“While most displaced individuals in the region remain within their own countries, cross-border movements are becoming increasingly frequent, placing immense strain on host communities and national infrastructures,” stated Abdouraouf Gnon-Konde, Director of the UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for West and Central Africa, during a press briefing.

These ongoing population shifts are occurring amidst significant challenges to both humanitarian access and funding availability. In the Sahel, the demand for humanitarian aid has surged dramatically, yet resources have seen a substantial decline since 2022.

Budgetary Shortfalls Impact Sahel Humanitarian Efforts

The UNHCR is advocating for a renewed and strengthened global commitment to address the severe crisis unfolding across the central Sahel. The nations within the region cannot manage these complex challenges in isolation. For the current year, the agency has secured less than one-third of its required $409 million funding appeal.

Critical activities such as registration, documentation, education, healthcare, and shelter provisions have been severely compromised. “Over 212,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger remain unregistered, which severely restricts their access to vital services and heightens their vulnerability to arbitrary detention and harassment,” Mr. Gnon-Konde further elaborated.

These significant budget reductions are taking place concurrently with persistent violence from jihadist groups. The pervasive insecurity throughout the region exposes populations to ongoing violence, forced recruitment, restrictions on movement, and unlawful detention.

Women and children constitute a staggering 80% of those forcibly displaced in the area, and gender-based violence remains a profound and widespread concern. “According to the inter-agency protection monitoring system in West and Central Africa, the number of individuals affected by such incidents has risen considerably this year.”

Thousands of Schools Forced to Close Amidst Crisis

Within this volatile security environment, more than 900 health facilities have also been compelled to cease operations, thereby depriving millions of people of crucial medical care. Across the entire region, over 14,800 schools had shut their doors by mid-2025, denying 3 million children access to education and safe learning environments. This dire situation further exposes “forcibly displaced youth to forced recruitment and human trafficking.”

Furthermore, food insecurity has emerged as an increasingly significant driver of displacement; the proportion of displaced individuals and host community members citing it as a cause for their relocation has doubled in recent years.

According to the UNHCR, climate-related shocks are further exacerbating risks, intensifying competition for scarce natural resources like land and water, and creating additional barriers to peaceful coexistence and social cohesion within host communities.