Security Council

After an 11-week total blockade of humanitarian and commercial goods into the Gaza Strip, Israeli authorities have temporarily allowed the resumption of limited aid deliveries since Monday. While the entry of some trucks has been welcomed as a positive development, as of Wednesday night none of the supplies had reached those in need, amid extreme deprivation throughout the territory.

The human rights group Amnesty International (AI) accused Israel of committing acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza in a report released Thursday. It's the first time the leading non-governmental human rights organization has leveled such an accusation during an active conflict. Genocide is a term used to describe violent crimes committed against a group with the intent to destroy the existence of the group, in whole or in part.

The United Nations, the Government of Cameroon and the humanitarian community have jointly launched the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for the country, where 3.4 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance this year. The Plan, released this week, targets 2.3 million vulnerable women, girls, men and boys in the most affected areas and requires US$371.4 million.

The European Union (EU) says it is gravely concerned by the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo, DRC), which recently led to an immediate system-wide scale-up by the United Nations of humanitarian operations in the eastern part of the country. In a statement Friday by its High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, the EU also expressed outrage at the levels of violence and atrocities that continue to be perpetrated by armed groups with impunity against civilians. 

The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has allocated $5.9 million to support the rapid response to urgent humanitarian needs in Burkina Faso, particularly those of displaced people. This allocation comes amid the ongoing global funding crisis, and Burkina Faso being one of the most neglected displacement crises worldwide driven by insecurity and climate-related factors, such as drought and flooding.

The United Nations human rights office has condemned the increasing frequency of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) strikes on schools in the Gaza Strip, where hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinians have sought shelter, carried out "with apparent disregard for the high rate of civilian fatalities." The condemnation follows dozens of IDF attacks on schools-turned-shelters in July, and horrific early Saturday morning strikes that killed up to 100 people.

United Nations human rights experts have warned Thursday about catastrophic consequences for Myanmar Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh if life-saving food aid is slashed, and issued an urgent plea for donations to the Rohingya Refugee Response. The warning comes as the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced this week it will have to cut food assistance to Rohingya refugees for the first time since they fled Myanmar six years ago.

In a joint appeal Wednesday, the heads of UN humanitarian agencies and global non-governmental organizations (NGOs) urged world leaders to help prevent a further deterioration of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children. They also called on Israel to fulfill its legal obligation under international humanitarian and human rights law to provide food and medical supplies and facilitate relief efforts.

As the Israeli government’s ongoing siege starves the people of Gaza, 115 humanitarian organizations have sounded the alarm on Wednesday, urging governments to act. The organizations demand decisive action, including opening all land crossings and restoring the full flow of food, clean water, medical supplies, shelter items, and fuel through a principled United Nations–led mechanism. They also demand an end to the siege and a ceasefire now.

The United Nations humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, said in a statement on Wednesday that the world is watching horrifying scenes day after day of Palestinians being shot, wounded, or killed in the Gaza Strip simply for trying to eat. The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has recorded the deaths of at least 82 Palestinians and the injuries of at least 506 others, reportedly while they were trying to reach food distribution points in Rafah and Deir al Balah.

According to reports from the humanitarian office of the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 50,000 people have been forced to flee in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province following escalating attacks by non-state armed groups (NSAGs) and heightened fear of violence. The province is the epicenter of an ongoing armed conflict, and internal displacement is prevalent.

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.

This week marks the sixth anniversary since over 700,000 Rohingya women, men and children fled Myanmar to Bangladesh, following coordinated attacks by the Myanmar military. They joined hundreds of thousands of other Rohingya who had previously sought refuge in the country. The United Nations (UN) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are calling this week for renewed commitment from the international community to sustain the humanitarian response for nearly one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

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.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has begun rolling out food distributions to nearly 900,000 refugees in Ethiopia, following a full revamp of the safeguards and controls in its refugee operations. WFP said Monday that families living in refugee camps across five regions are receiving food parcels for the first time since the UN agency paused food distributions in June 2023, following reports of large-scale diversions. 

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) released its annual Emergency Watchlist on Wednesday, spotlighting the 20 countries most likely to face escalating humanitarian needs in the coming year. According to the dire ranking, the top five crises are Sudan, the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Myanmar, Syria and South Sudan, as war and climate change fuel new and ongoing humanitarian emergencies around the world.

More than eleven months into the armed conflict in Sudan, 24 million children are at risk of a “generational catastrophe”, and their rights to life, survival, protection, education, health, and development have all been gravely violated, a UN committee has said. To mark nearly a year of brutality against Sudanese children, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) issued a statement on Monday, urging Sudan to immediately put an end to these grave violations and stop recruiting children into its armed forces.

The "Illegal Migration Bill", which has now been passed by Parliament in the United Kingdom (UK), is “at variance with the country’s obligations under international human rights and refugee law” and will have profound consequences for people in need of international protection, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned today. In order for the Bill to come into force, it requires the approval – royal assent - of King Charles III. 

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says three million children in the Central African Republic (CAR) face the highest recorded level of overlapping and interrelated crises and deprivation in the world.  The UN agency warned on Tuesday that ten years of protracted conflict and instability in the Central African country had rendered children invisible and at risk of being completely forgotten by international donors, the global media and the public.