In 2025, the MENA region faced overlapping crises including conflict, displacement, economic collapse, disease outbreaks, and climate shocks, placing children at risk and disrupting access to services.
The February 2026 airstrikes on Iran triggered a rapid escalation of risks across the region, intensifying gender-based violence (GBV) exposure in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, while further degrading already fragile protection systems and service delivery structures.
As of 5 February, UNHCR estimates that 1,413,967 individuals have returned to Syria since 8 December 2024 while 1,712,744 internally displaced persons have returned home.
This study examines gendered experiences of arbitrary detention in Al-Hol and interrogates core assumptions of women’s alleged links or family ties to ISIL/Da’esh.
Despite urgent needs, 62 per cent of UNICEF’s response remains unfunded. Without timely support, the most vulnerable children risk missing access to critical, lifesaving services.
Yemen remains one of the world’s most acute and complex humanitarian crises. In 2025, protracted conflict, economic decline, and extreme weather driven by climate change have left more than 19.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
Since the fall of the former government on 8 December 2024 until the end of March 2025, some 372,000 Syrian refugees had returned to the country, while other refugees continue to express their intention to return home.
