Kibondo district, Tanzania.

Treatment capacity for the rare and deadly Bundibugyo species of Ebola is expanding in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that community mistrust remains a major challenge to ending the outbreak.

Millions of people across some of the world's most vulnerable regions are expected to face worsening hunger in the months ahead, as conflict, economic pressures and shrinking aid budgets exacerbate long-running crises.

For the world’s more than 120 million forcibly displaced people, the idea of refuge is not an abstraction – it is a horizon, an act of imagination, and sometimes the only thing that keeps hope alive. Yet as displacement becomes more protracted, more politicized, and more invisible to public attention, the language of solidarity risks… The post The shelter that shone in the distance appeared first on Humanitarian Law & Policy Blog.

Two United Nations agencies have together welcomed more than $1 billion in assistance from the United States to support their operations targeting millions of children and hungry families in more than 40 countries.

Millions of people already facing hunger, displacement and economic hardship could soon face another major climate shock, as UN agencies warned on Thursday that extreme weather risks are intensifying across some of the world's most vulnerable regions.

Read MSF's Operations Directors' review of the challenges faced by our teams in providing care in 2025.

The breakthrough HIV prevention drug is now available in Kenya, but critics say the delivery model may bypass many of the young women and girls who need it most.

Among the vast refugee camps on the hillsides of Cox's Bazar in southern Bangladesh, Hamida lives with her 3 sons and young daughter. She arrived in Bangladesh in 2017, fleeing violence that swept through her village in Rakhine State, Myanmar.

Across Ethiopia, families uprooted by disasters and climate shocks share space with those who have fled conflicts across borders, all united in their search for safety.

A bullet wound. Handwritten death threats. Months spent waiting in shelters meant for temporary halts. Across Mexico, thousands are fleeing violence, poverty and disasters. Many are trapped between the dangers they escaped and borders they cannot cross.

For the past months, an MSF mobile clinic has been providing care to women living in makeshift camps in Dunkirk, France.

Horticulture

Supply chains

Mining

Occupational safety and health belong on Europe's skills agenda. See how EU-OSHA's OSHVET and OiRA help embed prevention in vocational education and lifelong learning for safer and healthier working lives.

The EQAVET Annual Network meetings gather EU quality assurance representatives in VET, National Reference Points, EU bodies staff members and experts. Attendees included 54 participants from 33 countries (25 EU Member States and 8 non-EU countries).

Football stories

Is the WHO Foundation coming up short? Here's what the foundation had to say about the results of a recent financial audit. Plus, a new analysis finds the Trump administration is still holding back global health funds.

Opinion: In a world fracturing along geopolitical fault lines, the G7 Évian summit was a test of whether the richest democracies can still govern collectively.

Devex examines the agency's hiring activity last year and its salary trends.

Shelter Afrique's MDB transition reflects a bigger bet on housing as an engine of growth.

It's the first African Union institution to achieve this milestone, and the second African institution – following the African Development Bank.

United Nations judges contend that former UNOPS officials may bear some financial liability for the loss of tens of millions of dollars under their watch.

Lung cancer has an 80% cure rate when caught early, yet screening remains low in medically underserved areas. Moghanaki explains how public-private partnerships are being used to scale equitable, lifesaving early detection.

From BMZ to the Foreign Office, Finance Ministry, GIZ, and KfW, these are the key power players deciding how Germany deploys billions in development, diplomacy, and climate finance.

Judges at a U.N. tribunal reject the claim that Vitaly Vanshelboim alone is responsible for the UNOPS corruption scandal, pointing instead to broader failures inside the agency. Plus, the U.N. defies Washington in a key UNHCR appointment.