UNITED NATIONS, Feb 6 2025 (IPS)* –A new executive order from the United States White House calls for withdrawing support from major UN entities and a review of all international intergovernmental organizations which the United States is a member of.
Coly Seck (at microphone), Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Senegal to the United Nations, briefs reporters with Members of the newly-elected Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP Bureau). At fourth from right is Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations. Credit: UN Photo: Manuel Elías
(UN News)* — The worsening security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has forced many mpox patients to flee treatment centres, increasing the risk of transmission, the UN health agency (WHO) warned on Monday [].
UN News | Internally displaced persons (IPDs) sheltering at a camp in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Fighting escalated sharply in late January, as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized control of parts of North Kivu, including areas near the regional capital Goma, and advanced towards South Kivu.
29 Jan 2025 – The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains one of the most volatile regions in the world, plagued by persistent conflict, exploitation, and foreign interference.
Raïs Neza Boneza
The ongoing offensive by the M23 rebel group in the eastern part of the Congo, backed by Rwanda, highlights the complex web of geopolitics and resource exploitation that fuels instability in the region.
This conflict is more than a localized struggle; it represents a broader pattern of global economic interests undermining the sovereignty and well-being of African nations.
Kinshasa, 31 January 2025 – The International Organization for Migration (IOM), is deeply concerned about the hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced over the last few days in Goma, North Kivu Province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
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The Surge in violence has seen thousands already displaced by the insecurity in Goma fleeing the town. Photo: WFP 2025/ Moses Sawasawa
An upsurge in heavy fighting and violence in recent days has forced people– some already previously displaced – out of their homes.
(UN News)* — The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has voiced deep alarm over reports of summary executions of civilians allegedly carried out by fighters and militias allied with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in the city of Khartoum North, calling for an immediate halt to the killings.
Government forces and a rival military – the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – have been battling for control of the country since April 2023 in what Mr. Türk called a “senseless war”, which has recently taken an “even more dangerous turn for civilians” as reports of people brutally killed in ethnically targeted attacks mount.
On 10 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Declaration setting out, for the first time, the fundamental human rights that should to be universally protected.
UN Photo/Greg Kinch | An early draft of Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights,” states the Declaration’s Article 1.
Indeed, it enshrines “the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”
In the nearly two years since war broke out in Sudan, almost one million people have fled into neighbouring Chad, including more than 720,000 Sudanese refugees and more than 220,000 Chadians who returned home because of the conflict.
Metche Camp in Chad has become a crucial refuge for Sudanese civilians fleeing the devastating conflict in Darfur. Photo: Karl Schembri/NRC
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Nine out of ten people forced into displacement are women and children and many have endured terrible acts of violence, including torture, rape and sexual slavery.
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Twenty-three international humanitarian organisations operating in eastern Chad warn that the majority of those refugees and returnees do not have access to the protection and education assistance they direly need.
ABUJA, Jan 29 2025 (IPS)* –In June 2024, 26-year-old Zainab Abdul noticed her two-year-old daughter growing pale, losing weight, and battling diarrhea. She wasn’t surprised.
Children beg for food in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara, Nigeria. Credit: Promise Eze/IPS
Since jihadist-linked bandits had forced them out of their village in Kadadaba, Zamfara State, in northwestern Nigeria, her family had been living in a refugee camp with limited access to food.
(UN News)* — The latest reports from Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from UN teams on the ground indicate a fast-deteriorating situation on Tuesday [] amid an ongoing assault by M23 rebels on the provincial capital.
Dead bodies lie in the streets, hospitals are overwhelmed and there has been an uptick in reports of sexual violence, rape and looting.
“Roads are blocked, ports are closed and those crossing Lake Kivu risk their lives in makeshift boats,” said Shelley Thakral, spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) – one of many UN agencies on the ground striving to provide assistance and protection wherever possible.
(UN News)* — At least one girl and three boys were killed, and three boys injured, during an attack on the Saudi Hospital in the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher, North Darfur, on Friday.
The children were among the patients being treated in the hospital’s emergency ward for injuries from previous bombings in the area, said the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.
“This heinous attack is a blatant violation of children’s rights. Children are being killed and injured in the very places where they should be safest from harm,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 