(UN News)* — A senior official with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has appealed for wider and safer humanitarian access in Gaza, where malnourished babies are slowly dying while the world watches.
“The child deaths we feared are here,” Adele Khodr, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement issued on Sunday [].
At least 10 children have died from dehydration and malnutrition at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north in recent days, according to reports.
Ms. Khodr warned that “there are likely more children fighting for their lives” in one of the few remaining hospitals in the enclave, and perhaps even more in the north who cannot access care at all.
(UN News)* — The Gaza conflict “is also a war on women”, who continue to suffer its devastating impacts, the UN agency championing gender equality has said.
WFP/Wissam Nassar | Two women and one child in front of their house of sorts in the heart of Gaza. Apart from their appalling living conditions, Gazan parents find themselves unable to meet their children’s basic needs such as food, health and housing.
UN Women estimated that 9,000 women have been reportedly killed by Israeli forces since the war erupted nearly five months ago. However, the figure is likely to be higher as many more are reported dead under the rubble.
“While this war spares no one, UN Women data shows that it kills and injures women in unprecedented ways,” the agency said in a press release issued late on Friday [].
KWARA, Nigeria, Mar 1 2024 (IPS)* –One sunny mid-morning in Omu-Aran village, a community in Kwara State, North Central Nigeria, Iyabo Sunday sat beside a firewood stand observing her pot of beans with rice (a combination enjoyed by many in Nigeria).
Nigerian women returning from the forest with firewood. Credit: Peace Oladipo/IPS
The 52-year-old widow used her plastic dirt parker to fan the flames, occasionally blowing air through her mouth for speed and frantically shielding her face from the wisps of smoke that curled from the firewood.
Libya, 2 FEBRUARY 2024 (IOM)* –– In 2021, Owehidi – a father of three – set out from Bangladesh to Libya, seeking to secure a better income to help his family. He eventually settled in the city of Derna where he worked as a butcher. He was warmly welcomed into the tightly knit and mutually supportive community of Bangladeshi migrant workers.
Bangladeshi migrants board their flight back to Dhaka from Benina International Airport, a return to roots and reunion. Photo: IOM Libya 2023/Mouied Duffani
He was thrilled with this new beginning, seeing it as a step towards a more prosperous life for his family.
(Beirut) – Representatives of two construction companies in Saudi Arabiaannounced recently that migrant workers will get their long overdue unpaid wages, but gaps in the repayment scheme puts the payments at risk, Human Rights Watch said on 29 February 2024.
(UN News)* —The “carnage” in Gaza has left more than 30,000 dead and must end immediately, UN rights chief Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council on Thursday [], after almost five months of constant Israeli bombardment and mass displacement in the enclave, prompted by Hamas-led attacks.
“The war in Gaza must end,” Mr. Türk said, insisting that it was “well past time” for peace, accountability and investigations into the “clear” violations of international humanitarian law and possible war crimes by both sides.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 