Human Rights

The situation for civilians in the Gaza Strip is getting worse by the day. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that food stocks and other essential supplies in Gaza are largely depleted or have run out, and the situation is desperate as no humanitarian or commercial supplies have entered the territory for more than eight weeks. In addition, escalating Israeli attacks, movement restrictions and the expansion of military zones have made humanitarian operations nearly impossible, putting civilians and aid workers at extreme risk.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Wednesday expressed deep concern about the impact of ongoing airstrikes on civilians in Yemen and the infrastructure they rely on, including health facilities. More than two dozen airstrikes have been reported since Monday. Meanwhile, humanitarian agencies continue to receive updates on the devastating impact of the attacks in recent days.

Since the beginning of the year, renewed fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) has led to a dramatic deterioration of the humanitarian situation and mass displacement, particularly in North and South Kivu provinces. Widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have been reported, including summary executions, indiscriminate attacks, sexual violence, and the recruitment of children.

In its latest update on Gaza, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that humanitarian supplies are nearing total depletion since Israel imposed a complete blockade on commercial goods and humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip on March 2. More than 2 million people remain trapped, bombed and starving inside the territory, while Israeli attacks on civilians, aid workers, UN personnel, hospitals and ambulances continue with impunity.

The latest food security report on Haiti - out this week - shows that a record 5.7 million people - more than half of all Haitians - are expected to experience acute hunger between now and June 2025, driven by relentless gang violence and ongoing economic collapse. Rising armed violence has also fueled massive displacement as armed gangs seek to expand their control, forcing more than one million people from their homes.

A sharp deterioration in the political and security situation in South Sudan threatens to undermine the peace gains achieved so far and plunge the country back into war, the head of the United Nations mission in the country warned the UN Security Council on Wednesday, stressing the need for all parties to cease hostilities and respect the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement in South Sudan, where three quarters of the population are in need of humanitarian assistance.

As humanitarians around the world marked two years since the start of Sudan's relentless and widely neglected war, large-scale atrocities involving hundreds of civilian deaths and mass displacement have been reported from the Zamzam displacement camp near the town of El Fasher in Sudan's North Darfur state. This follows reports that armed groups affiliated with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of the camp over the weekend.

The United Nations has condemned a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Sunday that reportedly killed at least 35 people, including two children, and injured at least 117 others, including 15 children. The two missiles hit a busy street in the center of the city in the northeast of the country, damaging residential buildings, an educational institution and civilian vehicles as people were out celebrating Palm Sunday, a major religious holiday in Ukraine.

Nearly two years after war broke out in Sudan, the heads of five international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have called on world leaders to take immediate, concrete action to end the conflict, protect civilians, and ensure aid reaches those who need it. In a joint statement on Thursday, the humanitarian leaders said "slow, too timid and dangerously inadequate" action has claimed countless lives already.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) continues to sound the alarm about rising violence and deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Haiti, particularly in the department of Centre and the department of Ouest, where the capital Port-au-Prince is located. Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,500 people have been killed and more than 570 others injured in gang-related violence, according to a new UN human rights report.

Top United Nations officials on Monday called for urgent global action to save Palestinians in Gaza, highlighting once again the catastrophic humanitarian crisis. For more than a month, Gaza has been cut off from commercial and humanitarian supplies, leaving more than 2.1 million people trapped, bombed and starving. Meanwhile, Israeli attacks on civilians, including aid workers, journalists, UN personnel, hospitals and ambulances, continue with impunity.

Analysts warn that rivalries among Tigrayan political leaders in northern Ethiopia threaten to derail the process of reintegrating the Tigray region into Ethiopia's federal structure, and could rapidly escalate into a wider conflict involving Eritrea. More than two years after a ceasefire ended the war between Ethiopian government forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in which an estimated 600,000 people died, Tigray remains highly fragile.

United Nations relief chief Tom Fletcher on Friday again called on the international community to protect civilians in Gaza and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, in accordance with international law, as Israeli attacks on civilians, aid workers, UN personnel, hospitals and ambulances continue with impunity. The complete blockade of humanitarian aid and commercial goods into Gaza, imposed by Israel four weeks ago, remains in place.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday that violent clashes in parts of the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) continue to harm civilians and force them to flee their homes. In parallel, the ongoing conflict in the east of the country has exacerbated the food crisis, with an estimated 27.7 million Congolese facing acute hunger.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Wednesday expressed shock at reports that as many as hundreds of civilians were killed and many others injured in air strikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on a crowded market in Tora village, Sudan's North Darfur State, on Monday. There are conflicting reports on the number of casualties, ranging from several dozen to hundreds.

At least 8,938 people died on mixed migration routes worldwide in 2024, making it the deadliest year on record, according to new data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).  The IOM said Friday that the 2024 toll continues a five-year trend of more deaths each year, and that last year's toll surpassed the previous record set in 2023, when 8,747 deaths were recorded.  

Death, injury and permanent family separation are among the traumatic events that have upended the lives of Ukraine's children in the three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country, according to a report by the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) released on Friday, as a high-level independent inquiry into the invasion also delivered its latest mandated report to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) on Wednesday.

Renewed Israeli airstrikes against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday killed hundreds of people, including more than 100 children, and injured hundreds of others, Gaza officials said. The collapse of the ceasefire in Gaza and the large-scale civilian deaths have been met with shock by senior United Nations officials and humanitarian organizations around the world.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that clashes and insecurity continue to kill and injure civilians in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo). Ongoing fighting between non-state armed groups (NSAGs) and the Congolese army, and attacks by NSAGs against civilians, are also causing record displacement, with eastern DRC facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday that more than one million people in Myanmar will be cut off from life-saving food assistance from April due to a critical funding shortfall. The warning comes as escalating conflict, displacement and restricted access are driving up food aid needs, with an estimated 15.2 million people - nearly a third of Myanmar's population - threatened by hunger in 2025.

The number of people killed in several days of clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of former President Bashar al-Assad, followed by large-scale massacres, has risen to more than 1,000, a human rights monitoring group said on Saturday, marking some of the deadliest violence since Syria's civil war began 14 years ago. Since Thursday, escalating hostilities in the governorates of Tartus, Lattakia, Homs and Hama have also resulted in civilian injuries, displacement and damage to civilian infrastructure.

Armed groups, including one linked to the Armed Forces of the Central African Republic (CAR), have committed grave human rights violations in the Haut Oubangui region in the south-east of the country, mainly against Muslim communities and Sudanese refugees and asylum-seekers, according to a new UN report. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation in CAR remains critical as the population continues to face insecurity, while the ongoing war in Sudan exacerbates the situation.

Insecurity and horrific sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, DRC) have forced tens of thousands to flee across borders, with no sign of the exodus stopping, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. UNHCR reiterated its call on all countries to allow access to their territories for civilians fleeing conflict and violence in DRC, to guarantee the right to seek asylum and to ensure respect for the principle of non-refoulement.

In a gross violation of international humanitarian law, Israel has blocked the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip since Sunday. The total blockade came amid stalled cessation of hostilities talks. The Red Cross Movement warns that the closure of all crossings for aid into Gaza poses a grave risk to the millions of people who have been struggling to survive for sixteen months.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights says the devastating human rights crisis in Sudan has created the world's largest humanitarian catastrophe. Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva on Thursday, Volker Türk also warned of an increasing risk of atrocity crimes and mass deaths from famine as a result of the conflict, which began in April 2023.

February 24, 2025, marks three years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has left more than 42,000 people dead or wounded. Humanitarian needs remain critical across the country, as lives and communities are devastated by attacks on civilian infrastructure. The civilian population continues to be at risk from relentless Russian attacks, particularly on the eastern and southern frontlines.

The United Nations and its partner agencies in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras on Wednesday launched this year's humanitarian response plans to assist 2.2 million people in need, seeking a total of US$306 million. The three countries continue to face violence, food insecurity, extreme weather events and mixed movements of refugees and migrants, with more than 4.6 million people in need of humanitarian aid in 2025.

Diplomats for Afghanistan's ruling Taliban said Wednesday that neighboring Pakistan is implementing a plan for the "imminent" and rapid mass deportation of nearly three million Afghan refugees from its territory. More than 825,000 undocumented Afghans have already been forcibly repatriated from Pakistan since September 2023, as a result of a government crackdown on foreigners living in the country without legal permission or whose visas have expired.

The United Nations and humanitarian partners on Monday launched the 2025 humanitarian and refugee response plans for Sudan, appealing for a combined US$6 billion to support nearly 26 million people inside the country and in the wider region. Nearly two years of war have created a catastrophic crisis, uprooting more than 12.6 million people inside Sudan and across borders into other countries.

The Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebel group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reportedly advanced into the region's second largest city, Bukavu, after capturing the key town of Goma in January. The advance is causing chaos and panic among residents. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of displaced women, men and children in Goma, with nowhere to go, are being driven from their homes by the M23.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations continue to scale up much-needed relief efforts in the Gaza Strip. In a statement on Thursday, OCHA reiterated that maintaining the ceasefire is "crucial to keep this life-saving work going," amid reports that the truce's continuation is threatened by reported disagreements over its implementation.

The United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) warns that the civilian death toll in Sudan continues to mount as hostilities between the warring parties sharply escalate. The dire warning comes as Sudan remains in a dire humanitarian situation, with famine spreading, people starving to death and 30 million people - two-thirds of Sudan's population - in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of the war.

Nearly 3,000 people have been killed in fighting between the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebel group and the Congolese army for control of Goma, a key eastern city and the capital of North Kivu province, a senior United Nations official in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo) said on Wednesday. The fighting has displaced at least 700,000 people in Goma and surrounding areas since early January, creating a dire humanitarian situation.

Gang violence in Haiti continues to have a devastating impact on the country's population, according to a new human rights report by the United Nations political mission in Haiti (BINUH). Tuesday's report, which covers the last quarter of 2024, says at least 1,732 people were killed and 411 injured as a result of direct gang violence, as well as self-defense groups and police operations.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says its staff are continuing to deliver aid to people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, who depend on them "for their very survival," days after an Israeli parliamentary ban on its activities went into effect. As the humanitarian operation in Gaza continues, UNRWA says it is committed “to stay and deliver until it is no longer possible to do so.”

The United Nations peacekeeping chief said Friday that the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebel group is advancing on the South Kivu provincial capital of Bukavu, after seizing control of Goma in the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, DR Congo) earlier this week. Meanwhile, UN agencies warn that the situation continues to deteriorate for civilians trapped by days of intense fighting in and around Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

Hunger has reached alarming levels in Myanmar and the situation is set to deteriorate further in 2025, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) warned on Wednesday. A staggering 15 million people are expected to go hungry this year, rising from 13.3 million in 2024. The warning comes as Myanmar nears four years since the military seized power in the Southeast Asian country.

International rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has expressed concern for civilians in the town of Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after M23 rebels reportedly took control of the city. The rebel group's capture of Goma further threatens the lives of civilians and could lead to further displacement, the rights group said.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has expressed grave concern for the safety of civilians and internally displaced people (IDPs) in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo) as fighting between the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebel group and the Congolese army further intensifies in South and North Kivu provinces, with the armed group advancing on the North Kivu capital of Goma.

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Thursday that he is seeking arrest warrants for senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan accused of crimes against humanity, citing widespread persecution of the country's female population and its LGBTQI+ population. The request comes as Afghanistan continues to suffer from one of the world's largest human rights and humanitarian crises.

The United Nations and its humanitarian partners, together with the Government of Mali, launched on Tuesday a $770 million Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) to help millions of people across Mali this year. The plan aims to respond to the urgent needs of 4.7 million people affected by conflict, displacement, health emergencies and climate shocks, out of a projected 6.4 million people in need of assistance in 2025.

Colombia's Catatumbo region has descended into an acute humanitarian crisis following intensified violent clashes between non-state armed groups (NSAGs), in particular the National Liberation Army (ELN) and splinter groups of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). With more than 80 people killed in armed violence, President Gustavo Petro Urrego suspended peace talks with the ELN.

A ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas took effect in the Gaza Strip on Sunday at 11:15 am local time, after more than 470 days of war that have devastated the tiny territory and left its two million inhabitants in dire need of the basics to survive. According to the United Nations, more than 630 trucks of humanitarian goods entered Gaza on the first day of the truce, with at least 300 of them going to the northern Gaza Strip, which has been cut off from aid for months.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned on Friday that Sudanese civilians are in greater danger than ever, as ethnically motivated attacks by warring parties are becoming "increasingly common." The warning comes amid reports of an imminent battle for control of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. The conflict in Sudan has sparked famine, killed tens of thousands of people, and driven millions from their homes.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has voiced alarm over the escalating violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, DR Congo), which has already displaced 237,000 people this year. Clashes between non-state armed groups and the Congolese army in North and South Kivu provinces are exacerbating one of the world's most under-reported humanitarian crises, characterized by widespread human rights violations and massive forced displacement.

The United States government this week labelled the actions of Sudan's paramilitary forces as genocide and imposed sanctions on its leader for the "horrific, systematic atrocities" committed by his forces in a war that has gripped Sudan for nearly two years, killing tens of thousands of people and driving more than 12 million from their homes. Yet at the same time, the US administration denies that war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide are being committed in the Gaza Strip.