https://arab.news/vdzng
A quiet but consequential shift is underway in global crisis management. The international system is no longer organized around resolving conflicts or reversing humanitarian catastrophes. Instead, it is increasingly focused on containing them, geographically, politically and financially. From Myanmar to Gaza to Sudan, the priority is not durable solutions but limiting spillover. This may appear pragmatic in a fragmented world. In reality, it is a strategy that risks normalizing permanent crisis.
The evidence is increasingly hard to ignore. Start with funding. According to the UN, global humanitarian needs have reached record levels, with more than 360 million people requiring assistance in 2025. Yet funding is stagnating or declining in real terms. The World Food Programme, for example, has faced repeated shortfalls of billions of dollars, forcing it to cut rations across multiple operations. In Bangladesh, monthly food assistance for Rohingya refugees was reduced from $12 dollars per person to as low as $8 dollars in 2023 before partial restorations, well below what is needed to meet basic caloric requirements. Similar reductions have been seen in Syria, Yemen and parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
