Global Humanitarian Overview 2026: A Wake-Up Call to Protect Millions of Children

"Today’s 2026 Global Humanitarian Overview is a wake-up call for the world: over 239 million people in 50 countries are in urgent need of humanitarian support. Behind the numbers, children are being denied safety, education, protection from physical and trauma and the chance simply to experience childhood.

Conflict remains the main driver of death, displacement and hunger. Today, 520 million children - more than one in five worldwide - live in or are fleeing conflict zones. Explosive weapons are killing and injuring children on a scale never seen before as urban warfare accelerates. Grave violations against children continue to rise, often with impunity for perpetrators. Funding cuts in 2025 stripped away lifelines, even as crises intensified.

Yet War Child, our partners, and the humanitarian community remain determined to stand with families affected by crises. The global response requires $33 billion to reach 135 million people, including $23 billion for immediate, life-saving needs. The 2026 Global Humanitarian Overview has been intentionally sharpened to focus on those with the most critical needs, making the scale of suffering all the more shocking.

Next year, 2026, must be a year of renewed global solidarity. Humanitarian action is a vital lifeline and costs only a fraction of global expenditure. If funding falls short or arrives too late, it is children who bear the consequences: with their safety, their health, and their futures.

In crises across the world, urgent investment in child protection and education is critical. Education is protection. Safe learning environments keep children from the streets, armed actors, and exploitation. Psychosocial support and care are essential to help them heal, reunite families, and prevent violence. Education, child protection, and psychosocial support are essential, lifesaving components of any humanitarian response and must be funded accordingly by donors from the outset of an emergency.

States’ retreat from their obligations to respect International Humanitarian Law is undermining the world’s shared humanitarian standards. This must stop. Governments must urgently recommit to International Humanitarian Law and ensure that violations do not go unpunished.

War Child calls on governments, donors and partners to show solidarity by acting early, boldly, and specifically for children – fully funding humanitarian responses, refusing to abandon international legal obligations and addressing the root causes of the crises we respond to.”

War Child is also signatory to a joint statement delivered on behalf of 89 local, national, regional, international, women-led, and refugee-led NGOs and NGO networks, alliances, and fora, including humanitarian organisations operating in countries covered by the 2026 Global Humanitarian Overview. Read the full statement and list of signatories here.