(AP) – U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said Tuesday he saw “the early warnings of genocide” during a recent visit to Central African Republic, which has faced sectarian fighting since 2013. He said in an interview with The Associated Press that “there’s a terrible development of militias now using ethnic or religious” reasons for attacks. He […]
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(Reuters) – Iraq must ensure that women and girls subjected to sexual violence at the hands of Islamic State militants have access to justice and reparations, U.N. investigators said on Tuesday. Thousands of people, predominantly from Iraq’s ethnic and religious minorities, have been subjected to sexual violence since Islamic State militants swept across vast swathes of […]
(UNICEF) – UNICEF is extremely concerned about an appalling increase in the cruel and calculated use of children, especially girls, as ‘human bombs’ in northeast Nigeria. Children have been used repeatedly in this way over the last few years and so far this year, the number of children used is already four times higher than it […]
(Sudan Tribune) – The Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) reiterated its commitment to international standards prohibiting the use of children as soldiers and warned that disciplinary measures will be taken against the violation of this directive. “The Leadership of SLM/A fully adheres to the international norms and standards protecting child against violations including recruitment […]
(OCHA) – As I noted in my remarks to the Security Council on Friday, I have been deeply moved by the terrible, entirely avoidable human suffering in Yemen. As you know, millions of people in Yemen are facing a triple tragedy: the spectre of famine, the world’s largest ever single-year cholera outbreak, and the daily deprivation and […]
(Radio Free Asia) – A former child soldier has been arrested and charged with allegedly defaming the country’s military after telling the story of his abduction and forced conscription to RFA’s Myanmar Service. Aung Ko Htway, 26, who spent nearly a decade as a child soldier, was arrested on Friday, and faces up to two years […]
(PassBlue) – Haunted by accumulating reports of sexual exploitation and abuse of women and girls by United Nations peacekeepers and others attached to UN missions around the world, Secretary-General António Guterres is taking the bold, unprecedented step of asking all governments to sign a compact pledging to prevent and stop these violations. The compact is voluntary and bears […]
(Independent) – “It was like hell. In the hospital it was very quiet despite all the people. Everyone was crying, crying from the gas, crying from looking at the bodies. It was so full, people were laid out on the floor. I almost stepped on the body of my friend. I didn’t even realise it was […]
(Huffington Post) – Fourteen years ago, on August 19, 2003, a suicide bomber drove a truck bomb into the offices of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, killing 22 people, wounding over 100, and damaging a nearby hospital. In tribute to aid workers risking their lives in service, the UN General Assembly designated August 19 […]
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Late last year, a bunker buster bomb shot through an underground shelter in Syria’s Hama province. A group of aid workers were taking shelter inside at the time. Nine of them, all Syrian, were killed instantly. In February, six Red Cross workers were shot dead in an ambush in northern Afghanistan while travelling through […]
