---
title: Humanitarian Watch Weekly
type: L2-brief
theme: humanitarian
week: 2026-W34
updated: 2026-08-17T09:00:00Z
sources: [displacement-flows]
license: CC-BY-4.0
attribution: azimuth (HemySphere doctrine demonstrator) — see CREDITS.md for upstream sources
---

# Humanitarian Watch Weekly

> Synthesised from the week's L1 source notes under `../01 Sources/`. The `azimuth-curator`
> fleet role evolves this single note in place each cycle. azimuth reports **recorded
> displacement statistics** — a refugee or IDP population count is an observed figure
> published by UNHCR / UN OCHA — and never assigns cause-blame or projects flows. Every claim
> links to the L1 note it rests on. Data as of the **2026-08-17T07:12:31Z** pull.

## This week at a glance

- The UNHCR/OCHA channel's current published year (**2025**) records a global forcibly
  displaced total of **106,175,975 people** (~106.2M): **64,239,352 internally displaced
  (IDPs)**, **28,461,306 refugees**, **8,998,097 asylum seekers** and **4,477,220 stateless**
  — the source's own category totals, held flat on the 2026-08-17 pull, the opening day of
  this week (2026-W34), and unchanged from the entire 2026-08-07 → 08-16 window absorbed the
  prior cycle (2026-W33), reported as published ([[displacement-flows]]).
- The dataset still carries per-country figures for **212 countries/territories**. By
  **internally displaced population**, the six largest recorded stocks on the 2026-08-17 pull
  remain **Sudan (9,139,309)**, **Colombia (7,157,716)**, **DR Congo (5,669,479)**, **Syria
  (5,542,227)**, **Yemen (4,795,983)** and **Ukraine (3,712,000)** — unchanged row-for-row from
  the prior cycle, figures as the source publishes them ([[displacement-flows]]).
- By **refugee stock**, the largest recorded populations are unchanged too: **Ukraine
  (5,224,131)**, **Syria (4,865,764)**, **Sudan (2,820,737)**, **Afghanistan (2,671,560)**,
  **South Sudan (2,386,499)** and **Myanmar (1,524,378)** — cross-border origin counts as the
  source publishes them ([[displacement-flows]]).
- Week-on-week: the 2026-08-16 and 2026-08-17 pulls spanning the W33 → W34 boundary are
  **byte-identical** across the full payload — global aggregates, all 212 country rows and both
  rankings above moved by zero (the two pulls differ only in the `retrieved`/`fetchedAt`
  timestamp). This is the first pull filed under 2026-W34, and the prior cycle (2026-08-07
  through 08-16, W33) was itself fully flat, so there is no evidence of a revision across the
  week boundary either — a fully flat day, reported honestly rather than manufactured
  ([[displacement-flows]]).

## Honest scope — annual statistics, weekly heartbeat

- UNHCR publishes these statistics on an **annual reference year** (currently 2025) with
  periodic revisions — so week-on-week this brief typically holds flat and moves when the
  source revises or rolls the year. The weekly cycle records that heartbeat honestly: a flat
  week is the source being stable, not the brief being stale ([[displacement-flows]]).
- The flat run first recorded from 2026-07-16 has now held through the 2026-08-17 pull — 32
  days (2026-07-16 → 08-17) without a single revision to the 2025 reference-year aggregate
  (106,175,975 total / 64,239,352 IDPs / 28,461,306 refugees / 8,998,097 asylum seekers /
  4,477,220 stateless), consistent with the annual-snapshot cadence and spanning the routine
  daily cadence, the 08-02–08-06 ingestion gap and the 2026-W33 → W34 week boundary
  ([[displacement-flows]]).

## Reading the week

- Two of every three forcibly displaced people in the 2025 published year are displaced
  *within* their own country — the 64,239,352 IDP figure dwarfs the cross-border refugee
  count of 28,461,306. azimuth reports the totals, the categories and the corridors as the
  UN agencies publish them, and attaches no forecast and no attribution of blame
  ([[displacement-flows]]).
- The per-country detail resolves the IDP burden more sharply than a combined-stock ordering
  does: **Sudan** carries the largest single IDP population at **9,139,309**, but **Colombia
  (7,157,716)**, **DR Congo (5,669,479)**, **Syria (5,542,227)** and **Yemen (4,795,983)** each
  record a larger internal-displacement stock than any country's refugee count — internal
  displacement, not cross-border flight, is where the deepest populations sit. **Ukraine** carries
  the largest refugee stock at **5,224,131**, ahead of Syria (4,865,764) and Sudan (2,820,737).
  These are recorded stocks as the source publishes them on the 2026-08-17 pull; no move since
  the prior published year or the prior cycle is implied ([[displacement-flows]]).
- The global aggregate totals held flat across the full 2026-07-16 → 08-17 window — 32 days
  of ingest cycles plus the 08-02–08-06 gap — consistent with the annual-snapshot cadence of
  UNHCR/OCHA publishing. The per-country detail rows above reflect the source as ingested on
  2026-08-17, the latest L1 day absorbed this cycle ([[displacement-flows]]).

## Changelog

- 2026-08-17 — daily-ingest synthesis (2026-W34): absorbed the 2026-08-17 pull, the first cycle filed under W34 — byte-identical to 08-16 across the full payload (106,175,975 total forcibly displaced: 64,239,352 IDPs / 28,461,306 refugees / 8,998,097 asylum / 4,477,220 stateless; 212 countries; per-country IDP and refugee rankings unchanged, Sudan IDP 9,139,309 / Ukraine refugees 5,224,131 lead). No source revision recorded; the flat run first recorded 2026-07-16 now spans 32 days through 08-17; `week`/`updated` and pull timestamp advanced to the 08-17 ingest. Observed-only, no-position framing held ([[displacement-flows]]).
- 2026-08-16 — daily-ingest synthesis (2026-W33): absorbed the 2026-08-14 through 08-16 pulls — a fully flat cycle. The 08-13 and 08-16 payloads are byte-identical apart from the `fetchedAt` timestamp: 106,175,975 total forcibly displaced (64,239,352 IDPs / 28,461,306 refugees / 8,998,097 asylum / 4,477,220 stateless), 212 countries, per-country IDP and refugee rankings unchanged (Sudan IDP 9,139,309 / Ukraine refugees 5,224,131 lead). No source revision recorded; the flat run first recorded 2026-07-16 now spans a full month through 08-16. `week`/`updated` and pull timestamp advanced to the 08-16 ingest ([[displacement-flows]]).
- 2026-08-13 — daily-ingest synthesis (2026-W33): absorbed the 2026-08-07 through 08-13 pulls after a 08-02–08-06 ingestion gap (no L1 note committed those days). The resumed 08-07 payload matched the last-known 08-01 payload byte-for-byte, and every pull through 08-13 stayed identical — 106,175,975 total forcibly displaced (64,239,352 IDPs / 28,461,306 refugees / 8,998,097 asylum / 4,477,220 stateless), 212 countries, per-country IDP and refugee rankings unchanged (Sudan IDP 9,139,309 / Ukraine refugees 5,224,131 lead). A fully flat week-on-week move (08-07 vs 08-13, byte-identical payload); the flat run first recorded 07-16 now extends a full four weeks. No source revision recorded; `week`/`updated` and pull timestamp advanced to the 08-13 ingest ([[displacement-flows]]).
- 2026-08-01 — daily-ingest flowback (2026-W31): an honest flat cycle. The 2026-07-31 and 2026-08-01 displacement-flows pulls returned the 2025 reference-year globalTotals byte-identical to the 2026-07-30 synthesis apart from the fetchedAt timestamp — 106,175,975 total forcibly displaced (64,239,352 IDPs / 28,461,306 refugees / 8,998,097 asylum / 4,477,220 stateless), 212 countries, per-country IDP and refugee rankings unchanged (Sudan IDP 9,139,309 / Ukraine refugees 5,224,131 lead). No source revision recorded; `updated` and pull timestamp advanced so the freshness gate records the latest L1 day was absorbed ([[displacement-flows]]).
- 2026-07-30 — daily-ingest synthesis (2026-W31): absorbed the 07-26 through 07-30 pulls after a 5-day curator gap. An honest flat run — the 2025 reference-year globalTotals were unchanged on every pull (106,175,975 total / 64,239,352 IDPs / 28,461,306 refugees / 8,998,097 asylum / 4,477,220 stateless, 212 countries). Corrected the at-a-glance and reading-the-week IDP ranking to the source's actual top six by internal-displacement stock (Sudan 9,139,309 / Colombia 7,157,716 / DR Congo 5,669,479 / Syria 5,542,227 / Yemen 4,795,983 / Ukraine 3,712,000), which the prior combined-stock ordering understated; refugee ranking Ukraine 5,224,131 / Syria 4,865,764 / Sudan 2,820,737 / Afghanistan 2,671,560 / South Sudan 2,386,499 / Myanmar 1,524,378; `week`/`updated` and pull timestamp advanced to the 07-30 ingest ([[displacement-flows]]).
- 2026-07-25 — daily-ingest synthesis (2026-W30): no fresh print — 2026-07-25 pull (08:20:59Z) returned unchanged 2025 reference-year totals (106,175,975 total / 64,239,352 IDPs / 28,461,306 refugees / 8,998,097 asylum / 4,477,220 stateless); all 50 top-flow corridors and all 212 per-country figures identical to 07-24; `updated` and pull timestamp advanced, W30 flat-run extended to 07-25 ([[displacement-flows]]).
- 2026-07-24 — daily-ingest synthesis (2026-W30): no fresh print — 2026-07-24 pull returned unchanged 2025 reference-year totals (106,175,975 total / 64,239,352 IDPs / 28,461,306 refugees / 8,998,097 asylum / 4,477,220 stateless); values carried, `updated` and pull timestamp advanced, W30 flat-run extended to 07-24 ([[displacement-flows]]).
- 2026-07-23 — daily-ingest synthesis (2026-W30): global aggregate held flat (106,175,975 / 64,239,352 IDPs / 28,461,306 refugees / 8,998,097 asylum / 4,477,220 stateless); at-a-glance and reading-the-week deepened with 2026-07-23 per-country stocks — Sudan IDP 9,139,309 (largest in set), Ukraine refugees 5,224,131, Syria refugees 4,865,764 / IDPs 5,542,227, Myanmar IDPs 3,628,840, South Sudan refugees 2,386,499, Afghanistan refugees 2,671,560 ([[displacement-flows]]).
- 2026-07-21 — daily-ingest flowback (2026-W30): an honest flat cycle. The 2026-07-18, 07-19 and 07-20 displacement-flows pulls each returned the unchanged 2025 reference-year totals (106,175,975 total forcibly displaced — 64,239,352 IDPs / 28,461,306 refugees / 8,998,097 asylum / 4,477,220 stateless, 212 countries); only the payload's fetchedAt timestamp moved. No source revision recorded; `week` and `updated` advanced so the freshness gate records the latest L1 day was absorbed ([[displacement-flows]]).
- 2026-07-18 — daily-ingest synthesis (2026-W29): the 2026-07-16 and 2026-07-17 displacement-flows pulls both returned unchanged 2025 reference-year totals — 106,175,975 total forcibly displaced (64,239,352 IDPs / 28,461,306 refugees / 8,998,097 asylum / 4,477,220 stateless), 212 countries, largest origin-flow Syria ~2.35M. No source revision recorded across either cycle ([[displacement-flows]]).
- 2026-07-15 — first Humanitarian Watch Weekly cycle (2026-W29): theme un-held (the hold was
  ingest-pending; the UNHCR/OCHA channel is CC-BY-4.0, surfaced, and carries 21 committed L1
  days). Wrote the at-a-glance, honest-scope (annual reference year) and reading sections
  from the live 2026-07-15 pull: 106.2M total forcibly displaced (64.2M IDP / 28.5M refugees
  / 9.0M asylum / 4.5M stateless), 212 reporting countries. Observed-only framing
  ([[displacement-flows]]).
