Forgotten Emergencies: Four refugee crises the world can't afford to ignore

As global attention rapidly shifts from one headline to the next, the number of forcibly displaced people continues to rise. Among those are millions of people caught in protracted emergencies that often go unnoticed, overshadowed and underreported.

Around the world today, the number of forcibly displaced people has surpassed a devastating milestone of more than 120 million people, many forced to flee their homes due to war, persecution, violence, human rights abuses and the impacts of the climate crisis.

Of the more than 120 million people forcibly displaced, more than 68.3 million are internally displaced people (IDPs), and more than 37.9 million are refugees who have found safety in countries other than their own.

© UNHCR/Charity Nzomo

© UNHCR/Charity Nzomo

One of those forced to flee is Congolese refugee Mawazo Mudingulo.

On one early March morning this year, Mawazo and her family fled their home as the situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) became volatile.

The family fled on foot, rushing to the Rusizi River where fishermen were helping refugees cross into Burundi.

“I saw people drown that day,” she recalls. “I’m just grateful my family and I made it across alive.”

She escaped with seven children but was forced to leave three behind in the DRC. Though she has fled the violence in her country, her safety remains uncertain.

Like Mawazo, behind these staggering numbers are real people — men, women and children forced to leave everything behind. These are stories of loss and struggle, courage and strength that the world must not turn away from.

From Afghanistan to Bangladesh, and from the DRC to Sudan, here are four refugee emergencies you should keep an eye on in 2025 and what UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is doing to ensure displaced communities receive the vital lifesaving aid and protection they need.

Violence in the DRC

For years, the displacement situation in the DRC has been one of the most complex and protracted humanitarian crises in Africa, and this year is no different.

As the fourth-largest internally displaced crisis in the world, the country continues to grapple with increased displacements this year, as continuous waves of violence have displaced nearly 6.4 million people across the eastern provinces as of January 31, 2025.

“The first war brought me here when I was young, and now I'm back again,” shares Congolese refugee and mother of six, Sikujua Bisima. “I'm just praying for God to grant Congo peace, so we can go back home.”

For displaced individuals like Sikujua, who fled violence in the DRC for the second time in her life, the latest bouts of fighting, which began in December of last year, have been nothing short of devastating.

In just one month of the renewed fighting, more than half a million people were displaced. Since February 14 of this year, there has been a significant increase in the number of asylum-seekers crossing into Burundi, with more than 70,000 new arrivals needing international protection as of March 31, 2025

In the DRC, multiple major risks are worsening the already dire situation for displaced people. These include a 2024 MPOX outbreak and escalating gender-based violence (GBV) against women and girls. The situation is particularly severe in North Kivu, where reported GBV cases increased from 20,771 in early 2023 to 27,328 in the same period in 2024, where rape accounted for 63 percent of incidents.

Across the DRC, the need for urgent aid continues to grow, with 27 million people requiring humanitarian assistance in 2025. Without resolving the conflict in the eastern provinces, both the humanitarian crisis and the displacement situation will continue to deteriorate.

In and around the region, UNHCR is on the ground responding to the situation in the DRC.

When the security situation allows, UNHCR and its partners continue to deliver lifesaving assistance and act as lead and co-lead in providing shelter, protection and camp coordination and management (CCCM), in close partnership with other UN agencies and partners.

UNHCR also leads efforts to improve access to protection services, including psychosocial support, emphasizing the needs of vulnerable groups such as women, children, the elderly and people with specific needs.

Instability in Afghanistan

Despite a reduction in new conflict-related displacement, Afghanistan remains one of the world’s most urgent crises, with 22.9 million people in Afghanistan in need of vital humanitarian relief this year alone.

For many, like 80-year-old internally displaced Afghan Sakhi, while the overall security situation has improved and areas once inaccessible are now reachable, challenges continue to persist for displaced communities.

Sakhi has lived through many challenges, but an earthquake that struck the country left him struggling to find safety and stability.

After losing his home, he and his family were forced to live in tents, enduring harsh conditions and extreme cold. Despite his age, Sakhi continues to face these hardships with resilience and determination.

For more than 9 million displaced Afghans — 5.5 million of whom are refugees around the world and more than 3.2 million of whom are displaced inside the country — the impacts of human rights violations and abuses, economic instability, acute food insecurity and natural disasters are likely to remain significant challenges in 2025.

For women and girls, the situation is even more dire. On top of already restrictive laws limiting fundamental human rights, the de facto authorities announced a new law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in 2024. This law introduced further restrictions on their freedoms, including movement, dress, and behavior, as well as on the rights of religious minorities and LGBTQIA+ people.

Between September 2023 and mid-March 2025, more than 843,000 Afghans returned to their country from Pakistan after an announcement by the Government of Pakistan that it would deport undocumented foreign nationals living in the country. The sudden return of hundreds of thousands of Afghans has further compounded the humanitarian crisis and placed a burden on already limited resources on vulnerable communities.

Across the country, UNHCR is committed to delivering aid and protecting the most vulnerable with essential items, protection services, shelter, core relief items, cash assistance, community-based programs and psychosocial support.

UNHCR also supports livelihoods and training programs in areas with increased numbers of returnees and internally displaced people, to encourage self-reliance and social cohesion.

Rohingya displacement crisis

For years now, the combined impacts of violence, persecution and natural disasters have left the Rohingya in a dire situation.

As a stateless Muslim minority, the Rohingya have faced harsh conditions for decades. Many lack legal status, freedom of movement, access to education, healthcare and even livelihood opportunities.

In August 2017, armed attacks, widespread violence, and severe human rights violations forced more than 750,000 Rohingya to flee their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Many spent days making perilous journeys across the Bay of Bengal to find safety in Bangladesh.

Today, more than 1 million people have found safety in Bangladesh, with a majority living in the Cox's Bazar region, home to the world's largest refugee camp. Though they have found refuge, the pressure on the local host community and its already stretched facilities and services have been immense for refugee families like Sadeqa and her son.

© UNHCR/Amanda Jufrian

© UNHCR/Amanda Jufrian

After violence erupted shortly after Eid al-Adha in 2024, Sadeqa fled to Bangladesh with her son when her husband was killed in a bombing in Myanmar.

Though she first found refuge in the Cox's Bazar refugee camp, the harsh conditions and overcrowding forced her to flee again weeks later. She and her son then boarded a boat with others, uncertain of their destination.

“We are searching for a place where we can live in peace,” says Sadeqa.

In Myanmar, the situation for displaced communities, including the Rohingya, continues to be bleak. UNHCR estimates that there are over 1.2 million persons of concern in Myanmar. This includes 810,000 internally displaced persons and 600,000 stateless Rohingya, of which 148,000 remain displaced.

Alongside violence erupting after a civil war in 2021, the situation for displaced communities has been further exacerbated by a devastating earthquake that struck the country in late March of this year. The disaster caused widespread destruction, leaving thousands dead, many displaced, injured and trapped under the rubble. The areas that have been most heavily impacted by the earthquake are already home to the highest number of IDPs due to persistent conflict.

To address the needs of displaced Rohingya individuals in Bangladesh, UNHCR's activities include registering refugees, providing protection and legal assistance, preventing gender-based violence, ensuring provision of adequate shelter, healthcare and supporting education and skills development. UNHCR also works to ensure livelihood opportunities and distribute lifesaving relief items where needed.

In response to the recent earthquakes in Myanmar, UNHCR has been working around the clock in Mandalay, Sagaing, the South-East, and Nay Pyi Taw, delivering lifesaving assistance. As of April 11, 2025, UNHCR has assisted 19,089 people with non-food items and emergency shelter supplies.

UNHCR also plans to deploy mobile protection teams to support vulnerable people who cannot access services in areas where they are located, enhance service mapping to identify available humanitarian and protection services, and create efficient referral pathways to safely connect people with the support they need.

©UNHCR

The War in Sudan

This year, Sudan enters its third year of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has resulted in one of the worst and devastating humanitarian crises.

The conflict has led to the displacement of nearly 13 million people, with more than 8.6 million people internally displaced inside the country and more than 3 million fleeing to neighboring countries like the Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan. According to UNHCR, 1 in 13 refugees globally is now Sudanese.

Like the more than 3 million people forced to flee to neighboring countries, Miriam, her four daughters and her many grandchildren endured the horrors of the war in Sudan before being forced to flee their home in Darfur and seek refuge in neighboring Chad.

The conflict claimed the lives of seven men from their family, and looters ransacked Miriam's home and killed her livestock. Food became increasingly scarce, and the children had been unable to attend school since the conflict began in April 2023.

Hunger has reached catastrophic levels across the region. In Sudan, famine has been confirmed in 10 areas with 17 more at risk, and approximately 24.6 million Sudanese — more than half the population — face extreme hunger.

Like women, who bear the brunt of the conflict, children are also among the hardest hit by the war, with child casualties having surged by 83 percent compared to early 2024, and the number of children in need of humanitarian assistance having doubled to 15 million.

Across the region, UNHCR emergency teams have been working around the clock to support Sudanese refugees arriving in neighboring countries like Chad, Central African Republic, Ethiopia and South Sudan — providing them with lifesaving support and relocating them to existing and new camps away from borders.

Inside Sudan, UNHCR is helping those impacted by the war by providing protection, shelter, healthcare, psychosocial support, cash assistance and non-food items.

How to help…