Four UN updates in a single week show how funding gaps and conflict are deepening crises from the Palestinian territories to Haiti, while women remain locked out of the AI systems being built now.
The United Nations issued a cluster of updates this week covering demolitions in the occupied West Bank, a funding crisis in Sudan, worsening displacement in Haiti, and a new push to get women into the shaping of artificial intelligence.
West Bank: demolitions in Msafer Yatta
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has called for an immediate stop to Israeli demolitions in the West Bank after bulldozers levelled homes, farm buildings, water tanks and solar panels in the village of Jinba on Wednesday.
Ajith Sunghay, who heads OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the forced removal of civilians from their land by an occupying power amounts to a war crime.
Three other villages in the Msafer Yatta area were almost completely destroyed during September 2026, the office said, raising fears of ethnic cleansing. Msafer Yatta has 12 villages and more than 1,100 Palestinian residents, many from families who have held the land for generations. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says demolitions have displaced 1,500 people across the West Bank this year.
Sudan: less rain, less money
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that El Niño could cut rainfall in Sudan by 30 to 40 per cent, on top of the damage caused by the long war between government forces and the former paramilitary RSF.
FAO needs $193 million this year for its Sudan programmes but has received only 23 per cent of that. Its work includes vaccinating livestock, supplying animal feed and giving goats to displaced women-headed households so children have milk.
Rein Paulsen of FAO said the priority is keeping herds healthy through the dry spell. The agency also points to a drought-resistant seed project: an initial $17 million produced sorghum harvests worth more than $500 million, a return of about 30 to one.
Haiti: crisis moves out of the capital
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says Haiti now has almost 1.5 million internally displaced people, with nearly 80 per cent of them outside Port-au-Prince. The sharpest jump was in Artibonite department, up 16 per cent between May and August. Recent attacks in Kenscoff, near the capital, pushed more than 4,000 people from their homes.
Elise Verron, IOM's senior emergency coordinator in Haiti, said violence, hunger, forced returns and climate risks are hitting families at the same time. IOM is seeking $60 million to reach 6.4 million people this year. This reporting was carried by UN News.
AI hub for gender equality
UN Women launched a Digital, Innovation and AI Hub on Friday. The agency says men hold nearly eight in 10 AI jobs and close to nine in 10 senior roles in the sector. Its review of 133 AI systems found 44 per cent showed gender bias.
Executive Director Sima Bahous said AI can either deepen inequality or help end it, and that those choices are being made now by engineers, companies and governments. The hub will produce research and help governments write gender-responsive digital policy — relevant for Ghana as it builds out its own AI and digital economy plans.
