The Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan issued the warning at the conclusion of a mission to the Africa Union (AU) headquarters in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in July 2011, but deadly fighting broke out in late 2013 between troops loyal to President...
Haiti faces one of the world’s most severe food crises that is only worsening due to steep funding cuts to WFP relief programmes. “We urge international partners to step up to enable WFP and partners to provide not only life-saving emergency assistance, but also to invest in programmes addressing the...
“No one is safe when human rights are under attack,” Mr. Türk told the Human Rights Council, warning that the rules of war “are being shredded”. “Some States are becoming an extension of their ruler’s personal power,” he insisted. In his customary address to the UN’s top rights forum at...
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...
Many of the victims were Alawite, a minority community in Syria, which the former ruling Assad family belonged to. Some community members are believed to have been killed in March by forces or individuals loyal to the country’s new leadership, the National Transitional Authority, which is headed by interim...
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...
The 19 July truce followed weeks of sectarian clashes, Israeli airstrikes and grave human rights violations in the southern governorate, also known as As-Sweida. As a result, more than 190,000 people have been displaced there and in neighbouring Dar’a and Rural Damascus governorates. The fighting also caused severe damage to...
The displacement is the latest consequence of a cascade of overlapping emergencies in the country – including armed violence, climate shocks, disease outbreaks and a severe funding shortfall. Since January, over 95,000 people have fled insecurity in Cabo Delgado and humanitarian access is becoming increasingly fragile. According to the UN...
Since 13 July, around 176,000 people have been displaced from Sweida, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Mostly migrating to neighbouring Dar’a and Rural Damascus governorates, civilians are fleeing violent clashes between Bedouin tribal fighters, Syrian caretaker government forces and Druze militias. Meanwhile in...