Forgotten crises

Why is this essential?

There are millions of people worldwide suffering in the shadows.

Many of them rely on international aid for their very survival. However, they have been forgotten by international media and donors, leading to a lack of funding and efforts to resolve their situation.

The EU is committed to helping the most vulnerable people affected by these ‘forgotten crises’.

How are we helping?

The EU as a global, principled donor, allocates at least 15% of its initial annual humanitarian budget to forgotten crises.

The EU’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department defines a ‘forgotten crisis’ as a severe, protracted humanitarian crisis where people receive insufficient or no international aid.

There is often also no, or not enough, political commitment to solve the situation due in part to a lack of media interest.

The term ‘forgotten crises’ refers to protracted conflict situations. It can also refer to crises resulting from the cumulative effect of recurring natural hazards or a combination of the two.

According to the INFORM Severity Index, there are various types of forgotten crises such as conflict, drought, epidemics or floods.

Some crises are considered “complex crises” when natural and/or human-induced causes interact and overlap, making it often impossible to isolate the impact of each cause.

The “forgotten crises” often concern minorities within a country. The living conditions of these groups of people tend to be below the country average.

How to assess forgotten crises?

The Forgotten Crises Assessment is based on evidence, including a combination of the following factors:

Risk represented by the INFORM Risk Index
Crisis severity represented by INFORM Severity Index
Media coverage assessed via the Europe Media Monitor
The level of humanitarian aid per capita assessed via the Financial Tracking Service (UN OCHA)
Qualitative assessment by the Commission’s experts located in the field and headquarters.

The EU balances this type of “top-down” approach, based on global indices and other quantitative information, with the “bottom-up” approach of analysis by experts on the ground.

They can identify pockets of humanitarian crisis and back up their proposals for action with a needs assessment that is as recent and comprehensive as possible.

Complex crises

In this context, crises are defined as ‘complex’ when natural and/or human-induced causes interact and overlap, making it often impossible to isolate the impact of each cause, and resulting in a uniquely challenging and severe situation.

Multiple crises

‘Multiple crises’ describes scenarios where several distinct crises occur at the same time, regardless of whether their causes overlap or their effects are interdependent.