18 August 2025 — Hundreds of thousands of Somalis have been cut off from safe water supplies in recent months due to severe humanitarian funding shortfalls, putting entire communities at heightened risk of deadly disease outbreaks, warns the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
A woman carries a jerrycan of water on her back as she makes her way home in Qaydar-adde displacement camp, Baidoa, Somalia. Photo: Abdulkadir Mohamed/NRC
With just a trickle of the humanitarian appeal set at the start of this year for Somalia funded, the collapse of water, sanitation, and hygiene services is accelerating the spread of preventable diseases including cholera and acute watery diarrhoea.
(UN News)* —UN aid teams in Gaza say that they’re only able to get less than half the lifesaving food support that is needed into the war-torn enclave.
In an alert from the World Food Programme (WFP), the agency said that half a million people “are on the brink of famine”, a claim backed up by multiple humanitarian agencies.
The latest worrying data is showing widespread acute malnutrition.
“Across the globe, people continue to be harassed, attacked – and even killed – simply for what they believe… Places of worship are desecrated. Communities are terrorized. Online platforms are flooded with hate…
Participants at event on “Interfaith harmony: Implementing the Transformative Agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals”, co-organized by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the Committee of Religious NGOs (2016). PHOTO:UN Photo/Manuel Elias
13 Aug 2025 – But did you know? Is this discussed now when the UN turn 80 in October? No, politicians, media and scholars generally focus on war and ignore humanity’s most important peace-maker.
“UNITED NATIONS, Aug 12 2025 (IPS) – The United Nations, facing a liquidity crisis, has been threatening to lay-off about 20 percent of its estimated 37,000 employees world-wide: a proposed move that has triggered widespread protests from staff unions both in New York and Geneva.”
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 18 2025 (IPS)* –When the 193-member General Assembly commemorates the UN’s 80th anniversary during a high-level meeting in mid-September, how many political leaders and delegates will be barred from entering the United States –despite the 1947 US-UN Host Country Agreement?
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The preambular words of the UN Charter displayed at the United Nations Headquarters, in New York. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten
This White House proclamation –a virtual black List –restricts travel into the U.S. by nationals from 19 countries who will be refused US visas.
The list includes Afghanistan, Myanmar, Burundi, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, and Yemen. In addition, Egypt is under review.
On 19 August, we mark the World Humanitarian Day — a time to honor those who step into crises to help others, and to stand with the millions of people whose lives hang in the balance.
PHOTO:United Nations
This year the message is clear: the humanitarian system is stretched to its limits; underfunded, overwhelmed and under attack.
Where bombs fall and disasters strike, humanitarian workers are the ones holding the line keeping people alive, often at great personal risk. But more and more those who help are becoming targets themselves.
In 2024 alone over 380 humanitarian workers were killed. Some in the line of duty, others in their homes. Hundreds more have been injured, kidnapped or detained, and there is reason to fear 2025 could be worse.
“The vast majority of governments want a strong agreement, yet a handful of bad actors were allowed to use process to drive such ambition into the ground,” said one environmentalist.
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Plastic waste washes ashore in the Maldives archipelago. Credit: UNDP
NEW YORK, Aug 18 2025 (IPS)** –– Negotiators in Geneva adjourned what was expected to be the final round of plastics treaty negotiations on Friday [15 August 2025] without reaching an agreement, a failure that environmentalists blamed on the Trump-led United States, Saudi Arabia, and other powerful nations that opposed any effort to curb plastic production—the primary driver of a worsening global pollution crisis.
The Dewele Migration Response Centre in eastern Ethiopia offers returning migrants a moment of rest before they continue their journey home. Photo: IOM/Aïssatou Sy
Dewele, Ethiopia, 15 August 2025 – In the dry borderlands near Dewele in eastern Ethiopia, the air hangs heavy with heat as trucks thunder past, ferrying goods across the eastern corridor.
Amidst the dust, tired figures walk slowly beside the road, mostly young men, carrying nothing but a worn backpack, a bottle of water, and a stubborn belief that something better lies ahead.
Ibrahim* remembers that walk all too well – five days on foot across harsh terrain, each step marked by exhaustion and uncertainty.
Al-Kufra, Libya, 11 August 2025 – Khartoum mornings once carried a familiar rhythm. The call to prayer echoed softly through the narrow streets, blending with the clatter of market stalls opening and the sound of children shuffling to school.
For 45-year-old NourAlhuda, life pulsed with structure and meaning.
She had spent 16 years teaching Arabic and Islamic studies, her voice steady and firm in the classroom, her presence respected in the community.
“Teaching was more than a job for me,” she explains. “It gave me purpose.”
IOM’s health centre in Al-Kufra provides critical care and hope to displaced Sudanese women like NourAlhuda and Arafa. Photo: IOM 2024/Mouaid Tariq Duffani
(UN News)* — Adam Ibrahim was working with the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA, in his home country, Sudan, when conflict between rival armed forces erupted in early 2023 and he became a refugee alongside thousands of others who continue to flee the ongoing violence.
Sudan is one of the world’s largest and most complex humanitarian crises, with more than 30.4 million people – over half the population – urgently needing humanitarian assistance.
Yet the 2025 Sudan humanitarian needs and response plan is severely underfunded, with only 13.3 per cent of the required resources received so far.
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 