The dramatic liquidity crisis currently impacting the UN and its global partners has already prevented a high-level human rights probe into the DRC emergency created in February from getting underway. According to testimonies gathered by OHCHR investigators into widespread violence in DRC’s North and South Kivu since January, members of the...
The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, has released $10 million in response to the urgent need for food, water, shelter and other lifesaving provisions following this week’s devastating earthquakes and aftershocks in Afghanistan. “This is the latest crisis to expose the cost of shrinking resources on vital humanitarian work,” said...
The crisis of CRSV is deepening, reflecting the widening scope of warfare globally. There were more than 4,600 reported cases of conflict-related sexual violence in 2024, marking a 25 per cent increase from 2023. And this data, Ms. Patten underscored, is a chronic undercount, only reflecting cases verified by the...
According to the annual Report of the Secretary-General on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence, both State and non-State actors were responsible for violations in 21 countries, with the highest numbers recorded in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Haiti, Somalia and South Sudan. Women and girls...
In its annual report released on Tuesday, the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) said it had made “important progress” documenting crimes and identifying those responsible, including commanders of security forces overseeing detention facilities. Myanmar descended into civil war following the military coup of February 2021 and the detention of...
Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, gang violence has permeated the capital Port-au-Prince and expanded into other regions, displacing over one million people. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than half of the displaced are children, meaning one in eight Haitian children has been...
Spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva via video link from Goma that children could account for up to 45 per cent of the nearly 10,000 cases of rape and sexual violence documented in January and February, amid heightened tensions between Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and Government forces across the mineral-rich...
It is nearly two years since the brutal war between the forces of the military government in Khartoum and the Rapid Support Forces militia erupted, sparking one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Human rights abuses have been committed on both sides and more than 30.4 million Sudanese require urgent...
“Israel has increasingly employed sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinians as part of a broader effort to undermine their right to self-determination,” maintained Chris Sidoti from the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). ‘Increasingly used’ Speaking in Geneva, the human rights lawyer said that...
“Near the frontlines, sexual violence and human rights abuses remain rampant, as is the looting and destruction of civilian homes and businesses,” said Patrick Eba, Deputy Director of UNHCR’s Division of International Protection. Speaking in Geneva, Mr. Eba told journalists that that North and South Kivu provinces remain unstable, with...
The funding will be used to deliver life-saving reproductive health services and vital gender-based violence prevention programmes to more than 45 million people. The appeal comes as an estimated 11 million pregnant women will require urgent support in 2025. Record displacement and devastation UNFPA recalled that global crises displaced a record...
High Commissioner Volker Türk voiced his concern that Sunday’s poll which saw Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina secure a fifth term in office, was “marred by violence and repression of opposition candidates and supporters”, according to a press release from rights office OHCHR. “In the months leading up to the vote,...