"As needs have exploded, funding has been cut" : the crises in Sudan, the DRC and Colombia are "the most neglected" in the world, according to an NGO

The crises in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Colombia are “les plus négligées” in the world, according to the annual ranking of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which explains this disinterest by nationalism and the rearmament of rich countries. The NGO’s list is based on three criteria: the lack of humanitarian funding, media coverage and political will of the international community.

In a press release published Thursday, June 4, the NGO notes that Sudan has more than nine million internally displaced people and that four other million Sudanese have fled to neighboring countries. Nearly 19.5 million people there also suffer from hunger. The country has been ravaged since 2023 by a bloody conflict which opposes two generals vying for power and pits the army and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (FSR). “It is incomprehensible that a displacement crisis [de population] of a magnitude comparable to those of Syria and Ukraine at their peak could continue to worsen almost unnoticed.a déploré le secrétaire général du NRC, Jan Egeland. “Even as needs in Sudan exploded last year and famine continued to spread, funding was cut”he lamented.

The DRC, where a new Ebola epidemic recently added to the recurring violence in the east of the country, is there for the tenth year in a row. By 2025, only 27.4% of the country’s funding needs have been raised, leaving more than 21 million people in need, according to the NRC. Torn for more than sixty years by an internal conflict mixing guerrillas, paramilitaries, drug traffickers and security forces, Colombia is for its part taken “in the roller coaster of oblivion”according to the NGO. “The people affected by this conflict have found no lasting solution. Far too many of them are repeatedly displaced and trapped, with no prospect of escape.”commented Giovanni Rizzo, head of the NRC in this country. The list of “most neglected crises” also includes Yemen, Afghanistan, Honduras, Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria and Mozambique.