Thousands of Syrian families were living in basements and underground shelters in Douma, Eastern Ghouta to hide from the horror raining down on them. Hear from one family how they’ve survived.

Find out more about the war in Sudan and its impact on neighboring Chad.

A compact agreement is an innovative model for bringing together donors, development and humanitarian agencies, the private sector, and civil society under host-country leadership to achieve sustainable outcomes for refugees and host communities. We offer three key principles and 10 recommendations for policymakers to build effective compacts for refugee-hosting nations.

In 2017, atrocities by the Myanmar military drove over 850,000 Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh, where they continue to live in temporary settlements today. Over the past four years, as conditions inside the refugee camps have deteriorated, the host community in Teknaf and Ukhiya—who generously welcomed refugees in 2017—have seemingly grown wary of their protracted presence. Intensifying environmental, economic and social impacts linked to continued Rohingya displacement have raised tensions, and studies since 2019 have documented declining social cohesion between refugee and host communities.  This study, undertaken by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), in collaboration with researchers at Dhaka University (DU), assesses the challenges and opportunities to social cohesion in the Rohingya context. The report maps out social tension across five issue areas: environment and ecology; labour market; cultural and political landscape; land; and the presence of the humanitarian community.

While wealthier nations begin to offer already fully vaccinated populations a third dose, many countries lag far behind – and many vulnerable populations are struggling to even obtain their first. In the 20 countries identified by IRC at greatest risk of a major new – or significantly worsened – humanitarian crisis over 2021, only 2.4 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated, and less than 5 percent of the population has received a single dose of the vaccine. This inequity will stall the global fight against COVID-19 while making the everyday reality for those living in conflict zones and protracted displacement contexts much graver, as COVID-19 will continue to exacerbate existing humanitarian crises, driving poverty, hunger, and insecurity. To bridge gaps in global response and center vulnerable populations in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, we make five central recommendations for global leaders and institutions in this brief.