Introduction

The year 2023 saw not only a continuation of hostilities in Ukraine, or even a strengthening of Russia’s military campaign against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure toward the end of the year, but also new conflicts such as those in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Sudan. The war between Israel and Hamas has set a tragic record, with the largest ever number of aid workers killed in just a few months. Sudan, for its part, has faced the largest ever wave of internally displaced persons in the world.

In addition, the central Sahel is marked by increased politicisation and instrumentalisation of humanitarian aid. What all these situations have in common is increasingly limited humanitarian access, with obstacles being placed in the way of such access to the detriment of the people in need.

In 2023 these humanitarian crises have pushed more than 350 million people into situations of vulnerability and dependence on humanitarian aid. While the funds needed to meet these needs have reached new records, the same was true of the funding gap. Only one third of the EUR 57 billion claimed by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in 2023 has been disbursed, constituting the largest budget deficit in years.