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...
“The near daily barrage of long-range drones killed and injured scores of civilians across the country last month, and disrupted life for millions more,” said the head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), Danielle Bell, in the independent human rights team’s latest monthly update. The...
Speaking to journalists at UN Headquarters, António Guterres also repeated his call for a renewed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and the release of all hostages still being held inside the shattered enclave. No food, fuel, medicine and commercial items have entered Gaza since 2 March following the Israeli blockade,...
The grim revelation emerged during a high-level discussion at the UN in Geneva on the human rights situation in DRC. The Council – the UN’s foremost human rights forum – also heard updates on allegations of ongoing abuses in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Surging violence Despite best...