Iran talks hiatus, Tigray abuses, and a decade of aid sector learnings: The Cheat Sheet

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GENEVA

Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.

On our radar

Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended, but Iran-US talks flounder

A planned second round of talks between Iran and the United States never materialised in Pakistan, even as the capital, Islamabad, remained under an intense security lockdown. Shortly before a previous ceasefire was slated to end on 21 April, US President Donald Trump announced an extension, crediting Pakistan’s prime minister and army chief. However, Washington’s decision to continue a blockade of Iranian ports around the Strait of Hormuz has led Tehran to declare that reopening the passage would not be “possible” so long as ships continue to face threat of attack. On 24 April, Trump also announced that Israel and Lebanon would extend their ceasefire for another three weeks. These shaky extensions come as Tehran says nearly 3,500 people have been killed in Iran. A further 2,200 have been killed in Lebanon, including Amal Khalil, a 43-year-old female journalist killed in a reported Israeli “double-tap” strike after previously saying she had received death threats from an Israeli phone number. Colleagues said rescuers were obstructed for hours while trying to reach her. Lebanon’s prime minister condemned the attack as a “war crime”. Israel said the strike targeted Hezbollah-linked vehicles and was under review.

Gaza’s massive human development setback

Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip has set back human development by 77 years, according to a UN-EU-World Bank study. The estimated cost of recovery and reconstruction over the next decade is over $71 billion. The study is billed as the “Final Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment”. The word “final” presumes that last October’s shaky ceasefire agreement will hold despite continued Israeli attacks on Gaza, a complete absence of progress on actually implementing the agreement, and Israel's ongoing demolition of buildings and severe restriction of what can enter the enclave. Two civilian contractors working for UNICEF, the UN’s children's agency, were killed by an Israeli strike while distributing water on 17 April. The already limited amount of aid allowed into Gaza by Israel has dropped by 37% since the beginning of the year. And Israel has been moving the so-called yellow line – demarcating the more than 58% of Gaza it directly occupies and treats as a free-fire zone – progressively westward while increasingly building up military fortifications. In one possible positive sign – and an assertion of local political agency – residents of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza are preparing for the first municipal elections in the area in 21 years, on 25 April.

Authorities in western Tigray accused of abuse and discrimination

Authorities and security forces in Ethiopia’s contested western region are arbitrarily detaining Tigrayans, restricting movement, employment, and access to services, Human Rights Watch said in a new report. The abuse and discrimination has prevented Tigrayans, who fled the area during the 2020-2022 conflict, from returning to their homes. Hundreds of thousands live in dire conditions in displaced persons camps in central Tigray. Western Tigray remains under the control of federal and Amhara region-affiliated forces – effectively a stalemate over the vexed issue of ownership. The unresolved status of the territory, to which both Amhara and Tigray lay claim, has undermined the 2022 peace agreement that ended the war. The tension has been further stoked by the decision on 19 April by Tigray’s main political party, the TPLF, to take back control of the region’s government – repudiating a post-war interim structure created by the 2022 agreement. The TPLF has accused the federal government of provoking armed conflict within the Tigray region – a reference to Addis Ababa’s support for an anti-TPLF dissident group. For more on the growing tension, read: The growing threat of conflict in the Horn of Africa

Will the next UN chief take a stand?

Gloves on and punches pulled, candidates to be the next boss of the United Nations laid out their visions before the UN General Assembly. The 21-22 April “interactive dialogues” saw four declared candidates try to differentiate themselves while not leaving much exposed to critique. The need for UN reform or to double down on peace and diplomacy? Sure. Name-dropping conflicts or perpetrators? Not so much. “Direct references to active wars in the Mideast, Ukraine, Sudan, and Gaza… were few during the dialogues, as were mentions of the dire humanitarian conditions across much of the world,” PassBlue noted. There are currently four declared candidates: Michelle Bachelet of Chile, Rafael Grossi of Argentina, Rebeca Grynspan of Costa Rica, and Macky Sall of Senegal. Other candidates are likely to emerge. The UNGA dialogues were a tiny window into what is still an opaque process to choose the next Secretary-General. Among the next steps: closed-door discussions at the Security Council in July.

Growing calls to protect Cuba’s sovereignty

Amid speculation about a possible US military strike, and as the severe humanitarian crisis in Cuba continues to worsen due to the US oil blockade imposed in January, the international community is stepping up calls for the island’s sovereignty to be respected. Never a good sign. In a joint statement, Brazil, Mexico, and Spain asked for increased humanitarian aid for Cuba and warned against any actions that run “contrary to international law”. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Cuba poses no threat and he did not see “on what grounds an intervention should take place”. Meanwhile, backchannel negotiations continue despite Trump’s repeated threats to invade. On 10 April, a State Department delegation held talks with representatives of the Cuban government and former President Raúl Castro’s grandson in Havana. Axios reported that the US offered to help restore internet services, discussed the need for economic and governmental reforms, and asked for compensation for US residents whose assets and properties were confiscated after the 1959 revolution, as well as the release of political prisoners. On 21 April, however, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said that “if the United States refuses to negotiate on Cuba’s terms, there will be no negotiations”. For more, read our coverage here.

Mozambique: A drug transit country becomes a new market

Mozambique is evolving from a country that acts as a regional narcotics trafficking corridor into one that also has its own booming domestic market. New data has revealed rising local consumption, adding to the pressure on an already struggling public health service. In 2025, drugs worth €2.4 million were seized, while around €1.1 million was spent on treating drug users. Historically, Mozambique has linked international drug suppliers with markets in Europe and the United States, via South Africa. Key trafficking routes include: Afghanistan-Pakistan-Maputo-South Africa for methamphetamines, heroin, and amphetamines; São Paulo-Addis Ababa-Maputo-South Africa for cocaine; and India-Mozambique for hashish. The flow is facilitated by connections between organised crime syndicates and members of the political elite – with protection provided by senior levels of government. Mozambique is now no longer a waypoint, but part of the global drugs market – a “spillover” effect recorded in other vulnerable transit countries, which then struggle to afford the treatment services needed for the growing cases of addiction.

In case you missed it

AFGHANISTAN/US: The United States is planning to send 1,100 Afghans who have been in a resettlement camp in Qatar for up to four years to the Democratic Republic of the Congo if they don’t agree to return to Afghanistan. The US suspended the resettlement programme after the shooting of a National Guard officer by a former member of CIA-trained Afghan forces. The news of Washington’s proposed new resettlement scheme comes as the EU is planning to host officials of the Taliban-run Islamic Emirate government to discuss the deportation of Afghan asylum seekers.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: The Congolese government and the M23 rebel group have agreed to facilitate humanitarian aid access and release prisoners as part of confidence-building measures discussed in Switzerland via Qatari mediators. Backed by Rwanda, the M23 has led an insurgency since 2021, displacing millions of people across the eastern Kivu provinces.

ELECTIONS: Between 2006 and 2025, at least 94 elections and referendums in 52 countries were disrupted by natural hazards, including weather events exacerbated by climate change, according to a 22 April report by International IDEA. At least 26 elections or referendums were fully or partially postponed. The report highlights the 2024 “super-cycle election year”, when millions of voters in 23 elections, in 18 countries, were affected by extreme weather or geological events. International IDEA recommends improved contingency planning and resilient infrastructure to protect elections from climate risks.

EL SALVADOR: A mass trial of 486 alleged M13 gang members – accused of committing 47,000 crimes – has started. President Nayib Bukele, who imposed an ongoing state of emergency and arrested about 90,000 suspected gang members, compared it with the Nuremberg trials of Nazis after World War II. Human rights groups, however, have denounced grave human rights violations and unfair legal proceedings as part of his crackdown. For more on the humanitarian impacts of Bukele’s security policies, read this photo essay and this interview.

GLOBAL MIGRATION: Nearly 8,000 people are known to have died or disappeared on migration routes around the world in 2025, according to a new report from the UN’s migration agency, IOM. The true number is undoubtedly higher, as many deaths are never recorded. Over 40% of recorded fatalities were on sea routes to Europe. This year is off to a particularly deadly start in the Mediterranean, where more than 1,000 people have already died.

HAITI: A new assessment by the International Rescue Committee warned that Haitians continue to face severe protection risks, even as access to public services shrinks rapidly. The study shows that 73% of households report feeling unsafe where they sleep. Of those, only 5.5% lived in their homes. Additionally, 75% of the households cannot afford health services, and 60% reported not sending their children to school due to fear of kidnapping, crossfire, and gang recruitment. For more on the humanitarian crisis in Haiti, read our coverage here.

LATIN AMERICA: Violence in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru is driving what a Plan International study calls a “silent dropout” from schools that is not reflected in statistics because students stop going to classes without formally registering their withdrawal. Territorial control by armed groups, extortion, forced recruitment, domestic violence, and gender-based violence are among the main drivers. While girls face higher risks of sexual violence, early pregnancy, and increased caregiving responsibilities, boys are more exposed to recruitment and exploitation by criminal groups. For more, read our story on how the education crisis in Costa Rica is leading teens to join gangs.

MEASLES: Some 21 African countries have declared outbreaks of vaccine-preventable measles, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control, Uganda’s The Independent reported. Meanwhile, Save the Children says measles cases jumped 25% last year in conflict around the world, due to attacks on healthcare, aid cuts, and a rise in vaccine misinformation.

SUDAN: Nearly 4 million people have returned back to their homes across Sudan, according to IOM. The returns are mostly concentrated in Al Jazirah and Khartoum, which the Sudanese army freed from the paramilitary-turned-rebel Rapid Support Forces last year.

UNITED STATES: The Justice Department indicted The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) – a civil society organisation that monitors hate groups and violent extremism in the US – on federal fraud charges on 21 April. The group has drawn the ire of Trump supporters in recent years, and the indictment comes against a broader background of the president using the power of the federal government to go after groups and individuals he views as political enemies.

WEST BANK: Israeli settlers are using sexual and gender-based violence in the West Bank as part of a broader campaign to force Palestinians off of their land, according to a new report from the Norwegian Refugee Council. The report documents 16 cases of sexual violence and found “a broader pattern of sexualised harassment, intimidation and humiliation, much of which remains underreported”. Israeli forces are often present when the sexual violence is taking place and do not intervene to stop it or hold perpetrators accountable, it says.

Weekend read

What happened to the 300,000 asylum seekers stranded in Mexico by Trump?

Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing crises were left in limbo on day one of Trump’s second term. Fifteen months later, where are they?

And finally…

What 10 years of lessons learned can tell us

What do you get by smooshing together a decade of humanitarian evaluations and seeing what sticks? A surprisingly concise diagnosis of the emergency aid sector’s strengths and failings (and an incredibly unwieldy title). The humanitarian system is “largely effective” at averting utter catastrophe but struggles to address things that fall short of “worst potential outcomes”. The weaknesses won’t surprise many: Local humanitarian leadership is excluded time after time, the system is poor at responding to feedback (or “being accessible at all”), protecting civilians is “consistently weak”, among them. The recommendations won’t shock, either – being proactive instead of responsive, acknowledging the realities of long-term crises, or strengthening (and clarifying) “protection”, for example. But the solutions are also laced with suggestions its international audience struggles with accepting. Two of seven recommendations deal with rebalancing international and local responsibility, including one that suggests “limiting the involvement of international agencies” altogether in disaster responses. The “synthesis and meta-analysis of findings from crisis-specific inter-agency humanitarian evaluations covering the period 2015-2025” – yes, that’s the title – will be launched on 27 April.