UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher is briefed during a field visit in Minova, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, 25 June 2025. (Keystone/EPA/Moïse Kasereka)

A year after its launch, aid experts ask: humanitarian reset or rollback? Amid plummeting donor contributions, particularly from the US, the UN’s aid office announced a reform plan aimed at making the sector more efficient while hyperprioritising assistance and shifting leadership more to local NGOs. A year later, aid experts question if the plan has lost its way.

Sudanese women displaced from El-Fasher wait in line to receive food aid at the newly established El-Afadh camp in Al Dabbah, in Sudan's Northern State, Sunday, 16 November, 2025. (Keystone/AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

Bringing you the latest from UN press briefings in Geneva.

🇸🇩UNIMAGINABLE VIOLENCE. The number of women and girls in Sudan needing support after experiencing gender-based violence has nearly quadrupled since the war began three years ago, according to a new report released Tuesday by UN Women, stating sexual abuse had become one the conflict’s “most defining features”.

No respite. The findings, which come as the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces enters its fourth year, draws on evidence from 85 women-led organisations operating across Sudan, serving 20 million people in need. Two-thirds of women frontline responders reported a significant rise in sexual violence in 2025, and half reported further escalation in 2026.

What they said. Anna Mutavati, regional director for UN Women in east and southern Africa, told reporters in Geneva: “Sexual violence is being used as a tactical tool to inflict terror, humiliation, pain and control over women and girls and to oppress entire populations.” She cited women being raped and killed in their homes, in front of their families, as the flee, search for food and water, and medical care.

Rallying cry for peace. UN Women joined UN agencies and aid groups including the World Food Programme, UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration, and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC) in tallying the atrocities inflicted over three years of war, which has displaced more than 11 million people, acute food insecurity, and left 34 million – almost two in every three people – in need of humanitarian assistance.

Unaccounted for. Less well known, ICRC regional director James Reynolds said, was the number of missing persons, estimated at 11,000 – up more than 40 per cent in the past year alone and likely only a fraction of the real number. “Not knowing about their [loved ones’] fate is causing deep and lasting psychological suffering,” he added.

Berlin bound. World leaders, UN and other aid officials, as well as Sudanese civil society representatives will meet in the German city today that many hope will galvanise diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the war as the crisis continues to deepen. The high-level conference comes after Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the UK formed a coalition in February to prevent atrocities and promote justice in Sudan.

— Kasmira Jefford