Shaheed El-Hafed, 26 November 2025 (SPS) – The Sahrawi Red Crescent has issued an urgent appeal to donors, international humanitarian organizations, and associations of solidarity with the Sahrawi people to swiftly provide emergency contributions to Sahrawi refugees in order to prevent further deterioration of their situation. The appeal calls for meeting their basic needs in water, food, gas, shelter, and medical care, as well as ensuring the continuation of education programs and providing protection for the most vulnerable groups among the refugees. The organization estimates these combined needs at approximately 100 million USD.
The Sahrawi Red Crescent stated in a communiqué issued Wednesday that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the situation of the Sahrawi refugees—which has persisted for fifty years—has continued to worsen. This deterioration has been exacerbated by the unprecedented funding crisis faced by UN agencies and humanitarian organizations in general. The UNHCR was forced to reduce its budget for Sahrawi refugees for 2025 by more than 40% compared to 2024, and further cuts are expected next year.
The communiqué pointed out that this situation will have serious repercussions on vital sectors for Sahrawi refugees, such as water, food, health, education, and various family needs including gas and shelter. The World Food Programme is also facing major challenges in closing the large funding gap, which exceeds 30%. It has not been able to provide full and regular food rations for the most vulnerable families, the emergency stock has been depleted, and the remaining food reserves are insufficient to meet even one month of needs.
According to the communiqué, all of this has negatively affected the refugees’ living conditions. Malnutrition and anemia rates among children and women have risen to levels not seen since 2010, according to the nutritional survey report released last May by the University of London. The rate of acute malnutrition among children under five has reached 13.6%, chronic anemia 65%, and among women of reproductive age 69%. In addition to the funding crisis, rising prices and inflation have severely strained already limited financial resources. The cost of one ton of the Sahrawi refugees’ food basket, estimated at 492 USD in 2019, now exceeds 782 USD.
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