Global Protection Update: In the Hour of Need, October 2023

The third quarter of 2023 was a particularly dire moment for so many civilians caught up in renewed conflicts, political instability and new large-scale emergencies. The scale, complexity and urgency of several ongoing humanitarian crises is surpassing the capacity of humanitarian actors, in collaboration with national authorities and civil society, to respond to the needs of affected populations.

This Global Protection Update, covering the third quarter of 2023, provides a country-by-country news update, explores emerging protection trends and tracks the risks faced by vulnerable populations in crises.

The Update places a thematic focus on protection in the hour of need. Over the past year, the Global Protection Cluster and all its partners have felt the increasing urgency of this topic (and this challenge), notably with the growing emergencies in Sudan, Haiti and DRC, not to mention in Gaza and the Middle East, the worsening situations in Ukraine, Honduras and Burkina Faso, as well as continued high levels of needs in protracted crises like Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan. With growing protection risks and in light of extensive grave violations and protection concerns, there is a clear need to do protection work differently and ensure that we, as a sector, are more timely, responsive and impactful than ever.