The New Humanitarian is an independent, non-profit newsroom reporting from the heart of conflicts, di
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The world's leading provider of humanitarian news and analysis.
12/01/2026
US President Donald Trump said the December 2025 US military strikes in Nigeria were aimed at stopping the spread of IS-linked jihadists, but key insurgent groups were left unscathed.
In our latest analysis, Malik Samuel draws on reporting with community informants who have deep, first-hand knowledge of local insurgent groups.
US President Donald Trump said the action was aimed at stopping the spread of IS-linked jihadists, but key insurgent groups were left unscathed.
12/01/2026
Start your week in the know. Read The Cheat Sheet, our editors’ weekly briefing on the humanitarian stories, trends, and developments shaping the world.
A weekly read to keep you in the loop on humanitarian issues.
11/01/2026
The crisis of illiberalism. The global gender backlash. Aid blind spots. Gaza and the failure of international law. Our guests have taken on difficult topics, but they’ve also come up with ideas on how to move forward.
In this episode of we share key takeaways to navigate today’s challenges, and the issues driving conversations in 2026. https://buff.ly/8Te80UL
11/01/2026
Sudanese writer Samah Fawzi reflects on the small gifts of war – a jug of water, a wad of cash, a 2x1 meter shop – that reveal moments of grace and hope.
How the kindness of strangers kept a country alive.
10/01/2026
Every year, our team of specialist editors draws up a list of humanitarian crises to watch. In 2026, as ever, there are strong cases for including several more dynamic settings, from the Sahel to Iran, from Yemen to Myanmar.
Read: ⬇️
Given aid cuts, often scant media attention, and lack of political will, many of those affected by these crises receive little to no assistance.
10/01/2026
Here are 6️⃣ humanitarian trends for 2026. There are risks, dilemmas – and opportunities for change.
💸 The money problem
🤖 Big tech, weird partnerships
🤳 Changing risk: Drones, detention, influencers
🪣 Pooled funds
🫠 Climate justice
🔚 Exit planning
Big tech, shrinking funds, weird partnerships, drones and influencers, new models, climate progress, ending well: Humanitarian trends for the year ahead.
10/01/2026
2026 humanitarian crisis trends watchlist
🗺️ Territorial conquest returns
🤝 Deal-making replaces real peace
🚧 Migration policies harden under far-right pressure
🌡️ Climate disasters escalate amid 1.5°C overshoot
⚖️ Gender and LGBTQ+ rights face rollback
📰 Shrinking media landscape skews crisis coverage
🏥 USAID cuts fuel global health risks
🚨 Islamophobia becomes more blatant
🛩️ Drone warfare reshapes humanitarian threats
🧩 Governance failures drive African insurgencies
Read the full analysis: ⬇️
Here are some of the key factors and themes likely to worsen lives for millions in crisis hotspots over the coming year.
09/01/2026
Start your year with a few ideas for navigating today’s challenges. What we’ve learned so far on the podcast. Key takeaways for 2026: ⬇️
On the podcast: Key takeaways to navigate today’s humanitarian challenges, and the issues driving conversations in 2026.
09/01/2026
“I volunteer because I love my people”: On the ground with Darfur’s mutual aid volunteers.
Mutual aid remains at the heart of Sudan’s humanitarian response, and nowhere more so than in the western Darfur region, where the paramilitary-turned-rebel ...
07/01/2026
What’s shaping aid policy in 2026: ➡️
Big tech, shrinking funds, weird partnerships, drones and influencers, new models, climate progress, ending well: Humanitarian trends for the year ahead.
05/01/2026
Here are some of the key factors and themes likely to worsen lives for millions in crisis hotspots over the coming year.
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The New Humanitarian (formerly IRIN News) was founded by the United Nations in 1995, in the wake of the Rwandan genocide, out of the conviction that objective on-the-ground reporting of humanitarian crises could help mitigate or even prevent future disasters of that magnitude.
Almost twenty years later, we became an independent non-profit news organisation, allowing us to cast a more critical eye over the multi-billion-dollar emergency aid industry and draw attention to its failures at a time of unprecedented humanitarian need. As digital disinformation went global, and mainstream media retreated from many international crisis zones, our field-based, high-quality journalism filled even more of a gap. Today, we are one of only a handful of newsrooms world-wide specialized in covering crises and disasters – and in holding the aid industry accountable.
In 2019, we changed our name to The New Humanitarian to signal our move from UN project to independent newsroom and our role chronicling the changing nature of – and response to – humanitarian crises.
Throughout our journey, we have remained true to our mission to inform crisis prevention and response by amplifying the voices of those most affected; shining a light on forgotten crises; and resisting superficial, sensational narratives about the crises of our time.
Our name and brand identity
Evocative of respected media brands such as The New Statesman and The Economist, The New Humanitarian is the authoritative news source for policy-makers and practitioners involved in humanitarian response. We are to crises what POLITICO is to politics.
Our logo is designed in GT Sectra, a modern serif font that originated as the house typeface of a Swiss longform journal called Reportagen. It marries the flourish of calligraphy to the precision-cut lettering of a printing press, echoing our commitment to evocative story-telling based on sharp reporting.
The cursor at the end of our logo signals our aim to be fresh and forward-looking, ready to tap in to the latest developments, and tell the ongoing story of crises as they evolve.
But most importantly, The New Humanitarian speaks to the profound shifts impacting our world today.
The drivers of humanitarian needs are changing, thanks to new threats like climate change, longer-lasting conflicts, and a geopolitical landscape that makes the resolution of crises at the international level more challenging.
The impacts of humanitarian crises are changing too, becoming more global in their repercussions. The exodus of refugees from Syria is one of many examples.
Traditional forms of humanitarian intervention are bursting at the seams; new approaches and players are emerging to fill an increasing gap between needs and response.
Tackling the world’s crises is no longer the exclusive domain of governments, “Big Aid” and the United Nations -- nor is it only about disaster relief and aid delivery. In many ways, the whole conception of humanitarianism is changing, evidenced by the private sector’s response to refugees; high school students marching for climate change; and local communities reclaiming agency in shaping their own futures. Today, a new generation of humanitarians is redefining the way the world responds to crises – demanding a seat at the table and a voice in the conversation.
We remain the trusted news source for policy-makers and practitioners in humanitarian response, but The New Humanitarian is expanding to reach this wider audience of people who want to better understand our complex world, in order to change it for the better.
