Media update from the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on the latest situation in Gaza, Thursday 23 May 2024. An update from Suze van Meegen, NRC’s head of operations in Gaza:
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“The city of Rafah is now comprised of three entirely different worlds: the east is an archetypal war zone, the middle is a ghost town, and the west is a congested mass of people living in deplorable conditions.
“People have no choice but to put their faith in so-called ‘humanitarian safe zones’ designated by the forces that have killed their family members and destroyed their homes.
“They have dragged their families and few possessions onward to new locations for the seventh, eighth, ninth time in seven months of war. But as far as we can see, there is nothing ‘humanitarian’ about these areas.
Responding to the International Court of Justice’s ruling today [24 May 2024], which ordered Israel to immediately halt military operations in the governorate of Rafah, following South Africa’s application for additional provisional measures in its genocide case, Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:
“With this order the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the UN’s principal court – has made it crystal clear: the Israeli authorities must completely halt military operations in Rafah, as any ongoing military action could constitute an underlying act of genocide.
(UN News)* —The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday [] issued new provisional measures that order Israel to immediately end military operations in Rafah in southern Gaza and to open the governate’s border crossing for urgent aid deliveries.
This follows a request from South Africa in a pending case accusing Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention.
Reading the new provisional measures in an open session at the court in The Hague, ICJ Justice Nawaf Salam announced that Israel must abide by its obligations under the Genocide Convention to “immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah governate which may inflict upon the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that would bring about its physical destruction in whole and in part”.
(WHO)*, Geneva, New York, 23 May 2024 — The World Health Organization (WHO) and STOP, a global tobacco industry watchdog, are launching today “Hooking the next generation,” a report highlighting how the tobacco and nicotine industry designs products, implements marketing campaigns and works to shape policy environments to help them addict the world’s youth.
(UN News)* — Haiti’s health system is now “on the verge of collapse” UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative in Haiti Bruno Maes warned on Wednesday [], amidst an alarming decrease in the number of hospitals still functioning in the violence-wracked Caribbean nation.
There are only six out of ten hospitals which still have some operational capacity as the gang-led chaos continues across the capital, Port-au-Prince, leaving vulnerable children deprived of essential care.
(UN News)* — The UN General Assembly on Thursday [] designated 11 July as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica, in which at least 8,372 people were killed, thousands displaced and whole communities destroyed.
Adopting a resolution with the same title, the Assembly also asked the Secretary-General to establish an outreach programme on the Srebrenica genocide in preparation for the 30th anniversary next year.
20 May 2024 — Severe flooding has hit countries in the East and Horn of Africa as heavy El Niño-rains continue to afflict a refugee-hosting region at the front line of the climate crisis, where deep droughts followed by intense rains have in recent years become the new normal.
(UN News)* — Migration is on track to become one of the defining features of the 21st century and more action is needed to ensure regular pathways for people to move safely, the head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday [21 May 2024] in New York.
IOM/Andi Pratiwi | Migrants walk through Djibouti’s desert. (file)
Speaking at the opening of a two-day meeting on harnessing the power of migration, IOM Director General Amy Pope expressed hope that participants will help deliver prosperity, benefits and innovations for migrants and for their countries of origin and destination.
Roughly 281 million peopleworldwide are one the move, representing around 3.6 per cent of the global population, according to a recent IOM report. This is up from 153 million in 1990, and more than triple the 84 million in 1970. Global trends point to more migration in the future.
For spurious and sinister reasons, the Western political and media classes are isolating themselves from public opinion and international law on the Gaza genocide in ways hard to believe. Here are a few examples among myriad.
May 1 solidarity march in New York. (Pamela Drew, Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0)
13 May 2024 – Incredibly, the Israeli genocide in Gaza is now reaching new heights of violence. Casualty figures are not coming in, as the attacks are so bad that bodies cannot be recovered, medics cannot travel and there are almost no medical facilities operational now anyway.
Trying the gravest crimes, ensuring victims have access to justice, conducting fair trials and complementing national tribunals are among the key tasks of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
UN Photo/Rick Bajornas | The International Criminal Court is based in The Hague, Netherlands.
Established in 2002 and based in The Hague, the ICC is a criminal court that can bring cases against individuals for war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Most recently, on Monday []it issued a request for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and three leaders of Hamas, the de facto authorities in Gaza.
The warrants – which must now be formally approved by the ICC’s judges – are related to alleged war crimes stemming from the seven month-long war in Gaza triggered by the Hamas-led attacks in Israel.
Here are five facts about the ICC and how it is helping build a more just world.
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HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 