Satellite imagery pointed to at least 53 schools “totally destroyed” since conflict erupted on 7 October 2023 and a near nine per cent increase in attacks on school premises since mid-February, according to a report by the UN Children’s Fund, (UNICEF) and NGOs the Education Cluster and Save The Children. The “high trend of attacks…
Sudan, and Darfur in particular, are facing a humanitarian and security crisis after a war broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), although ethnic conflicts in Darfur date back more than two decades. Fatima*, a resident of the city of El Geneina in West Darfur state, where…
The UN Environment Programme’s Food Waste Index Report 2024 highlights that latest data from 2022 shows 1.05 billion tonnes of food went to waste. Some 19 per cent of food available to consumers was lost overall at retail, food service, and household levels. That is in addition to around 13 per cent of food lost in the…
Ms. Keita, who also heads the UN peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO, sounded the alarm over the humanitarian disaster “unfolding before our very eyes”. More than seven million people in the country are displaced, particularly due to the operations of armed groups such as the M23 and the Allied Defense Forces (ADF) across the…
News reports said that residential buildings in the northern city of Kharkiv had been hit, killing one and injuring 16, quoting the city’s mayor. Four children were wounded, with images posted to social media showing extensive damage and a body visible lying on the floor. The UN’s Denise Brown said that international law must be…
Ahead of Zero Waste Day, marked annually on 30 March since 2022, we looked back at how that simple but heart-rending statement, a child’s plea to protect the East, echoed across the world. Long before activist Greta Thunberg launched the global Fridays for Future school strike movement in 2018, Ms. Cullis-Suzuki’s speech woke up the world…
Last year was the deadliest on record, with 8,541 migrant victims. Nearly 60 per cent of deaths were linked to drowning. So far in 2024, the trends are just as alarming. Along the Mediterranean sea route alone – while arrivals this year are significantly lower (16,818) compared to the same period in 2023 (26,984) –…
This was a reminder of the ongoing impact of a conflict which has now dragged on for more than 12 years and rarely makes headlines, even though it continues to have a devastating effect on the civilian population. In early March, the United Nations Syria Commission of Inquiry released a report which detailed an escalation…
According to the Monitoring Mission, interviews conducted with 60 recently released Ukrainian POWs painted a harrowing picture of their experiences in Russian captivity. “Almost every single one of the Ukrainian POWs we interviewed described how Russian servicepersons or officials tortured them during their captivity, using repeated beatings, electric shocks, threats of execution, prolonged stress positions…
The continuing violence came despite an immediate ceasefire call for the remainder of Ramadan from the Security Council on Monday, prompting urgent appeals from UN aid agencies for the resolution to be respected immediately, to prevent more people dying. Speaking from Rafah in southern Gaza, UN Children’s Fund spokesperson James Elder said that 13,750 children…
