Cameroon’s continued presence on the Watchlist is rooted in two distinct violent conflicts in the Northwest/Southwest regions and the Far North, neither of which has an end in sight.

Colombia is a new addition to Watchlist this year, rising to the  IRC’s countries of concern for 2021 largely due to increasing violence that threatens the 2016 peace accord as well as COVID-19’s devastating impact on displaced Venezuelans and Colombian host communities.

The main reason that Niger remains on the Watchlist for the third year in a row is the intensifying armed conflict that now affects two distinct parts of the country, disrupting livelihoods, forcing people to leave their homes, and restricting humanitarian access.

Sudan is entering 2021 navigating a fragile political transition and major economic challenges that are hampering the country’s recovery after decades of conflict and under-development.

Ethiopia features on the Watchlist for the third year in a row but rises into the top five for the first time due to escalating conflict. At the same time, climate change, desert locusts and the COVID-19 pandemic all further deepen the challenges facing the country in 2021, and drive up the number of people in need to the second highest in the world.

CAR’s inclusion on Watchlist 2021 is driven both by the persistent armed conflict within the country and the likelihood  that any shock will have a particularly severe impact given the extreme vulnerability of the population and the country’s limited response capacity.

Lebanon was already in crisis when the August 2020 explosion in Beirut pushed the country to a breaking point, with wide ranging political, economic and humanitarian implications.