“Violence, displacement and extremely harsh conditions” in northern and eastern Syria have killed at least 32 children since December – including 11 infants in the past two days, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) revealed on Thursday [31 January 2019].
In eastern Syria, persistent fighting around Hajin has forced thousands on a long, arduous journey almost 300 km to the north, to Al-Hol camp for internally displaced people.
U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said that their coup in Venezuela is about exploiting the country’s oil and natural resources.
John Bolton said in an interview that U.S. wants to overthrow Maduro’s government in Venezuela because of the country’s rich oil reserve. | Photo: Reuters | Photo from teleSUR.
30 January 2019 (teleSUR)* — Smashing the claims of “protecting democracy” in Venezuela, the United States National Security Advisor John Bolton said in an interview that they are backing the illegal coup in the South American country because of oil.
Djibouti, 31 Januray 2019 (IOM)* — International Organization for Migration (IOM) staff based in Obock, on Djibouti’s Red Sea coast, are reporting Wednesday that a total of 15 survivors have been recovered from Tuesday’s sea tragedy.
Members of IOM’s Obock team rush to site of Red Sea tragedy to assist Djibouti authorities in search for survivors and victims of Tuesday’s drownings. Photo. IOM
As of Wednesday [30 Januray 2019] evening, IOM’s team has learned that the remains of 52 victims have been recovered—three men and two women found on Tuesday and another 47 persons today [31 Januray 2019].
A preliminary UN investigation into a massacre reportedly carried out in western Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last month, reveals that “at least 535 civilians were killed in four attacks”, the UN Mission in the country, MONUSCO, said on Wednesday [30 January 2019].
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MONUSCO | General Bernard Commins, MONUSCO Force Deputy Commander, in Yumbi, where clashes between Batende and Banunu communities last December caused the deaths of hundreds, and the displacement of many others. The joint mission also visited the site where collective and individual graves had been discovered.
Alarmed by a high number of reported incidents of interference in or near Palestinian schools in the West Bank since the beginning of the school year in September, the UN called on Wednesday [30 January 2019] for them to be better-protected from the effects of Israeli occupation.
UNICEF/Ahed Izhiman | On 12 July 2018 in the State of Palestine, 8-year old Hamid looks out over the old city of Hebron from the roof of his house. Checkpoints punctuate Hebron’s old city, part of the area known as H2, and affect the movement of people, including access to education as many children must pass one or more checkpoints on their way to school.
30 January 2019 (UNHCR)* — Refugees and migrants attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea lost their lives at an alarming rate in 2018, as cuts in search and rescue operations reinforced its position as the world’s deadliest sea crossing. The latest ‘Desperate Journeys’ report, released today by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, says six lives were lost on average every day.| Español | Français | عربي
An estimated 2,275 died or went missing crossing the Mediterranean in 2018, despite a major drop in the number of arrivals reaching European shores. In total, 139,300 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe, the lowest number in five years.
“Alarming and expanding” problems affecting Palestine refugees, risk further destabilizing the Middle East, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNWRA, said on Tuesday [29 January 2019].
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.
In an appeal for $1.2 billion to fund vital services and life-saving aid for 5.4 million Palestine refugees in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl explained that people’s basic needs had worsened considerably since the turn of the century.
The latest Global Report On Trafficking In Persons, released on Tuesday [29 January 2019] by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) at UN headquarters in New York, shows a record-high number of cases detected during 2016, but also the largest recorded conviction rate of traffickers.
“The report was undertaken for a simple reason: if we want to succeed in confronting human trafficking in all its manifestations, we must better understand its scope and structure,” said Yury Fedotov, UNODC’s Executive Director as he presented the report in New York. “We need to appreciate where human trafficking is happening, who are its victims and who is perpetrating this crime.”
Tens of millions of children living through conflict, disaster and other emergencies in dozens of countries urgently need protection, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday [29 January 2019], in an appeal for $3.9 billion to support its humanitarian work around the world.
Speaking in Geneva, the agency’s Director of Emergency Operations, Manuel Fontaine, warned that conflict is at a 30-year high: “There’s never been as much conflict in the world in the past 30 years as this year, so it is obviously a particular threat,” he said.
25 January 2019 (Wall Street International)*— When twenty-eight-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an avowed Democratic Socialist, in July defeated 10-term Democratic congressman Joe Crowley in the New York primary election, fears of a socialist takeover of the country came front and center once again. Ocasio-Cortez’s own party was not completely supportive.
Nancy Pelosi, Democratic minority leader of the House pf Representatives, dismissed her win as a “local phenomena,” and former President Barack Obama did not include Ocasio-Cortez among the list of 81 candidates he was endorsing.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 