(The Guardian) – The UN’s human rights expert for Myanmar has raised alarm over a lethal escalation in hostilities in the country’s Kachin state, warning that civilians had been killed and displaced in recent government bombing. Amid reports that the military in Myanmar had blocked relief supplies to people displaced by the fighting, Yanghee Lee, the UN’s special […]
(World Vision) – Children and their families must not be forced to return under any repatriation deal without guarantees of their safety. As the UK’s ambassador to the United Nations visits Myanmar’s Rakhine state today, Britain must use its influence to call the Burmese government to account on the crisis that has forced 700,000 refugees to flee […]
(AFP) – Air strikes killed at least 23 civilians including 10 children in a village held by the Islamic State group in northeastern Syria Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. “We don’t know for the moment if the US-led international coalition or Iraqi forces carried out the strike” on the village of Al-Qasr […]
(OCHA) – Ten aid workers who were detained while on an assessment mission near Yei, Central Equatoria, have been freed. The humanitarian workers were held by an armed opposition group in South Sudan for more than five days, since 25 April. The humanitarian staff, all nationals, included one from UNOCHA, two from UNICEF, one from the […]
(Al Jazeera) – At least 11 students have been reported dead, and 16 people, including five Romanian soldiers, wounded after a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near a school and a mosque in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province. The attacker was targeting a convoy of Romanian troops patrolling the Daman district of Kandahar on Monday, TOLO News quoted […]
(NRC) – A year and a half after the historic peace agreement in Colombia was reached, whole communities are still being forcibly displaced because of violence in the country’s north-west. Four community leaders have been murdered, leaving their people in fear and forcing new leaders into hiding. When people or families are forced to flee […]
(MSF) – A team working for the international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) were victims of a violent armed robbery on Tuesday 24 April. The robbery took place in an area south of Mundri town in South Sudan. MSF condemns this brutal act. While the MSF team was delivering much-needed healthcare to remote areas of Mundri, a group of 10 unidentified armed men stopped their convoy, physically assaulted the team, threatened them with violence and took their […]
(OHCHR) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Friday called on Israel to ensure that its security forces do not resort to the use of excessive force, following the many deaths and injuries sustained by Palestinians, including children, in Gaza over the past month. He also called for those responsible to […]
(UNMISS) – A surge in violent clashes in Unity, Jonglei and Central Equatorias is having a devastating impact on thousands of civilians and on humanitarian agencies trying to provide desperately needed assistance to vulnerable people. The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is deeply concerned at the intensification of fighting in areas such as Nhialdiu, […]
(BBC) – “Maybe if we die we’ll be able to play” – it’s a sentiment echoed by many children caught up in the war in Syria, says Dr Mohammad Khalid Hamza. His team of doctors and psychologists from the Syrian American Medical Society (Sams) have been working with children affected by the seven-year conflict. They and other […]