Dear John,

The previous year was extremely turbulent for millions of people around the world. We have entered this year with hope for improvement, but also know that we must be prepared and work hard to continue helping refugees and asylum-seekers, internally displaced, and stateless people whose lives have been torn apart by violence, natural disasters, and conflict. We need to work together to help people forced to flee access their rights, receive life-saving support, and rebuild their lives.

Here are seven crises on our radar in 2025:

1. Sudan
Since the outbreak of fighting in April 2023, more than 12 million people have been forced to flee their homes. If peace efforts fail this year and the war rages on, the number of people forced to flee could rise to over 16 million.

2. DR Congo
Decades of violence and human rights violations have displaced 6.4 million people within the country and a further 1 million as refugees in the region. As one of the most neglected yet complex humanitarian emergencies, many people are living in overcrowded displacement sites where they are vulnerable to ongoing security risks and diseases like mpox.

Intensified Israeli airstrikes killed thousands and displaced many within the country since late September. A fragile ceasefire is now in effect – but the attacks have reduced many areas to rubble and rebuilding could take years.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, 6.7 million Ukrainians have become refugees, and 3.5 million remain internally displaced. Attacks on frontline communities continue, with more and more people fleeing.

6. Afghanistan
More than three years after the upheaval accompanying the August 2021 change in power, Afghans continue to struggle with a dire economic crisis, the growing impacts of climate change and the shrinking rights and freedoms of women and girls.

7. The Rohingya crisis
Seven years after 750,000 Rohingya fled violent crackdowns in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, the situation continues to worsen. Dire conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh and worsening violence in Myanmar is driving more families to attempt dangerous sea voyages to try to find safety.

Our colleagues are on the ground in all these locations, providing life-saving aid and protection to people forced to flee. We are also preparing for the unpredictable, putting contingency plans in place, stocking our warehouses, and training staff to be deployed at a moment’s notice of a new emergency.

But we can only do this with your support. Please, share this news with your family and friends, and consider donating. A gift from you today can ensure that we are prepared for the next crisis, wherever and whenever it occurs.

Whatever 2025 brings, we know that we will face it together, working hand in hand with people forced to flee. Thank you for joining us on that journey.

Monia Hassan
International Supporter Care
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency