Latest news with #U.N
Nahar Net
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Nahar Net
Israel killed and injured 500 children in Lebanon in 2024
From Gaza and Lebanon to the Democratic Republic of Congo, violence against children in conflict zones reached "unprecedented levels" in 2024, a United Nations annual report said Thursday. The report calls out Israel's military operations in Lebanon, where more than 500 children were killed or injured last year. "In 2024, violence against children in armed conflict reached unprecedented levels, with a staggering 25 percent surge in the number of grave violations in comparison with 2023," according to the report from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The report verified 41,370 grave violations against children in 2024 -- including 36,221 committed in 2024 and 5,149 committed previously but confirmed in 2024 -- the highest number since the monitoring tool was established nearly 30 years ago. The new high beats 2023, another record year, which itself represented a 21 percent increase over the preceding year. With more than 4,500 killed and 7,000 injured, children continue to bear "the brunt of relentless hostilities and indiscriminate attacks," the report said. There was also a marked increase in the number of child victims of multiple violations to 22,495. "The cries of 22,495 innocent children who should be learning to read or play ball -- but instead have been forced to learn how to survive gunfire and bombings -- should keep all of us awake at night," said Virginia Gamba, special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for children and armed conflict. "This must serve as a wake-up call. We are at the point of no return." The Israeli armed forces, which were named last year along with Palestinian Hamas, remain on the "list of shame" calling out those responsible for the violations. The Palestinian territories occupy the top spot in the dismal rankings, with more than 8,500 serious violations, the vast majority attributed to Israeli forces, including more than 4,800 in the Gaza Strip. This figure includes confirmation of 1,259 Palestinian children killed in Gaza, and the U.N. notes it is currently verifying information on an additional 4,470 children killed in 2024 in the war-torn territory. Also listed again is the Russian army for its actions in Ukraine, where the report records a 105 percent increase in serious violations between 2023 and 2024.
IOL News
12 hours ago
- Science
- IOL News
Gang violence kill scores in womens' prison, the Black Hole of Calcutta, and US buys Alaska, the headline acts of yesteryear
Freed Nelson Mandela acknowledges the applause on his first visit to the United Nations in New York in 1990. Mandela urged the U.N . to maintain sanctions against South Africa until apartheid is abolished. On this day in history, June 20 1248 The University of Oxford, the second oldest university in the western world after the University of Bologna, receives its royal charter. They are predated by institutions from the Islamic Golden Age – the University of Al Quaraouiyine, in Fez, Morocco (circa 857–859), and Cairo's Al-Azhar University, founded in 970 or 972. 1631 The Irish village of Baltimore is sacked by pirates from Algeria. 1756 A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta after the Siraj ud-Daulah Nawab of Bengal takes Calcutta from the British. Most of the soldiers die. 1867 US buys Alaska from Russia for $7.2m. 1877 Alexander Graham Bell installs world's first commercial telephone service. 1895 The Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, is opened. 1921 At the Imperial Conference in London, Srinivasa Sastri argues for full citizenship rights to Indians in South Africa and other colonies. 1940 Italy tries invading France and fails. 1944 A German V-2 rocket soars 176 km – it's the first man-made object in outer space. 1963 The Soviet Union and US agree to set up the 'red telephone' link between them. 1987 New Zealand beat France 29-9 in final of first Rugby World Cup, in Auckland. 1990 Nelson Mandela and wife, Winnie, are given a ticker-tape parade in New York city as they begin an eight-city fund-raising tour. 1991 The German Bundestag votes to move the seat of government from Bonn to Berlin. 2018 Algeria turns off its internet to stop students cheating during exams. 2020 Highest temperature recorded in the Arctic circle, 38C in Verkhoyansk, Siberia. 2020 A dust cloud from the Sahara desert in North Africa reaches the Caribbean, largest for half a century. 2023 At least 41 women are killed in violence by rival gangs at a prison in Tamara, Honduras. 2023 The site of Julius Caesar's assassination in Rome, the Largo Argentina square, dating back to third century BC, opens to the public for the first time. 2024 The oldest shipwreck ever (3 300 years old) is found in the Mediterranean. DAILY NEWS
Daily Maverick
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Rights abuses continue in North Korea a decade after probe, says UN investigator
A decade after a landmark U.N. report concluded North Korea committed crimes against humanity, a U.N. official investigating rights in the isolated state told Reuters many abuses continue, exacerbated by COVID-era controls that have yet to be lifted. James Heenan, who represents the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Seoul, said he is still surprised by the continued prevalence of executions, forced labour and reports of starvation in the authoritarian country. Later this year Heenan's team will release a follow-up report to the 2014 findings by the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which said the government had committed 'systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations' that constituted crimes against humanity. DPRK is North Korea's official name. While the conclusions of this year's report are still being finalised, Heenan told Reuters in an interview that the last 10 years have seen mixed results, with North Korea's government engaging more with some international institutions, but doubling down on control at home. 'The post-COVID period for DPRK means a period of much greater government control over people's lives and restrictions on their freedoms,' he said in the interview. North Korea's embassy in London did not answer phone calls seeking comment. The government has in the past denied abuses and accused the U.N. and foreign countries of trying to use human rights as a political weapon to attack North Korea. A Reuters investigation in 2023 found leader Kim Jong Un had spent much of the COVID pandemic building a massive string of walls and fences along the previously porous border with China, and later built fences around the capital of Pyongyang. A report this week by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies said the COVID pandemic raged in North Korea for more than two years before the regime admitted in May 2022 that the virus had permeated its borders, and that the regime bungled the response in a way that violated freedoms and left most citizens to fend for themselves. On Wednesday SI Analytics, a Seoul-based satellite imagery firm, released a report noting North Korea is renovating a key prison camp near the border with China, possibly in response to international criticism, while simultaneously strengthening physical control over prisoners under the pretence of facility improvement. Heenan said his team has talked to more than 300 North Koreans who fled their country in recent years, and many expressed despair. 'Sometimes we hear people saying they sort of hope a war breaks out, because that might change things,' he said. A number of those interviewees will speak publicly for the first time next week as part of an effort to put a human face on the U.N. findings. 'It's a rare opportunity to hear from people publicly what they want to say about what's happening in the DPRK,' Heenan said. He expressed concern about funding cuts for international aid and U.N. programmes around the world, which is pressuring human rights work and threatening support for North Korean refugees. While human rights has traditionally been a politically volatile subject not only for Pyongyang but for foreign governments trying to engage with the nuclear-armed North, Heenan said the issues like prison camps need to be part of any engagement on a political settlement. 'There's no point self-censoring on human rights, because… no one's fooled,' he said.
a day ago
- General
These are 5 things the UN does that you may not have known
UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations' vast system has tackled everything from delivering life-saving humanitarian aid to providing crucial peacekeeping operations in conflict zones since it was established in the wake of World War II. As the international body closes in on 80 years, questions about its relevancy and efficiency have sharpened from supporters and critics alike. Recent U.S. cuts to foreign assistance and the reevaluation of humanitarian contributions by other countries have forced a reckoning for the U.N. The organization has long sought to highlight its unique role as the meeting place of global leaders, with an ambitious mandate to prevent another world war. Staffers, however, say the U.N. does more than respond to civilians' needs in war zones and debate resolutions in the Security Council. 'The things that are not on the radar of anyone, that nobody sees every day, that's what we do everywhere, in more than 150 countries,' said Diene Keita, executive director for programs at the U.N.'s population agency. Here are five things the U.N. does that you may not have known: U.N. agencies facilitate programs worldwide focused on women, tied to education, financial literacy, employment opportunities and more. Among the most sensitive services provided are those for victims of gender-based violence. In Chad, the U.N. Population Fund operates several rehabilitation programs for women and girls recovering from that trauma. One of them, Halima Yakoy Adam, was taken at age 15 to a Boko Haram training camp in Nigeria, where she and several other girls were forced to become suicide bombers. Adam managed to escape with severe injuries, while the others died in blasts. Through U.N. programs on the islands of Lake Chad, Adam received health and reproductive services as well as vocational training. She is now working as a paralegal in her community to assist other women and girls. 'We are not created to stay,' Keita said of U.N. agencies' long-term presence. 'So this is embedded in what we do every single day. We have that humility in knowing that we make a difference, so that people do not need us the next day.' Images of refugees at U.S. and European borders show the migration crisis around the world. Often overlooked are the refugees who are resettled in communities outside American and European cities, ones that resemble their home countries and cultural upbringings. Since 2016, the U.N.'s refugee agency has supported the integration of more than 50,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in Mexico. They arrived in southern Mexico and were relocated to industrial cities after being screened and granted asylum by the government. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees provides transportation, orientation and access to health, education and other social services. More than 650 companies have agreed to train and employ these people, whose labor has generated a $15 million annual contribution to the Mexican economy, according to the U.N. According to U.N. estimates, 94% of these working-age refugees have secured formal employment within their first month in the country and nearly 90% of school-age children have enrolled in school. The U.N. program also provides what staffers describe as clear pathways to Mexican citizenship. 'Mexico has become a country where people forced to flee can find the stability they need to restart their lives with dignity,' Giovanni Lepri, the top U.N. refugee agency official in Mexico, said in March. 'A strong asylum system and legal framework allows an effective integration of asylum-seekers and refugees.' U.N. agencies are present throughout various phases of war, from delivering food, water and medical supplies in an active military zone to the iconic 'Blue Helmets' — the military personnel deployed to help countries transition out of conflict. Less attention is paid to efforts made after the dust has settled. One of those initiatives, the United Nations Mine Action Service, was established in 1997 to facilitate projects aimed at mitigating the threat posed by unexploded munitions in countries years — and sometimes decades — after war. The U.N. estimates that on average, one person is killed or injured by land mines and other explosive ordnance every hour. In January, a 21-year-old man was harvesting olives in a Syrian orchard with two friends when they noticed a visible mine on the ground. Panicked, they tried to leave, but one of them stepped on a land mine and it exploded, amputating one of his legs above the knee. A month later, in Cambodia, a rocket-propelled grenade believed to be more than 25 years old killed two toddlers when it blew up near their homes. The U.N. program aims to work with communities in Syria, Afghanistan and Nigeria to safely locate and remove these remnants of war while providing education and threat assessments. Since its inception, the U.N. says more than 55 million land mines have been destroyed and over 30 countries have become mine-free. In a refugee camp in northwest Kenya, dozens of girls 12 to 18 have gathered every Saturday at a women's empowerment center to learn self-defense through a Taekwondo class. The program, launched by the U.N.'s Population Fund last year, has focused on providing an outlet for girls who have either been victims of gender-based violence or are at risk of it after fleeing conflict zones in countries like South Sudan, Ethiopia and Congo. The coaches are locals who understand the cultural and political dynamics their students face while living in a camp that is home to nearly 300,000 refugees. The goal is to use sports activities to create safe spaces for women and girls to discuss various issues like period poverty, abuse and domestic conflict. The program, which the U.N. has replicated in Egypt and elsewhere, is funded by the Olympic Refuge Foundation. Topics surrounding sex and reproductive issues were considered taboo for centuries in Buddhist communities. U.N. staffers have spent the past decade working with religious leaders in Bhutan and other countries in Asia to 'desensitize' the topics they believe are crucial to a healthy society. The campaign has led more than 1,500 nuns from 26 nunneries to hold discussions with community members around sexual and reproductive health and the prevention of gender-based violence. Now, at least 50 monks are trained to provide counseling services on these topics to students across Bhutan's 20 districts. The U.N. says these partnerships, which began in 2014, have contributed to a decrease in maternal mortality, an increase in contraception use, and better reproductive care for pregnant women.
Scoop
2 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Malaysia: End Arbitrary Arrest, Detention And Torture Of Refugees
(KUALA LUMPUR, June 18, 2025)—Malaysian authorities must end the use of torture in their Immigration Detention Centers (IDCs) and stop their arbitrary arrest raids against migrants, Fortify Rights said today. Several refugees, arbitrarily arrested and detained as part of a new campaign of immigration raids, told Fortify Rights that they were beaten, forced to maintain stress positions or stripped naked for prolonged periods, humiliated, and denied basic necessities while in detention. 'The use of violence and humiliation against refugees is unlawful and inhumane,' said Yap Lay Sheng, Human Rights Specialist at Fortify Rights. 'Individuals seeking safety and protection from persecution are being met with mass arrest raids, discrimination, and abuse at the hands of Malaysian officials. The government must end its approach of indiscriminate raids to solving the problems of irregular migration.' While ostensibly targeting undocumented migrants, the recent raids have resulted in the arbitrary arrest and detention of refugees, registered with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia. Fortify Rights interviewed 17 victims and eyewitnesses of the recent immigration raids in Kuala Lumpur, Klang, and Muar, including former immigration detainees, their family members, humanitarians, and social workers. The interviewees include ethnic Rohingya, Rakhine, Bamar, Mon, and Kachin refugees from Myanmar. They described a dramatic surge in immigration raids in recent months that included arbitrary arrests and detention of refugees. Fortify Rights' analysis of publicly available data shows that arrests for immigration-related offences have more than tripled in the past two years. Several refugees also told Fortify Rights how they were tortured while in the custody of Malaysian immigration authorities. 'Saiful,' a 58-year-old Rohingya refugee registered with UNHCR, who was detained in the Semenyih IDC in early 2025, told Fortify Rights that immigration officers tortured detainees as a form of punishment. 'The officers told them [the detainees] to hold their ears and repeatedly sit down and stand up a hundred times,' Saiful said, 'They [the detainees] were stripped naked of whatever they were wearing, even their underwear.' Another Rohingya refugee, 'Amar,' 25, described verbal abuses while being strip-searched in Semenyih IDC in February 2025: They told us to take off our clothes. … We took off the clothes and I felt shame to see all my people [treated] like this. Then they told us to sit and they said that we are doing wrong things in their country. … They called us animals, called us dogs. Rohingya refugee 'Abdul,' 21, who was arrested and detained in the Semenyih IDC in early 2025, told Fortify Rights: We were beaten in the IDC for talking. … Immigration officers came and beat us with black pipes on the soles of our feet. … They also beat us because the water they provided was too little … When we went to ask for more water, we were beaten. 'Hanif,' 30, a Rohingya refugee who was detained in the Bukit Jalil IDC in January 2025, also told Fortify Rights the torture he witnessed: There were these three people who were interrogated. … I saw the officer smashing the phone on [one of the detainees'] forehead with the front screen. I saw that it was hurting him and he kept smashing until the phone screen broke. … I saw that he was in pain. He was crying. In February 2024, 'Razia,' 34, visited her husband at a police station where he had been detained on immigration-related charges, despite being a UNHCR-registered refugee. Razia told Fortify Rights that her husband showed signs of ill-treatment, '[M]y husband's face was swollen. There was blood on his nose and his mouth. Before this [her visit], they had already beaten him.' During Razia's visit with her husband, she witnessed police officers beat him: For that one hour, … I could see my husband, but they didn't give me permission to speak to him. When I tried to talk to him, … a policeman said, 'We already told you, you cannot talk with your husband.' At that time, one policeman came [to Razia's husband] held his collar, then he punched his face. He punched his eye once. And they [police officers] pushed him around a lot of times. Razia's husband was then moved from the police station, but despite making direct requests to the police for information, Malaysian authorities have failed to tell Razia where her husband is. She has not seen or heard from him for more than a year. 'I want to know where my husband is and I want to meet him again,' she told Fortify Rights. For more than a year, her husband's whereabouts is unknown in what may amount to a case of a government-enforced disappearance. On March 31, 2024, the Malaysian government launched a year-long 'Migrant Repatriation Programme,' a program that offered irregular migrants an amnesty in exchange for agreeing to be repatriated to their home countries. Concurrently, immigration officials have vowed to 'ramp up immigration operations nationwide … to create an ecosystem that is unconducive for illegal immigrants.' Some migrants hail from Myanmar, where they cannot safely return. On May 17, 2025, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail extended a further one-year extension to the programme. At the same time, the minister warned, 'The immigration enforcement division has been instructed to redouble enforcement operations to detect and arrest any illegal migrant that still refuses to participate in the program.' Data disclosed by the Ministry of Home Affairs shows that between January and May 13, 2025, immigration authorities have arrested 34,287 individuals, totalling an average of about 7,800 arrests per month for the first four months of this year. Fortify Rights's calculations show a surge in the average number of immigration-related arrests from 2024, at approximately 3,900 per month and a more than threefold surge in arrests compared to the average monthly arrest of about 2,300 in 2023. Refugees caught up in these raids reported that immigration officers ignored evidence of refugee status, including cards issued by UNHCR confirming the cardholder's need for international protection, and in some cases discarding or destroying the official UN documents. 'Our refugee card is not valid, has no value, at that time,' Amar, a UNHCR-registered Rohingya refugee, told Fortify Rights. 'When I showed them … They said, 'This card is useless, no need to share U.N. cards. If you have passports, then show me.'' Another UNHCR-registered ethnic Rakhine refugee from Myanmar, 'Tun,' 47, whose workplace in central Kuala Lumpur was raided in October 2024, told Fortify Rights that the authorities threatened him, 'Your UNHCR card is not valid, I will tear it up and lock you up.' Once in detention, former detainees and family members tell Fortify Rights that contact with the outside world, including family, legal representatives, and UNHCR, is extremely limited. Some detainees manage to call friends or family only after paying hefty bribes. Tun tells Fortify Rights, 'I paid 300 ringgit [US$68] to speak for half an hour. We have to hide behind the door … to avoid the CCTV.' 'Saira,' 29, described the ordeal of speaking to her Rohingya relative who was arrested in December 2024, 'After she was arrested, she called me … For three minutes, we have to pay 150 ringgit [US$34]. … I deposited money into [the officer's] personal account.' Due to this difficulty, social workers and representatives of community-based organizations, who are often first responders to immigration raids, told Fortify Rights that without timely access to the detainee or their family members, it becomes difficult to notify UNHCR or initiate the verification for their refugee status. Although Malaysia does not formally recognize UNHCR refugee status, in practice, authorities typically detain registered refugees for two weeks under a so-called 'verification' process. 'Kevin,' an aid worker who frequently responds to arrests in his community, told Fortify Rights that refugee detainees' access to protection often hinges on whether someone outside is able to alert UNHCR. We've seen a UNHCR cardholder detained past 14 days with no follow-through with UNHCR. … In another very similar case, … the family member informed UNHCR to follow through. So UNHCR was aware of the case and informed the depot where the person was held. Since August 2019, the Malaysian government has barred UNHCR from entering IDCs, hindering effective oversight and protection of refugees and other vulnerable individuals. The U.N. Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) defines torture as: Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. While Malaysia is not a party to the UNCAT, customary international law dictates that the right to be free from torture is non-derogable, meaning that it cannot be contravened, suspended, or limited under any circumstance, and that the prohibition on torture is universal, regardless of whether countries have formally joined UNCAT. Malaysia has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention, and authorities do not formally recognize UNHCR cards as conferring legal status to cardholders. Under Malaysia's Immigration Act 1959/63, anyone who lacks a 'valid entry permit' is considered 'illegal' or 'prohibited' immigrants. Under Section 35 of the Act, officers can arrest 'without warrant' any person 'reasonably believed' to be liable for removal. Although Malaysia is also not a party to the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the Refugee Convention) or its 1967 Protocol, the Convention provides authoritative guidance on refugee protection under international law. Under the Convention, a refugee is defined as a person unable or unwilling to return to their country due to a well-founded fear of persecution. Article 31 of the Refugee Convention notes that refugees should not be penalized, including through arrest or detention, in relation to their irregular entry or stay in a country of asylum, recognizing the fact that individuals fleeing persecution cannot always obtain proper documentation or official authorizations. Failure to ratify international conventions is not a valid excuse for Malaysia to violate the rights of refugees, said Fortify Rights. 'Malaysia must end these indiscriminate immigration raids, provide formal refugee status to people whose lives are in danger in their home countries, restore UNHCR's full access to detention centers, and put in place clear safeguards so that no one fleeing persecution is tortured, arbitrarily arrested, detained or forcibly returned,' said Yap Lay Sheng. 'Refugees and asylum seekers must not be caught up in the dragnet of Malaysia's migration policies.'
