A panel of UN experts have called the bombings of schools and hospitals in Gaza as crimes against humanity and highlighted the "risk of genocide against the Palestinian people". The experts raised serious humanitarian and legal concerns over Israel tightening its 16-year siege of the enclave and its population and long-standing occupation, depriving 2.2 million people of essential food, fuel, water, electricity and medicine. An estimated 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, are in desperate need of prenatal and postnatal care. The number of internally displaced people across the Gaza Strip is...
The escalation in fatalities and severe human rights violations against innocent civilians in Darfur, including refugees and internally displaced people, is worsening six months into the deadly conflict in Sudan. According to UNHCR’s newly released protection brief , nearly 4,000 civilians have been killed and 8,400 injured in Darfur, between 15 April and the end of August, with the majority believed to have been targeted mainly due to their ethnicity, particularly in West Darfur. Tragically, displaced children, including refugees, have been caught in the crossfire, killed or maimed as their...
Meta should immediately pay reparations to the Rohingya for the role that Facebook played in the ethnic cleansing of the persecuted minority group, Amnesty International said today, on the sixth anniversary of the Myanmar military’s brutal operation during which they raped Rohingya women and girls, burned down entire villages, and killed thousands. “Six years have gone by since Meta contributed to the terrible atrocities perpetrated against the Rohingya people. Yet although this stands out as one of the most egregious examples of a social media company’s involvement in a human rights crisis,...
Australians have rejected a proposal to recognise Aboriginal people in the country’s constitution and establish a body to advise parliament on Indigenous issues. Saturday’s voice to parliament referendum failed, with the defeat clear shortly after polls closed. To succeed, the yes campaign – advocating for the voice – needed to secure a double majority, meaning it needed both a majority of the national vote, as well as majorities in four of Australia’s six states. The defeat will be seen by Indigenous advocates as a blow to what has been a hard fought struggle to progress reconciliation and...
The International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) released its final report today detailing human rights violations committed during the two-year war in Tigray, Amhara, Afar and ongoing conflict in the Oromia region before its mandate was terminated. The draft motion to extend the ICHREE was not renewed and passed its deadline on October 4th, despite repeated appeals from leading human rights organisations worldwide calling for its extension. In the weeks prior to this deadline, members of the Commission sounded alarms over the high risk of continued atrocities absent...
Dozens of people have been killed by an artillery strike on a refugee camp in the Kachin state. 30 people, including women and children, were killed in Myanmar in an artillery strike on a camp for displaced people in Kachin State near the border with China The attack took place at Mung Lai Hkyet IDP camp, a few kilometres from a military base run by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the military wing of the KIO and one of many groups fighting against Myanmar’s military junta , which seized power in 2021. Col. Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the KIA, told The Associated Press that 29 people,...
Israel's use of white phosphorous "violates international humanitarian law", Human Rights Watch reports following attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. Israel’s use of white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a question and answer document on white phosphorus. Human Rights Watch verified videos taken in Lebanon and Gaza on October 10 and 11, 2023, respectively, showing multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the...
srael has declared a "complete siege" on Gaza as the United Nations states there is " clear evidence " of war crimes committed in the conflict. 900 Palestinians have been killed, which includes 260 children following intense bombing by Israel across Gaza. The area is home to about 2.3 million people in total - 80% of whom rely on humanitarian aid. Since the attacks began on Saturday morning, Israel has stopped all supplies entering Gaza, including food and medicine. Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said more than a dozen healthcare workers had been killed or injured and at least seven medical centres had been damaged.
Pakistan has ordered for the deportation of an estimated 1.7 million Afghan refugees by the end of November, in a move the Taliban has opposed as “unacceptable”. The recent crackdown follows a deadly blast at a mosque in Mastung city near the Afghanistan border, resulting in over 50 casualties during a religious celebration. Balochistan province, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, has been a frequent target of armed groups, including the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Islamic State. Pakistan’s caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti alleged that Afghan nationals had carried out...
India has told Canada to remove 41 of its 62 staff in the country, in an escalation of diplomatic tensions between the two countries. According to officials who spoke to the Financial Times , the Indian foreign ministry has given Canada a week to repatriate two-thirds of its diplomats stationed in India, reducing the number to 21. An official familiar with the matter confirmed the report to the Associated Press. Those who stayed past 10 October would lose their diplomatic immunity, the Financial Times first reported. India’s Ministry of External Affairs declined to comment, but ministry...