(UN News)* —The perpetrators of a deadly rampage targeting a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank must face justice to deter future attacks, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, insisted on Friday [].
Echoing widespread condemnation internationally and within Israel of the attack reportedly by Israeli settlers on the village of Jit on Thursday which left a Palestinian man dead and about a dozen injured, OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani described the incident as “horrific”.
She noted that the killing “was not an isolated attack”, in reference to years of violence directed at Palestinian communities by Israeli settlers, maintaining that it was “the direct consequence” of Israel’s policy of occupation.
15 August 2024 — The number of Colombians living in areas where armed groups operate has increased by 70 per cent since 2021, reports the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
Carmen is from an indigenous community, hours into the Colombian Pacific jungle. They face violence, threats, and displacement from armed groups and have been forced to flee many times. Carmen said her community is being destroyed. Photo: Jess Wanless/NRC
Today, nearly 8.4 million Colombians live in these zones of conflict, 3.5 million more than in 2021. Civilian suffering is being ignored, and more must be done by both the government and aid agencies to address the humanitarian and protection needs of the civilian population.
(UN News)* — Exceptionally heavy rain and deadly flash flooding in Yemen have compounded the already dire situation for people across the country, UN humanitarians said on Thursday [].
In a joint alert, UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund, and UNFPA, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, said that rising waters had shattered people’s lives in several Yemeni governorates and particularly in Hudaydah, Hajjah, Sa’ada and Taizz. The northern governorate of Marib has also been affected.
(UN News)* — As the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza passes the dark milestone of 40,000, UN rights chief Volker Türk called on Thursday [] for an end to the killing “once and for all” and the release of all hostages while negotiators prepared to meet in Qatar to renew efforts to halt the conflict and avert a wider war.
“Most of the dead are women and children. This unimaginable situation is overwhelmingly due to recurring failures by the Israeli Defense Forces to comply with the rules of war,” the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.
(UN News)* — The risk of polio spreading in Gaza remains high unless there is an urgent and comprehensive response to the serious health threat, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday [].
“At least two rounds of [orally delivered polio vaccine] will be necessary to shut down transmission,”the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) explained in an update.
(UN News)* — The killing, injury and displacement of Palestinians continues in the West Back against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict in Gaza, now in its 10th month, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an update issued on Wednesday [14 August 2024].
The number of Palestinian children killed by live ammunition fired by Israeli forces has almost tripled since 7 October 2023, compared with the preceding 10 months, rising from 39 to 115.
Eight countries, including Mali, Niger, Senegal, South Sudan and Sudan, are home to children who spend more than half the year in temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius / 95 degrees Fahrenheit
UNICEF/UN0290924/Llaurado
NEW YORK, 14 August 2024 (UNICEF)* –– One in 5 children – or 466 million – live in areas that experience at least double the number of extremely hot days every year compared to just six decades ago, according to a new UNICEF analysis.
(New York) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2024 electoral campaign frequently used hate speech against Muslims and other minorities, Human Rights Watch on 14 August 2024 said.
(UN News)* —Sudan’s deepening humanitarian crisis caused by nearly 16 months of war has left countless women and girls subject to sexual violence and rape and tens of thousands of children at risk of death from hunger, UN aid teams said on Tuesday [13 August 2024].
Speaking from Sudan, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder described meeting a senior medical worker at a hospital outside Khartoum who had “direct contact with hundreds, hundreds of women and girls, some as young as eight years old, who have been raped. Many have been held captive for weeks on end.”