Cameroon tops list of world's most neglected displacement crises

Cameroon is now the world’s most neglected displacement crisis, according to an annual listing by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) released on Tuesday. 

The NGO ranked the 10 most neglected displacement crises in 2024 based on three criteria: lack of humanitarian funding, lack of media attention, and a lack of effective political initiatives. 

Cameroon tops the list for the first time since 2019, overtaking Burkina Faso. 

Cameroon hosts more than 1 million internally displaced people. Civilians in the country's Northwest and Southwest regions have suffered violent clashes between state security forces and separatist groups since 2016, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee. 

Lake Chad Basin, in Cameroon’s far north, is also the theatre of a protracted conflict with non-state armed groups. Violence and water scarcity in the area, the latter heightened by climate change, have driven displacement. 

Cameroon also welcomes nearly half a million refugees from neighbouring countries, mostly the Central African Republic and Nigeria. 

The Norwegian Refugee Council said Cameroon’s crisis is "a case study in global neglect: little diplomacy, underfunded and underreported."

Humanitarian funding received by Cameroon in 2024 covered less than half of the country's response needs.

The situation could get worse as some major donors are cutting foreign aid budgets, including the United States and several European countries.

"Displacement isn’t a distant crisis: it’s a shared responsibility. We must stand up and demand a reversal of brutal aid cuts which are costing more lives by the day", said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of NRC. 

Overall, eight African countries made the list of the world’s most neglected displacement crises, including Ethiopia in second, Mali in fifth, and the Democratic Republic of Congo in seventh place.  

“Funding alone cannot halt the suffering. Without effective conflict resolution, disaster prevention and diplomatic engagement, these protracted crises will go on and on. More people will be displaced, and more lives will be shattered", Egeland said.