Sharp uptick in fighting in Myanmar, UN humanitarians report

Sharp uptick in fighting in Myanmar, UN humanitarians report

Clashes intensified on Sunday and continued through the week, significantly impacting northeast and southeast Myanmar and forcing over 48,000 people from their homes, amid rising needs, according to the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). There are also reports that an alliance of three rebel groups seized towns in the country’s north, overrunning…

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World News in Brief: Health access in Israel-Palestine, Myanmar bombing, child refugee mental health

World News in Brief: Health access in Israel-Palestine, Myanmar bombing, child refugee mental health

“Over 1000 people have died and many more been injured following horrific acts of violence by Hamas on Saturday in Israel, and days of bombing by Israel in Gaza,” the WHO said  in a statement on Tuesday. The UN agency has offered assistance to health officials in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory.  …

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World News in Brief: ‘Competing’ efforts to rebuild Derna, Myanmar mines threat, schools shut in Burkina Faso

World News in Brief: ‘Competing’ efforts to rebuild Derna, Myanmar mines threat, schools shut in Burkina Faso

Abdoulaye Bathily, who is also UN Special Representative, said that plans floated by different institutions and leaders for reconstruction, run the risk of deepening the existing rift between the internationally recognized Government and rival administration in the east. He added that rebuilding could be impeded without an agreed plan going forward, and that failure to…

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Myanmar: ‘Inhumanity in its vilest form’ continues, warns Türk

Myanmar: ‘Inhumanity in its vilest form’ continues, warns Türk

“Each day, the people of Myanmar are enduring horrifying attacks, flagrant human rights violations and the crumbling of their livelihoods and hopes,” said Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He was briefing the Human Rights Council – the UN’s primary body for the protection and promotion of rights globally, including findings since his…

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War crimes intensifying: Myanmar human rights investigators

War crimes intensifying: Myanmar human rights investigators

“The frequency and intensity of war crimes and crimes against humanity has only increased in recent months,” said Nicholas Koumjian, head of the investigation team, formally known as the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). ‘Brazen bombings’ Addressing the forum in Geneva, he described even “more brazen aerial bombings and indiscriminate shelling, resulting in the deaths…

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‘Increasingly brazen’ war crimes evident in Myanmar, reports Independent Mechanism

‘Increasingly brazen’ war crimes evident in Myanmar, reports Independent Mechanism

These include indiscriminate attacks on civilians from aerial bombing, mass executions of civilians and detained combatants, and large-scale and intentional burning of civilian homes and buildings, resulting in the destruction of entire villages in some cases, the Mechanism said in a news release. “Every loss of life in Myanmar is tragic, but the devastation caused…

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Myanmar: Military’s obstruction of humanitarian aid could be international crime

Myanmar: Military’s obstruction of humanitarian aid could be international crime

The chief of OHCHR’s Myanmar team, James Rodehaver, explained that since their February 2021 coup, the country’s military rulers have been instilling a “climate of fear” to subjugate the civilian population, restricting aid access and using “all means” at their disposal to clamp down on civil society. Brutal tactics He said the military’s tactics had…

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