Tom Fletcher was addressing the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) which was set up by the UN General Assembly in the early 1990s as a coordination forum for humanitarian aid worldwide.

“The humanitarian community confronts a massive funding, morale, and legitimacy crisis,” he said, framing his remarks as personal reflections based on earlier discussions within the IASC.

“We took time to recognize the devastating impact that funding cuts will have on those we serve, our partners, and our teams,” he continued.

Without referencing any specific loss in funding – but against the backdrop of a suspension of most humanitarian spending by the new administration in Washington – Mr. Fletcher appealled for the aid community to be “calm, brave, principled, and united.”

He said they need to make the case strongly for greater international solidarity.

“We can draw confidence from extraordinary progress made by humanitarians over decades. The mission is right. Our allies are still out there. But the delivery system is struggling. We need to be lighter, faster, and less bureaucratic.”

Four-point plan

The UN relief chief said there needed to be four priorities: first, be clear that saving lives is paramount.

“We agreed to remain independent, neutral, and impartial. This does not mean we do not pick a side: we are on the side of those in greatest need.”

Secondly, he said duplication and bureaucracy must be pared down under a new “bold plan” of action.

“Donors must simplify too. We must innovate or become obsolete. We will prioritize robustly and make the toughest choices. I have commissioned urgent work to identify how we could reach the 100 million people in greatest need.”

‘Genuine partnership’ with private sector

He said aid chiefs must find new partners, not just rely on traditional sources and governments. This must include “genuine partnership” with the private sector and the World Bank.

“I believe there is a movement of billions of people who care, and who want to act in solidarity with those in most need. We should launch a public campaign to fill in the gaps left by governments, targeting the equivalent of 0.7 per cent for each country.”

Mr. Fletcher said turf wars between agencies need to end with each organization focusing on what it does “uniquely well”.

Leadership needs to be empowered, he added, with great authority vested in UN Humanitarian Coordinators throughout the system.

Third, there needs to be more devolution, giving more power and accountability to local partners who are suffering the most from cuts.

Fourth, aid workers need to defend their work more robustly.

End impunity

“We need to call time on the era of impunity: end attacks on civilians and aid workers; and hold perpetrators to account. We must communicate more clearly the impact we have and the cost of inaction, with humanity not institutions at the heart of the story.”

Humanitarians worldwide are “underfunded, overstretched and under attack,” he declared, but the argument for lifesaving aid has not been lost: “Our cause is mighty, and our movement is strong.”

Briefing from Ukrainian capital Kyiv after another night of “air sirens and more loud explosions”, Mr. Schmale noted that the crisis began in 2014, with Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. “So, all children that were born since – all children up to the age of 11 – have never experienced their country at peace,” he said.

According to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, 2024 saw a 30 per cent increase in civilian casualties compared to 2023. “The humanitarian situation is worsening, especially in frontline areas,” it said in an update, highlighting that a full 36 per cent of Ukraine’s population – 12.7 million people – needs humanitarian aid this year.

“There are very strong pushes by the armed forces of the Russian Federation along the front line and evacuations are ongoing,” Mr. Schmale explained. “We are supporting people with essential goods, including cash assistance, as they are on the move to transit centres, collective sites and wherever they end up being.”

Speaking from Zaporizhzhia in southeast Ukraine, Toby Fricker from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that more than 2,520 children have been killed or injured since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.

“The real number is likely far higher and it’s getting worse”, said Mr. Fricker, chief of communication in Ukraine. “There was a more than 50 per cent increase in child casualties in 2024 compared to 2023 and what we see is no place is safe: schools, maternity wards, children’s hospitals, all have been affected by attacks.”

Behind battle lines

Underscoring the essential role played by women in Ukraine “beyond the battlefield”, UN Women Geneva Director Sofia Calltorp explained that “there is another story unfolding, and that is the story of all those women and girls who are bearing the brunt of this war.”

In 2024, the number of people killed and injured in Ukraine increased by 30 per cent, Ms. Calltorp noted. “Of them, 800 women lost their lives and more than 3,700 women were injured last year in Ukraine. We also know that the vast majority of Ukrainian refugees and displaced persons are women, and 6.7 million women are in need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance.”

Funding crisis

Responding to questions about the impact of the US funding freeze on humanitarian work, Ukraine Humanitarian Coordinator Mr. Schmale expressed “hope that US funding will become part of the equation. Last year, it made up 30 per cent of what we spent on the humanitarian side, 10 per cent on the development side.”

The UN’s top aid official in Ukraine added: “We are of course worried about the funding freezes; as we all know, it’s not the end of the day yet, there are a lot of discussions going on. We have some of our partners, including within the UN, that have received some exemptions from the general freeze of funding, but so far, no money has been flowing as a result of those exemptions.”

In addition to repeated attacks on energy infrastructure across Ukraine, other public facilities have also been targeted, with 780 health centres and more than 1,600 schools damaged or destroyed, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).

“In Odessa this week we saw a health clinic providing care for 40,000 children and a kindergarten serving 250 of the youngest children were severely damaged in an attack,” said Dr Jarno Harbicht, WHO Country Representative for Ukraine. “When a children’s hospital is hit, a school shelled or electric grid destroyed, children suffer even when they survive.”

Haunted by drones

The mental stress faced by millions of Ukrainians because of the war is real and debilitating, the WHO official continued: “Imagine a young mother in Kharkiv region in Ukraine, her days interrupted by air raid sirens and her nights haunted by drones. Each day is a struggle balancing her children’s safety with their anxiety that has become her constant companion.”

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission (HRMMU) has confirmed the killing of more than 12,654 civilian men, women, girls, and boys since the full-scale Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, with nearly 30,000 injured. Eighty-four per cent of the casualties happened in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government and 16 per cent in territory occupied by Russia.

“Three years of full-scale conflict in Ukraine have wrought persistent and escalating human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law,” said Danielle Bell, Chief of HRMMU. “As the civilian toll grows heavier, the human rights of all those affected must remain at the forefront of  any negotiations for sustainable peace.”

Rising toll

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission (HRMMU) has confirmed the killing of more than 12,654 civilian men, women, girls, and boys since the full-scale Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, with nearly 30,000 injured. Eighty-four per cent of the casualties happened in territory controlled by the Ukrainian government and 16 per cent in territory occupied by Russia.

“Three years of full-scale conflict in Ukraine have wrought persistent and escalating human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law,” said Danielle Bell, Chief of HRMMU. “As the civilian toll grows heavier, the human rights of all those affected must remain at the forefront of  any negotiations for sustainable peace.”

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, reported on Thursday that 35,000 Congolese nationals have now reached Burundi since the beginning of February, as Rwanda-backed M23 fighters continue to advance across both South and North Kivu.

The UN human rights office (OHCHR) in DRC also expressed concern over growing lawlessness as warlords responsible for grave crimes including rape, were reportedly sprung from prison in Goma, Kabare and Bukavu in recent days.

These former detainees are now at large and pose a threat to their former victims and judges who sentenced them, along with the lawyers who represented victims of sexual violence, said Patrice Vahard, Director of the UN Joint Human Rights Office in DR Congo (UNJHRO).

“The consequences will be huge, first for the state of law, but in particular for these women who believed in justice because they received help, but who unfortunately now risk being confronted by some of their tormentors.”

Burundi arrivals

UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado told UN News that those fleeing DR Congo are entering Burundi via its northwestern border.

“The vast majority are women and children, they are arriving exhausted, tired,” she said. “Many of them tell our teams on the ground that they have lost family members, sometimes children, while they were fleeing.”

Ms. Sarrado described dire conditions at the border and said that the majority of those arriving from DRC do so by unofficial means, with many taking risks to cross the Ruzizi River.

“Some of them are sheltering in the open, just in makeshift shelters, others are being sheltered in schools and also in a stadium at the border,” the UN refugee agency official added.

Needs are increasing and there is a significant shortage of basic services in the displacement shelters including toilets, food and water.

Goma aid lifeline resumes

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced on Thursday that it had partially resumed food assistance to parts of Goma, which fell to M23 rebels three weeks ago.

But as fighting between M23 and national troops continues, the UN aid agency expressed alarm at “soaring hunger” caused by people fleeing displacement camps.

In North Kivu, WFP has reached 9,000 people with emergency food assistance out of a target of 83,000. “Security must improve for WFP to reach tens of thousands more of the most vulnerable populations at risk,” it stressed.

Where possible, the UN agency is delivering vital nutrition supplies to treat moderate acute malnutrition in children aged six to 59 months, amid surging staple food prices that have made it increasingly difficult for families to eat.

Prices rise along with insecurity

The price of maize flour has risen by nearly 67 per cent, salt is 43 per cent more expensive than before the crisis erupted and the cost of cooking oil has increased by up to 45 per cent, WFP said.

“Escalating violence is forcing more families to flee – and now they have no food, no security and nowhere safe to go,” said WFP spokesperson Shaza Mograby. “The desperation of affected communities continues to grow by the day.”

Humanitarians continue to struggle to reach the most vulnerable while major access routes remain blocked and Goma International airport remains closed.

“WFP’s priority is to resume operations fully as soon as it is safe to do so,” the UN agency insisted.

“The longer we are unable to give food and emergency assistance to families affected by the conflict, the greater and more dire their needs are,” said Peter Musoko, WFP’s Country Director and Representative in DRC.

“I do not want to see children and mothers sink deeper into hunger and severe malnutrition. We need the violence to stop so we can resume our humanitarian activities. The most vulnerable people in DRC cannot afford to be overlooked during this crisis.’

WFP plans to reach seven million of the most vulnerable women, men, and children in DR Congo with lifesaving food and nutrition assistance this year. It is working with other UN agencies, NGOs and Government partners to address immediate needs and prepare for a potential large-scale response once conditions allow.

A key part of this operation is the WFP-run UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) operation. It provides aid teams with critical access and logistical support for their work across the country but it urgently requires $33.1 million to avoid the suspension of operations by the end of March.

In recent weeks, the UNHAS fleet relocated to Kalemie in Tanganyika, establishing a new operational hub for eastern DRC.

So far this year, the air service has transported 2,464 passengers, including humanitarian workers relocated from Goma and Bukavu; it has also delivered 23 metric tons of essential light cargo across DR Congo.