Tuesday June 18, 2024

Dakar, Senegal

Nine African countries are among the ten “most neglected” displacement crises in the world, according to an annual ranking published on Monday 03 June 2024 by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

Each year, the NGO publishes a list based on three criteria: the level of political will on the part of the international community, media coverage and humanitarian funding.

As in 2022, Burkina Faso tops the list, with “a record 707,000 new displacements and hundreds of thousands of people deprived of any aid”, according to NRC.

“Media coverage has plummeted as access has become more difficult for journalists and humanitarian organizations”, while the amount of humanitarian funding reaches only 37% of needs, says the NGO.

The situation has particularly worsened in the Sahel countries, which have continued to face jihadist attacks since 2015 and whose populations move from camp to camp at the whim of jihadist violence.

After Burkina Faso, Mali comes in 4th position (7th in 2022), ahead of Niger (5th), which enters the ranking.

Central African countries remain among the most neglected, according to NRC. Cameroon is second on the list (8th in 2022), with nearly 1.1 million displaced persons and half a million refugees residing on its territory.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, where “more than 25 million people continued to face multiple emergencies”, comes third (2nd in 2022).

South Sudan (7th), Central African Republic (8th) and Chad (9th) are also mentioned, although they were absent from the ranking in 2022.

Honduras (6th), facing “an explosion of violence, organized crime and gangs”, is the only one of the ten countries outside Africa.

“Worldwide, there has been a record $32 billion shortfall in aid budgets, leaving 57% of humanitarian needs unmet in 2023,” says NRC.

“International political neglect, limited media coverage, donor fatigue and growing humanitarian needs are contributing to a wider trend of neglect,” says the NGO.

“Society itself is in a state of crisis fatigue”, it says.

Humaniterre

*Editor’s note – Humaniterre

Illustration: FANNY NOARO-KABRÉ – AFP
Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Jan Egeland (right) speaks to a group of displaced women in the Torodi IDP camp in Dori, May 30, 2024. Around 2,000 people threatened by the jihadist violence that has plagued the country since 2015 have found precarious shelter here, remaining in a state of impasse.