The New Humanitarian
@newhumanitarian.bsky.social
Journalism from the heart of crises
🚨 New Inklings. Why is CARE CEO Michelle Nunn on a US destroyer? And: the latest on WFP partner Palantir, aid worker kidnappings, and ray guns. Read on ⬇️ https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/newsletter/2026/07/23/inklings-whats-humanitarian-leader-doing-us-destroyer
Inklings | What’s this humanitarian leader doing on a US destroyer?
The latest on WFP partner Palantir, aid worker kidnappings, and ray guns and Tomahawk missiles.
thenewhumanitarian.org
Invisible violence, prison-like camps, and a hidden graveyard serving as the final resting place for refugees who perish while seeking a better life – This is what our editor @ericreidy.bsky.social found when he returned recently to the Greek island of Lesvos: buff.ly/6HbLta5
On Lesvos, the architecture of migration deterrence laid bare
Our editor returns to what was once the main gateway to the EU for refugees to see what has changed and what it says about efforts to stop migration.
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A US Supreme Court decision last month exposed 350,000 Haitians to potential deportation. But with Haiti in a state of governmental collapse and violence, what conditions would people be sent back to? Read this opinion from Alexus McNally: https://bit.ly/44xjtyY
US deportations to Haiti depend on a fiction
A recent US Supreme Court decision has exposed 100,000s of Haitians to potential deportation, yet their home country is in no state to receive them.
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🗣️ What happens when states outsource data collection? From visa processing to humanitarian registration, these choices affect us all. Poorvi Yerrapureddy of Aapti Institute writes ⬇️ https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2026/07/16/what-wfp-cyber-attack-has-common-visa-scandals
What the WFP cyber-attack has in common with visa scandals
From visa processors to refugee registration and humanitarian aid, states have outsourced public functions to intermediaries a step removed from domestic scrutiny.
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🗣️ Justice for Tigrayan women means turning a critical eye to the sexual violence committed by Tigray Defence Force officers against their female comrades during the 2020-2022 war. Read on 🔽 https://bit.ly/4yhyanb
As war fears grow in Ethiopia, women soldiers recount the sexual violence they experienced
The Tigray Defence Force was one of the world’s most gender inclusive militaries but failed to protect its female troops.
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Here’s what’s on the radar of our news editors this week ⬇️ https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2026/07/10/un-genocide-sudan-iran-us-ceasefire-suspension-ai-cheat-sheet
UN finds genocide in Sudan, Iran-US ceasefire suspension, and AI for what? The Cheat Sheet
A weekly read to keep you in the loop on humanitarian issues.
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📝 "Humanitarianism has become a brand and every brand needs a narrative." Themrise Khan, researcher, writer, and analyst, shares a critical view of the current narrative tropes utilised within the aid sector. 🔗 Read the full piece here: https://bit.ly/4eOPcS4
The curse of the humanitarian narrative
Using narratives to communicate in the humanitarian and development space is particularly problematic. Here’s why.
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🗣️ “The World Food Programme has agreements with Palantir and we don’t know under what conditions, under what terms, and this is a cause for great, great concern.” A UN expert’s critiques on WFP x Palantir. Read more in the latest Inklings newsletter ✉️ ⬇️ https://bit.ly/4wzoVNF
Inklings | More Palantir questions for WFP, and AI for what?
More questions about Palantir and WFP, awkward humanitarian partnerships, and AI for Good.
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🗣️ "Our message to partners is direct: disburse now. The response cannot wait for slow paperwork while the virus is moving." Dr Jean Kaseya insists the Ebola outbreak can be stopped and communities protected – but only if the response is urgently scaled up. Read on: https://bit.ly/4vhcl4F
Ebola moving faster than the response, head of Africa CDC warns
Conflict, displacement, and overstretched health services complicate the response to a crisis that is still yet to peak.
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🗣️ Palantir has passed a faith-based investor’s “moral audit”. It’s not exactly unqualified praise: “Similar to a firearms manufacturer, we don't hold the manufacturer guilty for customers who may misuse that firearm.” 🔗 Read the latest Inklings installment here: https://bit.ly/4y8JAJS
Inklings | WFP, Palantir, and the pope
The public is talking about Palantir and data (but humanitarians aren’t).
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"People here continue resisting in their own way. They resist by washing their children’s clothes, building rooms from wood... and trying to convince themselves that the future is still possible." Read @rasha-abou-jalal.bsky.social latest: https://bit.ly/4y7C2XZ
How we are trying to reclaim life amid rubble and fear in Gaza
Rasha Abou Jalal writes about trying to create a sense of normalcy amid blockade, constant ceasefire violations, and fear of a return to broader war.
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What happens when the Mormons annual Strengthening Families Conference comes to town? Rights groups in Liberia say it empowers conservative forces to push back against reproductive health access and LGBTQ protection. Read the full story: https://bit.ly/3Rfxcan
Liberia’s abortion law reform: A new front in the global culture wars
A coalition of right-wing groups is pushing back on progressive legislation aimed at improving access to sexual and reproductive healthcare.
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Are “uncomfortable conversations” key to decolonising organisations? On the latest #DecoloniseHow podcast, researcher Jess Crombie and journalist Chika Oduah certainly think so. What conversations do you think you need to have? 🎧: https://bit.ly/4eDvgQN
Decolonise How? | How to change reporting
We’ve diagnosed the problem. What comes next? On the podcast: what it takes to change how crises are spoken about in newsrooms and aid organisations.
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Your weekly humanitarian briefing, straight from our editors ⬇️ https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2026/06/19/iran-us-ceasefire-ebola-cases-surge-aid-sector-crisis-cheat-sheet
Shaky Iran-US ceasefire, Ebola cases surge, and the aid sector in crisis mode: The Cheat Sheet
A weekly read to keep you in the loop on humanitarian issues.
thenewhumanitarian.org
Here’s what’s on the radar of our news editors this week ⬇️ 🔗 https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2026/06/19/iran-us-ceasefire-ebola-cases-surge-aid-sector-crisis-cheat-sheet
Shaky Iran-US ceasefire, Ebola cases surge, and the aid sector in crisis mode: The Cheat Sheet
A weekly read to keep you in the loop on humanitarian issues.
thenewhumanitarian.org
📰 The comforting theory that one does more good for Gaza inside the media system than out has now been tested for more than two years. The dissent was raised and absorbed. The institution did not reform; it waited the dissenters out. Read the latest Decolonise How? ⬇️ https://bit.ly/4eg28A6
Decolonise How? When does staying become complicity?
On Gaza, individual journalists must address the ethical dilemma of remaining within complicit institutions.
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$3,500 for steel pipes $1,000 for nylon $1,500 for used floor tiles $1,700 for an enclosure for a toilet This is what it costs to build a shelter for a family in the Gaza Strip today, journalist Mohamed al-Astal explains ⬇️ https://bit.ly/4goGiM9
As a father in Gaza, the new home I am building for my children is a nylon tent
Journalist Mohamed al-Astal reflects on trying to support his five children and provide them with basic shelter in post-ceasefire Gaza.
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🔎 Our Caucasia foreign correspondent Patrick Gathara visits Oslo in the Far Northern kingdom of Norway – where flavour is scarce, the monarch absolute, and a resilient people await the African aid that might save them. Read his full report here ⬇️ https://bit.ly/4alKGIf
The Intrepid Humanitarian: The King in the North
Our foreign correspondent visits Oslo – where flavour is scarce, the monarch absolute, and a resilient people await African aid that might save them.
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Here's last week's roundup of global crisis news from our editors ⬇️ 🔗 https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2026/06/12/ai-drones-ebola-containment-us-food-aid-cheat-sheet
Deadly AI drones, Ebola containment struggles, and faltering US food aid: The Cheat Sheet
A weekly read to keep you in the loop on humanitarian issues.
thenewhumanitarian.org
Missed this week's humanitarian headlines? Here's a quick catch-up from our editors ⬇️ 🔗 https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2026/06/12/ai-drones-ebola-containment-us-food-aid-cheat-sheet
Deadly AI drones, Ebola containment struggles, and faltering US food aid: The Cheat Sheet
A weekly read to keep you in the loop on humanitarian issues.
thenewhumanitarian.org
Read this week's humanitarian headlines, curated by our editors ⬇️ https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2026/06/12/ai-drones-ebola-containment-us-food-aid-cheat-sheet
Deadly AI drones, Ebola containment struggles, and faltering US food aid: The Cheat Sheet
A weekly read to keep you in the loop on humanitarian issues.
thenewhumanitarian.org
🚨 New newsletter: The World Food Programme won’t talk about its cyber-attack, but some are calling for an independent probe into what may be the biggest breach of humanitarian beneficiary data on record. 🔗 Read the full newsletter here: https://bit.ly/4usutYH
Inklings | Why WFP’s cyber-attack silence matters
Notes on aid: WFP hushes up, WFP partner Palantir boasts about war, and a new NGO alliance gives Boston Consulting Group a redemption arc.
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Uganda is insisting on restricting cross-border movement with Congo to contain the Ebola outbreak but businesses, truckers, and communities near the border hate the measure. Humanitarian agencies also say closures as an epidemic response don’t work. Read more here ⬇️ https://bit.ly/4uxLKjh
Ebola outbreak: Uganda’s movement restrictions cripple cross-border trade
The government is wagering that short-term economic pain is a worthwhile cost of stopping the spread of the virus, but not everyone agrees.
thenewhumanitarian.org
🏥 "Supplies enter in a trickle, and that trickle now decides whether people live or die." Read our latest dispatch from Gaza's Nasser Hospital, the largest medical facility in southern Gaza, and one of the few still operating ⬇️ https://bit.ly/4eny7xf
Return to Gaza’s Nasser Hospital: “Every single thing in the complex is a crisis”
After two and a half years of siege and blockade, the challenges staff and patients still face are extreme. Yet the world’s attention has moved on.
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📰 Inklings newsletter: Any way you count it, the numbers suggest a stark toll: Nearly every person still in Gaza has had their personal data exposed in WFP cyber-attack. buff.ly/4M8xmcq
🗣️ “The food programme is often seen to be the cowboys. They push the envelope.” Notes on the WFP cyber-attack: buff.ly/4M8xmcq
🗣️ “What’s the point? I joined the meeting, and I have to say yes.” The power imbalances behind UN pooled fund decisions: https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2026/06/08/why-local-organisations-are-frustrated-un-pooled-funds
Why local organisations are frustrated with UN pooled funds
UN pooled funds succeed at what they were built to do: Reinforce international dominance. There are more genuine ways to localise aid.
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📰 Inklings newsletter: Notes on how aid works, from @newhumanitarian’s policy desk. Sign up here ⬇️ buff.ly/4M8xmcq
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🗞️ In the latest Inklings aid policy newsletter: Notes on the WFP Gaza cyber-attack. What WFP is leaving out, the humanitarian reset’s neglected crises, and Palantir.
WFP cyber-attack: Is nearly all of Gaza’s population exposed?
Notes on how aid works: What WFP leaves out of data breach reports, the humanitarian reset’s neglected crises, and Palantir.
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🚨 Inklings newsletter: How many people is 600,000 households, exactly? The World Food Programme isn’t saying, but the cyber-attack exposing Gazans’ personal info may be the biggest in history.
WFP cyber-attack: Is nearly all of Gaza’s population exposed?
Notes on how aid works: What WFP leaves out of data breach reports, the humanitarian reset’s neglected crises, and Palantir.
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