Stories

Since 2021, large swathes of South Sudan have been under water. Unity State, where Angelina and her family live, has been the worst affected. Communities survive on the high ground, cut off from services, and each other, by the flood waters.

In this story map, you will get an insight in EU preparedness and response to wildfires in 2024.

In North-West Syria, 13 years of conflict have left over 4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance to survive, and the situation only continues to deteriorate with no end to the conflict in sight.

In 2023, an unprecedented 520,000 people crossed the Darién Gap, a dangerous stretch of hostile jungle connecting Colombia to Panama, to seek refuge in North America.

Responding to the crisis in Sudan, one of the world’s most brutal conflicts

Since mid-2023, the West Bank has been subjected to unprecedented violence. These operations, employing airstrikes, drones and heavy machinery, caused extensive damage to infrastructure and widespread destruction and led to numerous arrests and killings of Palestinian civilians.

"It was impossible to stay there. They were everywhere, at the entrance with weapons, their equipment scattered around. We were just afraid to stay, so we left."

The effects of climate change on the agricultural sector make it harder and harder to make ends meet. It is increasingly difficult for the family to afford even basic needs such as clean water, warm clothes, heating, or access to healthcare.

Halima is 2 years old. Sitting on the knee of her grandmother, Sadia, she is wide-eyed, full-faced and curious. It is hard to believe that only 4 months ago, she was close to death.

Egnetta is a woman in her sixties – a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother - heading a household of 20 in southwestern Zimbabwe. Looking after her big family leaves little time for seeking paid employment.

“In my extended family, I am considered worthless because I can't provide any help or solutions to their problems. Faced with this handicap, some members of the community are sympathetic towards me; others, on the other hand, laugh at me, mock me.”

In a canoe that looks very much like a hollowed-out tree trunk, a gangly man is kneeling in the bow and paddling. He moves smoothly along the shore, handling his long net.

In Iraq, families returning or relocating safely from prolonged displacement need support to acquire the mandatory legal documentation, which are fundamental to access services. Between May 2023 and April 2024 IOM provided crucial protection and legal services to over 4,200 displaced individuals.

Situated between the Maghreb and the Sahel, Mauritania faces significant challenges due to climate change, with more than 200,000 hectares of pastureland lost annually to natural disasters.

In East Africa, 3 years of a catastrophic drought and now severe flooding have contributed to the highest rates of severe and acute malnutrition on record, with children under 5 being the most affected.

Djibouti, a small East African country on the Red Sea, is dealing with a host of crises, including recurrent droughts, locust swarms, flooding, and epidemics.

On the upper floors of an apartment block towering over Giza’s humble village Al Barajil, Ismat, a 64-year-old Sudanese refugee, gazes out from his apartment’s window. His family lives here, 5 members crowded into a very small apartment meant to host fewer people.

When Mahamat reached the unfinished bridge between Sudan and Chad, he cried out in disbelief "What, was I not in Chad yet?!". Anxious and exhausted, refugees on the lookout for relatives, asked him why he had been walking leisurely in an area where snipers target tall black men like himself.

Amid the bustling streets and serene landscapes of Jordan, a new generation of Syrian children is finding their way, far from the homes their families once knew. These children, born in the shadow of conflict, carry dreams and memories that bind them to a homeland they've never seen.