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In Pictures: The world’s most neglected crises

The Norwegian Refugee Council unveiled its annual index of the 10 most neglected displacement crises in the world.

Noella Furuha fled from Watembo village in eastern DRC last June after armed clashes resulted in the death of her husband. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]
By Michelle Delaney
Published On 27 May 2021

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has the world’s most neglected number of displaced people, according to a new report by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).

Unveiling its annual index, the aid agency said on Thursday that a recorded two million people were displaced last year in the DRC. And with 27 million people, including more than three million children who do not know where their next meal is coming from, it has the greatest number of people in the world who face food insecurity.

“DRC is one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 21st century,” said NRC Secretary-General Jan Egeland. “A lethal combination of spiralling violence, record hunger levels and total neglect has ignited a mega-crisis that warrants a mega-response. But instead, millions of families on the brink of the abyss seem to be forgotten by the outside world and are left shut off from any support lifeline.”

Countries in Africa dominated this year’s list of the world’s 10 most neglected displacement crises once again, with DRC topping the list, followed by Cameroon, Burundi, Venezuela, Honduras, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Central African Republic and Mali.

The NRC said the COVID-19 pandemic further worsened the situation for vulnerable people, causing millions of people who were already struggling to survive in neglected crises to fall even further behind. The little income they had disappeared, needs skyrocketed and international funding dried up.

DRC- 1st place: Multiple conflicts in eastern parts of DRC escalated last year, forcing 6,000 people to flee their homes every day, making it the crisis in the world with the largest number of new displacements due to conflict. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]
Cameroon- 2nd place: Conflict forced 17-year-old Miracle to flee her village in Cameroon. Three separate crises in the country have affected almost all the country’s 10 regions. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]
Burundi- 3rd place: Burundi contended with the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, increased displacement due to climate hazards, and returning refugees in 2020, all with limited assistance from the international community. [Lauriane Wolfe/ UNOCHA]
Venezuela- 4th place: More than five million Venezuelans have fled the country due to repression and food and medicine shortages since 2014, making it one of the largest displacement crises in the world. [Nadege Mazars/NRC]
Honduras- 5th place: Honduras was devastated by two tropical storms in 2020, on top of chronic hunger levels, criminal gang violence, climate change and widespread unemployment. [Christian Jepsen/NRC]
Nigeria- 6th place : Armed conflict in northeastern Nigeria showed no sign of ending as it entered its 12th year, with widespread violence and attacks directed at relief organisations to prevent them from accessing people in need. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]
Burkina Faso- 7th place: Burkina Faso was the world’s fastest-growing humanitarian and protection crisis in 2020, with escalating violence doubling the number of people displaced to exceed the one million mark. [Ingebjorg Karstad /NRC]
Ethiopia- 8th place: Leilti, her husband and her daughter fled Ethiopia to Sudan after a political standoff between the country’s federal government and regional authorities in the Tigray region escalated into a full-scale conflict in November 2020. [Ingebjorg Karstad /NRC]
Central African Republic- 9th place: At the end of 2020, election unrest in the Central African Republic led to large-scale displacement and an increase in already extreme humanitarian needs. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]
Mali - 10th place: Adama Harouna is one of 326,000 people displaced in Mali, as insecurity and conflict worsened the overall humanitarian crisis in 2020. [Mahamadou Abdourhamane/NRC]