“The escalating war is taking a heavy toll on civilians who live close to the front lines, people who cannot go back to their homes, and people across the country living under almost daily threats of attacks,” said Jens Laerke, from the UN’s humanitarian affairs office, OCHA.
More than a year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, mine contamination and lack of access to Russia-controlled areas remain obstacles to reaching those in need, he said.
Delivering emergency assistance
Assistance has included cash to more than 2.1 million people and food for 3.5 million people, while nearly 3 million gained access to health services and medicines, Mr. Laerke said.
The assistance also included support for survivors of gender-based violence, he said, adding that more than 60 per cent of those reached with aid are women and girls.
Other types of assistance include access to clean water and hygiene products, emergency shelter, education services for children, and protection services, including prevention of gender-based violence and support to survivors, he said.
Volunteers play vital role
“Hundreds of humanitarian organizations are involved in this effort working with local groups and community-based volunteers who play a vital role in getting the assistance delivered on the last mile,” he said.
However, assistance to areas under Russian military control remains extremely limited, he said.
This year, because of the worsening security situation and shifts in the front lines, humanitarian partners have lost access to almost 60,000 people in around 40 towns and villages close to the front lines in the Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk regions, he said.
Mine action casualties
At the same time, mines and explosive remnants of war in Ukraine have left 263 killed or injured in 2023. That is more than 50 per month on average, according to the UN human rights office, OHCHR, which believes that the actual figures are considerably higher.
The agency’s latest report indicates that from 1 to 21 May, 46 civilians were killed or injured by mines, 44 in April, 102 in March, 36 in February and 35 in January.
Mine contamination remains a deadly threat to farmers and humanitarians delivering assistance. In the agricultural regions of Kharkiv, Mykolaiv and Kherson, dozens of mine-related accidents are being reported every month, Mr. Laerke said.
Denise Brown, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said recovery work hinges on demining.
“Ukraine is considered as one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world,” she said. “Demining agricultural land is one of the Government’s priorities so that farmers can get back to work, and the UN, through WFP World Food Programme] and FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization], working with the Ministry of Agriculture, are contributing to this.”
Learn more about what the UN is doing to help the people of Ukraine here.
UNDP Ukraine/Oleksandr Simonenko
A deminer for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine sweeps the ground for unexploded ordnance and landmines.
“The United Nations and its partners made strides in rolling back the worst food insecurity last year, but these gains remain fragile, and 17 million people are still food insecure in Yemen,” said David Gressly, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the country.
Compared to the same period in 2022, the levels of acutely malnourished people rose in 2023, indicating a need for more funding to stave off extreme hunger, according to the latest findings of a new report by three UN agencies that are closely monitoring the situation, following eight years of intense warfare.
Drivers of hunger
Yemen remains one of the most food insecure countries globally, mainly driven by the impact of conflict and economic decline, according to the report from the UN food agency, FAO, the World Food Programme (WFP), and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The integrated phase classification (IPC) analysis provides an outlook for the period between now until the end of this year, indicating the need for more programme investments, as the modest improvements may be eroded, the agencies said.
Their report showed that the people of Yemen continue to require attention, with hunger stalking millions. The agencies cautioned that the situation could worsen if nothing is done to address the key drivers of food insecurity.
The new report showed that between January and May 2023, about 3.2 million people experienced high levels of acute food insecurity in government-controlled areas, representing a 23 per cent reduction from the period between October and December 2022.
During the June to December 2023 period, the report estimated that the number of people likely to experience high levels of acute food insecurity could increase to 3.9 million, out of which 2.8 million people are projected to reach crisis levels of hunger.
Life-saving interventions
FAO Yemen representative Hussein Gadain, said the agency is focused, through various interventions, on improving household food security and income by strengthening agricultural production practices, increasing labour opportunities, and diversifying livelihoods in a sustainable way that fosters peaceful coexistence.
We are working directly with farmers on the ground to enable them to maintain their livelihoods,” he said. “We make sure that smallholder farmers in Yemen will withstand any shocks which impact food security.”
UNICEF and partners reached around 420,000 children suffering from severe and acute malnutrition with life-saving interventions in 2022, said the agency’s Yemen representative, Peter Hawkins.
“This is the highest ever reached in Yemen, thanks to the scale-up of nutrition services,” he said, adding that despite this, malnutrition levels remain critical in many areas of the southern governorates.
“A multisectoral approach to address all forms of malnutrition is essential and together with partners UNICEF is strengthening the provision of primary health care, including early detection and treatment of severe acute malnutrition”, he said.
Averting famine
The UN food agency’s assistance is critical for getting people to firmer ground, for averting crisis and famine, said WFP Country Director, Richard Ragan. Yemen’s food insecurity situation remains fragile, and the hard-won gains of the past 12 months will be lost without continued and urgent support, he said.
“There are women, men, and children behind these IPC statistics, whose lives straddle the fine line between hope and utter devastation,” he said, urging donors to renew their commitment to supporting the most vulnerable Yemenis. “We simply cannot take our foot off the gas now.”
Learn more about what the UN is doing to help the people of Yemen here.
Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Wednesday 31 May, WHO deplored that 3.2 million hectares of fertile land across 124 countries are being used to grow deadly tobacco – even in places where people are starving.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that governments across the world “spend millions supporting tobacco farms”, and that choosing to grow food instead of tobacco would allow the world to “prioritize health, preserve ecosystems, and strengthen food security for all”.
Disaster for food, environmental security
The agency’s new report, “Grow food, not tobacco”, recalls that a record 349 million people are facing acute food insecurity, many of them in some 30 countries on the African continent, where tobacco cultivation has increased by 15 per cent in the last decade.
According to WHO, nine of the 10 largest tobacco cultivators are low and middle-income countries. Tobacco farming compounds these countries’ food security challenges by taking up arable land. The environment and the communities which rely on it also suffer, as the crop’s expansion drives deforestation, contamination of water sources and soil degradation.
Vicious cycle of dependence
The report also exposes the tobacco industry for trapping farmers in a vicious cycle of dependence and exaggerating the economic benefits of tobacco as a cash crop.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva on Friday, Dr. Rüdiger Krech, WHO’s Director for Health Promotion, warned that tobacco’s economic importance is a “myth that we urgently need to dispel”.
He said that the crop contributes less than 1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in most tobacco-growing countries, and that the profits go to the world’s major cigarette-makers, while farmers struggle under the burden of debt contracted with the tobacco companies.
‘Smokers, think twice’
Dr. Krech also explained that tobacco farmers find themselves exposed to nicotine poisoning and dangerous pesticides. The broader impact on communities and whole societies is devastating, as some 1.3 million child labourers are estimated to be working on tobacco farms instead of going to school, he said.
“The message to smokers is, think twice”, Dr. Krech said, as consuming tobacco came down to supporting an iniquitous situation in which farmers and their families were suffering.
Workers at a tobacco factory in Malawi fill processing machinery with coal. (file)
Breaking the cycle
WHO, along with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have joined forces around the Tobacco Free Farms initiative, to help thousands of farmers in countries like Kenya and Zambia to grow sustainable food crops instead of tobacco.
The programme provides farmers with microcredit lending to pay off their debts with tobacco companies, as well as knowledge and training to grow alternative crops, and a market for their harvest, thanks to WFP’s local procurement initiatives.
Dr. Krech said that the programme was a “proof of concept” of the power of the UN system to enable farmers to break free from harmful tobacco cultivation. He outlined ambitious plans to expand the programme, as countries in Asia and South America were already requesting support.
“We can help every farmer in the world to get out of tobacco farming if they wish,” he said.
Volker Perthes – Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan and Head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the country (UNITAMS) – underscored that the rival military leaderships had agreed to respect international humanitarian and human rights law, and withdraw fighters from hospitals and medical facilities.
Mr. Perthes also noted that the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had committed to continue their talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah on a potential ceasefire.
Hope for continued ceasefire talks
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, via Zoom from Port Sudan where the UN and partners have established a coastal humanitarian hub, Mr. Perthes said that building on this first mutually signed declaration, the aim was to reach a ceasefire which would also be “mutually agreed”, contrary to previous, unilaterally announced ceasefires.
His hope was that “within the next couple of days”, the discussions in Jeddah under the auspices of Saudi and United States mediators would lead to such an agreement, lending it “more stability and more respect”, and with clear provisions on the modalities related to the movement of troops and humanitarian pauses.
Commitments must be honoured
Mr. Perthes also expressed hope that the parties will “do what they can” to communicate down the chain of command that the humanitarian commitments agreed to in Jeddah must be honoured.
The agreement was welcomed by the “trilateral mechanism” composed of the United Nations, the African Union and the regional body known as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa (IGAD).
Over 200,000 have fled
Meanwhile, the number of people having fled Sudan has passed the 200,000 mark, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday.
A race against time is underway to provide those fleeing with relief aid before the coming rainy season makes logistics even harder. Funding shortfalls are compounding humanitarian challenges, as UNHCR’s operations in neighbouring countries were only around 15 per cent funded before the conflict.
Lifeline for malnourished children destroyed
In another example of the conflict’s disastrous effects for Sudan’s most vulnerable, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday that a fire had devastated a factory in Khartoum producing ready to use therapeutic food for the treatment of childrensuffering from severe acute malnutrition.
According to UNICEF, the equivalent of food for some 14,500 children was destroyed in the fire, along with machinery, compromising future production. The agency says that Sudan has one of the highest rates of malnutrition among children in the world, with more than three million children acutely malnourished.
UNICEF Spokesperson James Elder said that in overall response to the crisis, around 34,000 cartons of ready to use therapeutic food was on the way from France to Sudan.
He said the cause of the factory fire was as yet unknown.
The development comes after more than three weeks of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) loyal to General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
UN rights chief Volker Türk opened the meeting condemning the “wanton violence” which has brought more hunger, deprivation and displacement upon the Sudanese people, while both sides “trampled international humanitarian law”.
From ‘beacon of hope’ to humanitarian disaster
Mr. Türk reminded the Council that in 2019 Sudan appeared as a “beacon of hope” after popular protests with women and youth “at the forefront” toppled Omar al-Bashir’s three decade-long dictatorship. He spoke of his visit to the country six months ago – his first mission as UN rights chief – when a transition to civilian rule was on the horizon.
Recalling his meetings at the time with both rival generals, the UN rights chief said that his message had been to insist on accountability and human rights as essential to any future agreement.
“Today, immense damage has been done, destroying the hopes and rights of millions of people,” Mr. Türk said.
To date, more than 600 people have been killed in the fighting, more than 150,000 have fled Sudan, and over 700,000 have become internally displaced. Record levels of hunger are expected in the country in the coming months.
Urgent call for peace
The UN rights chief underscored the desperate need for a humanitarian truce and an end to human rights violations.
The Council was expected to take action on a resolution on Thursday echoing this call and demanding “detailed” rights monitoring of the situation in the country.
The experts deplored human rights abuses experienced by “civilians of all ages”, including sexual assault and gender-based violence, and shortages of food, water and healthcare. The experts expressed alarm at the shelling of a shelter for girls with disability in Khartoum, as well as other attacks on healthcare, on humanitarian workers and on human rights defenders.
Ms. Mofokeng called on the parties to the conflict to commit to ensuring the safety of civilians and civilian infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals.
Independent rights experts appointed by the High Commissioner in accordance with Human Rights Council resolutions, are not UN staff nor are they paid for their work.
Lack of consent
Sudan’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Hassan Hamid Hassan, questioned the decision to hold the emergency session just weeks before the Council’s regular session in June.
Mr. Hassan further pointed out that the holding of the special session had not received the support of any African nor Arab state.
Diversity of perspectives
Some 70 countries, both Members and observers of the Human Rights Council, as well as NGOs, spoke during the day-long meeting. Their voices presented a diversity of opinions on the need for the Special Session and the extent and scope of the international community’s involvement in the crisis in Sudan.
Representing the United Kingdom, a key sponsor of the session, Andrew Mitchell, Minister of State for development and Africa, insisted on the need to carry out former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s “vision” for the Human Rights Council at its creation in 2006, as a body which could react quickly to human rights emergencies such as the one at hand.
The Special Session was also supported by the European Union and the United States.
On behalf of the group of Arab States, Lebanon’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Salim Baddoura, said that the group welcomed all international and regional initiatives aimed at ending the conflict, the latest being the talks in Jeddah under the auspices of the United States and Saudi Arabia.
He stressed that Sudan, as the affected country, had the right for its views to be taken into account before any new mechanisms were established or existing mandates extended.
Speaking on behalf of the group of African States, Côte d’Ivoire’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Allou Lambert Yao, also expressed support for “African solutions for African problems”, commending the mediation efforts of IGAD under the auspices of the African Union.
The representative of Pakistan, Khalil Hashmi, offered another critical perspective on the session, saying that it risked unnecessary duplication of work as the Security Council was already seized of the political situation in Sudan and that mediation efforts must now be “given primacy”.
Enhanced human rights monitoring
The resolution before the Council on Thursday called for an immediate cessation of hostilities “with no pre-conditions”, and a recommitment of all parties to return to a transition towards civilian-led government. The resolution also highlighted the urgent need to protect civilians and humanitarian workers, as well as to ensure accountability for human rights violations.
One of the resolution’s concrete effects is to expand the mandate of the Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, designated in December last year, to also include “detailed monitoring and documentation […] of all allegations of human rights violations and abuses since 25 October 2021”, when the Sudanese military led by General al-Burhan seized power in a coup.
“It is time to end the violence,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said at the high-level meeting of the Regional Oversight Mechanism of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the region, held in Bujumbura, Burundi.
Since the resurgence of the M23 armed group in DRC in 2021, more than 500,000 people have fled the violence, he said, also raising concerns about the current “extremely worrisome” security situation in Ituri province.
Current crisis demands action
“The current crisis shows that much still remains to be done,” he warned, adding that the ongoing violence is threatening the stability of the entire Great Lakes region.
The Framework, signed in 2013 in Addis Ababa, had “raised many hopes” of ending decades of violence, he said, encouraging redoubled efforts from the signatory countries, African Union, International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
‘Lay down your arms’
Reiterating his call to armed groups, he said “lay down your arms immediately and rejoin the demobilization, disarmament, and reintegration progress.”
Within the Framework, boosted efforts must now focus on building a foundation of dialogue among parties to identify sustainable solutions to differences, ending impunity for perpetrators of cross-border crimes, and inclusively advancing peace, he stressed.
Indeed, for peace to be sustainable, he said the voices of women, young people and displaced persons must be fully heard in all political, security and judicial processes.
Peace and development go ‘hand in hand’
Turning to the region’s bounty of rich natural and cultural resources, he said DRC is home to the world’s second largest rainforest, accounting for 10 percent of global biodiversity.
“We must ensure that it becomes a source of prosperity and development, not of conflict, rivalries, and unsustainable exploitation,” he said. “Peace and development must go hand in hand.”
“The UN remains fully engaged, by your side,” he said, welcoming the initiative taken by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union in February to revitalize the Framework.
“Only together can we achieve the common objectives of peace, security, and cooperation of the Addis Ababa Framework,” he said. “The peoples of the region are counting on us.”
“The scale and speed of what is unfolding is unprecedented in Sudan. We are extremely concerned by the immediate as well as long-term impact on all people in Sudan, and the broader region,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.
The UN again urged the warring sides to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, allow safe passage for civilians fleeing hostilities, and respect humanitarian workers and assets.
Nearing the ‘breaking point’
The humanitarian situation in Sudan “is reaching breaking point,” Mr. Griffiths warned in a separate statement, underscoring the need to stop the fighting.
Essential goods are becoming scarce, especially in the capital, Khartoum, and families are struggling to access water, food, fuel and other critical supplies.
Furthermore, vulnerable people are unable to leave areas worst-hit areas as transportation costs have risen exponentially, while those injured in the violence find it difficult to access urgent healthcare.
Aid stocks dwindling
“The United Nations and our partners are doing our best to reboot the humanitarian response in the country,” he said.
“Massive looting of the offices and warehouses of humanitarian organizations has depleted most of our supplies. We are exploring urgent ways to bring in and distribute additional supplies.”
The UN “relief chief” said a shipment with five containers of intravenous fluids and other emergency supplies is currently docked in the city of Port Sudan, located on the Red Sea coast, awaiting clearance by the authorities.
Appeal for renewed ceasefire
The announcement of his deployment came just hours after the UN and international partners appealed for Generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, known as “Hemedti”, to agree to extend a 72-hour ceasefire for another three days, amid reports of ongoing airstrikes in Khartoum.
The Trilateral Mechanism – which brings together the African Union, East African bloc IGAD and the UN – also called on the rivals to ensure their forces fully implement the truce.
“As the people of Sudan urgently need a humanitarian pause, the Trilateral Mechanism urges the parties to the conflict to respect the ceasefire, to protect civilians and to refrain from attacks on civilian populated areas, schools, and healthcare facilities,” they said in a statement.
“This ceasefire would also pave the way for talks between both sides towards the establishment of a permanent cessation of hostilities,” they added.
Death and displacement
Sudan has been undergoing a turbulent transition to civilian rule in the wake of the April 2019 overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir. A power-sharing government that brought together military and civilian leaders was also toppled in a coup in October 2021.
The Trilateral Mechanism has been facilitating talks since May 2022 which resulted in an agreement towards restoring civilian rule, signed that December.
However, hopes shattered two weeks ago when fighting erupted between the regular Sudanese army, led by General al-Burhan, and paramilitary forces under General Dagalo, known as the RSF.
Hundreds of people have been killed, and thousands have been fleeing, including to neighbouring Chad, where some 20,000 Sudanese have found refuge. Others are sheltering in the Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya and South Sudan, often among already vulnerable communities.
The fighting has also forced the UN to essentially halt all aid operations in a country where nearly 16 million people, roughly one third of the population, already were in need.
Commitment to stay
The UN relocated and evacuated staff from Khartoum and other locations over the past week, who will continue to work remotely, whether from inside Sudan or in other countries.
The UN and partners are establishing a core team in Port Sudan, which will be responsible for overseeing aid operations and negotiating humanitarian access with de facto authorities.
Humanitarians now based in the coastal city, capital of Red Sea state, are determined to quickly return to Khartoum, as the UN continues to uphold its commitment to Sudan.
Earlier on Sunday, Volker Perthes, head of the UN Mission supporting the transition, UNITAMS, was briefed by the Wali (Governor) and other officials in Red Sea State on the humanitarian and security situation there.
“He assured them that the UN is not leaving Sudan and that he will work from Port Sudan until the security situation in Khartoum allows our return,” UNITAMS said in a tweet.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said that tens of thousands of refugees from South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea living in the country have fled the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the Khartoum area.
The newly displaced have found shelter in existing refugee camps further east and south, creating new humanitarian challenges.
UNHCR is also particularly concerned about the situation in the Darfur region, where fears are deepening of a revival of ethnic tensions.
Darfur alert
The agency’s representative in Sudan, Axel Bisschop, told reporters in Geneva that Darfur might present the “biggest challenge” from a humanitarian point of view. “We’re concerned that the intercommunal violence is going to increase and that we might have some situations which will repeat in relation to what we had a couple of years ago,” in a region which has already experienced severe conflict and displacement, he said.
UNHCR stressed that Darfur presents “a myriad of pressing protection issues”, highlighting that a number of sites hosting internally displaced people have been burned to the ground, while civilian houses and humanitarian premises have been hit by bullets.
Concerns over the region are shared by the UN rights office (OHCHR), which warned on Friday of a “serious risk” of violence escalating in West Darfur as the hostilities between the RSF and SAF have triggered intercommunal violence.
OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said that in El Geneina, West Darfur, “deadly ethnic clashes” have been reported and an estimated 96 people have been killed since 24 April.
Guterres ‘deeply grateful’ to governments aiding UN evacuation
The UN Secretary-General expressed his gratitude to France and other nations who have helped with the relocation and evacuation of UN staff from Khartoum and elsewhere this week.
In a statement issued by his Spokesperson, António Guterres highlighted help from France in safely transporting more than 400 UN personnel and dependents out of Sudan.
“The French Navy transported more than 350 of our colleagues and their families from Port Sudan to Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday night.”
On Thursday, more than 70 UN and affiliated personnel, as well as others, were flown on a French Air Force plane from El Fasher, Sudan, to the capital of Chad.
“We also thank the authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Chad, Kenya and Uganda for facilitating the arrival of our colleagues and their families.
The Secretary-General is also very thankful to the many other Member States, including the United States, Jordan, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada, who have assisted in ensuring the safe transport of UN personnel.”
Rights abuses rise
The overall death toll in the conflict has risen to at least 512, according to the latest figures from the Sudanese Ministry of Health quoted by OHCHR on Friday, with the understanding that this is almost certainly a very conservative estimate.
While the fragile ceasefire has led to a decrease in fighting in some areas, allowing some to flee their homes in search of safety, human rights abuses against people on the move – such as extortion – have been rife, Ms. Shamdasani said.
A UNHCR emergency transit centre in Renk in South Sudan is receiving displaced people from Sudan.
Growing displacement
Mr. Bisschop said that Sudan hosts over a million refugees, notably from South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
UNHCR has received reports of around 33,000 refugees having fled from Khartoum to refugee camps in White Nile State, 2,000 to the camps in Gedaref and 5,000 to Kassala since the start of the crisis two weeks ago.
Thousands of people – Sudanese citizens, including many internally displaced people, and refugees living in Sudan – have also fled the country.
UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh said that in Chad, UNHCR together with the Government has registered around 5,000 arrivals so far, and that at least 20,000 have crossed.
Some 10,000 people have crossed to South Sudan, while in Egypt, Central African Republic and Ethiopia, there have been an unknown number of arrivals, given the speed at which the situation is unfolding and the scale of the country.
Dispalced people who arrive at the UNHCR transit centre in Renk, South Sudan, receive relief items.
Lifesaving assistance on pause
UNHCR said the security situation has forced it to “temporarily pause” most of its aid operations in Khartoum, the Darfurs and North Kordofan, where it has become “too dangerous to operate”.
“The suspension of some humanitarian programmes is likely to exacerbate protection risks faced by those who rely on humanitarian assistance to survive,” UNHCR warned.
Mr. Bisschop said that UNHCR was working closely with the UN World Food Programme (WFP), to see how the food that is already positioned in the country can be provided.
Brenda Kariuki, WFP’s Regional Communications Officer for East Africa, said that amid the crisis, millions more across the region could be plunged into hunger. In Sudan, security threats to humanitarian operations, as well as the looting of WFP supplies from warehouses and the theft of vehicles used to transport aid, were depriving the most vulnerable of desperately needed assistance, the UN agency said.
Around one-third of the country’s population, or some 15.8 million people, were already in need of aid before the fighting started. The UN’s 2023 Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan, for a total of $1.7 billion, remains only 13.5 per cent funded.
Fleeing into CAR
Briefing correspondents in New York, Deputy UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, said that humanitarians were reporting some 3,000 people have crossed the Sudanese border into northern Central African Republic, CAR, setting up makeshift settlements.
“Local authorities are exploring the possibility of relocating them in Birao, far from the border region”, and more arrivals are expected.
With Sudan a major supplier of essential goods to CAR, especially during the rainy season, which runs from now through October, prices are ticking up and some items such as sugar and millet have doubled in price in CAR since the fighting began.
Some 120,000 people were already in need of humanitarian assistance in the northern part of the country, highlighting the damaging impact of the fighting spilling across Sudan’s borders.
Healthcare in jeopardy
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Thursday that in Khartoum, more than 60 per cent of health facilities are closed and only 16 per cent are operating as normal.
WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told media in Geneva on Friday that WHO has verified 25 attacks on healthcare since the start of the fighting, which killed eight people and injured 18.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) previously warned that the ongoing violence has disrupted “critical, life-saving care” for some 50,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
IOM
Evacuees from Sudan are assisted by Chadian authorities and IOM staff on their arrival in N’Djamena, the country’s capital.
Evacuees arrive in Chadian capital from Sudan
The first group of evacuees from Sudan to be assisted by the UN migration agency IOM, arrived at N’Djamena’s Hassan Djamous International Airport in Chad late on Thursday, in two special flights chartered by the Chadian authorities.
The group included 116 males and 110 females, 39 of whom were children.
IOM helped the Chadian authorities with the registration of the new arrivals, the identification and referral of vulnerable cases, and post-arrival assistance including cash to support onwards transportation to reunite evacuees with their families.
“We are working around the clock to continue supporting the Government of Chad in this delicate and complex situation, despite massive gaps in much needed funding,” says Anne Kathrin Schaefer, IOM Chief of Mission in Chad.
These efforts are closely coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chadians Abroad and International Cooperation which heads a Government Crisis Cell, established to coordinate the evacuation operations from Sudan.
“Our priority is to ensure that all those who have arrived receive adequate support to help them reunite with their families, but also medical assistance, including mental health and psychosocial support,” she added.
“The international community’s response to the crisis in Myanmar is failing, and that failure has contributed to a lethal downward spiral that is devastating the lives of millions of people,” Tom Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said at the end of a 10-day official visit to Japan.
Referring to the worsening situation in the country, he said Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who has led the junta since the February 2021 coup, had responded to widespread opposition to their rule with “barbarism and oppression” against the people of Myanmar.
‘Hallmarks of the junta’
“Arbitrary detention, torture and systematic attacks on villages have become hallmarks of the junta,” he said. “The military is repeatedly attacking civilian populations throughout the country and has quite literally made war on the Myanmar people.”
Japan’s leadership will be “vital” in recalibrating a failing international response to the crisis, he said, calling on Tokyo to work with regional and global allies to weaken the capacity of Myanmar’s military junta to attack its citizens.
‘This is an emergency’
The Special Rapporteur also raised alarms about an impending humanitarian disaster in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. Without immediate additional funding, a decision to cut food rations by an additional 20 per cent will be made in the coming weeks, reducing daily food rations to 27 cents per person. The cuts would also potentially eliminate food rations completely for hundreds of thousands.
“This is an emergency,” he warned, adding that he had visited Japan based on his belief Tokyo has an “essential” role to play in resolving the crisis. “Further cuts will leave the Rohingya, already victims of genocidal attacks in Myanmar, at risk of starvation and drive thousands into boats and dangerous land routes in utter desperation.”
Impose sanctions
As such, he called on the Government of Japan and all Member States to immediately increase humanitarian contributions, including by redirecting funds from development programmes in Myanmar. He also urged Japan to impose targeted economic sanctions on the Myanmar military and its key sources of funding, just as it is doing in response to the crisis in Ukraine.
“Economic sanctions that deprive the junta of the resources required to operate its war-making machinery would weaken the capacity of the junta to attack its people,” the Special Rapporteur said.
Renounce ‘fraudulent’ elections
In addition, he urged Japan to terminate a Ministry of Defence training programme for military personnel from Myanmar, referencing credible reports linking previous trainees to military units that have committed atrocities against civilians.
He also called on the Government of Japan to clearly and consistently renounce the junta’s plan to stage fraudulent national elections as a means of legitimizing itself.
“It is not possible to hold a genuine election when opposition leaders are arrested, detained, tortured and executed, when key political parties have been dissolved, when it is illegal to criticize the junta, and when journalists are imprisoned for doing their job,” he said.
The upcoming Group of Seven (G7) Summit of leading economies in Hiroshima presents an opportunity for Japan to shine a light on the situation in Myanmar before the world, he said, urging the Prime Minister to ensure that the crisis is high on the agenda and that a strong, unified message and action emerges.
Unsplash/Harish Shivaraman
The Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon, Myanmar.
Special Rapporteurs
Special Rapporteurs and other rights experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, are mandated to monitor and report on thematic issues or country situations, are not UN staff, and do not receive a salary for their work.
“I am horrified by the toll the clashes are having on civilians”, said Abdou Dieng. “At least 331 people have been killed nationwide, including five aid workers, and nearly 3,200 have been injured.”
The fighting between troops from the national army and a powerful rival militia known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted six days ago, and has had a devastating impact on civilian life and the major on-going humanitarian aid operation across Sudan.
Latest news reports indicate that bombing, shelling and gunfire have continued unabated, especially in the capital Khartoum, and the UN migration agency, IOM, reported on Friday that one of its staff members had become a victim of the violence.
UN migration agency staffer killed
“It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the death of a dedicated IOM Sudan staff member this morning after the vehicle he was traveling in with his family south of El Obeid was caught in a crossfire between two warring parties”, said Director General, António Vitorino.
He said the male staffer leaves behind a wife and newborn child, “and our team in Sudan in mourning.”
“The safety and security of all IOM staff is my number one priority. We continue to work with our UN partners to update our security response”, he assured.
Three workers from the World Food Programme (WFP) lost their lives in North Darfur as the military showdown first began on Saturday.
Mr. Vitorino said the latest outbreak of violence has forced IOM to suspend its humanitarian operations in Sudan.
IOM has operated in Sudan since 2000, responding to the complex humanitarian needs in the country where an estimated 3.7 million people are internally displaced”, the IOM chief continued.
Some 15.8 million people in Sudan, one-third of the population, were in need of humanitarian assistance before this week’s fighting began.
Sudan: Humanitarian situation – Press Conference (20 April 2023)
Food, water, healthcare crisis
Mr. Dieng said that even short agreed pauses in the intense fighting between the rival factions, which have so far ignored all calls for a ceasefire, would allow civilians access to essential food and water.
“Access to health facilities is also paramount. Many hospitals have had to close. And in those that are functioning, widespread blackouts and lack of electricity place patients at high risk.”
Several hospitals have simply run out of blood and other lifesaving supplies.
“Assaults on hospitals, humanitarian staff and facilities must stop”, said the Humanitarian Coordinator.
“As we are ending the holy month of Ramadan and celebrate Eid al-Fitr, a time of peace and reconciliation, I call on all parties to the conflict to immediately end the fighting and work towards a peaceful resolution.”
On Thursday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres made an urgent call for a three-day ceasefire over Eid, as the “first step” towards a permanent cessation of hostilities, noting that humanitarian operations had become “virtually impossible”.
The UN alone has a 4,000-strong team of humanitarian workers, 3,200 of whom are Sudanese nationals.
According to the latest statement from UN aid coordination office OCHA, there have been reports of military strikes against health facilities, hijacking of ambulances with patients and paramedics still on board, looting of health facilities, and military forces occupying health facilities.
Severe shortages grow
In hospitals, there are severe shortages of specialized medical staff, oxygen supplies and blood bags, according to the World Health Organization, WHO, while lack of electricity and blackouts place hospital patients at high risk.
“There are also rapidly rising mental health and psychosocial support needs, especially among children, as the conflict continues”, noted OCHA.
As of Friday morning, heavy gunfire, air strikes and shelling have been reported in different parts of the country, OCHA added, especially in North, Central and South Darfur states, North Kordofan and in the capital, Khartoum.
On 20 April, there were unverified reports of intensified clashes in El Obeid, North Kordofan State, as well as unrest and rising tensions in Gedaref, in eastern Sudan.
“As in all crises, this will surely have dire and disproportionate impacts on the lives of Sudanese women and girls. We stand in solidarity with the people of Sudan and remain committed to supporting them.
“The resilience of Sudanese women is a source of hope, their role in the pursuit of peace essential, their strength as humanitarian workers, carers and protectors an inspiration”, added Ms. Bahous.
“We must heed their calls for a ceasefire and peace and commit to supporting them in everything they do.”
She noted that reports of sexual and gender-based violence were already surfacing, and feared “they will only grow more frequent.”
She called on Government troops and militia to “ensure that no woman or girl is affected by these crimes”.
She insisted that “every instance” of sexual and gender-based violence must be investigated and prosecuted without exception.
“The UN Secretary-General has called for an immediate halt to the fighting to coincide with Eid-Al-Fitr. This will allow the continued delivery of essential humanitarian assistance and a return to dialogue. He has demanded respect for international law. I join his call and urge all parties to commit to a peaceful resolution.”
Artwork from Francisco Silva, featured in a UN humanitarian report on Haiti.
The 2023 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) for Haiti describes life in the country as a daily, terrifying struggle for survival, the result of three consecutive years of economic recession, a political impasse, and unprecedented levels of gang violence.
Every day, more and more people fall into extreme poverty; 31 per cent of the population lives on less than US$2.15 a day, and some 4.8 million are food-insecure, which means that they struggle to meet their daily nutritional needs.
Find out more about the report to which three Haitian artists agreed to contribute their artwork, and read the stories of some of those caught up in the violence, here.
According to a statement attributable to the Executive Director of the UN agency, Cindy McCain, the workers were carrying out life-saving duties in Kabkabiya, North Darfur.
In a separate incident on Saturday, a WFP-managed UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) aircraft was significantly damaged at Khartoum International airport during an exchange of gunfire, seriously impacting WFP’s ability to move humanitarian workers and aid within the country.
In the statement, Ms. McCain explained that all operations in Sudan have been suspended, pending a review of the evolving security situation.
“WFP is committed to assisting the Sudanese people facing dire food insecurity,” said Ms. McCain, “but we cannot do our lifesaving work if the safety and security of our teams and partners is not guaranteed. All parties must come to an agreement that ensures the safety of humanitarian workers on the ground and enables the continued delivery of life saving humanitarian assistance to the people of Sudan. They remain our top priority.”
Any loss of life in humanitarian service is unacceptable and I demand immediate steps to guarantee the safety of those who remain.
Ms. McCain emphasized that threats to WFP teams make it impossible for them to operate safely and effectively in the country and carry out the UN agency’s critical work.
Security Council members call for calm
The members of the Security Council added their voices to the calls for an end to hostilities on Sunday, in a statement expressing their regret for the loss of lives and injuries.
In the statement, they urged the parties to restore calm, and return to dialogue to resolve the current crisis in Sudan.
They went on to stress the importance that humanitarian access is maintained and the safety of UN personnel is ensured, and reaffirmed their “strong commitment to the unity, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the Republic of the Sudan.”
A toddler’s dress, and a five-year-old’s dress and sweater. Washed, cleaned, but still stained with blood.
These are the personal items that Immaculée Songa donated to “Stories of Survival and Remembrance - A call to action for genocide prevention,” currently on show at UN Headquarters, along with a photo album, showing her daughters, Raissa and Clarisse, laughing and smiling.
“The items in this exhibition are very important to me, because they remind us of the lives, the experiences of our people who are gone, who are no longer here. It’s up to us to talk about them and tell their stories, and how their lives were taken away.
Six years ago, I returned to Rwanda to search for my family’s remains. In a mass grave, I recognized the dresses my daughters wore at the last moment of their lives. The clothes were stuck to their bodies. They were all I had left of my children. So, I took them.
I first displayed my daughters’ clothes at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in the United States, in order to tell their story. Even though they were washed, you can see the blood stains, and you can imagine how they died.
Don’t let my daughters be forgotten
We talk about millions of Rwandans, Tutsis killed during the genocide, and we seem to forget the individuals. This exhibition is here so that we remember the history of each individual.
If I could speak to my daughters, I would tell them that I have not forgotten them, I love them very much and I have spoken about them a lot, because they had an atrocious death that they did not deserve.
I am a mother who did not perish, a woman who cries a lot. I tell myself that God saved me for a reason, to give me the strength to talk about my daughters, and to make sure they are not forgotten.
UN News/Florence Westergard
Garments worn by Immaculée Songa’s daughters, Clarisse and Raissa, are on display at the UN exhibition “Stories of Survival and Remembrance – A Call to Action for Genocide Prevention”
The facts don’t lie
We have a responsibility to tell the world that injustice exists, that people are dying because of injustice, and that the genocide in Rwanda was planned and executed by very clever people who recruited militants and convinced them to kill. The responsibility to prevent genocides lies with governments, those in positions of influence, and the United Nations.
On our side, we also play our part. For example, we organize commemorations and education days to explain to the public what can happen if people are not careful. Because genocide can be prevented.
There are several phases of genocide, and the last phase is denial. Today, all over the world, people are denying genocides. They have been given platforms, they write books, and say that genocide did not happen.
The facts don’t lie. So, if people see the facts, when they see my children’s clothes, there is no mistake. People said children were killed, and now they see that it’s true.
To ensure that the genocide is not repeated, we must engage everyone. We must go to the schools, and teach peace. When I talk to students, I can see them change. It makes a difference.
Before the genocide, 95 per cent of the population were not educated, and it was very easy to convince them to kill. I think that, if people have access to the education they need, they will advocate for peace.”
UN Photo/Loey Felipe
The exhibition “Stories of Survival and Remembrance – A Call to Action for Genocide Prevention” opens at UN Headquarters in New York.
The objects in the exhibition – clothes, toys, photographs, letters, recipes and other seemingly ordinary objects – survived the Holocaust, genocide and other atrocious crimes in Cambodia, Srebrenica (Bosnia Herzegovina) and Rwanda.
The exhibition is being held during the year of the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
It was inaugurated a few days before the celebration of the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda, in the UN General Assembly Hall on Friday, April 14.
The statement was released on Saturday by Volker Perthes, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan and Head of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS).
Mr. Perthes was responding to the outbreak of armed clashes between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in many parts of the capital Khartoum and other areas outside the capital, on Saturday morning.
According to media reports, the RSF claimed that it had taken control of Khartoum international airport, Merowe airport, al-Obeid airport and the presidential palace.
The RSF, an independent Sudanese military force, grew out of the Janjaweed militia, formerly active in the Darfur region of the country. The organization has been involved in talks aimed at a transition from the current military rule, which has existed since a coup in 2021, to a civilian government.
The integration of the RSF into the armed forces has been one of the issues under discussion, as part of UN-backed political agreement reached in February, following months of negotiations.
However, in a Security Councilbriefing on 20 March, Mr. Perthes warned of rising tensions between the Sudanese Army and the RSF in recent weeks, and called for de-escalation.
In his statement, Mr. Perthes reached out to both parties asking them for an immediate cessation of fighting, to ensure the safety of the Sudanese people and to spare the country from further violence.
‘More violence will only make things worse’
Concern over the fighting was raised on Saturday by Martin Griffiths, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.
In a Tweet, Mr. Griffiths said that more violence would only makes things worse for the nearly 16 million people, around a third of the population, in need of humanitarian aid.
In an update on the humanitarian situation in Sudan, released on 13 April, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), noted that humanitarian needs across Sudan are at an all-time high, with conflict one of the four most significant risks, alongside natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and economic deterioration.
Two deminers work to decontaminate the land in Bunia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“Minga had never owned a toy. In her village, in Angola, children often made do with sticks or broken wheels – but this was something different. It was green, metal and shaped like a small tin. She wanted to show her brothers and sisters, so she picked it up to take home.”
Documentary photographer, landmine survivor and UN Global Advocate for persons with disabilities in conflict and peacebuilding situations, Giles Duley, has many heartbreaking stories to tell, mostly about children maimed by landmines on their way to school, home or at play.
Six-year-old Minga lost her sight and her left arm in 2009, seven years after the end of the war in Angola. She was one of the many children who was born into peace but harmed by a war that she never knew.
Daily danger of death
The latest estimates show that in 2021, more than 5,500 people were killed or maimed by landmines, most of them were civilians, half of whom were children. More than two decades after the adoption of the Mine Ban Treaty, about sixty million people in nearly 70 countries and territories still live with the risk of landmines on a daily basis.
The UN Mine Action Service, launched the campaign “Mine Action Cannot Wait ” to mark the International Day, as countries like Angola, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Viet Nam, continue to suffer from decades of landmine contamination.
Landmines can lie dormant for years or even decades until they are triggered.
“Even after the fighting stops, conflicts often leave behind a terrifying legacy: landmines and explosive ordnance that litter communities,” says UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his message for the International Day.
“Peace brings no assurance of safety when roads and fields are mined, when unexploded ordnance threatens the return of displaced populations, and when children find and play with shiny objects that explode.”
Landmines, which can be produced for as little as $1, do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Their use violates international human rights and humanitarian laws.
They not only cost lives and limbs, but also prevent communities from accessing land that could be used for farming or building hospitals and schools as well as essential services such as food, water, health care and humanitarian aid.
Landmines in Ukraine
UNDP Ukraine/Oleksandr Simonenko
A deminer for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine sweeps the ground for unexploded ordnance and landmines.
Despite international efforts to prevent the use of landmines they continue to be laid in conflict situations including in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion in February 2022. UNICEF and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine recently warned that around 30 per cent of the country may potentially be mined as a result of the hostilities.
There are more than 600 different types of landmines grouped into two broad categories – anti-personnel (AP) and anti-tank landmines. AP mines come in different shapes and can be found buried or above ground. A common type, known as the “butterfly” mine – comes in bright colours, making it attractive to curious children.
Landmines are also a major problem in many countries that rely on agriculture. In Viet Nam’s Binh Dinh province, where many people live off rice farming, 40 per cent of the land remained contaminated by landmines more than four decades after the war ended.
In Afghanistan, where landmines have maimed or killed more people than anywhere else, more than 18 million landmines have been cleared since 1989, freeing over 3,011 km2 of land that has benefited more than 3,000 mostly rural communities across the country.
Promise of a mine-free world
UNMAS and its partners have made progress on various aspects of achieving a mine-free world, including clearance, educating people, especially children, about the risks of mines, victim assistance advocacy and the destruction of stockpiles.
Since the late 90s, more than 55 million landmines have been destroyed, over 30 countries have become mine-free, casualties have been dramatically reduced and mechanisms, including the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action, have been established to support victims and communities in need.
Today, 164 countries are parties to the Mine Ban Treaty which is considered one of the most ratified disarmament conventions to date. However, despite the progress, broader global efforts are needed to safeguard people from landmines, according to the UN Secretary-General.
“Let’s take action to end the threat of these devices of death, support communities as they heal, and help people return and rebuild their lives in safety and security.”
“It is now time to bring them home,” they said. “Many children are now entering their fifth year of detention in northeast Syria, since they were detained by the de facto authorities following the fall of Baghouz in early 2019.”
They called on all actors to ensure the immediate safety and protection of all children, regardless of their location in northeastern Syria to prevent them from suffering further harm.
States have an obligation to protect vulnerable children from abuse and possible violations of their right to life, as recognized by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Victims of terrorism
“Their best interests as extremely vulnerable children must be reinstated as a guiding principle together with their primary status as victims of terrorism and as children in need of special protection under international law,” they said.
Al-Hol and Roj are the two largest locked camps for women, girls, and young boys, holding about 56,000 individuals, including 37,000 foreign nationals. Over half of the population in the camps are children, of which 80 per cent are under the age of 12 and 30 per cent under five.
There are also over 850 boys deprived of their liberty in prisons and other detention centres, including supposed rehabilitation centres, throughout northeast Syria.
Egregious rights violations
The mass detention of children for what their parents may have done is an egregious violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits all forms of discrimination and punishment of a child based on the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of their parents, the experts said.
“These children are detained without any legal basis, judicial authorization, review, control, or oversight, in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which affirms no child shall be deprived of liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily,” they said.
‘No place for children’
Most children have known nothing but conflict and closed camps, where the life conditions amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and pose an imminent risk to their lives, physical and mental integrity, and development.
“These squalid camps are no place for children to live with dignity,” the experts said. “They lack access to the most basic needs such as medical treatment and health services, food, water, and education.”
Protection, not punishment
Amid a deteriorating security situation, the experts said all children in this conflict zone deserve to be protected, not punished.
“These children are victims of terrorism and of very serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and must be treated with dignity in all contexts, whether armed conflict or terrorism,” the experts said. “Safe return to their home countries, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is the only solution and must be prioritized.
“States must urgently repatriate children, together with their mothers – a solution that we now know is eminently feasible,” they said. “We note that it is of the utmost importancethat comprehensive rehabilitation programmes are in place when children are repatriated.”
About Special Rapporteurs
Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. These independent experts are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations. They are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.
Only a few survivors of the World War Two Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings are still alive to share their memories. Acutely aware that she is part of the last generation to be able to talk directly to the hibakusha – those who survived the Hiroshima nuclear bomb – Anju Niwata, a young Japanese peace activist born and raised in Hiroshima, launched a project called “Rebooting Memories”, which involves colourizing photos taken in the city before the war, featuring survivors, and the families and places lost in the bombing.
Ms. Niwata uses a combination of software and interviews with survivors to accurately bring colour to the black and white photos she borrows from the survivors. “The black and white photos may appear lifeless, static, and frozen to us”, she says.
“By colourizing the photos, however, the frozen time and memories of the peaceful lives before the bombing gradually advance and start breathing. It takes a long time, but I am always encouraged by the hibakusha’s joy at seeing the colour photos.
Her efforts have been warmly welcomed by the hibakusha, who played a big part in helping people around the world to understand the devastating impact of nuclear weapons, in the years following the Second World War.
Tokuso Hamai was evacuated from Hiroshima when he was two-years-old, before the bombing. All of his family members were killed. As part of Ms. Niwata’s project, he went with her to the site of the barber shop that his father used to run, in Hiroshima’s Nakajima district.
Today, any remains of the shop, and the buildings around it, have disappeared, buried under the Peace Park built to commemorate the tragic event, and remember the victims.
Standing at the site, and looking at the colour photographs, sparked Mr. Hamai’s memories of pre-War Hiroshima. “I recalled what I had forgotten”, he says. “If the photos were black and white, this would not have happened. What I recalled first was a green avenue of cedars. I remember picking cedar buds as bullets for a toy gun.”
Ms. Niwata’s aim of reviving awareness of the consequences of nuclear war is wholeheartedly supported by Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN Under-Secretary-General of Disarmament Affairs, who is herself Japanese.
“Disarmament is part of the DNA of the United Nations. The first General Assembly session took place in London, just a few months after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The shock of the nuclear bombings made a huge impact on everyone in the world at the time.
“Since then, it’s been part of a priority agenda of the United Nations and it is even more important today because we are again in a dangerous world where conflicts and tensions are on the rise. There are some 13,000 nuclear weapons in the world’s arsenals, relations between nuclear weapons states are tense. This poses existential threats, and I think it’s important that people start to imagine the impact if they are ever used.
UN News/ David Mottershead
The Peace Park in Hiroshima.
I think Ms. Niwata’s project will have an enormous impact. if you can visualize how things were, it enters your imagination more vividly, and will do something to your mind and then your heart.”
When she took part in the SDG Global Festival of Action, a UN event filled with dozens of inspiring speakers from around the world, Ms. Niwata was encouraged to see that she was far from the only young activist working towards peace, each using different methods to achieve the same goal. “It is my mission to continue spreading the thoughts and memories of the atomic bomb survivors into the future and realize a world free from nuclear weapons”.
The announcement was made in a Note to Correspondents, released by the UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson’s office on Saturday, which emphasized that the Initiative allows for the “facilitation of the safe navigation for the exports of grain and related foodstuffs and fertilizers, including ammonia, from designated Ukrainian seaports.”
Following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces in February 2022, the Initiative has been one of the few areas in which the Russian and Ukrainian governments have been able to reach agreement. It came about in response to the sharp increase in prices for food and fertilizers around the world: Russia and Ukraine are the main suppliers of these products to world markets, and their ability to export was significantly curtailed once hostilities began.
Since the signing of the Initiative in July 2022, some 25 million metric tons of grains and foodstuffs have been moved to 45 countries, and the initiative has been credited with helping to calm global food prices, which reached vertiginous highs in March 2022. Following the implementation of the Initiative, prices began to fall and, a year later, had dropped some 18 per cent.
The deal was mediated by the UN and the Government of Türkiye, which was thanked in the statement for its diplomatic and operational support: as part of the agreement, a Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) was established in Istanbul, to monitor the implementation of the Initiative.
The Note to Correspondents reaffirmed the UN’s strong commitment to both agreements, and described the Black Sea Grain Initiative, alongside the Memorandum of Understanding on promoting Russian food products and fertilizers to the world markets, as “critical for global food security, especially for developing countries.”
Renewed violent clashes between non-state armed groups and government forces have sparked the latest emergency, with 300,000 people forced to flee their homes in North Kivu Province in February alone.
According to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, another 20,000 fled at the start of the week and nearly 50,000 became displaced from the Kitchanga region in Masisi territory during the week of 17 February.
Survivors
“Civilians continue to pay the heavy and bloody price of conflict, including women and children who barely escaped the violence and are now sleeping out in the open, in spontaneous or organized sites, exhausted and traumatised,” said UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh.
“UNHCR teams on the ground reported horrifying testimonies of human rights violations in affected areas, especially in Rutshuru and Masisi territories, including arbitrary killings, kidnappings, extortion and rapes,” the UNHCR spokesperson continued.
Lacking resources
Conditions are dire for those arriving at spontaneous or organized sites, which the UN refugee agency said were now buckling under the strain.
The resurgence of violence in eastern DR Congo has displaced more than 800,000 people since March last year, including towards the provinces of South Kivu and Ituri.
Relief items are distributed to displaced people in Plain Savo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
More than 130 armed groups operate at the border between DR Congo and Rwanda, including the M23 militia, which has in the past targeted Government forces and the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO.
The resurgence of violence in the region has displaced over 800,000 people since March last year, including towards the provinces of South Kivu and Ituri.
Standing by
Where access permits, UNHCR teams are positioned to provide psychosocial counselling and community support for those traumatised by what they have witnessed or endured.
Humanitarians have continued to warn that despite “all efforts” to provide protection and assistance to those displaced close to Goma, Nord Kivu’s provincial capital, relief access remains complicated as major routes have frequently been rendered inaccessible because of ongoing conflict.
More than 5,500 people have also crossed the border into neighbouring Rwanda since January, and a further 5,300 into Uganda as insecurity and violence continue to ravage border regions.
Women collect water at a camp for displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Stop the fighting
“UNHCR strongly reiterates its call on all actors in eastern DRC to stop the violence which is taking an enormous toll on the civilian population,” the UN agency said in a statement.
The DRC is the largest internal displacement crisis in Africa, with 5.8 million people internally displaced, mainly in the east of the country. It also hosts over a million refugees from neighbouring countries.
It is also one of UNHCR’s most underfunded operations worldwide. For 2023, UNHCR is asking for $232.6 million to assist internally displaced people and refugees in the DRC. As of today, the DRC operation is only eight per cent funded.
The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said the humanitarian supplies had been off-loaded in Chasiv Yar, which is some 10 kilometres to the west of Bakhmut, which Russian forces are attempting to wrest control from Ukrainian troops.
After months of fighting, the mercenary Wagner Group now claims to be in control of the eastern part of the city together with other Russian forces, but Ukrainian forces reportedly continue to defend Bakhmut from total encirclement.
Supplies for 2,000
Briefing reporters at the regular daily press conference in New York, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the aid convoy carried supplies for around 2,000 people, “including medical and hygiene supplies, food, solar lamps and tarpaulins.”
The aid was provided by the UN migration agency IOM, Children’s Fund UNICEF, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Towns emptied out
“OCHA also note that most of the 16,000 people who previously lived in Chasiv Yar and surrounding communities have now fled”, said Mr. Dujarric.
“Chasiv Yar was completely cut off from gas supplies more than a month ago and all water is being trucked in. Access to electricity remains extremely limited with the only ambulance which is still functioning, having limited capacity due to insecurity.”
He stressed that the UN and it’s humanitarian partners were fully committed to supporting civilians still living in Chasiv Yar, which also now hosts people who have fled the intense fighting in Bakhmut – the chief target of Russia’s winter offensive, following its full-scale invasion of just over a year ago.
Less than a month ago, the UN sent another inter-agency convoy to nearby Sloviansk to the north, with supplies to people in Soledar, Chasiv Yar and Toretsk.
A UN convoy carrying aid supplies approaches Chasiv Yar, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
230,000 supported
“So far this year, the UN along with the partners have sent 26 inter-agency convoys to communities living close to the front line, supporting nearly 230,000 men, women and children”, said the UN Spokesperson.
More than 10 of those convoys reached communities in areas controlled by Ukrainian Government forces in the Donetsk region, providing much-need items to approximately 100,000 people, he added.
Attacks on healthcare
WHO in Ukraine reported on Thursday that they have now verified 833 attacks on healthcare personnel and facilities since last year’s 24 February invasion.
“These attacks caused 101 deaths and 136 injuries”, the agency tweeted. Adding that “healthcare should never be a target.”
‘Even in the darkest times’
“Even in the darkest times, music is something that can bring relief”, tweeted the UN in Ukraine on Friday, following a concert that took place in the capital Ukraine on Thursday, despite a wave of Russian missile strikes, to mark the opening by UN culture agency UNESCO, of a new official Chair for Music.
The UN-backed orchestral post sponsored by UNESCO in Kyiv, was celebrated with a “peace concert” under the baton of Herman Makarenko, orchestra conductor and a UNESCO Artist for Peace, attended by the Resident Coordinator Denise Brown.
