Sigrid Kaag, interim UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said that the man-made crisis unfolding in Gaza has plunged civilians into “an abyss.” “Since the collapse of the ceasefire in March, civilians have constantly come under fire, confined to ever-shrinking spaces, and deprived of lifesaving relief,” she...
Speaking at a high-level open debate in the Security Council on protection of civilians in armed conflict on Thursday, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher described a grim picture of accelerating harm, disintegrating norms and growing impunity. “The scaffolding built last century to protect us from inhumanity is crumbling,” he...
We’re live as the Security Council convenes for its annual open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, with the UN relief chief and the head of UN Women calling for urgent action to safeguard lives – especially those of women and girls caught in the crossfire. Non-combatants in...
In recent years, criminal and terrorist groups have seized “every” opportunity afforded by growing instability to “entrench, expand, and escalate,” said Ghada Waly, in her opening remarks to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, in Vienna. Challenges such as human and drug trafficking, smuggling of cultural and commercial...
At least nine people were killed and seven injured when a Russian drone struck a minibus near the town of Bilopillia in the Sumy region, according to local authorities. HRMMU monitors are in the process of gathering additional information on the circumstances of the attack and its victims. Preliminary reports...
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Friday that the Secretary-General “has been monitoring with alarm the reports of violence in the suburbs of Damascus and in the south of Syria, including reports of civilian casualties and assassination of local administration figures.” More than 100 people have reportedly been killed in...
“The horror unfolding in Sudan knows no bounds,” Volker Türk said in a statement calling for an end to the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and former ally the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), now in its third year. He noted that three days ago, the RSF launched coordinated...
“Attacks on frontline regions (are) increasing and it’s always civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war,” said UNHCR Representative Karolina Lindholm Billing. Since January, more than 3,500 newly displaced people have transited through a centre in Pavlohrad towards central Ukraine; in total, more than 200,000 people have been evacuated...
Reports indicate that the latest Russian strikes damaged 12 buildings in the capital, causing widespread damage to homes, businesses and key services, while phones have been heard ringing from the rubble. Other Ukrainian cities targeted included Zhytomyr – due west of Kyiv – and the northeastern cities of Sumy – where...
The finding comes in its latest brief on violence against civilians, which also reveals a similar rise in incidents of conflict-related sexual violence (CSRV). Sources include victims and eyewitness accounts, as well as reports from secondary sources identified during field missions, service providers and protection partners. Killings, abductions and other horrors...
Into its third year, the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has created the world’s largest displacement crisis, devastating infrastructure and essential services across the country. Nearly 12.5 million people have been forced from their homes, including over 3.3 million who have fled...
At least 71 civilians have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since the 27 November 2024 ceasefire, according to an initial review by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Among the dead are 14 women and nine children. More than 92,000 people remain...