“Rarely have we seen – and this is what bothers me – extensive patterns of unlawful, discriminatory and disproportionate restriction by States and private actors on freedom of expression,” said Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur mandated to promote and protect this right globally. Ms. Khan briefed journalists at UN...
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that a response plan had been activated to strengthen surveillance, contact tracing and water sampling. The case was confirmed in Akkar, the country’s northernmost governorate. Speaking in Geneva late Wednesday, Tedros noted that the Lebanese health authorities had launched an oral...
“Today, Israeli airstrikes hit the town of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, yet again… As the theatre and intensity of the exchanges of fire continue to expand, civilian suffering is reaching unprecedented heights,” said UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert in a statement. Five people were killed in the attack and there...
South Sudan now ranks as the second largest recipient of people fleeing Sudan, with more than 810,000 new arrivals since April 2023, including returning South Sudanese refugees who were sheltering in Sudan and refugee and asylum seekers from other countries. UNHCR warned that the situation is likely to worsen, exacerbating...
The latest death toll has surpassed more than 41,000 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health – the majority of them women and children – while most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have been forcibly displaced and trapped in only 10 per cent of the territory, but in...
The warning on Thursday comes as the SAF launched a major offensive last month to regain control of key areas currently held by the RSF. The two armies led by rival generals have been locked in a brutal power struggle since April 2023. The fighting has driven more than 11...
Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric issued a statement saying that UN chief António Guterres was “extremely concerned” by the fast escalation of the conflict. “An all-out war must be avoided in Lebanon at all costs, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon must be respected”, Mr. Dujarric added. The UN chief...
In an oral update to members, Erik Møse, chair of the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, said it has documented new cases of torture committed by Russian authorities against civilians and prisoners of war in occupied areas of Ukraine and in the Russian Federation. “We gathered evidence of sexual violence...
In a modest tent in a makeshift camp for displaced people west of the town of Al-Zawaida in Deir al-Balah governorate in Gaza, children whose lives have been turned upside down by a deadly war and widespread destruction are meeting speech therapist Amina Al-Dahdouh. She is there to help them...
Under shelling and gunfire, Esraa cradled her newborn son. As the war in Sudan broke out in April 2023, she was trying to reach a health clinic for treatment for her baby, who had been struggling with infections and breathing difficulties. But with the roads blocked by fighting, the young...
After over a decade of brutal fighting, the Commission Chair, Paulo Pinheiro, said that deadly dynamics are causing new waves of hostilities. “The recent direct fighting in northeast Syria around Deir-ez-Zor between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the one hand and Arab tribes, Government forces and Iran-backed militia...
“Since mid-April 2023, the conflict in Sudan has spread to 14 out of the 18 states impacting the entire country and the region, leaving eight million Sudanese internally displaced as a result of the conflict, with two million – over two million – forced to flee to neighbouring countries,” said...