Speaking on Monday the UN journalists in New York, Tom Fletcher, who runs the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha), said “we only have 19 percent of what we need.”
The international community is currently multiple humanitarian crises worldwide, including the crises promoted by conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaza, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.
Other critical crisis points include Afghanistan, Haiti, Myanmar and Sahel.
The global humanitarian description 2025 (GHO), which is an annual evaluation of global humanitarian needs and responses, was launched last December and covers 180 million vulnerable people in 70 countries.
The GHO requires $ 44 billion, but the latest figures show that up to less than $ 15 billion have been received to date.
Until now, in 2025, three crisis in the occupied Palestinian territory, Ukraine and Sudan have received almost a quarter of all funds.
The five main donors according to the Ocha financial monitoring service have been the European Commission, the United States and the United Kingdom, followed by Japan and Germany.
Help cuts
According to Mr. Fletcher, hundreds of aid organizations have closed, and the humanitarian sector has hired only one third of its size 10 months ago.
Meanwhile, Ocha has lost 20-25 percent of its staff during the past year.
In June, Ocha made an “hyper priority” appeal for $ 29 billion to prioritize the humanitarian plans of the individual country with the aim of saving 114 million lives.
The $ 29 billion represents only one percent of what is projected that the world will spend in defense this year, according to Mr. Fletcher, who asked “What does this say about our collective priorities?”
A man carries food help through the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
Humanitarian needs grow
Only this year, six million more children are out of school worldwide, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), while officials of the UN High Commissioner Office for Refugees (ACNUR) warned that 11 million refugees can no longer get the help they need.
In Gaza, more than half a million people currently face an extreme hunger, a figure is expected to increase above 640,000 at the end of the month, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase classification report (CPI). “We need a high fire now,” said the humanitarian chief.
Sudan is expected, in the face of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, it is an important topic of discussion at the next world leaders meeting at the UN as of September 22. Haiti is also under attention, where sexual and gang violence remains generalized.
“The women were taking contraception in advance when they arrived at the control points, anticipating acts of sexual violence,” said Mr. Fletcher.
Fight for what should be saved
The year 2025 also marks a record for humanitarian workers killed in the fulfillment of duty, with more than 270 dead compared to 380 last year.
We need to see “more anticipatory, more preventive, more efficient and more local,” said Mr. Fletcher.
At a time when it is “fashionable to be defending institutions, defenses of structures, hierarchies and order, the alternative is disorder and chaos,” he said.
“We must cry for what has gone, we must fight for what should be saved, and we must imagine what we can be in the future.”