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.
After more than a decade of conflict, Yemen remains one of the world’s most complex and protracted humanitarian crises. The country continues to face the compounded impacts of conflict, climate change, economic collapse, and the near-total breakdown of public services and institutions.
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.
