Genocide

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has recorded an alarming rise in the death toll of Rohingya refugees while attempting dangerous sea journeys in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal in 2022. UNHCR said Tuesday at least 348 people died or disappeared while fleeing Myanmar or Bangladesh by sea last year, making it one of the deadliest years since 2014.

The Myanmar Armed Forces have carried out deadly airstrikes which reportedly killed as many as 100 people in an opposition stronghold in the northwest on Tuesday. The air strike is one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since Myanmar's military seized power in a coup in February 2021. According to media reports, most of the injured and dead are women and children.

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 reports that intense fighting in Myanmar’s northern Shan providence continues and has now extended to the north-west of the country. Within two weeks, some 90,000 people have been displaced in northern Shan and the region of Sagaing. In its latest situation report released Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said a combination of “active conflict, monsoon floods, and access barriers” is worsening the humanitarian situation facing vulnerable communities nationwide.

The United Nations estimates more than 578,000 people have been displaced due to the clashes and aerial bombardments since the end of October in Myanmar, although communication blackouts are making numbers difficult to verify.  In its latest situation report released Friday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said more than two thirds of the country are affected by fighting between the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) and non-state armed groups, including Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) as well as People's Defense Forces (PDFs).

Amid the alarming humanitarian situation in Sudan, the UN Security Council on Thursday demanded that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) end their siege of the North Darfur capital, El Fasher, as they move to take the last remaining town in the Western Darfur region from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Meanwhile, the humanitarian emergency remains severely underfunded, despite the United States pledging US$315 million in additional funding to Sudan on Friday.

Members of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya community living as refugees in Bangladesh are again voicing opposition to efforts to repatriate many of them. They say that the Myanmar government has not met their demands over citizenship rights and that it is not safe for them to go back to Myanmar’s Rakhine state. Those concerns come amid a plan for their repatriation to Myanmar in the coming weeks.

The IPC Famine Review Committee (FRC) issued an alert on Friday warning that famine is likely imminent in areas of the northern Gaza Strip, while the humanitarian situation throughout the territory is extremely grave and rapidly deteriorating. Meanwhile, a report by the United Nations Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has accused the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) of committing serious violations of international law in Gaza, many of which may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.

The passage of Tropical Cyclone Mocha across western and northern Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh on Sunday and Monday has caused widespread damage, leaving at least 500 people dead and hundreds injured, according to initial reports. While some 100,000 people were evacuated, 5.4 million people in Myanmar were in the cyclone's path, with estimates suggesting nearly 3.2 million of the country's most vulnerable are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Independent investigators appointed by the United Nations have accused Sudan's warring parties of driving the country into a humanitarian abyss by flagrantly disregarding basic human rights and international humanitarian law. The three-member International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan presented its first oral update to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has increased the value of its monthly food voucher from US$8 to US$10 per person for the entire Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar, the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh. The move, starting January 1, comes after a sharp reduction of food aid by one third in 2023. In March last year, the voucher value for refugees was reduced from US$12 to US$10, a further reduction - down to US$8 - was implemented in June, leaving tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees hungry and in growing despair.

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 heads of more than a dozen United Nations agencies and international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have issued a rare joint statement Sunday calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Gaza officials reported today that more than 10,000 Palestinians - including more than 4,100 children - have been killed since October 7 by Israel’s retaliatory attacks against the tiny enclave.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says it is closely monitoring developments in Myanmar, where anti-military armed groups and their allies have made significant advances, and several hundred soldiers had reportedly chosen to lay down their weapons. In the fighting so far, around 70 people have been reportedly killed and over 90 wounded, with more than 200,000 internally displaced since the end of October.

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.

More than a year after the start of the war in Sudan, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Friday it remains extremely concerned about shocking levels of violence and devastating risks as many areas across the country remain beyond the reach of aid organizations. Among these areas is Sudan's North Darfur state, where intensifying clashes between the warring parties are preventing aid deliveries to the wider Darfur region.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that Palestinians in northern Gaza are experiencing extreme suffering as the Israeli siege of the area continues. OCHA says there are harrowing levels of death, injury and destruction in the north. Meanwhile, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) describe apocalyptic scenes as atrocities against civilians and attacks on hospitals intensify.