Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Colombia have been named the world’s three most neglected displacement crises in a new report released by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
The annual assessment, published on Thursday, ranks humanitarian emergencies that receive the least international attention, funding, and political engagement despite affecting millions of people.
Sudan topped the list for the second consecutive year as the country continues to suffer from a devastating civil war that erupted in April 2023 between forces loyal to General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and those commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti.
According to the NRC, more than nine million people have been forced from their homes inside Sudan since the conflict began. Another four million people have fled across borders into neighboring countries, creating one of the largest displacement crises in the world.
Yet despite the scale of the disaster, aid organizations say Sudan receives far less global attention than many other international crises.
“The suffering in Sudan is happening on a massive scale, but it is not matched by international attention or funding,” the NRC said in its report.
The humanitarian situation continues to worsen as fighting spreads across different parts of the country. Health facilities have been damaged, schools have closed, and millions of families have lost access to basic services.
The report also noted that nearly 19.5 million people in Sudan are facing severe food shortages and hunger. Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that parts of the country are approaching famine conditions if assistance does not increase.
The Democratic Republic of Congo ranked second on NRC’s list. Decades of armed conflict, combined with renewed fighting involving the M23 rebel group and other militias, have forced millions of Congolese from their homes.
Despite being one of Africa’s longest-running humanitarian emergencies, the crisis in eastern Congo often struggles to attract sustained international coverage.
Colombia was ranked third, with NRC citing ongoing violence, displacement, and insecurity affecting rural communities despite the country’s peace efforts in recent years.
Other countries appearing on the list include Afghanistan, Yemen, Burkina Faso, Mali, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Uganda.
NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland said the ranking reflects a growing gap between humanitarian needs and international response.
“The measure of a crisis is not how many headlines it receives but how many lives are at stake,” he said, urging governments and donors to pay greater attention to communities affected by conflict and displacement.
The report comes as humanitarian agencies worldwide face funding shortages, forcing some organizations to reduce food assistance, healthcare programs, and emergency support for displaced families.
For Sudan alone, aid groups warn that millions remain trapped between conflict, hunger, and disease, while international efforts to end the war have produced little progress more than three years after fighting first erupted.
