The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Coordination’s (OCHA) annual World Humanitarian Situation Report analyzes humanitarian needs worldwide, providing an overview of trends, challenges and priority needs. By helping decision-makers, humanitarian organizations and donors to understand and respond to the most pressing crises, this report establishes a crucial basis for the formulation of OCHA funding appeals, demonstrating the essential link between a thorough understanding of humanitarian needs and the concrete actions required to meet them. The report also takes stock of the previous year’s achievements.
The final Global Humanitarian Overview, published on December 1, 2023, presents a review of the year 2023, as well as the objectives and outlook for 2024. This summary is based on the 2023 and 2024 reports.
I. Call for 2023 – Context at the beginning of the year
The call for 2023, the needs
The World Humanitarian Outlook 2023, unveiled in December 2022, identified 339 million people as being in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, an increase of 65 million compared to the start of 2022. The report highlighted funding requirements estimated at $51.5 billion to help 230 million of the 339 million people in need of assistance.
The year 2023 began with major economic challenges, characterized by inflation driving up prices and affecting many people in Haiti, Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Overall, the period was marked by increased financial needs due to rising operational costs and commodity prices, as well as high inflation. At the same time, the beginning of 2023 was marked by the continuing war in Ukraine and major conflicts in Mozambique, Ethiopia and Myanmar, among others. Climate-related droughts have also increased the need for assistance in Ethiopia and Afghanistan. In short, violent conflicts affecting civilians, forced displacement, the biggest ongoing food crisis in modern history, natural disasters linked to climate change, public health under threat, gender equality hard to achieve, and access to education complicated by the pandemic.
II. Review 2023 – Year-end context
A succession of crises – a more difficult year than expected
Wasn’t that enough? In addition, the global humanitarian situation deteriorated further during the year, marked by earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, cholera and flooding in Malawi and Mozambique, intensified conflict in Sudan, flooding in Libya and the occupied Palestinian territory.
The series of crises throughout 2023 has made needs increasingly complex to meet, while the number of people affected by these crises has continued to rise (363.2 million). The objective has become to help 245.1 million people, i.e. 7% more than the number of people targeted at the beginning of 2023. During the month of November 2023, the financial requirements were re-evaluated upwards, recording a 10% increase, bringing the needs to 56.7 billion dollars.
Increased needs at the end of 2023 :
III. Gap between needs and financing – A high financing deficit
« This is the worst funding shortfall in years. » – Martin Griffiths
Growing humanitarian needs, declining funding.
Probably the most alarming observation of 2023, in addition to the multiplication and aggravation of crises, lies here.
Humanitarian needs for 2023 are at an all-time high, amounting to $56.7 billion. However, the percentage of funding available is historically low. As of December 4, 2023, $19.9 billion had been registered, representing a gap of $36.8 billion in relation to total needs, i.e. funding reaching only 35% of requirements. A worrying gap, especially in a context where demand is reaching record levels. In 2023, funding will be down on the previous year, marking the first decline since 2010. Indeed, in 2022, assistance of $24 billion was available to meet needs estimated at $51.7 billion at the end of the year, ensuring that requirements were covered at 47%.
Some of the consequences of this deficit are highlighted in the 2024 report:
Reduced food aid: more people at risk of starvation (according to the World Food Program’s estimate, a 1% reduction in food aid could push more than 400,000 people to the brink of starvation).
Lack of funding for shelters has forced people to live in unworthy and inadequate conditions, as observed in Haiti and Myanmar.
Lack of water, sanitation and healthcare resources: puts the most vulnerable populations at risk of disease and death.
Lack of investment in protection against gender-based violence: worldwide, 53% of targeted women have been able to access comprehensive gender-based violence services through UN Women.
Lack of access to essential support and services: fuels protection risks.
IV. Concrete actions in 2023
Key figures :
128 million people worldwide received aid, i.e. 62% of those targeted.
1/3 of United Nations Office for Humanitarian Coordination (OCHA) pooled fund allocations went to national NGOs.
7.8 million people received humanitarian aid thanks to private partnerships.
119.5 million people received food aid, cash or vouchers.
2.3 billion dollars transferred to 47 million people (cash or vouchers).
46 million people benefited from emergency health aid.
23.2 million people benefited from safe water supplies
13.9 million children had access to education
Achievements
Improvements observed during 2023 include improved food and nutrition security, greater accessibility to inclusive healthcare such as emergency care and sexual and reproductive health, multi-sector humanitarian assistance focused on communities’ priority needs such as access to drinking water and education, and enhanced protection for women and children. In addition, progress has been made in the implementation of regional plans to meet a variety of humanitarian needs.
Results:
To conclude,
The year 2023 was marked by a series of humanitarian crises of unprecedented severity, aggravated by their multiplication on a global scale. Despite these challenges, humanitarian partners persevered in their efforts to meet the needs of the most vulnerable populations, reaching nearly 128 million people. However, the responses have often faced considerable constraints and obstacles, highlighting the growing complexity of contemporary humanitarian crises and the need for collective, coordinated action to respond effectively.
We arrive in the mountain village of Schurnuk in Armenia. It has been cut in two by the war. To the left of the small road, it is now Azerbaijan, and to the right, Armenia, which feels threatened. Fifteen or so houses are under construction to accommodate Armenian families driven from their farms, and a 3 km water pipeline and reservoir are being built to supply them with drinking water with the support of the Fonds Arménien de France. Further on, a Russian military fort stands guard over an Armenian army position facing an Azeri post.
The next day, thanks to Carmen from the SPFA’s French-speaking Cultural Center in Goris, I meet Armenians driven out of Artsakh by Azerbaijan at the end of September. Kariné BalaÏan, 59, has 3 children and 13 grandchildren, including her son Albert. Kariné wipes away tears as she recalls the war. She and her family lost everything when they escaped from Stepanakert under the bombs. Albert dreams of a house to settle down in with his wife and 4 children, the youngest of whom was born during the exodus! Albert is 34 and wants to make a living from his work again.
In Goris as in Kapan, we meet a team of experts from the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes and Isère Chambers of Agriculture, who are assessing needs and projects within the framework of the Partnership Agreement signed in March between the Syunik region and Laurent Wauquiez for the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes Region.
The 100,000 Armenians driven out of Artsakh in the space of a few days and left traumatized are now the focus of attention. They can be found in every region of Armenia. Half of them are housed in hotels, schools and government buildings, while the others are staying with relatives or in precarious rented accommodation while waiting to find work, bearing in mind that half of them live in rural areas, that there are 30,000 children to send to school, and that many of them were disrupted by the forced exodus under the bombs.
In Armenia, in the Tavouch region, with Vice-Governor Narek Ghushchyan, French Ambassador Olivier Decottignies, Dominique Vaysse, Deputy advisor for cooperation and cultural action, the Association des maires ruraux de France and its President Michel Fournier, the President of the Côte d’Or, Bruno Bethenod Courtage and Hélène Brégier-Brochet, the Fonds Arméniens de France with its Vice-President Michel Pazoumian and Défis Humanitaires with Alain Boinet.
As in the Syunik region, the Tavouch region is home to refugees, whom we had the opportunity to meet while visiting school and university projects, agricultural training and livestock breeding with the French Ambassador to Armenia Olivier Decottignies, the Association des Maires Ruraux de France, the Fonds Arménien de France with the support of the Conseil départemental des Hauts de Seine.
I came to Armenia to do a report for Défis Humanitaires, as well as to identify humanitarian needs and aid players such as NGOs, foundations and local authorities in France and elsewhere who could come and support and strengthen the situation, particularly in the border provinces of Syunik and Tavouch, which are under armed threat from Azerbaijan backed by Turkey and Israel.
What is at stake, of course, is peace, with a mutual recognition treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is refusing to sign it for the time being, as well as the regularization of relations with Turkey. In the meantime, supporting the refugees and Armenia is undoubtedly one of the best ways of achieving a balance that will foster a just peace in this troubled region of the South Caucasus.
From the Sahel to northeast Syria, from Gaza to the Ukraine, a long road for solidarity.
This edition of Défis Humanitaire, the 12th this year, takes stock of crises that mobilize humanitarian action as well as that of diplomats, armies and jihadist or terrorist groups.
Where is the Sahel headed?
This is the question we put to Gilles Yabi, Managing Director of the Think Tank Wathi, based in Dakar, Senegal. Listening to him, we can clearly see the conjunction between internal difficulties and external initiatives or interference. In Mali, Burkina Faso or Niger, he notes the weaknesses of governance, the historical weight of the French presence, the interference of the Russians and the Wagner group, the regional dimension of the three borders in the Liptako Gourma, the diverse motivations that drive the recruits of armed groups and the risk of extension to the countries of the Gulf of Guinea. To the question of Africa’s exponential demography, he underlines the lack of response to a major phenomenon which, while an asset in the long term, is a serious problem in the short and medium term. Despite the difficult situation, Gilles Yabi invites us to remain confident in the future of Africa, which has many assets. An interview full of precise and pertinent nuances, that I recommend to you.
Dr Gilles Yabi during a conference at the Think Tank citoyen de l’Afrique de l’Ouest Wathi
Northeast Syria in danger!
Patrice Franceschi, writer and committed connoisseur, has just returned from Syrian Kurdistan, where Jean-Michel Blanquer, former French Minister of Education, accompanied him with a letter of support from the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, for the Syrian Democratic Forces, which bring together Kurds, Christians and Arab tribes. The Turks are destabilizing the region, subjecting it to daily bombardments, including at night, while rationing water from the Euphrates River to weaken the population’s capacity for agricultural self-sufficiency. The Iranians have moved in with their drones against the FDS, and the dormant cells of Daech are still there, ready to spring back into action. While humanitarian action is essential in this region, the solution is essentially political and military. For a full understanding of this imbroglio, it is worth reading this interview.
Jean-Michel Banquer, former French Minister of Education, with Patrice Franceschi, Khaled Issa and commanders of Christian units of the Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria.
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) at odds between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Pierre Brunet, who has been practicing and reflecting on humanitarian issues for a long time, reminds us that it was the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, with its 1,200 victims killed in atrocious conditions, that deliberately provoked the current war. He urges humanitarians not to ignore Hamas’s use of the Gaza population as a human shield, a practice condemned by the European Union. At the same time, he condemns the violent and predatory actions of settlers in the West Bank and the need for a two-state solution, with Israelis and Palestinians living in peace. For Pierre Brunet, it’s a question of keeping the scales of International Humanitarian Law in balance, avoiding the blind spot of Hamas’s responsibilities and the “Stockholm syndrome”, while supplying the population of Gaza and de facto holding Israel to account. As we can all see, respect for IHL is a threatened requirement in this existential conflict, which calls for fair and determined advocacy.
The question of aid in Ukraine.
François Dupaquier, founder of U-Saved in Ukraine.François Dupaquier is well known in the humanitarian world, having founded the Ukrainian NGO U-SAVED. With his direct frankness and experience, he argues convincingly in favor of transferring risks from international organizations to local partners. He has documented numerous examples of security, financial and administrative risks. In conclusion, he suggests ways out! A personal word on this subject: risk transfer is certainly not humanitarian! I believe that the solution lies, on the contrary, not in substitution but in the complementarity of international and national players in terms of principles and values, at the operational, administrative and financial levels. This has yet to be invented, so action.
Coping with physical and mental risks in humanitarian action with CoCreate Humanity.
This is the mission of the Swiss association CoCreate Humanity, presented in this issue by Hélène Ros, founder with Sébastien Couturier and Christophe Hensh, all three from the ICRC, which supports the wounded, kidnapped and victims of various traumas. CoCreate Humanity has developed an approach to human accompaniment that has proved its worth, and which deserves our thanks and support. Hélène presents this useful approach for us to share.
Healthcare widens its scope.
Anthropologist Madeleine Trentesaux is working on “One Health”, which recognizes the links between human health, animal health and environmental health. The One Sustainable Health Forum is working to integrate this approach, including in humanitarian emergencies. Find out more about this innovative approach to health in this issue.
The humanitarian wants the means!
National Humanitarian Conference of 2021
This will be the focus of the next Conférence Nationale Humanitaire (CNH) to be held in Paris on December 19 at the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE). The 1st CNH took place in 2011, in response to the recommendations of the Boinet-Miribel Report submitted to the Minister at the time, Bernard Kouchner.
The CNH was prepared by the Centre de Crise et de Soutien (CDCS), headed by Philippe Lalliot, in conjunction with humanitarian NGO members of the Groupe de Concertation Humanitaire (GCH).
This year’s CNH, which can be followed in person or remotely on YouTube, has three main priorities:
How to integrate the challenges of climate change impact, protection and localization to act effectively on crises.
How to protect humanitarian aid and access to populations at a time when IHL is under threat.
In the face of growing humanitarian needs worldwide, what funding is needed to make aid more efficient?
The CNH will be opened by the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, with a panel of personalities and experts on the deteriorating context of humanitarian action and the multiplication of crises.
This CNH will be an opportunity to present the Humanitarian Strategy of the French Republic (SHRF) for the period 2024-2027, which follows on from the two previous ones. This Strategy for the next 4 years defines three main priorities:
Increased resources and more efficient implementation methods.
Respect for International Humanitarian Law (IHL), with the support of French diplomacy.
Integration of climate and environment, food security, gender and simplification of procedures.
In a letter sent to the Minister, Catherine Colonna, in the spring, I recalled that “The number of conflicts has more than doubled over the decade 2010-2020, the number of climate-related disasters has increased every year since 2018, the number of refugees and people displaced by conflict has doubled in 10 years to reach 100 million human beings. Food insecurity has risen by 35% in the last five years. We have entered a new era in just a handful of years, and above all we have changed scale and pace in the face of these immense challenges. In this world, humanitarian aid is vital insurance for crisis victims”.
So, while the increase in French financial resources has been considerable since 2018, it must continue in the face of humanitarian needs estimated this year at $50.5 billion, which are likely to fall short, as they do every year, by around 50% of the essential amount.
While the announcement of an increase in France’s humanitarian budget to one billion euros by 2025 is very good news, we need to go further and think about the share of Official Development Assistance (ODA) that should be allocated to humanitarian aid. Although France is one of the world’s leading contributors to ODA, ranking 4th, its share of humanitarian aid is one of the lowest!
This is both contradictory and out of step with the realities of today’s world. It would be appropriate and logical for France to allocate at least 13.9% of its ODA to humanitarian aid, in line with the average for OECD member countries, with some countries going as high as 20 to 25%.
The National Humanitarian Conference on December 19, 2023 will be the ideal opportunity to discuss this issue, in order to better respond to the growing gap between needs and resources, which this year concerns 339 million human beings worldwide.
Conclusion
Faced with the challenges of multiplying crises and victims, the widening gap between needs and the means to help populations in danger, and the questioning and violation of international humanitarian law (IHL), the humanitarian issue is becoming vital in international relations and must be respected and protected by all players, because IHL is less a Western concept than a human value shared by all civilizations, cultures and religions.
I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and thank you for your support (faireundon) for Défis Humanitaires, which is counting on you.
Alain Boinet
Alain Boinet is president of the online magazine Défis Humanitaires www.defishumanitaires.com and founder of the humanitarian association Solidarités Humanitaires, of which he was managing director for 35 years. He is also a member of the Groupe de Concertation Humanitaire at the Centre de Crise et de Soutien of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, and of the Board of Directors of Solidarités International, the Partenariat Français pour l’Eau (PFE), the Véolia Foundation and the Think Tank (re)sources.
Alain Boinet is president of the online magazine Défis Humanitaires
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