‘Like a scene out of a horror movie’: UN report warns of war crimes in Sudan’s El Fasher

Posted on February 14, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

“Persistent impunity fuels continued cycles of violence,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, calling for credible investigations and accountability for perpetrators.

Sudan’s national army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia have been fighting each other for control of the country for almost three years. The new report details widespread atrocities committed during the RSF assault on the besieged city of El Fasher in North Darfur.

The RSF and allied Arab militia carried out mass killings and summary executions, sexual violence, abductions for ransom, torture and ill-treatment, detention, disappearances, pillage and the use of children in hostilities. Many attacks were directed against civilians and persons hors de combat based on ethnicity or perceived affiliation.

Documented atrocities

Based on hundreds of interviews with victims and witnesses in late 2025, OHCHR documented more than 6,000 killings in the first three days of the RSF offensive. The report however warns the overall death toll during the weeks-long offensive is “undoubtedly significantly higher”.

The report revealed that in one incident around 500 people were killed when RSF fighters opened fire using heavy weapons on a crowd of 1,000 sheltering at Al-Rashid dormitory in El Fasher University on 26 October. One of the witnesses reported seeing bodies thrown into the air “like a scene out of a horror movie”.

RSF fighters also carried out summary executions within El Fasher of civilians, targeting young boys and men under 50, accused of “collaboration” with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Joint Forces, often determined on the basis of their non-Arab ethnicity, such as the Zaghawa community.

Survivors and witnesses recounted patterns of rape and gang rape, abductions for ransom using sexual violence, and sexual assault during invasive body searches, with women and girls from the Zaghawa and other non-Arab communities at particular risk.

Possible crimes against humanity

According to the report, the violations at El Fasher mirror other RSF offensives during the war, such as at the Zamzam camp in April 2025. The “organized and sustained course of conduct” suggested a systematic attack against the civilian population in the Darfur region.

“The acts of violence knowingly committed as part of such an attack would amount to crimes against humanity”, OHCHR said.

Calls for justice

Mr. Türk urged parties to the conflict to end violations by forces under their command and called on States with influence to help prevent further atrocities, including by respecting the arms embargo and halting the supply of weapons.

He called on States to do everything possible to support local, regional, and international mediation efforts, to achieve a cessation of hostilities and a pathway towards inclusive civilian governance.

“In a protection crisis of this scale, human rights must remain central to efforts to achieve a durable resolution of the conflict,” he said.

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Protecting children in war is key to lasting peace, top UN envoy warns

Posted on February 12, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

In an exclusive interview with UN News, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Vanessa Frazier, reflected on the alarming rise in grave violations against children and the urgent need to safeguard their future.

“The recruitment and use of children is still one of the most widespread and devastating violations we face. In 2024 alone, over 7,400 children were recruited or used by armed forces and armed groups, and those are only the verified cases,” Ms. Frazier told us, just ahead of Thursday’s international day against the use of child soldiers.

“Over the last 30 years, we have separated over 220,000 children from armed gangs,” she emphasised.

Growing crisis across conflicts

Her office monitors approximately 26 conflict situations around the world, and the numbers tell a grim story.

“The violations are most prevalent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, and Myanmar,” Ms. Frazier explained.

Interview with Vanessa Frazier, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, for UN News.

“But we’re also seeing worrying trends in Sudan, where children are specifically targeted because they are seen as useful – as border guards, as workers, even as fighters.”

Behind those statistics, she stressed, are young lives forever altered. “Each number in our report represents a child whose innocence has been interrupted,” she said.

From abduction to reintegration

Beyond documenting violations, Ms. Frazier’s office engages directly with combatants to negotiate the release of children and their safe return home.

“One of the strengths of our mandate is that we can negotiate directly with armed groups for the handover of children,” she explained. “Once separated, [children’s agency] UNICEF and our partners work on their reintegration, ensuring they receive psychosocial support, access to education, and the chance to reclaim their childhood.”

An eleven-year-old boy sits in the dormitory of a reintegration centre for recently demobilized child soldiers in Goma, DR Congo. (file)

But reintegration is often fraught with stigma. “Girls who return may be shunned by their communities, especially those who come back with children,” she said. “For societal reasons, some girls cannot be fully reintegrated are considered damaged goods.”

Prevention and accountability

For Ms. Frazier, prevention is the ultimate goal.

“Prevention is better than cure,” she told us. “You know, this is why we really do advocate that even in times of war and armed conflict, children must remain in school. When they are out of school, they become very vulnerable to recruitment – whether forced or not.”

Accountability, too, plays a key role. The Special Representative – who previously served as Malta’s Ambassador to the UN, including an influential period on the Security Council – pointed to recent prosecutions before national courts and the International Criminal Court (ICC) as vital deterrents.

“One of the greatest tools of deterrence is justice and accountability,” she highlighted”. “When warlords or armed group leaders are prosecuted and sentenced for recruiting children – including in national courts and at least three cases before the International Criminal Court – it sends a powerful message. Justice and accountability act as strong deterrents, showing armed groups that this crime carries real consequences.”

A 13-year-old girl formerly associated with an armed group in the Central African Republic holds a mock weapon.

Her conviction is rooted in field experience – from meeting survivors of Boko Haram’s abductions in Nigeria to listening to women once enslaved by the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda.

“You hear about a 13-year-old girl holding her baby, and you realise how deeply conflict steals childhood,” she said.

“When you hear these stories, you realise those numbers in our reports are individuals – children who were supposed to have their whole future ahead of them,” she said.

Epitome of innocence

Ms. Frazier spoke with emotion about why she is so committed to this cause.

“Children are the epitome of innocence,” she said. “They have not taken sides in any war, yet their innocence and childhood have both been interrupted. Children should never be treated as collateral of war.”

Children are the epitome of innocence

She added that the path to lasting peace begins with protecting and empowering those same children.

“The sustainability of peace depends on children’s right to take it forward. When they are brought back from conflict, they must have access to education and the chance to be fully integrated into society — to aspire to become doctors, nurses, lawyers, politicians, engineers — and that can only be achieved through education.”

Messages of hope

The Special Representative outlined her campaign Prove It Matters, which invites children affected by war to send messages to leaders, folded into origami doves, the universal symbol of peace.

“One child wrote to me, ‘I still have hope for a peaceful world. Never again a girl being a wife of a guerrilla fighter. Never again being part of armed groups. Let’s save childhoods and families too.’ It’s such an innocent plea, but it is what we are about,” she said.

A young man and former child soldier in Sultan Kudarat, Philippines, plans to return to school.

As the conversation ended, Ms. Frazier reiterated her conviction that education, justice and hope remain the pillars of peace.

“Children should be able to continue with their innocence even during times of conflict,” she said. “It is about ensuring a sustainable and peaceful future for the world.”

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From war zones to outer space, radio remains essential

Posted on February 12, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

Every 13 February marks World Radio Day, a celebration timed to the moment UN Radio first crackled to life 80 years ago.

UN News teams have gathered stories from every corner of the world that reveal a simple truth: in places fractured by conflict, disasters or deep digital divides, radio remains a steady, reliable pulse – carrying information, reassurance and connection where other signals cannot reach.

From UN Radio to UN News

This enduring role is deeply woven into the history of the United Nations itself. Eighty years ago, as the world emerged from the devastation of the Second World War, UN Radio began broadcasting from modest studios at UN Headquarters in New York, reaching audiences with news bulletins and feature programmes in five languages, often transmitting entire Security Council proceedings.

L to R: UN Radio staff José Quijano-Santos, Luis Marron, Hernando Solano, Jorge A. Carvallo, Luis Carlos Sanchez, Osvaldo Lopez Noguerol, Beatrix Alcapra Cuellar and Guillermo Caram, record a special broadcast for Latin American radio networks.

Over the decades, iconic voices such as Edward R. Murrow, Marlon Brando, Audrey Hepburn and Frank Sinatra helped narrate global stories, while listeners heard historic speeches from leaders including John F. Kennedy, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro and Pope John Paul II.

That legacy evolved into what is now UN News, a multimedia platform publishing in 10 languages and connecting with audiences in more than 170 countries. It brings breaking news, interviews, live coverage and richer storytelling on the world’s most urgent challenges – and the efforts under way to solve them.

For all the transformations brought by new technology, one guiding principle endures: providing dependable information to the people who need it most, through audio formats that bridge both heritage and innovation.

Rebuilding radio broadcasting in Gaza

Nowhere is this mission more urgent than in conflict zones. In Gaza, before October 7, 2023, a total of 23 local radio stations operated across the territory. Following the war triggered by Hamas attacks on Israel, every station was destroyed.

Yet Rami Al‑Sharafi, director of Zaman FM, is working to piece broadcasting back together – a fragile but determined effort in the midst of profound damage.

Journalist Rami Al-Sharfi, is the director of radio at Gaza’s ZMN 90.60 FM radio station.

When UN News Arabic visited the station, he put it plainly: “Zaman FM has resumed broadcasting, and we are currently the only radio station transmitting FM frequencies from inside the Gaza Strip after this massive destruction.”

The need for reliable broadcasting is profound, particularly as Gaza faces the spread of diseases, the collapse of educational structures, and disrupted public services.

A crucial tool for peacekeeping

Across other conflict zones, radio serves as a steadying presence. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Radio Okapi, has become a trusted voice since its creation in 2002 as part of the UN peacekeeping mission there, known as MONUSCO.

Broadcasting in French and four national languages, the station offers reliable information in regions of the country affected by violence and displacement, according to testimonies gathered by UN News French.

In Bukavu, deep in the country’s restive eastern region, one listener described how Radio Okapi “plays a key role in promoting peace by broadcasting information that is reliable and impartial,” noting that “when people want to be sure that information is true, they often turn to Radio Okapi.”

Radio Okapi and Radio nationale congolaise have made a commitment to broadcast didactic sequences on the main subjects of the primary and secondary cycle in the DRC during the Covid-19 pandemic

For many communities, the station is also a vital channel for civic participation and accountability. “It ensures that victims of war can express their suffering so that it can reach the authorities,” said another Bukavu resident.

The station’s influence extends beyond information, actively countering hate speech and strengthening social cohesion. In Lubumbashi, a listener credited Radio Okapi with helping “stop or reduce messages inciting hatred,” while praising programmes like Inter-Congolese Dialogue, which he said, “allow national cohesion to produce outcomes of peace.”

Lifesaving information in conflict zones

For refugees such as Bahati Yohane, now living in Kyangwali Refugee camp in Uganda, Okapi became a literal lifeline during escalating violence in DRC. In an interview to UN News Kiswahili, he said: “To be honest, if there had been no radio to tell us anything about security, we would not be alive in this world today”.

In the Central African Republic, radio continues to bridge isolation in remote and insecure areas. The UN Mission, MINUSCA, supports both its own station, Guira FM, and local broadcasters to strengthen access to trusted information.

Radio GUIRA-FM – 4 years anniversary

Through recent campaigns that put more than 500 radios into local hands, communities have not only improved the flow of reliable information but also curbed the kinds of rumors that can disrupt travel, trade and relations between neighbours.

These efforts revive a tradition that began decades ago, when UN News Kiswahili partnered with Radio Tanzania – now the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation – to air the weekly programme Mwangaza wa Umoja wa Mataifa from the 1970s through the 1990s.Former programme controller Edda Sanga remembers that “the program helped build hope and aspirations for many people,” offering stories of progress and practical solutions.

It became, she said, a programme “eagerly awaited” by listeners looking for reliable updates on peace, human rights, environmental issues and conflicts unfolding in neighbouring countries.

The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, is also a key partner for radio stations across fragile environments, helping them remain operational during crises and continue delivering life‑saving information. In Afghanistan, the agency backs 10 stations that broadcast guidance on basic services, reaching as many as 20 million listeners, about 40 per cent of whom are women and girls.

Radio amateurs as national heroes

Outside conflict areas, radio’s quiet strength becomes even clearer during climate‑driven emergencies. As storms or floods knock out phone lines and internet connections, radio signals frequently remain the last dependable link to the outside world.

Eloísa Farrera/CINU México

Jesús Miguel Sarmiento, with the call sign XE1EW as a radio operator, presides over the Mexican Federation of Radio Experimenters

In Mexico, amateur radio operators were recognized as national heroes following the 1985 earthquake, when traditional communication systems failed entirely.

Today, the Mexican Federation of Radio Amateurs coordinates the National Emergency Network, due to its ability of transmitting vital information during hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes.

During Hurricane Otis in 2023, operators quickly improvised communication systems under extreme conditions. As Federation President Jesús Miguel Sarmiento Montesinos told UN News Spanish, “They turned copper wires into antennas, used their equipment and batteries, and immediately began transmitting, reporting on the situation in the affected areas, the extent of the flooding, and whether the areas were accessible or inaccessible”.

An inclusive platform

Radio also serves as a powerful force for accessibility and inclusion. In India, Radio Udaan was launched in 2014 as the country’s first online station operated entirely by visually impaired presenters and staff. Today, it reaches 125,000 listeners across 120 countries, addressing disability rights, education, technology and social inclusion, and challenging stereotypes through fashion shows, singing competitions, matchmaking, talent hunts and other community‑driven programmes.

UN News Hindi spoke with Founder Danish Mahajan, who explained that his lived experience as a visually impaired person helps shape programming tailored to audience needs.

An Online Radio Station Giving Voice to India’s Visually Impaired.

He highlighted the importance of UN News content, noting, “Whenever there is a programme, discussion, or special UN commemoration related to disability, the themes, dialogues, and inspirational talks produced by the United Nations greatly benefit the community”.

Mr. Mahajan also sees new opportunities through artificial intelligence, AI, describing it as a “game-changing technology” capable of expanding accessibility through tools such as smart glasses that help visually impaired individuals make sense of their surroundings.

Empathy that algorithms can’t replicate

Artificial intelligence is transforming the global audio landscape. In China, these shifts are unfolding at remarkable speed, with the podcast audience already exceeding 150 million and expected to grow further.

UN News Chinese heard from Professor Sun Shaojing of Fudan University that audio content is becoming deeply woven into daily life – from electric vehicles navigating crowded cities to smart devices accompanying moments of solitude.

The UN Global Digital Compact aims to bring together governments and industry to ensure that technology, like AI, works for all humanity.

He notes that AI‑generated news presenters and synthetic voices are becoming increasingly common, offering accuracy, efficiency and multilingual reach on a scale once unimaginable. Yet within this technological precision, Professor Sun identifies a paradox: the very imperfections of human speech – the pauses, hesitations and emotional textures – are what give voice its soul.

“When reporting on disaster scenes, affected individuals, their suffering, and their needs, AI would lose many of the emotional and empathetic dimensions that require human compassion and connection. It would not achieve the same depth of emotional impact or resonance”, he said.

Demand increases for radio communications in outer space

Even beyond Earth, radio continues to underpin communication and discovery. From the moment the first satellite broke through the atmosphere in 1957, radio waves have carried the quiet work of exploration, becoming the unseen bridge behind space communications, Earth monitoring and navigation.

As space exploration accelerates, these frequencies are becoming even more critical. Alexandre Vallet, Chief of Space Services at the International Telecommunication Union, ITU, told UN News Portuguese that satellites equipped with highly sensitive sensors rely on ITU’s protected spectrum bands to accurately track the accelerating impacts of climate change.

A satellite, as seen from space, tracks over South America.

He explained that expanding lunar plans by major space powers – including proposals from the United States and China to build permanent bases – are likely to drive a steep increase in radio‑communication needs. That surge, he warned, could threaten the Moon’s Shielded Zone, protected under a 1970s ITU treaty to preserve the lunar silence essential for studying the universe’s earliest moments.

“For the next conference on the radio regulations, at the end of 2027, we will discuss establishing for the first time a regulatory framework for radio spectrum management on the moon. So, this will include finding a good balance between the need for communication links and also the need to protect the spectrum for scientific purposes,” he said.

Looking ahead, the rapid transformation of the space economy will only deepen humanity’s reliance on radio spectrum. Mr. Vallet added that emerging industries such as space tourism, orbital manufacturing, space mining, and even data centers beyond Earth will depend on reliable radio-based communication channels.

A signal that endures

Across conflict zones, disaster response, accessibility efforts, digital innovation and even the far reaches of space, radio continues to demonstrate its quiet but remarkable strength.

Amid a world overwhelmed by images and accelerating technology, these invisible waves endure as a reminder that the simplest forms of communication often hold the greatest power to inform, protect and unite.

Listen to daily news bulletins and podcasts on SoundCloud or here.

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Ukraine war keeps nuclear safety on a knife-edge, UN watchdog warns

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

Russian forces have been carrying out strikes on critical infrastructure amid freezing winter temperatures as their full-scale invasion approaches the four-year mark next month.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said the electrical grid was again the target of military activity this past weekend, leading to significant impacts to several regions and nuclear power plant operations.

Power lines down

The fighting caused power lines linking Ukraine with neighbouring countries to be disconnected, which in turn knocked out supplies inside Ukraine.

As a result, a unit at one nuclear power plant disconnected from the grid due to fluctuations and automatically shut down, while other units at other plants were forced to reduce power.

The Chornobyl site – where the world’s worst nuclear disaster occurred in 1986 – experienced a complete loss of offsite power and relied on its emergency diesel generators for roughly an hour.

‘Ever-present risks’

“This latest grid event in Ukraine is a stark reminder of the ever-present risks to nuclear safety and security arising from deteriorating grid conditions,” said Mr. Grossi.

He stressed that extensive repairs are needed to improve the reliability of power supply to nuclear power plants and strengthen their resilience.

“Once again, I call for maximum military restraint, as well as full observance of the Seven Indispensable Pillars to enable these essential repairs to take place.”

Seven safety principles

The IAEA developed the seven pillars for nuclear safety in Ukraine in March 2022, just weeks after the war began – the first time ever that armed conflict has occurred amid the facilities of a major nuclear power programme.

Measures include maintaining the physical integrity of facilities, ensuring offsite power supply from the energy grid, and implementing effective radiation monitoring systems.

Operating staff must also be able to fulfill their safety and security duties and to make decisions without any undue pressure.

Vital inspections

As military activity increases impacting the electricity grid in Ukraine, three IAEA teams are conducting a two-week mission visiting 10 substations critical to nuclear safety and security.

The objective is to assess the continuing damage to the grid, review repair efforts and identify practical steps to strengthen the resilience of off-site power supplies to nuclear power plants.

This marks the second IAEA mission in as many months. A mission this past December confirmed the effects of cumulative impacts on nuclear power plant operations and staff conditions.

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In Washington, Fletcher presses for action as Sudan war grinds on

Posted on February 4, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

Speaking at a donor conference in Washington, DC, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher warned that the brutal conflict, famine and mass displacement are pushing millions of civilians deeper into crisis, while aid access remains severely constrained.

Fighting erupted between the once-allied Sudanese Armed Forces and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in mid-April 2023, spreading quickly through a country already undergoing political turmoil, increased ethnic tensions, and climate extremes.

Move from words to action

There have been “too many days of famine, of brutal atrocities, of lives uprooted and destroyed,” Mr. Fletcher said, while women and girls have been forced to endure “terrifying sexual violence.”

He stressed that the international community must move beyond expressions of concern to deliver more support and political pressure on combatants for a ceasefire. With that must come extensive humanitarian access.

Mr. Fletcher said the United Nations fully supports diplomatic efforts led by the “Quad” – the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – aimed at securing a humanitarian truce, including the demilitarization of key areas to allow life-saving aid to reach civilians.

“The guns must fall silent and a path to peace must be charted,” he said.

UN ready to deliver

Under its comprehensive 2026 humanitarian response plan, UN agencies aim to reach more than 20 million people across Sudan with emergency assistance. To achieve that target, the Organization requires about $2.9 billion.

Alongside funding, safe and unhindered access for humanitarians and civilians are critical to ensure aid reaches those in need.

Civilians and aid workers must be protected, Mr. Fletcher stressed, urging donors to respond quickly and decisively.

“Let today be at last the signal that the world is uniting in solidarity for practical impact,” he said.

Crisis deepens on the ground

Meanwhile, fighting rages on the ground in Sudan.

According to media reports, Government forces on Tuesday entered South Kordofan’s capital, Kadugli, which was under a months-long siege by the RSF. The army had also recently broken the blockade of Dilling, a major town about 110 kilometres north of Kadugli.

The fighting continues to drive thousands from their homes into IDP camps and makeshift settlements, facing critical shortages of food, healthcare, water, sanitation, shelter and education.

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly 11.7 million people have been forcibly displaced by the conflict, including seven million internally displaced and 4.5 million who have fled to neighbouring countries.

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UN watchdog warns Ukraine war remains world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety

Posted on January 31, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

Addressing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, Director General Rafael Grossi said the agency remains focused on preventing a nuclear accident as fighting continues to endanger critical infrastructure.

“The conflict in Ukraine is about to enter its fifth year,” Mr. Grossi said. “It continues to pose the world’s biggest threat to nuclear safety.”

IAEA teams remain deployed at all nuclear power plants affected by the conflict and publish regular updates on nuclear safety and security conditions.

The Board of Governors is the IAEA’s main decision-making body, bringing together representatives of 35 countries to oversee nuclear safety, security and safeguards, and to guide the work of the UN nuclear watchdog. Its current membership includes, among others Russia, the United States, United Kingdom, and France.

Off-site power a critical safety lifeline

Mr. Grossi stressed that a central safety requirement is reliable off-site power – the electricity a plant receives from the national grid. Without it, nuclear sites must rely on backup systems to run cooling and other essential safety functions.

“There must be secure off-site power supply from the grid for all nuclear sites,” he said, pointing to the IAEA’s “Seven Pillars” guidance for nuclear safety during armed conflict, where off-site power is pillar number four.

He also cited Principle 3 of the IAEA’s Five Principles for protecting the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) that “all efforts should be made to ensure off-site power remains available and secure at all times.”

Mr. Grossi said both sets of guidance have broad international support, including from the parties directly involved, and that he has repeatedly called for adherence to them, including at the UN Security Council.

Progress at Zaporizhzhya amid ongoing risks

He reported recent progress at ZNPP, where Europe’s biggest plant was reconnected on 19 January to its last remaining 330-kilovolt backup power line after repairs were carried out under a temporary ceasefire negotiated with Ukrainian and Russian counterparts.

The line had been damaged and disconnected since 2 January, reportedly due to military activity.

Until the reconnection, ZNPP relied on its last remaining 750-kilovolt main line to provide off-site power for safety systems needed to cool its six shutdown reactors and spent fuel pools. IAEA teams are also monitoring the plant’s ability to manage winter conditions, including keeping water in cooling and sprinkler ponds from freezing.

Beyond the plants themselves, Mr. Grossi warned that Ukraine’s electrical substations are also crucial to nuclear safety. “Damage to them undermines nuclear safety and must be avoided,” he said. An IAEA expert mission is now assessing 10 substations vital to nuclear safety amid ongoing strikes on the country’s power infrastructure.

Other nuclear sites also affected

IAEA teams have also reported military activity near other nuclear facilities, including the Chornobyl site, where damage to a critical substation disrupted multiple power lines and forced temporary reliance on emergency diesel generators. The affected lines have since been reconnected.

Mr. Grossi said the IAEA has shown how international institutions can help reduce risks and provide predictability in a volatile war. But, he added, technical measures have limits.

“The best way to ensure nuclear safety and security,” he said, “is to bring this conflict to an end.”

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At the edge of war: the Central African Republic’s uneasy border with Sudan

Posted on January 21, 2026 by Arun Kumar N

Since the beginning of the civil war in Sudan, tens of thousands of refugees have fled south to the area, carrying with them not only what they could salvage from their homes, but the woes of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

On a sweltering November day, at the start of the dry season, a tall woman was standing in the shade of a tree near a plastic tent, amid the thatched-roof houses of Korsi, a neighbourhood hastily built on the outskirts of Birao to absorb the tide of new arrivals.

Nafeesa, as we’ll call her, said she came from a city outside Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, more than 700 miles away.

When the war broke out there, in April 2023, she and her family headed west to South Darfur, where her husband opened a small shop in a local market. One day, armed men burst into the store and threatened him. He managed to escape, but they followed him home.

UN News/Alban Mendes de Leon

Nafeesa (center, from behind), whose real name has been changed to protect her safety, said she came from a city outside Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, more than 700 miles away.

That same night, the men returned to finish the job.

“They came to us at 1:30am,” Nafeesa, whose real name has been changed to protect her safety, recalled in Arabic. “He got out of bed, but they shot him three times.”

About this article

This reported story was produced with the support of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). It explores how the war in neighbouring Sudan is affecting communities in areas where the mission is tasked with protecting civilians.

The mission at a glance

Deployed: 2014, following the outbreak of the Central African civil war
Mandate: Protection of civilians; support to stabilization, the peace process, and the restoration of state authority
Personnel: 18,313 uniformed and civilian staff, including 13,307 troops
In northern CAR: roughly 900 peacekeepers, including 600 in Birao

She and her nine-year-old son were tied up as her husband lay dying. “They took our money, our belongings, and our clothes.”

She spoke in a soft voice, her hands covered with dainty henna patterns, but her face was hardened by grief and exile.

After the killing, she decided to leave Sudan with the rest of her family.

The war spreads

The events that forever altered the course of Nafeesa’s life were put into motion by the rupture between Sudan’s army chief, general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Nearly three years later, what started as a power struggle in Khartoum metastasized into nationwide bloodshed. Roughly 30 million people have been pushed into humanitarian distress and more than 10 million have fled their homes, half of them children. Since the summer of 2024, famine has taken hold in various parts of the country.

In late October 2025, the war reached a new threshold. After more than 500 days of siege, the RSF seized the city of El Fasher, the last government stronghold in North Darfur. Hundreds of thousands were displaced. Reports emerged of ethnically targeted massacres against non-Arab communities, mass rape, and summary executions.

For many Darfuris, the violence felt chillingly familiar. The RSF trace their origins to the Janjaweed militias that fought alongside the Sudanese government during the Darfur war, more than two decades ago.

That conflict pitted them against the region’s non-Arab communities – the Fur, the Masalit, and the Zaghawa. Just weeks before the fall of El Fasher, the International Criminal Court (ICC) convicted Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al Rahman – a former Janjaweed leader known as Ali Kushay – of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in West Darfur in 2003 and 2004. Prosecutors warned that similar atrocities were again being committed today, often with rape used as a weapon of war.

Borders without barriers

Like Nafeesa, many people living in Darfur cross south into the Central African Republic, where they arrive in Am Dafock, a border town sitting on marshy ground two hours away from Birao.

They came to us at 1:30am…. He got out of bed, but they shot him three times.

There is no fence, no physical barrier marking the end of one country and the beginning of the other – just a dried-up riverbed spanning the invisible line drawn on maps.

People move back and forth freely – by foot, riding donkeys, or with cattle. Armed men cross, too.

In the words of Ramadan Abdel Kader, the area’s deputy governor, the town’s recent history has been defined by fear. “The population was plunged into absolute distress,” he told us. Men suspected to be RSF fighters crossed the border to loot, kill, and terrorize villagers.

At the height of the violence, he said, up to 11,500 people – a large chunk of the Am Dafock population – fled their homes.

They found shelter near the local base of MINUSCA, the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR), which set up camp in the border town after the Sudanese crisis erupted. “Were it not for its presence here, this locality would have been overrun by armed elements from Sudan,” the official said.

UN News/Alban Mendes de Leon

In the north of the Central African Republic, where seasonal flooding regularly cuts the region off from the rest of the country, MINUSCA forces patrol vast distances with limited infrastructure.

Born of another war

The reason for MINUSCA’s presence in the country has scarcely anything to do with its embattled neighbour. The mission was deployed in 2014 as the Central African Republic descended into chaos, following the seizure of power by the Séléka, a predominantly Muslim coalition that overthrew the president at the time, François Bozizé. What followed was a spiral of violence in which Séléka fighters and mostly Christian militias known as the anti-Balaka committed widespread abuses against civilians – killings, looting, sexual violence – plunging the country into cycles of communal bloodshed.

The violence pushed the country to the brink of collapse. Entire communities were displaced along religious lines. State authority evaporated outside the capital, Bangui.

More than a decade later, the Séléka has disbanded, two presidential elections have been held, and a 2019 peace agreement brought 14 armed groups into a political process. Still, large swaths of the country remain unstable, and the UN mission maintains more than 13,000 troops across the landlocked nation.

We are operating in an environment where the state is still rebuilding itself

In the north, where seasonal flooding regularly cuts the region off from the rest of the country, MINUSCA forces patrol vast distances with limited infrastructure. “We are operating in an environment where the State is still rebuilding itself,” said Major Obed Mumba, the commander of the roughly 200 peacekeepers stationed in Am Dafock. “Our role here is first and foremost to protect civilians and to prevent any escalation that could destabilize the region further.”

With the Sudanese war raging at its doorstep, the mission has taken on a renewed sense of urgency. For Major Sifamwelwa Akalaluka, who leads MINUSCA’s community engagement efforts in Birao, its work is inseparable from the human terrain. “We engage with the population every day,” she said. “We listen to women, to youth, to community leaders. This helps us understand where tensions are rising before they turn into violence.”

When land becomes contested

Those tensions, local officials and residents told us, were not driven solely by the presence of armed men crossing over from Sudan. They were also fuelled by competition over land and resources between Sudanese pastoralists, fleeing violence with their herds, and Central African farmers, whose fields lie along transhumance routes – traditional paths used to move livestock in search of pasture.

As Sudanese breeders have moved south with their cattle, crops were trampled, wells were strained, and disputes multiplied.

What had once been seasonal friction hardened into confrontation, exacerbated by rumours, opportunistic traders, and the circulation of weapons in an already volatile border zone. Suspected RSF fighters and other armed elements exploited the chaos.

By September, according to Tamia Célestin, one of Am Dafock’s community leaders, the situation had reached a breaking point. “We recorded numerous cases of rape,” he said. “Young girls, some of them 12 or 13 years old, were attacked. People were afraid to go to their fields.” That month, local leaders registered six bodies shot dead and nearly 26 cases of sexual violence.

UN News/Alban Mendes de Leon

Talking under the trees

In response, MINUSCA facilitated a cross-border dialogue, bringing together Central African and Sudanese communities who had been living face to face – and increasingly at odds. From October 27 to 30, 2025, more than a hundred delegates gathered in Am Dafock, sitting on benches and mats beneath trees, in the absence of any formal meeting hall.

Religious leaders, village chiefs, traders, members of transhumance committees, and nine women faced one another across the dusty clearing. “The dialogue was not easy,” Mr. Célestin, who took part in the three-day talks, recalled. “But people spoke.” Grievances were aired. Accusations exchanged. Boundaries redrawn – not on maps, but in words. “In the end, we agreed that the violence had to stop,” he said

A local agreement was signed just two weeks before our arrival. It banned the carrying of weapons, reaffirmed transhumance corridors for cattle, and committed both sides to resolving disputes through local committees rather than force. Since then, residents said, the gunfire had mostly quieted. The fields were being cultivated again. The border remained open – but calmer.

Am Dafock was buzzing with preparations for the upcoming general elections, as residents were preparing to choose an official mayor for the first time in decades – municipal polls had not been held in the country since 1988.

On December 28, Central Africans voted overwhelmingly for the incumbent president, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, securing him a third term.

For many residents there, the ballot carried the promise of normalcy, or at least continuity, in a region long starved of both.

That promise, however, remains elusive.

UN News/Alban Mendes de Leon

Major Sifamwelwa Akalaluka, who leads MINUSCA’s community engagement efforts in Birao, talks to women at the town’s market.

Waiting for somewhere safe

Back in 2023, Nafeesa did not stay long in Am Dafock, where she’d arrived with her family after the murder of her husband. Like thousands of other Sudanese seeking distance from the war, the insecurity at the border pushed her onward to Birao.

There, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) worked with local authorities to register new arrivals and organize their survival. “They gave us blankets and mattresses for my children,” she said. “They gave me the house where I am staying now.”

Today, more than 27,000 Sudanese refugees live in and around Birao, an overwhelming number for a town that claims fewer than 18,000 residents of its own. “This is a rather unusual situation,” acknowledged Jofroy Fabrice Sanguebe-Nadji, a UNHCR staff member on the ground.

“The arrival of a significant number of refugees has put a strain on resources that were already limited in the first place.” Water and basic services have been stretched thin.

People entered at night and killed the boy. We couldn’t find him.

In Korsi, the refugee neighbourhood where Nafeesa now lives, humanitarian organisations have carved out a delicate ecosystem. “This is not a camp,” explained Mr. Sanguebe-Nadji. “It is an out-of-camp approach, where refugees live alongside the host community.”

Still, most residents remain dependent on humanitarian aid – food assistance, shelter materials, access to healthcare, and schooling – even as financial support dwindles. “The main difficulty today,” the official added, “is the critical lack of funding.”

Nafeesa survives by selling whatever small goods she can find. “They gave me a small table for the market,” she said. “Thank God, life is okay.”

Safety, though, is still an issue. While the agreement signed in Am Dafock has eased intercommunal tensions along the border, violence still creeps in – including here, in Birao. “The other day, they killed a boy in the camp,” Nafeesa said. “People entered at night and killed the boy. We couldn’t find him.”

Returning to Sudan with her mother and children is out of the question, at least for now; the war has swallowed her past. But staying in Birao is not guaranteed either. Without lasting protection and steady work, displacement remains a temporary fix, not a long-term solution.

And so Nafeesa waits. Like the uneasy calm along the Sudanese border, her refuge endures – for now.

Humanitarian emergency

After nearly three years of war, humanitarian funding for Sudan has fallen sharply. The World Food Program has warned that food aid could run out in March.
In 2026, the UN is asking for $2.9 billion to provide lifesaving aid to 20 million people in Sudan, with another $500 million to help 2.6 million Sudanese refugees who have fled the country.
The UN is also asking for $264 million to help 1.3 million people in the Central African Republic.

Donate

Donations to these agencies help sustain food distributions, shelter, health services, and protection for civilians affected by the conflict:

Sudan War: Cholera Vaccination Campaign Begins in Darfur

Posted on September 23, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

The World Health Organization (WHO)’s Deputy Representative to the country Hala Khudari reported on Tuesday that the outbreak, which started in July 2024 in Kassala, has spread to all 18 states of the country.

More than 113,600 cases have been registered so far and over 3,000 deaths – a “concerning case fatality rate” of 2.7 per cent.

Speaking from Port Sudan, she said that the past year saw surges in White Nile and Khartoum among other states, resulting from the impact of the conflict and increased population movement. This critical situation has been compounded by severely limited basic services such as water, food and health, caused by ongoing heavy fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Cholera is an acute intestinal infection that spreads through bacteria-contaminated food and water. According to WHO, it can kill within hours when not treated, and case fatality rates above one per cent indicate “serious gaps in case management and delayed access to care”.

Conditions ripe for disease

The resurgence of cholera in Sudan has been fuelled by heavy rains and flooding, overcrowding and lack of access to clean water in displacement sites and within communities.

In the Darfur region, where cholera has been spreading since May, the number of cases continues to increase amid “severe access constraints” which are impeding the response, including inaccessible roads due to the rainy season, Ms. Khudari said. As of two days ago 12,739 cases and 358 deaths were reported in more than half of all the localities of the five Darfur states.

In certain localities in West Darfur, the case fatality rate has been as high as 11.8 per cent, she said.

Ms. Khudari explained that WHO and partners have been working to control the outbreak with a vaccination campaign in the worst-hit communities. It began last Sunday “after weeks of preparations to overcome access, transport and logistical challenges”.

The campaign aims to protect 1.86 million people in six priority localities of the Darfurs.

The WHO representative said that the “biggest challenge” in launching the campaign was to “actually get the vaccines there”. She described the difficulties in delivering the life-saving immunizations and supporting supplies via “long routes” to Nyala in South Darfur state earlier this month, amid ongoing security concerns.

El Fasher survivors

Preparations are ongoing to launch the campaign by the end of September in Tawila in North Darfur State, which hosts more than 575,000 internally displaced people, most of whom have fled from the besieged city of El Fasher.

The vaccines are being deployed in Sudan with the support of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), whose spokesperson Ricardo Pires raised the alarm over the severe risks of cholera for children.

Children under five have been “disproportionately affected”, he told reporters, and so far at least 380 have died.

Access to life-saving treatment for cholera in Sudan is limited as the almost two-and-a-half-year-old violent conflict has devastated the health system.

The outbreak comes at a time when “more than 70 per cent of hospitals in conflict-affected areas are non-operational, with health centres being damaged or destroyed during the conflict, lacking supplies and even staff, as well as facilities being often used as shelter,” Mr. Pires stressed.

The UNICEF spokesperson also underscored the impact of “relentless” attacks on the country’s power and water infrastructure which have off cut millions of people including many children from safe and clean water, forcing families to collect water from unsafe and contaminated sources.

World News in Brief: Afghan quake update, diplomacy continues to end Sudan war, UN honours victims of 9/11

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

Women and children face heightened risks, while operational challenges – including restrictions on female UN staff – threaten life-saving relief efforts.

The twin quakes, measuring 6.0 and 6.2, struck on 31 August and 4 September, flattening entire villages in Kunar, Nangarhar, Laghman and Nuristan provinces. Mountainous terrain and landslides blocked key roads, leaving air transport as the only reliable access.

Assessments indicate over 6,700 homes were destroyed or damaged, forcing most families to shelter in the open without privacy, clean water, or basic services.

Ensuring critical healthcare

UNFPA, the UN reproductive health agency, has deployed health teams to the hardest-hit areas, providing maternal and reproductive healthcare, psychosocial support and counselling. More than 9,500 people have received assistance so far.

“Women and children in particular are extremely traumatized,” said a psychosocial counsellor. “Our goal is to support their emotional and mental health and provide whatever assistance we can, including medicines and dignity kits.”

Among the affected, UNFPA estimates some 11,600 pregnant women face heightened risk due to limited access to health services.

“For pregnant women, a natural disaster can turn an already challenging time into a life-threatening crisis,” said UNFPA Representative Kwabena Asante-Ntiamoah.

World Health Organization (WHO) mobile teams have been deployed to provide trauma care, maternal and child health services, mental health support, immunizations, and emergency nutrition.

The agency has also dispatched 43 tonnes of medical supplies and provided over 4,500 consultations through its clinics.

Sudan: UN envoy heads to region in call for dialogue towards peace

The UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, has travelled to East Africa to address the ongoing civil conflict there and push for negotiations towards a peace deal.

 In a post on X earlier this week, Mr. Lamamra called on combatants and political actors in Sudan “to engage in constructive dialogue leading to a sustainable solution.”

The goal of the visit is to make progress on the protection of civilians and to strengthen multilateral mediation efforts in the country.

Push for high level consultations

To achieve that, he is working together with the African Union to organize a ministerial-level consultative group meeting in Addis Ababa.

As the rival militaries continue to attack civilians and vital infrastructure, many displaced people and other communities are receiving reduced food assistance, or none at all.

“We continue to reiterate our calls for an end to this conflict that has left 25 million people acutely hungry,” said the UN Secretary General’s Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric at a press conference on Thursday.

UN honours 9/11 anniversary, stands with New Yorkers 

Marking the 24th anniversary of the 11 September terror attacks, the UN reaffirmed its enduring solidarity on Thursday with the people of New York, the city where it has been headquartered for nearly 80 years. 

“New York has hosted the United Nations for 80 years and has been the home to many of our colleagues, as well as to diplomats, staff, and of course all the Secretaries-General. We continue to stand in solidarity with the people of New York, as we did 24 years ago,” said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. 

The attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan claimed nearly 3,000 lives from over 90 countries and left thousands more injured.

Decades later, survivors and first responders continue to face long-term health challenges, including respiratory illnesses, cancer, and mental health struggles. 

A place to call home

“New York City has hosted our UN Headquarters for decades and is the place many colleagues call home – so do I,” said Secretary-General António Guterres.

“Today, my thoughts are with everyone who lost loved ones on 9/11, and with all the people of New York City,” he added, in a social media post. 

The UN emphasised its ongoing commitment to commemorate the worst terror attack in US history, honouring the victims, and supporting New Yorkers as the city continues its journey of resilience and healing.

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‘A war of atrocities’ – UN human rights investigators warn Sudanese civilians are paying the highest price

Posted on September 6, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

“They burned everything,” said one witness of a shelling attack in the Zamzam displacement camp in war-torn Darfur. “They claimed they only wanted to fight soldiers, but they punished the whole community.”

The war crimes and human rights violations perpetrated by all parties to the conflict between the military government and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia are documented in the latest report to the UN Human Rights Council, published by the UN’s investigative body probing violations in Sudan, known as the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM).

The report, ‘A War of Atrocities” found that both the Sudanese army (SAF) and the RSF have directed large-scale attacks against civilians and vital infrastructure including medical centres, constituting serious violations of international law.

Systematic human rights abuses

“Our findings leave no room for doubt: civilians are paying the highest price in this war,” said Mohamed Chande Othman, chair of the FFM.

According to the report, civilians are being targeted by both sides for their real or perceived affiliation with the opposing side. Executions, torture, and rape have become a daily horror for many communities in the war-torn country.

The RSF intentionally directed attacks against non-Arab communities in the besieged Darfuri city of El Fasher and the surrounding region, increasing the toll on what the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, calls the world’s fastest-growing displacement crisis.

Around 12.1 million people have fallen victim to forced displacement as of July. More civilians were killed or fled after the SAF targeted the state of Gezira.

Violence against women

Many civilians interviewed for the report said that they had suffered sexual assault. One witness said that she, along with other women and underaged girls, was subjected to rape in an abandoned building.

“Victims – especially women and children, who bear the greatest burden – deserve justice and reparations,” said Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, one of the independent investigators.

For women and girls in Sudan, receiving psychological or medical support is nearly impossible both because of the fear of retaliation from reporting violence and because of regular RSF and SAF attacks on hospitals.

Risk for humanitarian workers

Over 84 Sudanese humanitarian workers were killed, and more were arbitrarily detained between the start of war in April 2023 and April this year after intentional attacks and kidnappings.

The FFM is also conducting an ongoing investigation on a drone attack against a joint World Food Programme and UNICEF convoy in June. Five humanitarian workers died in the attack while several others were injured.

Meanwhile, humanitarian aid continues to be delayed or obstructed.

A ‘roadmap for justice’

“Our report not only exposes atrocities, it also lays out a roadmap for justice,” said FFM expert Mona Rishmawi.

The warring parties, mediators, and civil society can all play a role in ending the conflict, as outlined in the report.

Civil society initiatives, such as the Sudanese youth-led initiative “emergency rooms”, are some of the ways in which local communities can begin to repair the fabric of basic human rights law across Sudan.

The report also calls on the international community to enforce an arms embargo, back the International Criminal Court (ICC), and stop cooperating with any combatants or civilians suspected of war crimes, among other recommendations.

“The international community has the tools to act. Failure to do so would not only betray the Sudanese people – it would betray the very foundations of international law,” said Mr. Othman.

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Sudan: A staggering 30 million are in need, as war grinds on

Posted on August 29, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy for the humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, briefed journalists on her recent visit to Sudan and neighbouring Chad – a critical entry point for aid and a haven for some 850,000 people who have fled fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia.

The war erupted in April 2023 and has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with some 30 million people needing assistance.

Homes, hospitals and schools have been destroyed, and basic services have ceased. Malnutrition and food insecurity are on the rise.

Aid trucks waiting

Ms. Wosornu voiced concern over the situation in El Fasher, which has been under siege for 500 days, with fresh shelling reported that morning. The North Darfur capital is also in the grip of deadly cholera which “doesn’t care whether you’re in uniform or a civilian”.

She said some 70 trucks from the World Food Programme (WFP), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization (WHO) are waiting in Nyala, South Darfur, to enter the city.

Meanwhile, two other cities – Kadugli in South Kordofan state and El Obeid in North Kordofan – are also under siege.

“We have some good news”, Ms. Worsonu said, announcing that UNICEF trucks have delivered assistance to hundreds of thousands of people in Kadugli in recent days.

Khartoum now ‘a ghost town’

The senior OCHA official recalled that Sudan was once the “breadbasket” of the Horn of Africa, but last year famine conditions were reported in the Zamzam camp in North Darfur.

The current lean season finds some 680,000 people nationwide in a state of catastrophic food insecurity.

Although fighting has died down in the capital, Khartoum, she said the sheer scale and destruction is devastating, with “streets and buildings littered with explosive remnants of war”. The once vibrant city is now “completely a ghost town” with a “palpable sense of trauma everywhere”.

However, she also witnessed signs of hope. She saw “a city trying to come back to life, people sweeping the streets, a population determined to come back to what they once were. But it will take, of course, many, many, many years.”

In Chad, she thanked the authorities for their support, including ensuring that the Adre border with Sudan remains open.

The war has made travel within Sudan extremely difficult, so humanitarian aid has to go from Douala in Cameroon through Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, and onto several more cities before arriving at Adre for entry into Darfur – “a mammoth effort”, she said.

More funding and aid access

Ms. Wosornu concluded by making four “key asks” to the international community, including for sustained improvements in aid access and more funding.

“What we need is 55 cents per person, per day. That’s it for Sudan,” she said.

Harder to deliver were her final plea to the warring parties for a lasting peace and an end to the fighting.

“Our humanitarian partners are also saying that this needs to stop so we can continue to deliver assistance,” she said. “Because after the war and everything has stopped, and when the guns are silenced, people still need recovery.”

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Syria: Violence in Alawite areas may be war crimes, say rights investigators

Posted on August 14, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

Many of the victims were Alawite, a minority community in Syria, which the former ruling Assad family belonged to.

Some community members are believed to have been killed in March by forces or individuals loyal to the country’s new leadership, the National Transitional Authority, which is headed by interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.

In response to the “arrest operation” launched on 6 March, fighters loyal to toppled President Bashar al-Assad responded by capturing, killing and injuring hundreds of interim government forces, the commissioners said.

Looting was also widespread, while homes were set alight, leaving tens of thousands of civilians displaced, the commissioners continued.

In total, approximately 1,400 people were reported killed in the ensuing massacres, predominantly civilians.

“The vast majority were adult men, but victims included approximately 100 women, the elderly and the disabled, as well as children,” the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said.

Still a target

It also warned that the Alawite community which formed former Mr. al-Assad’s power base is still being targeted today. Alawites make up about 10 per cent of the majority Sunni country.

According to the commissioners’ latest report, the victims killed in March were murdered and tortured, while the bodies of the dead were also mutilated.

They added that some acts were filmed and published on social media, along with footage of civilians being abused and humiliated.

Chair of the UN panel, Paulo Pinheiro, condemned the scale and brutality of the violence which reportedly involved Alawite men being identified and singled out before being led away to be shot and killed in multiple majority Alawite villages and neighbourhoods.

“Bodies were left in the streets for days, with families prevented from conducting burials in accordance with religious rites, while others were buried in mass graves without proper documentation,” the commissioners’ report stated.

Meanwhile, hospitals became overwhelmed “as corpses piled up”.

Eye-witnesses

The Commission’s latest report is based on extensive investigations, including more than 200 interviews with victims and witnesses, including in Latakia and Tartus.

The investigators also visited three mass grave sites and met senior Syrian government officials.

Today, Alawite communities still live in fear and face ongoing abductions of women, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and looting and occupation of their property, investigators noted.

Protection must be a priority

They should be protected by the new authorities in charge of Syria, commissioners insisted.

“The affected communities need to see urgent action to increase their protection. Beyond referral of suspected perpetrators to criminal justice, individuals suspected of involvement in violations during the March events should be immediately removed from active duties pending investigation,” said Commissioner Lynn Welchman.

Additionally, screening processes need to be expanded so that known or suspected perpetrators of grave violations in the past are not recruited into the ranks of the interim government security forces, she maintained.

After 14 years of civil war which ended last December when opposition forces including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – led by interim Prsident al-Sharaa – the swept into Damascus, forcing out Mr. al-Assad, lasting damage has been done to Syria’s unity.

“The extreme violence that occurred has deepened existing rifts between communities, contributing to a climate of fear and insecurity amongst many Syrians throughout the country,” the Commissioners said.

“We call on the interim authorities to continue to pursue accountability for all perpetrators, regardless of affiliation or rank,” Mr. Pinheiro continued. “While dozens of alleged perpetrators of violations have reportedly since been arrested, the scale of the violence documented in our report warrants expanding such efforts.”

Malnutrition deaths mark ‘latest in the war on children’ in Gaza: UNRWA chief

Posted on August 14, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

These young deaths are “the latest in the war on children and childhood in Gaza,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA, said in a tweet on Wednesday.

The toll also includes some 40,00 boys and girls reported killed or injured due to bombardment and airstrikes, at least 17,000 unaccompanied and separated children, and one million deeply traumatised youngsters who are not getting an education.

“Children are children,” he said.

“No one should stay silent when children die, or are brutally deprived of a future, wherever these children are, including in Gaza.”

A sombre reunion

Thousands of sick children in Gaza need urgent medical evacuation, according to UN aid coordination office OCHA.

Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for the agency, recalled the moment she recognized a young girl requiring treatment in a Gaza hospital after a year’s interval, once again suffering from malnourishment.

“I remembered her long eyelashes,” the veteran humanitarian told UN News, describing seven-year-old Janah, who she came across at Gaza City’s Patient Friendly Hospital on Tuesday.

“The first time I met her was in the IMC Field Hospital in southern Gaza in April 2024. Back then, she was severely malnourished and was getting treatment. And she gradually became better and was released eventually and went home.”

Seven-year-old Janah is treated at Gaza City’s Patient Friendly Hospital.

Evacuation saves lives

However, Janah was now back in hospital “because the malnutrition became aggravated and the condition that she has also is not properly diagnosed and cannot be properly diagnosed.”

The girl is on a list of people to be medically evacuated for treatment outside Gaza. The most recent evacuations took place last week when the World Health Organization (WHO) supported the transfer of 15 critically ill children to Jordan, but more than 14,800 people are still waiting.

Ms. Cherevko stressed the importance of ensuring that evacuations continue to save as many lives as possible.

More aid needed

She also pointed out that for children and adults with pre-existing conditions, their situation becomes worse with malnutrition.

“It wouldn’t be this way if they had proper nutrition, because these conditions existed before the starvation crisis and they weren’t getting as sick as they are now,” she said.

“This is why it’s imperative to make sure that we have proper conditions on the ground for adequate volumes of supplies to be entering – everything from food to medicine to nutrition to shelter,” she continued.

“And these lifelines have to be really enabled for us to be able to deliver this aid to the people in need.”

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First Person: Echoes of war as aid arrives in Syria’s historical city

Posted on August 13, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

Eleonora Servino was on the first UN aid convoy to Suweida, which saw a recent escalation of violence that left many dead and thousands displaced.

As the International Organization for Migration (IOM) chief of mission to Syria, Ms. Servino said the difference on the road to Bosra is stark.

“You know that feeling when you visit somewhere as a tourist, how the memories embed themselves in your mind? Happy, peaceful places filled with stunning sights, delicious food, warm smiles and a relaxed mood. That’s how I remember Bosra, Syria, 20 years ago.

The ancient city of Bosra, Syria, a UNESCO World Heritage site, in 2015. (file)

Rivals ancient Italian relics

I went to see its ancient Roman theatre, a [UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] UNESCO World Heritage site. I recall the perfectly preserved brickwork in the tunnels leading to the stage, the intricate carvings.

Everything rivalled, even surpassed, the monuments in my native Italy. I felt at home, with a shared history. 

Recently, I returned for very different reasons.

IOM chief of mission to Syria Eleonora Servino (right) on the first UN aid convoy to the city of Sweida.

Tourists long gone

Syria has endured 14 years of brutal civil war, displacing millions. The tourists are long gone. But now, with the war over and stability slowly returning, people are coming back. My organisation, IOM, has just been officially allowed to resume operations. One of my first acts as chief of mission ad interim was to take the road back to Bosra.

It’s the only route to As-Sweida governorate, which recently experienced weeks of violence, leaving many dead and over 168,000 displaced.

I was part of the first UN assessment mission. With support from OCHA [UN humanitarian agency] and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the convoy delivered 40 truckloads of aid from various agencies and organizations.

Hostilities erupt in Sweida in July 2025. (file)

‘Signs of violence everywhere’

Signs of violence were everywhere. The streets were eerily quiet in Sweida. No traffic. None of the hustle and bustle you’d expect in a city that once had a population of over 70,000.

Burnt out buildings, wrecked cars and a pervading sense of tension dominated the landscape. 

We visited three areas where internally displaced people have found shelter, either within host communities or in communal centres. People have opened their homes to those forced to flee. But, the lack of electricity, water, and the blocked main road are straining resources, making everything more difficult despite the goodwill and humanitarian spirit of ordinary citizens.

‘People are still in shock’

The need for humanitarian assistance is clear, from what we saw and what we heard. People are still in shock. We spoke to individuals who have lost so much: homes, families, possessions, livelihoods.

Our DTM (displacement tracking matrix) teams are on the ground conducting regular surveys. The needs are basic yet essential: food, cash, hygiene items, clothing, cooking sets, fuel and shelter materials.

We are a vital part of humanitarian community, advocating for and supporting those displaced by the conflict. We will continue working to keep access open and improve it, ensuring people get what they need.”

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Amid starvation in Gaza, Sudan, Guterres slams hunger ‘as a weapon of war’

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

The development comes as UN Secretary-General António Guterres cautioned that conflict-driven hunger is spreading “from Gaza to Sudan and beyond”.

“Hunger fuels instability and undermines peace. We must never accept hunger as a weapon of war,” he said in a video message to the UN Food Systems Summit Stocktake in Addis Ababa.

Meanwhile, citing reports Monday that “more children died today of hunger”, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said that it hoped to receive permission to bring in thousands of trucks loaded with food, medicine and hygiene supplies that Israel has blocked from entering Gaza for months.

“They are currently in Jordan and Egypt waiting for the green light,” the UN agency explained, adding that “at least 500/600 trucks” are needed every day to prevent more people from starving. More than 100 people have now starved to death in Gaza, UNRWA said, while local health authority reports indicate more than 40 deaths from malnutrition this month alone.

“Opening all the crossings and flooding Gaza with assistance is the only way to avert further deepening of starvation among the people of Gaza,” the UN agency maintained.

Humanitarian pauses

Its comments follow a major policy shift over the weekend when the Israeli army announced the establishment of a daily humanitarian pause from 10am to 8pm local time, in areas where its troops are not active. Child malnutrition has been on the rise in Gaza, particularly since 2 March when Israel imposed a near-total blockade, UNWRA has said.

According to a map supplied by the Israeli authorities, the humanitarian pause applies to a thin strip of Gaza encompassing Al-Mawasi in the southwest, Deir Al-Balah in the centre and Gaza City in the north.

On Sunday, a convoy of more than 100 trucks carrying aid supplies reportedly entered the Strip via the Kerem Shalom border crossing in the south.

Aid desperatedly needed

While welcoming that development, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, highlighted the staggering scale of needs on the ground in Gaza.

One in three people “hasn’t eaten for days”, insisted Tom Fletcher, UN Emergency Relief Chief and head of OCHA. “People are being shot just trying to get food to feed their families. Children are wasting away. This is what we face on the ground right now.”

In his statement, Mr. Fletcher acknowledged “progress” on the aid front, but stressed that “vast amounts of aid are needed to stave off famine and a catastrophic health crisis”. He said that UN agencies and the humanitarian community remain mobilized “to save as many lives as we can”.

In addition to Israel’s temporary boost for increased aid in Gaza, customs restrictions on food, medicine and fuel from Egypt have reportedly been lifted. Secure routes for UN humanitarian convoys have also been designated.

“We need sustained action, and fast, including quicker clearances for convoys going to the crossing and dispatching into Gaza,” Mr. Fletcher said, underscoring the need for “multiple trips per day to the crossings so we and our partners can pick up the cargo; safe routes that avoid crowded areas; and no more attacks on people gathering for food”.

Meeting on two-State solution

Meanwhile in New York, France and Saudi Arabia on Monday launched a new diplomatic initiative to push for a two-State solution between Israel and the Palestinian people.

The three-day conference begins as President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will formally recognize Palestine in September, the first of the G7 nations to do so.

A UN General Assembly resolution from 1947 established the partition of Palestine – then under British mandate – into two independent states, one Jewish and the other Arab. The State of Israel was declared in 1948.

Two ex-militia leaders in Central African Republic sentenced for war crimes, crimes against humanity

Posted on July 25, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona received prison sentences of 15 and 12 years for their roles in brutal attacks against civilians – primarily from the country’s mainly Muslim Seleka population – during the 2013-14 civil war.

They were found guilty “beyond any reasonable doubt” of leading and facilitating attacks on civilians in the capital, Bangui, and the country’s west.

Thousands of people were killed in the violence that swept CAR following a 2012 coup led by the mainly Muslim rebel coalition, Séléka. The fighting took on a deeply sectarian tenor as Anti-Balaka militia started a brutal campaign of reprisal attacks.

Long list of crimes

The ICC’s Trial Chamber V found Mr. Yekatom responsible for a number of crimes he committed in the context of the attack on Bangui (the capital of CAR), the events at Yamwara (a school where he had established a base), and during the advance of his group on the PK9-Mbaïki axis.

These included murder, torture, forcible transfer and deportation, directing an attack against a building dedicated to religion and persecution.

Mr. Ngaïssona was convicted for aiding and abetting many of the same crimes, including persecution, forcible displacement and cruel treatment.

Both men were also found to have targeted Muslims based on the Anti-Balaka’s perception of collective guilt for Seleka abuses.

The judges sentenced Mr. Yekatom to 15 years and Mr. Ngaïssona to 12 years, with time already served to be deducted.

Charges of war crimes of pillaging and directing an attack against a religious building during the attack on Bossangoa were not upheld against Mr. Ngaïssona, and those of conscription, enlistment and use of children were not upheld against Mr. Yekatom.

‘Instrumentalization of religion’

The Chamber noted that while religion was instrumentalised by armed groups during the conflict, the violence was not initially religious in nature.

Many witnesses testified that Muslims and Christians had lived peacefully together prior to the conflict.

The convictions mark the conclusion of a trial that began in February 2021. Over the course of proceedings, the Prosecution called 114 witnesses, while the Defense teams called 56. A total of 1,965 victims participated in the trial through legal representatives.

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World News in Brief: Violence in Haiti, rising insecurity in DR Congo, expert panel on nuclear war

Posted on July 19, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

Displaced Haitians are dispersed among the 250 active displacement sites across the country, most of which are informal. Just over a fifth of these sites are managed by humanitarian organizations, meaning that many are living in precarious conditions.

In June alone, more than 200 alerts were reported across displacement sites, over 80 per cent of which were related to essential needs such as lack of water, food, shelter or healthcare.

OCHA noted that nearly 1.3 million people are now internally displaced in Haiti, the highest number ever recorded in the country due to violence.

Constrained UN response

The UN and partners have supported more than 113,000 displaced Haitians this year, providing essential services such as water, shelter, sanitation and healthcare.

The humanitarian response is severely constrained by limited funding and persistent insecurity, hampering humanitarian access to the most affected areas and delaying the delivery of aid.

Despite the challenges, the agency continues to work closely with Haitian authorities and humanitarian partners to coordinate relief efforts and mobilise additional resources to support displaced communities.

DR Congo: Ongoing violence in the east drives displacement, impedes aid delivery

Ongoing violence in North and South Kivu provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to claim the lives of civilians and to trigger new displacement.

In North Kivu, UN partners on the ground in Rutshuru and Lubero territories reported that fighting between M23 and other armed groups was ongoing until Tuesday, resulting in eight civilian deaths and 42,500 displaced people as of earlier this week.

Since early July, heavy clashes between M23 and other armed groups in South Kivu have also persisted, as local partners said the fighting has displaced at least 37,000 people from their homes.

Aid access restrictions

The surge in violence is making it harder for humanitarians to deliver assistance to vulnerable communities.

While partners and teams on the ground are doing their best to maintain services for those affected, access restrictions and severe funding shortages pose significant obstacles.

A humanitarian convoy coordinated by OCHA along the road between the provincial capital Bukavu and the city of Uvira, primarily planned for this Friday, has been postponed due to a lack of security guarantees on that route.

Many UN partners on the ground are forced to scale back their operations, disrupting essential services for those in need.

OCHA called on the international community to take urgent action to address these severe funding gaps and avert a humanitarian tragedy.

New panel to examine the effects of a nuclear war

The UN Secretary-General has appointed an independent scientific panel of 21 experts to examine the physical and societal consequences of a nuclear war on a local, regional and planetary scale in the days, weeks and decades following such an event.

The creation of the panel, mandated by a General Assembly resolution, comes at a time when nuclear guardrails are being eroded and “the risk of nuclear war is higher than at any point since the depths of the Cold War,” UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Friday during the daily media briefing from Headquarters in New York.

The panelists will seek input from a wide range of stakeholders – including international and regional organizations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), civil society and affected communities.

Members will hold their first meeting in September and will submit a final report to the General Assembly in 2027.

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Aid cuts leave refugee agency unable to shelter six in 10 fleeing war in Sudan

Posted on July 18, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

Globally, $1.4 billion of the agency’s programmes are being shuttered or put on hold, UNHCR said in a new report.

“We can’t stop water, you can’t stop sanitation, but we’re having to take decisions when it comes, for example, to shelter,” said UNHCR Director of External Relations, Dominique Hyde.

“We’re have people arriving on a daily basis from Sudan, from the Darfur regions…arriving in Chad, not able to be given any shelter.”

In an urgent appeal for flexible funding from donors, Ms. Hyde noted that up to 11.6 million refugees and others risk losing access this year to direct humanitarian assistance from UNHCR. The figure represents about one-third of those reached by the organization last year.

On the Sudan-Chad border, the UN agency is now unable to provide “even basic shelter” to more than six in 10 refugees fleeing the conflict. Thousands more vulnerable people have been left stranded in remote border locations in South Sudan, too. “If we just had a bit more support, we could get them to settlements,” she insisted.

Because of the funding cuts, basic activities have already been hit hard. These include refugee registration, child protection, legal counselling and prevention of and responses to gender-based violence.

Every aid sector hit

In South Sudan, 75 per cent of safe spaces for women and girls supported by UNHCR have closed, leaving up to 80,000 refugee women and girls without access to medical care, psychosocial support, legal aid, material support or income-generating activities. This includes survivors of sexual violence, UNHCR noted.

“Behind these numbers are real lives hanging in the balance,” Ms. Hyde said.

“Families are seeing the support they relied on vanish, forced to choose between feeding their children, buying medicines or paying rent, while hope for a better future slips out of sight. Every sector and operation has been hit and critical support is being suspended to keep life-saving aid going.”

Libya influx

Many of those impacted by the war in Sudan have taken the decision to move from Chad and Egypt to Libya, into the hands of people smugglers who dangerously overload boats with desperate people seeking to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

“What we’re observing now is that in terms of arrivals in Europe of…Sudanese refugees, [it] has increased since the beginning of the year by about 170 per cent compared to the first six months of 2024,” said UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado.

Support slashed from Niger to Ukraine

In camps hosting Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, education for some 230,000 children could now be suspended. Meanwhile in Lebanon “UNHCR’s entire health programme is at risk of being shuttered by the end of the year”, Ms. Hyde continued.

In Niger and other emergency settings, cuts in financial aid for shelter have left families in overcrowded structures or at risk of homelessness. In Ukraine, financial aid has also been slashed, “leaving uprooted families unable to afford rent, food or medical treatment”, Ms. Hyde noted.

Assistance to returning Afghans has also become another victim of the global aid cuts. Around 1.9 million Afghan nationals have returned home or been forced back since the start of the year, “but financial aid for returnees is barely enough to afford food, let alone rent, undermining efforts to ensure stable reintegration”, UNHCR said.

Legal aid halted

Overall, several UNHCR operations hit by severe funding gaps have now had to curtail investments in strengthening asylum systems and promoting regularization efforts.

In Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Mexico, any prolonged lack of legal status means prolonged insecurity for people on the move, the UN agency said. This results in deepening poverty “as refugees are excluded from formal employment and greater exposure to exploitation and abuse,” Ms. Hyde explained.

Approximately one in three of the agency’s 550 offices around the world has been impacted by the cuts, Ms. Hyde told journalists in Geneva:

“We’re not in a position to do so much contingency planning; what we’re able to do is make decisions on priorities – and at this point the priorities as I mentioned are dramatic.”

For 2025 UNHCR needs $10.6 billion. Only 23 per cent of this amount has been provided.

“Against this backdrop, our teams are focusing efforts on saving lives and protecting those forced to flee,” Ms. Hyde said. “Should additional funding become available, UNHCR has the systems, partnerships and expertise to rapidly resume and scale up assistance.”

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As war rages on in Ukraine, organised crime is taking new forms

Posted on July 18, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

Since February 2022, both legal and illegal economies in Ukraine have been severely disrupted by the war.

The report examines the evolution of organised crime structures in the country and focuses on six distinct areas: drug trafficking and production, online scams and fraud, arms trafficking, economic crime, trafficking in persons, and the facilitation of illegal exit and draft evasion.

“The war has not only inflicted untold suffering on the Ukrainian people, but has also triggered a marked evolution in organised crime – which can have profound implications for the country’s journey towards recovery and reconstruction,” said Angela Me, Chief of Research and Analysis at UNODC.

Drug trafficking

While the trafficking of cocaine and heroin through Ukraine has decreased drastically since 2022, the production and trafficking of synthetic drugs such as cathinones and methadone have increased.

The expansion of cathinone trafficking in recent years has been facilitated by the darknet, notably through market platforms such as Hydra, which was dismantled in April 2022.

Regarding methadone, the report noted that most of the Ukrainian production is trafficked within the country and not abroad, as domestic demand for the drug is on the rise.

Arms trafficking

The war has also increased the availability of weapons in the country, notably due to a massive influx of arms from the battlefield.

This surplus is resulting in a rise in arms seizures and violence among civilians, marked notably by an increase in domestic and intimate partner violence.

Although there is no evidence to suggest large-scale arms trafficking outside Ukraine, UNODC highlighted the importance of monitoring the situation in light of the sheer number of weapons available and the historic regional presence of criminal actors specialising in arms trafficking.

While there is, as of now, no evidence of drones being used in a non-military context, civilian drones and 3D-printed components for frontline attacks could fuel new illicit markets, the report found.

Trafficking in persons

As roughly 14 million people have been displaced by the war, some criminal groups have exploited these populations by luring them into shelters or accommodations disguised as humanitarian assistance providers, where they are subjected to forced labour.

While intensified patrolling of the borders, paired with the near-complete closure of the eastern and north-eastern borders, has limited the smuggling of migrants through Ukraine, traffickers have instead turned to facilitating draft evasion by Ukrainian men.

“Curtailing organised crime is a key requirement for achieving sustainable peace, justice, national security and the protection of human rights,” said Matthias Schmale, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, as the global body stands ready to support the country in this critical work.

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Gaza war: UN officials warn of unspeakable conditions as children bear the brunt

Posted on July 17, 2025 by Arun Kumar N

Tom Fletcher, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, said there was no “vocabulary” left to adequately describe conditions on the ground.

“Food is running out. Those seeking it risk being shot. People are dying trying to feed their families. Field hospitals receive dead bodies, and medical workers hear stories firsthand from the injured – day after day after day,” he said.

Starvation rates among children reached their highest levels in June, with more than 5,800 girls and boys diagnosed as acutely malnourished.

“Last week, amid this hunger crisis, children and women were killed in a strike while waiting for the food supplements to keep them alive.”

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher briefs the Security Council

A classroom full of children, lost every day

UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine Russell told ambassadors that an average of 28 children are killed in Gaza every day – “the equivalent of an entire classroom.”

Over the past 21 months, more than 17,000 children have been killed and 33,000 injured across Gaza.

Many of those children, she said, were struck “as they line up for lifesaving humanitarian aid – further proof that there is no safe place for civilians anywhere in Gaza.”

“Children are not political actors. They do not start conflicts, and they are powerless to stop them. But they suffer greatly, and they wonder why the world has failed them,” she added.

“And make no mistake, we have failed them.”

Critical infrastructure collapse

Gaza’s health system “is shattered,” Mr. Fletcher reported – only 17 of 36 hospitals and 63 of 170 primary health centres are even partially functioning; shortages mean up to five babies share one incubator.

Seventy per cent of essential medicines are out of stock, half of all medical equipment is damaged, pregnant women are giving birth without care, women and girls manage their periods without basic supplies.

Meanwhile, water production capacity has plummeted leaving the entire enclave (95 per cent) facing water insecurity.

“With clean water increasingly difficult to access, children have little choice but to drink contaminated water,” Ms. Russell said, noting that this is increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell briefs the Security Council

Aid impeded, fuel at trickle levels

Mr. Fletcher further described the scale of challenges to moving something as simple as a bag of flour into Gaza.

He noted multiple layers of approvals that Israel requires, scanning, re‑loading, multiple handoffs, damaged roads, delays at holding points, insecurity and desperate civilians grabbing supplies off trucks.

Last week – after almost 130 days – some fuel entered Gaza, as Israeli authorities agreed to allow two trucks in per day, five days a week. However, petrol – fuel for ambulances and other critical services – has not been permitted.

Between 19 May and 14 July, just 1,633 aid trucks – about 62 per cent of loads submitted for clearance – entered Gaza, far below the average of 630 daily truckloads moved during the previous ceasefire, Mr. Fletcher said.

Appeals to Israel, Hamas – and the Council

Both officials pressed for immediate, safe, sustained, demilitarised humanitarian access through all available crossings, consistent fuel flows, protection of civilians at distribution points, and restoration of the UN‑led aid pipeline that briefly functioned during earlier pauses in fighting.

They also reiterated the UN’s call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held in Gaza and called on all parties – including Hamas and other armed groups – to respect international humanitarian law.

Mr. Fletcher asked the Security Council to assess whether Israel, as the occupying power, is meeting its obligations to ensure food and medical supplies reach civilians.

“We hold all parties to the standards of international law in this conflict. We don’t have to choose – and in fact, we must not choose – between demanding the end to the starvation of civilians in Gaza and demanding the unconditional release of all the hostages,” he said.

“We must reject antisemitism – we must fight it with every fibre of our DNA. But we must also hold Israel to the same principles and laws as all other States.”

Documented atrocities

Possible crimes against humanity

Calls for justice

Growing crisis across conflicts

From abduction to reintegration

Prevention and accountability

Epitome of innocence

Messages of hope

From UN Radio to UN News

Rebuilding radio broadcasting in Gaza

A crucial tool for peacekeeping

Lifesaving information in conflict zones

Radio amateurs as national heroes

An inclusive platform

Empathy that algorithms can’t replicate

Demand increases for radio communications in outer space

A signal that endures

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Power lines down

‘Ever-present risks’

Seven safety principles

Vital inspections

Move from words to action

UN ready to deliver

Crisis deepens on the ground

Off-site power a critical safety lifeline

Progress at Zaporizhzhya amid ongoing risks

Other nuclear sites also affected

The war spreads

Borders without barriers

Born of another war

When land becomes contested

Talking under the trees

Waiting for somewhere safe

Humanitarian emergency

Donate

Further reading

Conditions ripe for disease

El Fasher survivors

Ensuring critical healthcare

Sudan: UN envoy heads to region in call for dialogue towards peace

Push for high level consultations

UN honours 9/11 anniversary, stands with New Yorkers

A place to call home

Systematic human rights abuses

Violence against women

Risk for humanitarian workers

A ‘roadmap for justice’

Aid trucks waiting

Khartoum now ‘a ghost town’

More funding and aid access

Still a target

Eye-witnesses

Protection must be a priority

A sombre reunion

Evacuation saves lives

More aid needed

Rivals ancient Italian relics

Tourists long gone

‘Signs of violence everywhere’

‘People are still in shock’

Humanitarian pauses

Aid desperatedly needed

Meeting on two-State solution

Long list of crimes

‘Instrumentalization of religion’

Constrained UN response

DR Congo: Ongoing violence in the east drives displacement, impedes aid delivery

Aid access restrictions

New panel to examine the effects of a nuclear war

Every aid sector hit

Libya influx

Support slashed from Niger to Ukraine

Legal aid halted

Drug trafficking

Arms trafficking

Trafficking in persons

A classroom full of children, lost every day

Critical infrastructure collapse

Aid impeded, fuel at trickle levels

UN honours 9/11 anniversary, stands with New Yorkers 