Archive for ‘Middle East’

26/06/2025

‘The world needs an extra $4 trillion every year to tackle some of the biggest challenges – ending poverty and hunger, fighting climate change, and reducing inequality’ 

Human Wrongs Watch

Children plant flowers in a playground in N’Djamena, Chad as part of an education project.

© UNICEF/ Frank Dejongh | Children plant flowers in a playground in N’Djamena, Chad as part of an education project.

These are part of 17 goals agreed by nearly every country, called the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The plan is to hit these targets by 2030.

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26/06/2025

Iran— Deja Vu All Over Again

Human Wrongs Watch

PhD, President of Conscience International

ATLANTA, USA, Jun 26 2025 ( IPS)* Chest thumping “Mission Accomplished” claims by President Trump that he ordered the world’s biggest conventional bombs to be dropped on a sleeping nation of 90 million people, were premature.
 

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said Iran has reported no increase in radiation levels outside Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. After surprise US bombing raids on Iranian uranium enrichment facilities over the weekend, the head of the UN-backed nuclear watchdog on Monday appealed for immediate access to the targeted sites to assess the damage that is likely “very significant”. 23 June 2025. Credit: Dean Calma/IAEA

To top it off he bragged that Iran’s nuclear capacity was devastated and that the whole nation fired “not a single shot” back.

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21/06/2025

Why Is the Manosphere on the Rise? UN Women Sounds the Alarm over Online Misogyny

Human Wrongs Watch

By Ana Carmo, UN News*

 A growing network of online communities known collectively as the “manosphere” is emerging as a serious threat to gender equality, as toxic digital spaces increasingly influence real-world attitudes, behaviours, and policies, the UN agency dedicated to ending gender discrimination has warned. 

 
Women and girls are feeling less comfortable to be exposed to the risks and threats when they engage in digital platforms, according to UN Women.

Unsplash/Anthony Tran | Women and girls are feeling less comfortable to be exposed to the risks and threats when they engage in digital platforms, according to UN Women.

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21/06/2025

From Uganda to Angola, Africa’s Refugees Face Soaring Hunger, Shrinking Aid

Human Wrongs Watch

A funding shortfall is forcing WFP and other humanitarian organizations to cut assistance to some of the world’s most vulnerable people
Omnia with her young son in her arms at Uganda's Kiryandongo refugee settlement, after arriving from neighbouring Sudan. Photo: WFP/Daisy Masembe
Omnia and her young son received a hot WFP meal upon arrival at Uganda’s Kiryandongo refugee settlement, but WFP’s assistance countrywide is shrinking for lack of funds. Photo: WFP/Daisy Masembe

— Omnia and her young son stand in line under a harsh midday sun, waiting for the daily hot lunch for newcomers at Uganda’s Kiryandongo refugee settlement.

Exhaustion is etched on the face of this single mother, who arrived by bus from war-torn Sudan the day before.

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20/06/2025

“As Widespread as Guns and Bullets”: Sexual Violence Used to Terrorize Sudan’s Women and Girls

Human Wrongs Watch

More than 12 million people – one quarter of the population – are at risk of gender-based violence

GEDAREF STATE, SUDAN, 19 June 2025 (UN Population Fund)* – “Every woman and girl here is at risk, no matter her age or background. No one is safe,” said Khadija*, a midwife at a maternity clinic in Sudan’s eastern Gedaref State. 

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The shadow of a girl holding her hand up against a blue wall
More than 12 million people in Sudan are at risk of gender-based violence, with frontline responders and survivors reporting alarming rates of rape, abuse, coercion and child marriage © UNFPA Sudan
 

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20/06/2025

‘We Are at a Point of No Return’: Grave Violations against Children Surge for Third Year

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Last year, 41,370 grave violations against children were documented and verified by the United Nations, according to the UN Secretary-General’s annual report on children in armed conflict, released on Thursday .  

8,554 grave violations against children occurred in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
UN News | 8,554 grave violations against children occurred in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
 
 

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20/06/2025

Gaza: As Last Fuel Supplies Run Out, Aid Teams Warn of Catastrophe – ‘Vital Services Are Only “Hours Away” from Shutting Down’

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — More than 100 days into Israel’s complete fuel blockade in Gaza, UN agencies still in the shattered enclave warned on Thursday that vital services are only “hours away” from shutting down.

Children collect water in northern Gaza.
© UNOCHA/Olga Cherevko | Children collect water in northern Gaza.
 
Speaking from Gaza City in the north of occupied territory, Olga Cherevko from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said that water pumps had stopped at one site for displaced people there on Wednesday “because there’s no fuel”.

“We are really – unless the situation changes – hours away from a catastrophic decline and a shutdown of more facilities if no fuel enters or more fuel isn’t retrieved immediately,” she told UN News.

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19/06/2025

UN Human Rights ‘Horrified’ by Deadly Violence at Gaza Food Distribution Sites

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — As the pall of starvation hangs over Gaza, UN agencies have sounded the alarm over deadly violence at food distribution points, where over 400 Palestinians have reportedly been killed in recent weeks while trying to access desperately needed humanitarian aid.

UN staff and medical workers evacuating patients from a hospital in northern Gaza in late May 2025.
© WHO | UN staff and medical workers evacuating patients from a hospital in northern Gaza in late May 2025.

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19/06/2025

‘Sexual violence is a grotesque tactic of war, used to brutalize, torture, and repress, scarring bodies, minds and entire communities’

Human Wrongs Watch

(United Nations)* — “Sexual violence is a grotesque tactic of war, used to brutalize, torture, and repress, scarring bodies, minds and entire communities, warned the UN Secretary General António Guterres on the occasion of the 19 June 2025 International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

A girl at the Mother and Child Health Center in Mogadishu, Somalia, visited by the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict

A girl at the Mother and Child Health Center in Mogadishu, Somalia, visited by the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. PHOTO:UN/Tobin Jones

“The horror of these heinous crimes echoes long after the guns fall silent.

Too often, perpetrators walk free, cloaked in impunity, while survivors often bear the impossible burden of stigma and trauma.

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19/06/2025

Civilian Deaths in Conflict Surged by 40% in 2024

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — Civilian deaths in conflict surged by 40 per cent last year, according to new data released by the UN human rights office (OHCHR) with already marginalised groups facing disproportionate levels of discrimination.

In 2024, civilian deaths in conflict surged by 40 per cent.
© UNFPA | In 2024, civilian deaths in conflict surged by 40 per cent.

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