Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Colombia top the list of the world’s most neglected displacement crises, a prominent Norwegian aid group said on Thursday, noting that nationalism and rearmament campaigns grabbed attention in wealthy countries.
Sudan, which since 2023 has been ravaged by a bloody conflict between two rival generals competing for power, has more than 9 million internally displaced people, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said in a statement.
A further four million Sudanese have fled to neighbouring countries and nearly 19.5 million people there are also suffering from hunger, the NRC said in its annual Neglected Displacement Crises Report.
“It is incomprehensible that a displacement crisis of similar proportions to the crises in Syria and Ukraine at their peak can continue to worsen almost unnoticed,” NRC chief Jan Egeland said.
“Just as needs in Sudan skyrocketed last year and famine kept spreading, the funding was cut,” he added.
The NGO’s list is based on three criteria: lack of humanitarian funding, lack of media coverage and lack of political will within the international community.
The DRC, where an Ebola epidemic has added turmoil to the east of the country ravaged by decades of conflict, appears on NRC’s list for the 10th year in a row.
In 2025, only 27.4% of the funding needed for DRC had been secured, leaving more than 21 million people in need, according to the NRC.
“Behind every statistic in eastern DR Congo are families who have endured years of violence, repeated displacement, and deep uncertainty about their future,” said Eric Batonon, NRC’s country director for the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“While attention shifts from one global emergency to another, millions of Congolese continue to live without adequate protection, assistance, or hope.”
Rollercoaster of neglect
Colombia for its part has been marred for over 60 years by an internal conflict involving guerrilla groups, paramilitaries, drug traffickers and security forces, and “trapped in a rollercoaster of neglect,” according to the NGO.
“People affected by this conflict have found no lasting solutions. Too many are repeatedly displaced and trapped, with no end in sight,” Giovanni Rizzo, NRC’s country director for Colombia, commented in the report.
The list of neglected crises also includes Yemen, Afghanistan, Honduras, Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria and Mozambique.
“Countries have become much more inward-looking, more nationalist. Rearmament is now an absolute priority because we have to ensure our own security in Europe. There is Putin threatening us, and so on,” Egeland said in comments to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
“But people then forget that there will be pandemics, migratory movements and enormous loss of human life if we don’t invest in hope on other continents.”
Several African countries, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Mali and Nigeria, have featured on NRC’s list six or more times, pointing to “a systemic pattern of deliberate neglect,” NRC said.
“Africa is just across the Mediterranean, where we go on holiday. And if the continent collapses, we will also suffer the consequences,” Egeland stressed.
Additional sources • AFP