Syria: UN health agency launches $56.4 million appeal to meet critical needs
In addition, the developments since late November, culminating with the overthrow of the Assad regime added new dimensions to the crisis, including population displacements as well as return of Syrian refugees from neighbouring countries. Since November 2024, over 882,000 Syrians…
Over 207 executed in Port-au-Prince massacre: UN report
The report by the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) covers the period between 6 and 11 December, during which 134 men and 73 women were killed. Most of…
Only 3 per cent of UN emergency food aid getting to desperate Gazans
At the end of December, a joint UN convoy of nine trucks successfully reached people in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, who had been cut off from aid for over 75 days. Images taken by UN staffers showed desperate residents rushing…
Syria: UN investigators call for protecting evidence amid worsening humanitarian crisis
In parallel, the International, Impartial, and Independent Mechanism for Syria (IIIM) concluded a historic visit to Damascus, emphasizing the urgency of preserving evidence related to the most serious international crimes before it is irretrievably lost. Fuel shortages, disrupted roads Essential…
Yemen bears world’s highest cholera burden, deepening humanitarian crisis
November saw a sharp increase in cholera cases and deaths compared to the same period in 2023, with suspected cases rising by 37 per cent and deaths by 27 per cent. Yemen’s cholera crisis comes on top of more than…
UN surge teams mobilise as Vanuatu hit by second earthquake
A state of emergency remains in effect across the island nation, and a seven-day dusk-to-dawn curfew in parts of Port Vila was scheduled to end on 24 December. Access road to the seaport is also reportedly blocked. The second earthquake…
Gaza is now a graveyard and there’s no escape, say UN aid teams
“The world is not seeing what’s going on with these people, it’s impossible for families to shelter in these conditions,” said Louise Wateridge, from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Speaking from Nuseirat in central Gaza after heavy winter rains…
Syria: Rights investigators call for protection of evidence, including mass grave sites
A team from the Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Syria visited former prisons and detention centres, including the notorious Sednaya and the Military Intelligence Branch 235 prisons. It is the first time the team has been able to…
Sudan’s El Fasher siege: UN humanitarians killed as refugee crisis intensifies
In a new report, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) has detailed the catastrophic humanitarian situation unfolding in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state. The city has been under siege for seven months by fighters from the…
Security and economic woes plague West Africa, as key elections loom
Leonardo Santos Simão, highlighted upcoming presidential elections in Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau, and the adoption of constitutional reforms amid a strained political environment in Gambia. He also commended recent successful elections in Ghana and Senegal, noting the signing of a…