Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Colombia top the Norwegian Refugee Council's (NRC) annual ranking of the world's most neglected displacement crises, the Oslo-based aid group announced on Thursday. The report underscores how rising nationalism and rearmament in wealthy nations, including those in Europe, have diverted attention from humanitarian emergencies elsewhere.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has displaced over 9 million people internally, with an additional 4 million fleeing to neighbouring countries. Nearly 19.5 million Sudanese face acute hunger, according to the NRC's 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,” said Jan Egeland, the NRC's Secretary General. “Just as needs in Sudan skyrocketed last year and famine kept spreading, the funding was cut.”
A Decade of Neglect in the DR Congo
The DRC appears on the NRC's list for the tenth consecutive year. The country's eastern provinces, already ravaged by decades of armed conflict, now face an Ebola epidemic that has further strained fragile health systems. In 2025, only 27.4% of the required humanitarian funding for the DRC had been secured, leaving more than 21 million people in need of assistance.
“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, the NRC's country director for the DRC. “While attention shifts from one global emergency to another, millions of Congolese continue to live without adequate protection, assistance, or hope.”
The EU has recently stepped up its response, with medical aid airlifted to Goma and support for community-led Ebola containment efforts, as reported by European Pulse. However, the NRC argues that such interventions remain insufficient given the scale of the crisis.
Colombia, meanwhile, has been trapped in what the NRC calls a “rollercoaster of neglect” due to over six decades of internal conflict involving guerrilla groups, paramilitaries, drug traffickers, and security forces. “People affected by this conflict have found no lasting solutions. Too many are repeatedly displaced and trapped, with no end in sight,” said Giovanni Rizzo, the NRC's country director for Colombia.
The full list of neglected crises also includes Yemen, Afghanistan, Honduras, Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Mozambique. Several African nations—Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Mali, and Nigeria—have appeared on the NRC's list six or more times, pointing to what the organisation describes as “a systemic pattern of deliberate neglect.”
Egeland linked the neglect to shifting priorities in wealthier nations. “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,” he told 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.”
The NRC's ranking is based on three criteria: lack of humanitarian funding, lack of media coverage, and lack of political will within the international community. As European governments allocate more resources to defence and border security, the report serves as a stark reminder that neglected crises can fuel instability far beyond their borders.
