Global Humanitarian Overview 2026

Other plans

Horn of Africa to Yemen and Southern Africa (MRP)

People in Need at launch (Dec. 2025)
1.7 million
People Targeted at launch (Dec. 2025)
1.2 million
Requirements (US$) at launch (Dec. 2025)
91.1 million
People urgently prioritized
664.1 thousand
Urgently prioritized requirements (US$)
44.6 million

Crisis Overview

The Horn of Africa is a major migration hub, with persistent movements along the Eastern and Southern Routes, driven by economic hardship, conflict and climate shocks. In the first half of 2025, over 242,000 migratory movements were recorded, with 98 per cent occurring along the Eastern Route.

The Eastern Route, spanning Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, and Yemen, remains one of the busiest and most dangerous corridors. Most migrants originate from Ethiopia’s Amhara, Oromia, and Tigray regions, with women and children – many unaccompanied – comprising nearly one-third of movements. Protection risks are acute, including robbery, abandonment, and violence, with 636 migrant deaths or disappearances reported in 2025 alone. By mid-2025, arrivals in Yemen tripled (from 10,000 in 2024 to more than 37,000), while over 55,000 migrants were forcibly returned from Saudi Arabia and 12,000 returned spontaneously through Djibouti and Yemen. An estimated 132,000 migrants remain stranded in Yemen in precarious conditions with little or no access to services. At the same time, widespread funding cuts across the region have forced humanitarian organizations to scale down or close operations – particularly in Yemen – further compounding protection risks and depriving migrants of food, shelter, health care, and safe return options. The collapse of essential services has significantly eroded assistance coverage and heightened the vulnerability of migrants along the route.

A water distribution point in a dry, open area with large white water tanks under a metal roof. Several people are gathered near the tanks, and a white vehicle is parked nearby.

Obock,Djibouti 

Food distribution assistance.

IOM/ Eva Sibanda

The Southern Route, used primarily by men (74 per cent), runs from the Horn of Africa through Kenya and Tanzania towards South Africa as the main destination. Movements from Ethiopia to South Africa account for 96 per cent of documented flows, rising by 26 per cent in 2025 (from 11,600 to 14,600). Unlike the Eastern Route, it crosses multiple borders over thousands of kilometers, making the journey longer, costlier, and riskier. Almost all migrants transit through Kenya and Tanzania, key transit and destination countries. Persistent economic hardship, high youth unemployment, and widespread poverty – with over 60 per cent of Ethiopians living on less than $2 per day – continue driving migration. In Somalia, conflict and recurrent droughts further erode resilience. Migrants face life-threatening risks and limited access to basic services.

Response priorities and financial requirements for 2026

In 2026, the MRP presents a coordinated, forward-looking strategy to address the urgent humanitarian and protection needs of migrants and host communities along the Eastern and Southern migration routes. Amid rising vulnerabilities and constrained funding, the plan prioritises life-saving assistance, protection, and resilience-building interventions that are both impactful and sustainable.

MRP partners will scale up essential services in high-risk transit areas, focusing on the provision of food, shelter, health care, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), as well as protection services. Migrant Response Centres (MRCs) and Transit Centres (TCs) will be reinforced and mobile patrols resumed in Djibouti to reach migrants stranded in remote desert and coastal zones.

Protection remains at the heart of the response. Services will include mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), targeted aid for survivors of gender-based violence and trafficking victims, and assistance to families of missing migrants. Distribution of dignity kits and reinforcement of community-based protection mechanisms will be strengthened to safeguard women, girls, unaccompanied children, and other vulnerable groups.

Voluntary humanitarian return will remain a central component of the response, prioritizing stranded migrants in Djibouti, Somalia, Tanzania, and Yemen. Reintegration support will focus on community-based projects alongside socio-economic empowerment initiatives for returnees and host communities.

Health interventions will deliver primary and secondary care, maternal and reproductive health services, vaccinations, and nutrition screening. Investments will enhance health infrastructure through rehabilitation of facilities and the deployment of mobile health teams to underserved areas.

A person wearing a blue vest provides medical care to another person’s foot while two others sit nearby on the ground.

Sana, Yemen

Exhausted migrants receiving medical checks and treatment by IOM’s mobile medical team.

IOM / Majed Moahmmed 

WASH programming will prioritize emergency water supply, hygiene kits, and sanitation infrastructure, integrated with health interventions to prevent disease outbreaks. Climate-resilient water systems and renewable energy solutions will be promoted to ensure sustainability.

Livelihoods and economic recovery efforts will focus on vocational training, private sector collaborations, and income-generating activities – such as small business grants –, reducing negative coping strategies and promoting youth and women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship and peacebuilding initiatives.

The MRP 2026 also strengthens data, evidence-based and policy support. Enhancements to the Displacement Tracking Matrix, household surveys, and protection analysis will improve response targeting. Policy support will advance migration governance systems, including legal identity registration, consular services, and national migration policies, while strengthening cross-border coordination. Advocacy for inclusive protection frameworks and gender mainstreaming will be central to implementation.

To deliver this comprehensive response, MRP partners require $91.1 million in 2026 to support 1.2 million vulnerable migrants and host community members. The plan responds to the growing humanitarian caseload, reflecting the increasing number of departing and transit migrants along both routes – including those stranded in Yemen. Through flexible, multi-sectoral and context-specific interventions, the 2026 MRP aims to protect lives, restore dignity and strengthen resilience – laying the groundwork for more sustainable solutions across the region.

2025 in review: Response highlights and consequences of inaction

Response highlights

By June 2025, MRP partners reached 250,000 people across Yemen, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia with comprehensive, multisectoral assistance. Migrant men, women, boys, and girls accounted for the majority of those assisted, while the remainder comprised host community members who continue to show exceptional solidarity despite strained local capacities.

Life-saving Assistance

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150,000 beneficiaries reached with life-saving assistance.

Food

Icon Food

27,400 beneficiaries assisted with food and/or nutrition assistance.

NFI

Icon Non-food-items

27,300 beneficiaries assisted with non-food items (NFIs).

Health

Icon Health

17,100 beneficiaries assisted with or referred for primary health care.

Shelter

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18,700 beneficiaries assisted with safe and dignified accommodation assistance.

Protection

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35,300 beneficiaries received quality, timely and inclusive protection assistance and services.

Health

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14,000 beneficiaries received mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS services)

Protection

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1,300 victims of trafficking (48% men and boys and 52% women and girls) received assistance and specialized protection and GBV services.

Return

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1,000 migrants supported with assisted voluntary return.

Consequences of Funding Cuts

Underfunding

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As of mid 2025, the MRP was only 7% funded, leaving over 800,000 migrants and host community members without access to life-saving support, tailored protection assistance, and voluntary return services.

Protection

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Protection services and prevention efforts have been drastically reduced, increasing the risk of GBV and child abuse, and removing access to vital services for survivors. Funding cuts for women-led organizations have hit GBV prevention and response efforts hardest.

Returnees

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Only 13% of the more than 4,000 returnees from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were supported with post-arrival assistance, leaving over 3,400 migrants without assistance after harrowing journeys.

Migrants

Icon Internally-displaced

An additional 5,450 migrants were left stranded in Yemen and in Djibouti without basic assistance or voluntary return support.

Women and children

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Partners suspended critical community-based reintegration and mobile health services in several high-need areas, particularly affecting women and children. National and local NGOs, especially women-led organizations, have been forced to lay off staff or close operations, further reducing the reach of humanitarian assistance.

DTM operations

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DTM operations in Yemen were suspended in March 2025, blinding the response and impacting the ability to prioritize assistance.

Somalia

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Over 30,000 transit movements were recorded in Somalia in 2025, with over 4,000 monthly arrivals. Yet, due to funding constraints, only about 5% of migrants were assisted. Reduced Health and WASH services—including the closure of a quarter of NGO facilities affecting 55,000 children—heighten risks of disease, exploitation and mortality.

Access constraints & attacks against aid workers/facilities

Access constraints and challenges

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Access constraints in specific areas of Yemen, Ethiopia, and Somalia—including Buuhoodle, Xaji Salax, Togdheer, Taleex, Borama, Burao, Elayo, and Ergavo mining areas—prevented humanitarian actors from reaching thousands of migrants and host community members with critical assistance.

Closures and movement restrictions

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Closures and movement restrictions in Djibouti and Yemen disrupted the delivery of humanitarian aid, resulting in prolonged periods without assistance for thousands of migrants in transit.

A Farm and My Dignity

A person wearing a dark garment stands near an open window with wooden shutters, looking outside in a dimly lit room
Bossaso, Somalia
Zeyneb’s journey became a nightmare, suffering extreme abuse and sexual violence at the hands of smugglers - she is now stranded in Bossaso and has registered with IOM’s MRC for AVR assistance to return home.
IOM/ Raber Aziz

Zeyneb*, 24, comes from a small village in Ethiopia where her family herds animals. She is the eldest of nine children, and the only boy is six. Her mother worked tirelessly, washing clothes for neighbors to earn a little money. When Zeyneb saw her return home empty-handed one day, she decided to act.

Her dream was simple: to help her family, pay for her father’s TB treatment, maybe even build them a house. But the journey turned tragic. Smugglers demanded 30,000 Ethiopian Birr (about $215). Her family sold their farm to raise the money. Instead of hope, Zeyneb faced severe mistreatment, including sexual abuse.

“I wanted something better for my family and myself,” she recalls tearfully. “But the road was nothing like they said.” She only confided in her mother, who cried and said, “Please come home. We’ve lost everything, but we’ll be happy to have you back.”

Rohingya Joint Response Plan (JRP)

People in Need at launch (Dec. 2025)
1.9 million
People Targeted at launch (Dec. 2025)
1.6 million
Requirements (US$) at launch (Dec. 2025)
698.4 million
People urgently prioritized
1.3 million
Urgently prioritized requirements (US$)
567.5 million

Crisis Overview

Bangladesh continues to show extraordinary generosity by hosting over one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, alongside some 640,000 Bangladeshis in Cox’s Bazar – one of the country’s poorest and most disaster-prone areas. Most refugees live in 33 camps within the world’s largest and most congested settlements, while around 30,000 reside on Bhasan Char Island.

Escalating conflict, persecution and instability in Myanmar’s Rakhine State since early 2024 have driven new displacement, with an estimated 130,000 Rohingya refugees arriving in 2025 and a further 35,000 expected in 2026. Despite regional efforts towards a political resolution to the Myanmar crisis that would facilitate the voluntary, dignified, and sustainable repatriation of Rohingya, conditions in Myanmar remain unconducive for return.

Despite significant government and partner efforts, humanitarian conditions in Cox’s Bazar are increasingly fragile. Some 83% of refugee households are highly vulnerable – especially women-led households and those with children – while 35% face food insecurity , and the same proportion lack any source of income. Among households with income, earnings are irregular, low and heavily reliant on aid-supported temporary work. Funding shortfalls in 2025 further reduced livelihood opportunities: only 65% of households reported some form of income compared to 73% in 2024 , while 35% do not have any income. Expanding pathways for refugee livelihoods, in line with government policies and host community needs, is critical to reducing aid dependency and enhancing resilience.

Person wearing an orange reflective vest and yellow gloves applying mud or plaster to a wall in an outdoor setting

Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

A refugee volunteer uses innovative LIME technology to build shelters that are stronger and more weather-resistant than traditional bamboo homes, reducing vulnerability to fire and improving safety.

ISCG/ IntoPositive

While the presence of law enforcement personnel and other gains in the de-escalation of conflict among the organized groups operating in the camps reduced the number of violent security incidents, serious protection risks, including robbery, extortion, abduction for ransom, human trafficking, and forced recruitment (including of youth), remain the reality of camp-life. Overcrowding and deteriorating socio-economic conditions heighten Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and child exploitation, while limited opportunities drive refugees towards harmful coping strategies such as child labour and marriage, as well as perilous maritime journeys.

Severe congestion, fragile shelters, and cyclical monsoon rains, cyclones, fires, and disease outbreaks threaten lives. Emergency preparedness, continuous vigilance and investment are crucial for maintaining living conditions and social cohesion between refugees and host communities. Sustained humanitarian support to meet the needs of the most vulnerable – complemented by development investment – remains essential for preserving dignity, maintaining social cohesion, and strengthening the resilience of refugees and host communities.

Response priorities and financial requirements for 2026

The Addendum to the Joint Response Plan (JRP) 2025/26 outlines priorities and financial requirements for 2026, building on significant adaptations introduced in 2025 in response to increasing population needs and decreasing humanitarian funding. While the five strategic objectives agreed with the Government of Bangladesh in the JRP 2025/26 remain the same, the 2026 approach sharpens the focus on essential, life-saving priorities delivered through a more integrated, cost-efficient and localized response model.

The global funding downturn has accelerated efforts to transform the Rohingya response. Key measures include integration of activities and services, rationalization and localization of partnerships, standardization of activity and service costs, as well as strengthened complementarity with development funds. Financial constraints also led to difficult but necessary cost reductions in staffing, coordination and operations.

Person wearing a blue protective gown and gloves attending to a newborn in an incubator inside a neonatal care unit with medical equipment visible.

Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Leda Health Facility successfully performs its first caesarean section, marking a milestone in expanding specialized maternal care and reducing reliance on emergency referrals.

IOM / Dr. Ahsanul Kader Khan

The 2026 JRP envisions a streamlined, needs-based plan designed to sustain minimum humanitarian standards to protect and assist the most vulnerable through a more integrated and holistic one-camp approach. This approach builds on 2025 reforms to scale-up cost-reduction, consolidation, and rationalization efforts while introducing vulnerability-based prioritization. Due to funding constraints, vulnerability-based prioritization to general food assistance starting 1 January 2026 is already planned, together with other reductions in important humanitarian and resilience interventions across all sectors. In tandem, prioritization, calibrated levels of assistance/services and transformational approaches have reduced the 2026 appeal by over USD 250 million compared to the total 2025 funding requirements (JRP and flash appeal). Examples of ongoing holistic and transformational approaches in service modalities include the following:

  • Health and Nutrition: Full integration of Nutrition and Health service delivery within common facilities (Primary Health Care) and combined community outreach has reduced costs through efficiencies in staffing, logistics, and supply chain efficiencies, while maintaining treatment coverage for severe and moderate acute malnutrition. Within the Health Sector, all running costs of primary health care facilities have been harmonized.
  • Protection (GBV & Child Protection): Integrating specialized services at the field level has streamlined coordination, consolidated service delivery points, and harmonized referral systems, standardizing protection services while reducing management costs.
  • Shelter / CCCM: Collaborative initiatives to promote a “one-camp approach” allow for standardized designs, shared maintenance systems, and joint procurement, lowering construction and operations costs. Rationalized staffing and localized maintenance teams further reduce the cost of meeting basic needs.
  • Food Security: Programme optimization measures, such as the introduction of vulnerability-based prioritization of food assistance, and the integration of small-scale agriculture and homestead production activities, ensure targeted support to the most food-insecure households while optimizing resources.
  • WASH: Harmonized designs, centralized procurement of supplies, and optimized desludging operations have reduced per-capita delivery costs despite population growth.
  • Education: Higher teacher-to-student ratios, phased material distribution, and shared learning spaces with host communities have lowered operational costs while sustaining access to learning.
  • Livelihoods and Skills Development (LSDS): Consolidated training modules and closer alignment with development projects maintain self-reliance opportunities with reduced expenditure.

Together, these measures have created a more integrated, localized, and cost-efficient model, preserving critical services and mitigating risk at a time of significant resource scarcity.

The 2026 JRP targets 1.56 million individuals (1.25m Rohingya and 307k host community members), with 1.27 million prioritized for life-saving and critical assistance. The total financial requirement stands at $698.4 million, including $567.5 million prioritized for life-saving and critical activities. Sustained international solidarity and complementary investments from international financial institutions and other development actors remain vital to preserving stability, resilience, and dignity for both refugees and host communities.

2025 in review: Response highlights and consequences of inaction

Response highlights

Food Security | Cox’s Bazar

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1,045,298 refugees were reached with lifesaving food assistance while resilience activities such as crop agricultural support (homestead gardening) reached 58,273 refugee households and 5,723 host community households.

Health | Cox’s Bazar

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2,840,252 health consultations were undertaken, 177,222 children were vaccinated, and 16,025 infants (12,025 refugees and 4,000 host communities) were delivered in safe facilities.

Nutrition | Cox’s Bazar

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6,068 children under 5 years old with severe acute malnutrition were newly admitted for treatment in the refugee camps.

WASH | Cox’s Bazar

Icon Water-Sanitation-and-Hygiene

2,382 latrine facilities (572 in the refugee camps and 1810 in host communities) were constructed and/or upgraded, while 51,787 latrine facilities were regularly operated and maintained.

SCCCM | Cox’s Bazar

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Shelter reinforcement assistance was provided to 45,993 households, LPG assistance to 217,770 households, emergency shelter assistance to 44,896 households, and non-food items distributed to 6,900 households.

Protection | Cox’s Bazar

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Protection programming included continuous registration and documentation of 1,143,096 refugees, while 1,074,522 people (refugees and host community members) were reached with awareness raising activities, key protection messaging and mitigation measures on non-violence.

11,270 children received specialized child protection service through case management (9,769 refugees and 1,501 from host communities).

390,504 individuals (321,830 refugees and 68,674 from host communities) were engaged in structured GBV prevention activities to transform social norms.

Education | Cox’s Bazar

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325,578 learners were enrolled in 6,532 learning facilities across 33 refugee camps and in 188 schools in the host communities.

LSDS | Cox’s Bazar

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Following accelerated adult learning, technical, life-skills, and vocational training, 1,317 trained refugees were referred to Sectors to engage in volunteer activities.

Food Security | Bhasan Char

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Approximately 31,000 (average) individuals received monthly food assistance through regular rations, hot meals, and the E-voucher program, covering all 64 occupied clusters on Bhasan Char.

Health and Nutrition | Bhasan Char

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115,796 clinical consultations were conducted; 548 infants were delivered with support from skilled birth attendants; 1,753 children were treated for severe and moderate malnutrition; 1,626 beneficiaries received psychosocial support.

WASH | Bhasan Char

Icon Water-Sanitation-and-Hygiene

A total of 30,874 refugees received WASH services, including soap and water purifying tablets.

8754 women and girls received menstrual hygiene kits.

SMS/Shelter/NFI | Bhasan Char

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38,665 LPG refills provided; total 1,117 communal kitchens using biogas as a supplementary fuel source were operational, benefiting 2,206 families.

3,810 households benefited from minor electrical connection maintenance and 8,664 households through battery maintenance.

Protection | Bhasan Char

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Through continuous registration, population data and biometrics were updated for 16,806 individuals, and 3,198 family attestation documents were issued.

4,530 refugees participated in GBV awareness raising sessions on multiple GBV and SRHR matters.

Child protection case management was conducted for 1,609 cases and 3,989 children and caregivers received structured and unstructured psychosocial support.

Education | Bhasan Char

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11,200 children and adolescents were newly enrolled in primary and secondary school during 2025-26 academic year for Myanmar Curriculum.

60 upper primary level (Grace 3-5) teachers completed the Myanmar Curriculum subject knowledge and pedagogy training.

LSDS | Bhasan Char

Icon Refugee

5830 refugees received on farm training on various topics covering agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, etc.

7000 refugee households received agricultural inputs, and 46 businesses owned by refugees received business development support.

Common Services and Logistics | Bhasan Char

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450 metric tons of food and other essential commodities were transported to Bhasan Char.

Consequences of funding cuts

In 2025, humanitarian partners continued to deliver life-saving assistance and essential services for Rohingya refugees and host communities despite deepening funding shortfalls. Reduced resources resulted in significant cuts to staffing and coordination, and difficult decisions to deprioritize key activities. Over one million refugees remained reliant on humanitarian support for their multi-sectoral needs, while 130,000 new arrivals strained already overstretched infrastructure and services.

There were significant disruptions in education for young learners, as prolonged underfunding led to closures of 43% of learning facilities and disrupted teaching material distribution including textbooks, leaving over 190,000 children without education. The consequences of lack of education go beyond lost learning: without safe spaces to learn, children, especially adolescents, face heightened protection risks such as child recruitment, exploitation, child marriage, hazardous forms of child labour and physical and sexual abuse. Girls, already too often left behind, face heightened risks.

Despite the near-imminent food pipeline breaks, prioritization enabled maintaining a 100% food ration for the Rohingya population in 2025. Yet, reduced investment in agriculture, fisheries, and community-based livelihoods weakened food production, gender equity, and self-reliance, increasing negative coping mechanisms, deepening aid dependency and constraining recovery.

Health, Nutrition and WASH partners continued to provide critical care and essential services; however, chronic shortages of medicines, staff, diagnostics, and medical supplies—combined with reduced water availability, uncollected waste, and poor sanitation—limited-service capacity and planning, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks and heightening public health concerns.

Person wearing dark clothing and gloves holding an open book with colorful illustrations and text

Bangladesh

A Rohingya adolescent girl holds an awareness booklet during a protection session focused on rights and personal safety.

IOM/ Hossain Ahammod Masum

Shelter and Camp Coordination partners only reinforced some vulnerable shelters, and underfunding and land restrictions left many families – especially new arrivals - in unsafe and overcrowded structures. Delayed drainage maintenance and slope stabilization increased risks from flash floods and landslides, placing thousands of households at risk. Reduced Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) could force households to resort to firewood collection, accelerating deforestation and exposing women and girls to protection risks.

Declining humanitarian assistance resulted in heightened protection risks for the Rohingya, with protection services strained by increased needs. While registration, GBV, and child protection services were sustained, resource constraints meant lower-risk cases were de-prioritized, and limited outreach, legal aid, and psychosocial support placed survivors and persons with disabilities at greater risk. Deteriorating camp conditions presented continuous and serious risks, especially for females and children/youth.

Reductions in Livelihoods and Skills Development programmes sharply curtailed adult learning, vocational training, and income opportunities, undermining self-reliance and prolonging aid dependency. This lack of investment directly impacted adolescents and youth, with 72% of youth feeling they lacked avenues for contribution and leadership.

While underfunding in 2025 resulted in significant gaps in basic assistance and services, particularly for new refugee arrivals, the dire funding outlook for 2026 risks significant deterioration of well-being and loss of life in the Rohingya camps, unsafe onward movements, and reversal of fragile gains in resilience and social stability. Sustaining minimum humanitarian assistance, while continuing to explore opportunities for resilience and solutions are essential to prevent regional instability and largescale suffering.

A Win-Win Approach to Menstrual Hygiene Kits: reusable sanitary pads enhance livelihoods of refugee women

Two people working indoors with large blue fabric on a table, appearing to handle or spread the material in a well-lit room with wooden walls and ceiling fans
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
Two refugee women work diligently at a Skills and Livelihood Centre, producing hygiene products that are distributed throughout the camps.
ISCG/ IntoPositive

Menstrual health and hygiene are essential for protecting dignity, building confidence, and strengthening sexual and reproductive health. In the world’s largest refugee camp, ensuring access to quality menstrual hygiene products is critical for Rohingya women and girls.

Previously, hygiene materials were produced by various international sources, resulting in inconsistent quality, high costs, and unequal distribution. To address this, the WASH and LSDS introduced an innovative, cost-effective solution: Rohingya refugees now locally produce reusable menstrual pads and underwear within the camps, which partners purchase to ensure harmonized quality and distribution.

In 2025, this model saved approximately $2.5 million, while promoting livelihood and environmental sustainability. Beyond improving access to menstrual hygiene, the initiative empowered over 600 Rohingya refugee women who contribute to the production process under the Volunteer Framework agreed with the Government of Bangladesh. Commenting on her improved self-reliance, Zaida, a Rohingya volunteer, shared, “from my earnings, I buy clothes, groceries, and cover the expenses of my daughters and parents.”

Building on this success, the WASH and Livelihoods Sectors now plan to expand the model to include local soap production, further strengthening localization, self-reliance and community wellness.

Venezuela (RMRP)

People in Need at launch (Dec. 2025)
6.9 million
People Targeted at launch (Dec. 2025)
1.5 million
Requirements (US$) at launch (Dec. 2025)
763.1 million
People urgently prioritized
1 million
Urgently prioritized requirements (US$)
450.7 million

Crisis Overview

Across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), migrants and refugees continue to face critical needs along every stage of their journey. As of 2025, an estimated 6.87 million Venezuelans were residing in host countries throughout the region, alongside increasing numbers of refugees and migrants of other nationalities in transit seeking safety, livelihoods, and stability. The continued absence of viable livelihoods and political uncertainty in Venezuela, combined with restrictive migration and visa regimes across the region, continue to push many into irregular and dangerous routes, heightening exposure to exploitation and other protection risks.

Regional mobility patterns are undergoing a structural shift. According to the latest Response for Venezuela/Issue-Based Coalition (R4V/IBC) Human Mobility analysis , northbound movements have sharply declined—notably a 93 per cent drop in U.S. border encounters— while southbound movements within South America have seen a marked increase. Many refugees and migrants who previously intended to reach the United States are now settling in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and Chile, underscoring a re-regionalization of mobility. This evolving context requires sustained, nationally anchored responses that emphasize inclusion, protection and access to essential services.

Four people standing close together outdoors with arms around each other, posing for a photo.

Boa Vista, Brazil

Families and children celebrated Mother’s Day in the city park with games and activities organized for those in temporary shelters. The event aimed to foster inclusion and create moments of joy and belonging despite difficult circumstances.

IOM/Tamires Ferreira

Amid a strained funding environment, R4V partners and host governments face growing challenges in maintaining assistance levels, with shortfalls threatening to erode hard-won gains in protection, education and essential services, and putting inclusion and social stability in host communities at risk. Gaps in health, food, and documentation support expose refugees and migrants to heightened vulnerability, including exploitation and gender-based violence.

The Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP) 2026 estimates that 5.37 million refugees and migrants will require assistance. Priority needs include integration, protection, and access to essential services such as housing, food, water, and education. Nearly one in four children face education-related challenges, with barriers to enrolment and retention in schools threatening their long-term development.

Response priorities and financial requirements for 2026

In 2026, the RMRP will continue to address urgent humanitarian needs while advancing longer-term integration of migrants, refugees, and affected host communities across 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Building on lessons learned and aligned with global reform initiatives, the RMRP 2026 introduces a two-tier prioritization system to enhance efficiency and channel resources where they can make the greatest impact. The RMRP 2026 aims to assist 1.52 million people, including 1.38 million refugees and migrants and approximately 143,600 members of host communities. Of this total, 1.03 million people are prioritized under Tier 1, focusing on urgent life-saving needs, localization and national ownership, and integration measures. The regional plan requires $763.09 million in total, with $450.74 million dedicated to the prioritized Tier 1 priorities.

The response is framed around three strategic objectives that collectively bridge humanitarian and development interventions:

  • Provide and improve safe and dignified access to essential goods and critical services, aligned with sustainable development assistance.
  • Enhance prevention, mitigation, and response to protection risks by reinforcing the protection environment across affected countries.
  • Increase resilience, socio-economic inclusion, fostering social cohesion and participatory processes that improve living standards for migrants, refugees, and host communities.

In 2026, the response will focus on those most in need — Venezuelan refugees and migrants, people in transit from diverse nationalities, and the host communities whose solidarity remains vital to the regional response. A total of 152 partner organizations, including UN agencies, international and national NGOs, civil society, faith-based organizations, and academia, will work jointly to deliver coordinated assistance, reflecting the RMRP’s inter-agency and multi-stakeholder character. Migrant- and refugee-led organizations make up for nearly one in five appealing partners in 2026, reaffirming their important role in the response.

Three children sitting on a colorful mat indoors, playing with toys and blocks, while an adult works at a table in the background.

Colombia

Girls participate in recreational activities while their parents are in entrepreneurship workshops.

World Vision/Barbara Melo 

In 2026, the RMRP will deliver a comprehensive, people-centered response across key sectors — Integration, Protection, Shelter, WASH, Food Security, and Health — ensuring access to essential services, safety, and opportunities for those most in need. Integration and protection will remain at the heart of the response, driving access to rights, services, and sustainable livelihoods. Targeted education initiatives will help children enroll, stay in school, and thrive, while life-saving nutrition interventions will prevent and treat malnutrition among children under five. Together, these efforts aim to protect lives in the immediate and build the foundations for resilience and inclusion.

Recognizing the strained funding environment, R4V partners will concentrate on cost-efficient, high-impact interventions, while promoting localization and capacity-building where international presence has declined. Strengthening local systems, community-based protection, and government partnerships will be critical to sustaining essential services and ensuring continuity beyond the lifespan of the plan.

R4V will continue to champion cross-cutting priorities – the centrality of protection, gender equality, accountability to affected populations (AAP) and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) – across all stages of planning, implementation, and monitoring.

Through this collective, region-wide effort, the RMRP 2026 reaffirms the commitment of 152 partners and 17 host governments to deliver a coherent, inclusive, and sustainable response that safeguards rights, strengthens resilience, and advances the socio-economic inclusion of refugees and migrants throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

2025 in review: Response highlights and consequences of inaction

Response highlights

In 2025, R4V partners reached 493,400 people with some form of assistance across the 17 countries covered by the RMRP — representing 21 per cent of the total target population. Key sectoral highlights include:

Education

Icon Education

R4V partners reached 23,600 children and adolescents with education support to improve school access and retention.

Food Security

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244,100 migrants, refugees and affected host populations were reached with food assistance, including hot meals, food kits and cash and voucher support.

Health

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R4V partners reached 168,800 people with interventions such as direct access to basic health services and mental health and psychosocial support.

Humanitarian Transportation

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R4V partners reached 16,400 refugees, migrants and affected host community members with humanitarian transportation activities, enabling access to essential services, such as health, education and regularization support. Partners also supported family reunification efforts through transportation services between cities and provinces within specific countries.

Integration

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R4V partners reached 29,800 people with integration assistance, enabling access to the formal labour market, economic opportunities, and entrepreneurship support.

Nutrition

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Nutrition partners provided crucial nutrition prevention and response support, such as screenings and consultations, to 13,100 individuals, including children under five and pregnant and lactating women.

Protection

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168,900 migrants, refugees and affected host community members were reached with protection support during the first nine months of the year. Activities included legal counseling for accessing asylum and regularization procedures, information sharing on access to rights as well as urgent case management and specialized protection services.

Child Protection

Icon Child-protection

Despite impacts on operational capacities, child protection partners reached 29,200 children with services to prevent violence, abuse and exploitation, such as psychosocial support, family reunification and case management.

Gender-Based Violence

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Prioritizing life-saving services, partners reached 14,100 people through interventions such as GBV case management and individual psychosocial support.

Human Trafficking and Smuggling

Icon Abduction-kidnapping

R4V partners reached approximately 300 people, including refugees, migrants and affected host community members, primarily through promotion and dissemination of information on the prevention of trafficking and assistance to victims.

Shelter

Icon Shelter

36,200 people were reached with shelter and housing support, focusing on those who are the most vulnerable. This also included temporary and emergency shelter for populations in-transit.

WASH

Icon Water-Sanitation-and-Hygiene

WASH partners reached around 59,600 migrants, refugees and affected host community members, to access safe water, sanitation and waste management services and distribution of hygiene items, including menstrual hygiene items.

Consequences of funding cuts

As of end-November, less than 10 per cent of the required funding for the RMRP 2025 had been received. This severe underfunding has had far-reaching implications across the 17 countries in LAC, leaving a considerable gap in access to basic needs, life-saving protection, and integration efforts.

Essential services, including food assistance, shelter, documentation, education, and protection, have been reduced or suspended, exposing migrants, refugees and host communities to heightened risks of exploitation, GBV, and human trafficking. Protection monitoring confirms that unmet humanitarian needs are increasingly translating into harmful coping mechanisms, irregular movements, and social tensions in host communities. By end of September 2025, only 21 per cent of the target population - around 493,400 people – had been reached, a significant decrease from the 1.14 million during the same period in 2024. This decline underscores a widening gap between humanitarian needs and available resources, leaving hundreds of thousands without essential support.

Without timely assistance, today’s gaps risk deepening and escalating. Limited access to basic needs and protection services may push more people into irregular situations, exposing them to exploitation, violence and trafficking. The erosion of integration and regularization programmes could reverse important gains made in self-reliance and social cohesion, while placing additional pressure on overstretched host communities and fuelling xenophobia. Underfunding also weakens the capacity of national and local institutions, key partners in sustaining inclusive services, and stalls localization efforts essential for long-term sustainability. If unaddressed, these compounding risks may trigger renewed humanitarian needs, reduce resilience, and undermine socio-economic inclusion, ultimately jeopardizing the stability and progress achieved across the region. Preventing such setbacks requires urgent, predictable, and collective action to safeguard protection, sustain essential services, and promote sustainable solutions for refugees, migrants, and affected host communities alike.

References

  1. rdh_ehsa_eastern_route_report_2025_q2_0.pdf
  2. Ethiopia Overview: Development news, research, data | World Bank
  3. The Rohingya population on Bhasan Char has steadily decreased since 2023; thus, the planning figure will be updated as required in 2026 JRP to accurately reflect the actual population size.
  4. REVA-8 (Refugee Influx Emergency Vulnerability Assessment), WFP, June 2025
  5. REVA-8 (Refugee Influx Emergency Vulnerability Assessment), WFP, June 2025
  6. ISNA (Inter Sector Needs Assessment), ISCG, September 2025
  7. ISNA (Inter Sector Needs Assessment), ISCG, September 2024 & 2025
  8. ISNA (Inter Sector Needs Assessment), ISCG, September 2025
  9. ISNA (Inter Sector Needs Assessment), ISCG, September 2025
  10. The strategic objectives of JRP 2025/26 are: 1) Work towards the sustainable and voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees/FDMNs to Myanmar; 2) Strengthen the protection and resilience of Rohingya refugees/ FDMN women, men, girls and boys; 3) Deliver life-saving assistance to populations in need; 4) Foster the well-being of host communities; and 5) Strengthen disaster risk management and combat the effects of climate change.
  11. ISNA (Inter Sector Needs Assessment), ISCG, September 2025
  12. R4V, Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela, May 2025, https://www.r4v.info/en/refugeeandmigrants
  13. R4V and IBC-HM, Regional Movement Trends and Patterns, Q2, https://www.r4v.info/index.php/en/movements-report-q2-2025
  14. At a regional level, 60% of all RMRP 2026 activities fall under Tier 1. As per the RMRP 2026 Planning Instructions, Tier 1 activities focus on a) emergency and protection needs; b) localization and national ownership; c) stabilization and integration and; d) operational feasibility and impact. Other activities that directly respond to the needs identified for the migrant and refugee population but are not included under these four thematic axes, are characterized as Tier 2.
  15. According to FTS data, $116.9 million were received by 24 November 2025 against the total requirement $1.40 billion, representing 8.1% of the appeal.