Friday, February 28, 2025
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US funding cuts confirmed, ending lifesaving support for women and girls

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US funding cuts confirmed, ending lifesaving support for women and girls

“At 7pm on 26 February, UNFPA was informed that nearly all of our grants (48 as of now) with USAID and the US State Department have been terminated,” the UN agency said in a statement.

“This decision will have devastating impacts on women and girls and the health and aid workers who serve them in the world’s worst humanitarian crises.”

The USAID grants were designated to provide critical maternal healthcare, protection from violence, rape treatment and other lifesaving care in humanitarian settings.

This includes UNFPA’s work to end maternal death, safely deliver babies and address horrific violence faced by women and girls in places like Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.

From Afghanistan to Ukraine

The UN agency partners with 150 countries to provide access to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services.

Its goal is ending unmet needs for family planning, preventable maternal death, gender-based violence and harmful practices, including child marriage and female genital mutilation, by 2030.

“These termination notices include grants for which we had previously received humanitarian waivers, as they were considered lifesaving interventions for the world’s most vulnerable women and girls,” UNFPA said.

The grants funded programmes in countries including Afghanistan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Mali, Sudan, Syria and its neighbouring countries, as well as Ukraine.

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Thailand: Statement by the Spokesperson on the deportation of Uyghurs to China

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Thailand: Statement by the Spokesperson on the deportation of Uyghurs to China

Thailand: Statement by the Spokesperson on the deportation of Uyghurs to China

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UN agencies condemn Thailand’s deportation of Uyghurs to China

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UN agencies condemn Thailand’s deportation of Uyghurs to China

Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the forced return of the Uyghurs, who had been detained in Thailand for over 11 years, was deeply troubling.

“This violates the principle of non-refoulement for which there is a complete prohibition in cases where there is a real risk of torture, ill-treatment, or other irreparable harm upon their return,” he said.

Contained in Article 3 of the Convention against Torture, the principle prohibits returning individuals to a country where they face a risk of persecution, torture or ill-treatment. It is also referred to in Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The right to seek asylum and of non-refoulement are also enshrined in Article 13 of Thailand’s Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, and Article 16 of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration.

Detained since 2014

The deported men were part of a larger group of Uyghurs who were detained in Thailand in March 2014, after leaving China, bound for Türkiye.

For over a decade, they were held in immigration detention centres under poor conditions.

According to OHCHR, five members of the group have died in custody, while eight others remain detained in Thailand.

Halt further deportations

The UN rights chief also urged the Thai Government to halt any further deportations and ensure the protection of the remaining Uyghurs in detention.

The Thai authorities must ensure there are no further deportations and the remaining members of the group, including potential refugees and asylum-seekers, being held in Thailand are fully protected in accordance with their obligations under international law,” he added.

UNHCR decries forced returns

UNHCR also condemned the deportation, saying it had repeatedly sought access to the detained Uyghurs and assurances they would not be forcibly returned – a request that has so far been denied.

Ruvendrini Menikdiwela, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, reiterated that it is a “clear violation” of the non-refoulement principle and the Government’s obligations under international law.

“UNHCR calls on the Royal Thai Government to put an end to the forced return of individuals from Thailand,” she said.

Call for transparency

High Commissioner Türk also urged the Chinese authorities to reveal the whereabouts of the deported Uyghurs.

It is now important for the Chinese authorities to disclose their whereabouts, and to ensure that they are treated in accordance with international human rights standards,” he said.

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Human Rights Council: Türk calls out ‘dehumanizing’ narratives on Gaza

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Human Rights Council: Türk calls out ‘dehumanizing’ narratives on Gaza

Mr. Türk – making his closing remarks during the session reporting on the Occupied Palestinian Territory at the Human Rights Council – said he was deeply troubled by the “dangerous manipulation of language” and disinformation that surrounds discussions over the Palestine-Israel conflict.

We need to make sure that we resist all efforts to spread fear or incite hatred, including abhorrent, dehumanizing narratives, whether they’re insidious or explicit,” he said.

“My Office will continue to work for justice for every victim and survivor by establishing and documenting the facts and standing firmly for accountability and the rule of law without exception.”

Eritrean troops continue grave violations in Ethiopia

The rights body then turned its focus to Eritrea on Thursday, where despite some long-awaited progress in improving the lives of ordinary Eritreans, the country’s authorities remain responsible for widespread alleged serious crimes including inside neighbouring Ethiopia, the forum heard.

Ilze Brands Kehris, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, said that the Eritrean Defence Forces have continued to carry out grave crimes in Ethiopia’s Tigray region and elsewhere with total impunity.

Our Office (OHCHR) has credible information that Eritrean Defence Forces remain in Tigray and are committing violations, including abductions, rape, property looting, and arbitrary arrests,” she told the Council, before calling for the immediate withdrawal of Eritrean soldiers.

After a rapprochement between former enemies Eritrea and Ethiopia in 2018, Asmara sent troops to fight alongside Ethiopian federal troops against separatist rebels during the two-year conflict in Tigray, Amhara, Afar and Oromia.

No justice in sight

“In the current context, there is no likely prospect that the domestic judicial system will hold perpetrators accountable for the violations committed in the context of the Tigray conflict and in other cases,” the UN official told the Council, the world’s foremost human rights body.

In a debate seeking to address the Council’s longstanding concerns about Eritrea’s human rights record, Ms. Brands Kehris acknowledged the efforts being made by the authorities in boosting essential health services to more than one million newborns, children and women last year with the help of the UN – and in ratifying the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in December.

Conscription abuses continue

However, “serious concerns remain” about Eritrea’s system of indefinite forced military conscription, the UN official continued.

The practice has long been linked to abusive labour, torture and sexual violence which continues to compel young people to escape from the country, Ms. Brands-Kehris insisted.

Furthermore, “the punishment of families of draft deserters remains very common – an inhumane practice, against which no steps have been taken”, she said.

Echoing previous disturbing reports requested by the Human Rights on Eritrea’s rights record, the UN official said that detention without trial “remains the norm” – with many politicians, journalists, religious believers and draft deserters held incommunicado.

There is no evidence that impunity will be tackled for well-documented past human rights violations, the senior UN official said.

In response for Eritrea, Habtom Zerai Ghirmai, Chargé d’affaires a.i. to the UN in Geneva, denied the accusations, calling them exaggerated and misleading.

Sudan: We are looking into the abyss, Türk warns

Next in the spotlight was the plight of Sudan’s war-ravaged people who have been subjected to appalling crimes by all parties to the conflict – some possibly constituting war crimes and other atrocity crimes.

Today, more than 600,000 Sudanese “are on the brink of starvation”, said rights chief Volker Türk. “Famine is reported to have taken hold in five areas, including Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur, where the World Food Programme has just been forced to suspend its lifesaving operations due to intense fighting.”

Another five areas could face famine in the next three months and 17 more are at risk, he said, calling on all Member States to push urgently for a ceasefire and to ease the suffering of the Sudanese people.

Presenting his Office’s annual report on the situation in Sudan, Mr. Türk noted that the armed conflict between rival militaries that erupted in April 2023 following the breakdown in a transfer to civilian rule had generated “the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe”.

The High Commissioner’s report details myriad violations and abuses committed in Sudan and underscores the need for accountability.

‘Utter impunity’

“We are looking into the abyss. Humanitarian agencies warn that without action to end the war, deliver emergency aid, and get agriculture back on its feet, hundreds of thousands of people could die,” Mr. Türk insisted.

He added that the spiralling situation in Sudan was “the result of grave and flagrant violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, and a culture of utter impunity”.

“As the fighting has spread across the country, appalling levels of sexual violence have followed. More than half of reported rape incidents took the form of gang rape – an indication that sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war,” Mr. Türk explained.

“Sudan is a powder keg, on the verge of a further explosion into chaos,” said the UN’s top human rights official.

Responding on behalf of Sudan, Minister of Justice Moawia Osman Mohamed Khair Mohamed Ahmed, rejected allegations that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) were responsible for any of the rights violations detailed in the High Commissioner’s report.

Indifferent to suffering

Sudanese civil society representative Hanaa Eltigani described multiple mass killings of civilians attributed to the Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries including in Geneina, their shelling of Zamzan displacement camp in North Darfur and other extreme rights abuses including gang rape and the forced recruitment of children, including South Sudanese refugees.

In addition, the SAF “launched airstrikes and ground assaults, attacking Meneigo and Al-Igibesh villages in West Kordofan, bombing civilian areas in Nyala, South Darfur,” continued Ms Eltigani, Assistant Secretary-General of Youth Citizens Observers Network (YCON), insisting that while the suffering of her country’s people was “met with indifference, the flow of weapons [from abroad] continues unchecked”.

The SAF also carried out executions in Al-Jazira, Ms. Eltigani maintained, “where victims were slaughtered or thrown alive into the Nile”.

Taliban oppression deepens in Afghanistan

Turning to Afghanistan, the Council then heard that the de facto authorities’ oppression and persecution of women, girls and minorities has worsened, with no signs of improvement. 

“Some 23 million people, almost half the population, are in need of humanitarian assistance, a situation drastically worsened by the pauses and cuts to international aid,” said Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan Richard Bennett.

The independent rights expert, who is not a UN staff member, warned that left unchecked, the Taliban was likely to “intensify, expand and further entrench its rights-violating measures on the people of Afghanistan, in particular women and girls and likely religious and ethnic minorities”.

The lack of a strong, unified response from the international community has already emboldened the Taliban. We owe it to the people of Afghanistan to not embolden them still further through continued inaction.”

The Taliban seized power in 2021 and since then have passed a raft of laws that have severely stifled the freedoms of women and girls.

These include banning women and girls from most classrooms, singing or speaking outside their homes, as well as from travelling without a male guardian.

Institutionalised oppression

Women were also barred from studying medicine in December. Windows in residential buildings have also been banned on the grounds that women could be seen through them.

Afghanistan is now the epicentre of an institutionalised system of gender-based discrimination, oppression, and domination which amounts to crimes against humanity, including the crime of gender persecution,” Mr. Bennett said, presenting his report. 

Mr. Bennett urged States to ensure that any normalization of diplomatic ties with the Taliban should be dependent on demonstrated improvements in human rights.  

“We must not allow history to repeat itself,” Mr. Bennett said. “Doing so will have catastrophic consequences in and beyond Afghanistan.”

Independent rights experts are not UN staff, receive no salary for their work and are independent of any organisation or government.

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West Bank security situation remains alarming, warn UN aid agencies

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13 children killed in the West Bank since year began: UNICEF

The violence has seen exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants – and the use of bulldozers in refugee camps for the first time in 20 years which have destroyed public services, including vital electricity and water networks.

Israel’s defence minister said on Sunday forces could remain in the camps for the “coming year”. 

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN’s Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA, said that “fear, uncertainty, and grief once again prevail. Affected camps lie in ruins…Destruction of public infrastructure, bulldozing roads and access restrictions are common place.” 

More than 50 people including children have been killed since Israeli military raids started five weeks ago, the UN agency said, warning that the West Bank “is becoming a battlefield” where ordinary Palestinians are the first and worst to suffer.

Lethal force

Meanwhile, UN aid coordinating office, OCHA, also condemned the “lethal, war-like tactics” being employed by the Israeli military against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank.

OCHA confirmed further civilian casualties and mass displacement after a two-day Israeli military raid in the northern town of Qabatiya in Jenin governorate that ended on Monday.

Palestinians were detained in the operation, OCHA noted, before reiterating deep concerns about the use of excessive force against civilians and the additional humanitarian needs among people left homeless.

Responding to needs

UN partners on the ground are doing their utmost to help people uprooted by the violence despite growing “physical and administrative” challenges, OCHA said.

According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), it reached 190,000 people in January with cash assistance and has provided one-off cash assistance to more than 5,000 displaced people from the Jenin refugee camp.

Gaza cold kills six children

In neighbouring Gaza, UN and its humanitarian partners have continued to scale up food security and livelihood support, while six children reportedly died from the cold.

Needs remain enormous amid desperate humanitarian conditions caused by 15 months of constant Israeli bombardment sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel that left 1,200 dead and some 250 people captured as hostages.

Citing the Gazan health authorities, OCHA said that six children from the Gaza Strip have died in recent days because to the severe cold, bringing to 15 the total number of youngsters killed by the winter conditions.

Meanwhile, more than 800 trucks entered the Gaza Strip on Tuesday alone, OCHA said. Since the start of the ceasefire on 19 January, WFP has brought more than 30,000 tonnes of food into Gaza. More than 60 kitchens supported by the UN agency across the Strip have handed out nearly 10 million meals, including in North Gaza and Rafah in the south.

The biggest aid provider in Gaza, UNRWA, has reached nearly 1.3 million people with flour and reached about two million people with food parcels since the start of the ceasefire.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also reported that it has delivered animal feed to northern Gaza for the first time since the escalation of hostilities.

The aid delivery last week has helped 146 families with livestock in Gaza City alongside another 980 in Deir al Balah.

Between the start of the ceasefire and 21 February, FAO distributed more than 570 metric tonnes of animal feed across the Gaza Strip to some 2,300 families with livestock.

OCHA noted in addition that aid partners working in education have identified additional schools in Rafah, Khan Younis and Deir al Balah that were used as shelters for displaced people. “These schools will be assessed and repaired to prepare for their reopening,” it said. 

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Somalia faces escalating crisis amid drought, conflict and price hikes

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Somalia faces escalating crisis amid drought, conflict and price hikes

New food security assessments indicate that 4.4 million people – nearly a quarter of the population – could face “crisis” levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or higher) between April and June 2025, marking a sharp increase from 3.4 million people currently experiencing acute hunger.

Worsening drought, erratic rainfall and ongoing conflict are eroding livelihoods, pushing families deeper into crisis,” said Etienne Peterschmitt, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Somalia.

The hunger crisis is expected to be most severe among internally displaced persons (IDPs), pastoralists with limited livestock and farming households that have exhausted their food supplies.

Consecutive climate shocks

Somalia has suffered consecutive climate shocks, with below-average rainfall in late 2024 severely reducing crop yields, depleting water sources and leading to livestock losses. The effects of erratic rainfall and riverine flooding in key agricultural areas – such as Hiraan, Middle Shabelle and Middle Juba –further devastated crops.

As a result, food prices remain high, worsening food insecurity for millions of Somalis already struggling with poverty and conflict-driven displacement.

According to the latest report by the global food security tracker, IPC, 1.7 million children under five are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2025, including 466,000 with severe acute malnutrition – an increase of 9 per cent compared to last year.

Nearly two-thirds of these cases are concentrated in southern Somalia, where food insecurity is most extreme.

Children most at risk

“Past climate events demonstrate that children are the most affected, facing severe malnourishment and diseases that increase their risk of death and long-term developmental issues,” said Nisar Syed, Officer-in-Charge for the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Somalia.

He underscored the need to urgently implement better prevention measures, emphasising a multi-sector approach.

This must combine immediate humanitarian response with long-term investments in resilience and health systems, he added.

Multiple pressures

Somalia’s food crisis is driven by multiple, overlapping factors: the 2024 Deyr rainy season (October–December) brought below-average rainfall, impacting both agropastoral communities and urban dwellers reliant on local food markets.

The upcoming Gu season (April–June) is also forecast to be drier than normal, raising fears of further crop failures.

At the same time, conflict and insecurity continue to displace families and disrupt livelihoods. Fighting in central and southern Somalia has hindered access to markets and aid, making it harder for affected communities to access food and basic services.

Recurrent climate shocks, protracted conflict, disease outbreaks and widespread poverty, among other factors, have aggravated the humanitarian crisis in Somalia,” said Crispen Rukasha, Head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Somalia.

“Aid agencies are doing their best to save lives, but they urgently need adequate funding to meet the most critical needs at this juncture in Somalia,” he stressed.

Droughts are a constant threat in Somalia, in the horn of Africa.

Action stations

The agencies warned that without swift intervention, the situation could deteriorate to catastrophic levels.

Though they are working to scale up food assistance, nutrition and livelihood support, programmes could be forced to scale down or stop altogether amid “critically low” funding.

The 2025 Somalia Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, which requires $1.42 billion, is currently only 12.4 per cent funded.

“Famine was narrowly avoided in 2022 due to large-scale humanitarian support, which is needed again to provide immediate assistance while implementing longer-term solutions,” said El-Khidir Daloum, UN World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director in Somalia.

“However, funding shortfalls are forcing us to prioritize and reduce assistance at the worst possible time,” he added, urging greater international support.

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Award for Good Administration: call for nominations to open in October

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Award for Good Administration: call for nominations to open in October

The European Ombudsman will open nominations for the fifth edition of the Award for Good Administration this October. The Award ceremony will take place in 2026.
The Award recognises actions by the EU public administration that have a visible and direct positive impact on the lives of citizens. In addition to an overall award winner, a number of category winners are also selected.
The Award will be open to any EU project and any team in any EU institution, agency, or body. Nominations can be made by EU staff, citizens, businesses, associations, and civil society groups.
The overall winner of the last edition of the award in 2023 was Eurojust and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for helping civil society to document war crimes and crimes against humanity.
More information
2023 award winners and ceremony

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Conflict has turned parts of Sudan ‘into a hellscape,’ Security Council hears

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Conflict has turned parts of Sudan ‘into a hellscape,’ Security Council hears

Now more than ever, two years on, the people of Sudan need your action,” Edem Wosornu of the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, said in a briefing to ambassadors on Wednesday.

“Nearly two years of relentless conflict in Sudan have inflicted immense suffering and turned parts of the country into a hellscape,” she added, listing some of the impacts.

Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left more than half the country, 24.6 million people, experiencing acute hunger.

Additionally, more than 12 million are now displaced, including 3.4 million who have fled across the border. Health services have collapsed, millions of children are out of school and relentless patterns of sexual violence have occurred.

Recent alarming developments

Ms. Wosornu focused on the latest alarming developments in North Darfur state, including the Zamzam displacement camp, and in Khartoum as well as the south of the country.

She said eight months after the Council adopted Resolution 2739 (2024), civilians in North Darfur remain under attack. The resolution demanded the RSF stop besieging the state capital, El Fasher.

Meanwhile, violence in and around Zamzam camp has further intensified. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of civilians are living there, where famine conditions have been confirmed. 

She said satellite imagery confirms the use of heavy weaponry in and around Zamzam in recent weeks, and the destruction of the main market facilities there. 

Terrified civilians, including humanitarian workers, were unable to leave the area when the fighting was most intense. Many were killed, including at least two humanitarian workers,” she added.

The deteriorating security situation forced the medical humanitarian organization MSF – the main provider of health and nutrition services in Zamzam camp – to halt its operations there, while the World Food Programme (WFP) confirmed suspension of the voucher-based food assistance system.

Famine conditions were confirmed in Zamzam last August and since then, WFP has managed to transport just one convoy of humanitarian supplies into the camp despite repeated attempts to deliver more.        

The UN agency warned that without immediate assistance, thousands could starve in the coming weeks. 

Fierce fighting elsewhere

Civilians also continue to be directly impacted by ongoing fierce fighting in parts of Khartoum, where the UN human rights office, OHCHR, has verified reports of summary executions of civilians in areas that have changed hands.

“We remain deeply concerned about the very serious risks faced by local responders and community volunteers, in Khartoum and elsewhere,” she said.

Ms. Wosornu noted that in southern Sudan, there are reports of fighting spreading into new areas in North Kordofan and South Kordofan states, increasing risks for civilians and further complicating movements of humanitarian personnel and supplies.

Shocking reports of further atrocities in White Nile state have also emerged, including a wave of attacks earlier this month reported to have killed scores of civilians.

Sudan. Offloading of barge transported food aid

Support humanitarian response

She recalled that last week saw the launch of the 2025 humanitarian response plans for Sudan and the region. Together they call for $6 billion to support nearly 25 million people in Sudan and up to five million others, mainly refugees, in neighbouring countries.

She said the international community, particularly Security Council members, must spare no effort to mitigate the crisis.

Ms. Wosornu concluded her remarks by presenting three “key asks”. 

“We call on the Security Council – and all Member States with influence – to take immediate action to ensure all actors comply with international humanitarian law and protect civilians and the infrastructure and services they rely on,” she said. 

Her second request highlighted the importance of access, as “we need real implementation of the repeated commitments to facilitate and enable unhindered, unfettered humanitarian access to civilians in need.”

Finally, she highlighted the funding shortfall. 

“The scale of Sudan’s needs is unprecedented and requires an equally unprecedented mobilization of international support, including flexible funding,” she said. 

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Press releases – European Union

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Thailand: Statement by the Spokesperson on the deportation of Uyghurs to China

EU needs fairer and simpler rules to stay competitive

Giorgia BATTIATO
Wed, 26/02/2025 – 15:06

Expanding across borders in the EU means navigating a maze of conflicting VAT rules and paperwork, driving up costs…

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Human Rights Council: Gaza ceasefire must hold, Türk insists

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Human Rights Council: Gaza ceasefire must hold, Türk insists

Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva on conditions inside the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Mr. Türk condemned the Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel that sparked the war in October 2023.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also said there was no justification for Israel’s devastating military operations in Gaza, which have left more than 48,000 Palestinians dead, according to local authorities.

Search for a better future

“At this tenuous moment the world must ask itself how to resolve this decades old conflict and stop the cycle of violence,” he said.

Any plans for a better future must deal with the past, so accountability and justice for violations are crucial.”

The High Commissioner added that each phase of the ceasefire must be implemented “in good faith, and in full. All of us must do everything in our power to build on it.”

He said it must be for the Palestinians themselves to determine their own future.

According to news reports, the delayed release by Israel of Palestinian prisoners is expected to go ahead imminently, in exchange for the return of the bodies of four hostages.

‘Unprecedented disregard’

Summing up the “raft of human rights violations” inside the Occupied Palestinian Territory and lack of accountability, he said there had been “an unprecedented disregard” for basic principles of international humanitarian law by both sides since the outbreak of hostilities in October 2023.

Mr. Türk maintained there were serious doubts over Israel’s capacity and will to deliver full accountability, notably in relation to unlawful killings in Gaza and the West Bank.

With Hamas and other Palestinian militants who have taken and tortured hostages, fired indiscriminate projectiles into Israel – amounting to war crimes – there are concerns that they may also have committed serious breaches “including the intentional co-location of military objectives and Palestinian civilians.”

“Any attempts at shaping a peaceful future where such horrors do not recur must ensure that perpetrators are held to account,” said the High Commissioner. 

Impunity when given free rein, harms not only those directly impacted but generations down the line, he contended.

In an apparent response to the outlawing of the UN Palestine refugee relief agency, UNRWA, by Israel and the sanctions against the International Criminal Court by the US earlier this month, the UN rights chief said that “delegitimising and threatening international institutions that are there to serve people and uphold international law also harms us all.”

He also said any attempt to annex Palestinian land or “forced transfer” of civilians must be resisted.

“This is the moment for voices of reason to prevail; for solutions that will deliver justice and make space for compassion, healing and truth telling,” said Mr. Türk.

‘Systemic’ repression in Nicaragua

Investigators tasked by the UN Human Rights Council to track alleged grave abuses of power by top Nicaraguan officials insisted on Wednesday that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) should prosecute what they called the systematic and systemic repression of the country’s people.

The Group of Experts on Nicaragua – who act in an independent capacity and are not UN staff – have previously reported that the Government’s violations appear to constitute crimes against humanity of murder, imprisonment and torture – including rape.

Their latest report will be presented later this week to the Council.

The group maintains that President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo, have created “an authoritarian State where no independent institutions remain, opposition voices are silenced and the population…faces persecution, forced exile, and economic retaliation”.

Stifling dissent

It was in response to grave concerns about the severe repression of civil rights in Nicaragua that the international community decided in 2018 to establish an investigative body to report back to the Council.

“We call on States to hold Nicaragua accountable for its violations of the UN Convention on Torture and the UN Convention on Statelessness before the International Court of Justice…the international community cannot just bear witness. It needs to take concrete measures,” said Reed Brody, member of the Group of Experts.

“No country in the world has used the arbitrary detention of nationality against political opponents at the same scale that Nicaragua has done; and this is a violation of its obligations under international law under the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness,” Mr. Brody continued.

‘Machine of repression’

According to the panel’s chair, Jan-Michael Simon, State machinery and the ruling Sandinista party “have virtually fused into a unified machine of repression with domestic and transnational impact.”

This development – which has reduced the judicial, legislative and electoral powers “to mere bodies coordinated by the presidency” – has resulted in myriad deaths, “arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, expulsion of nationals, arbitrary deprivation of nationality,” Mr. Simon insisted.

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