March 28, 2024 No comments
Russia: Rights experts condemn continued imprisonment of Evan Gershkovich
INTERNATIONAL, 28 March 2024, Human Rights - Russia must immediately release American journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained without evidence for a year, two UN human rights experts said on Thursday. The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested last March in Yekatarinburg on espionage charges and is being held at the infamous Lefortovo prison in Moscow. Mariana Katzarova, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, and Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, condemned his continued arbitrary detention. “Russian authorities have yet to provide any credible evidence to substantiate the egregious espionage claims against Gershkovich,” they said in a statement. Targeting independent voices On Tuesday, the Moscow City Court extended his detention for another three months, until June. “This fits a well-documented...
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Health system ‘barely surviving’, as OCHA calls for Gaza aid restrictions to end
INTERNATIONAL, 28 March 2024, Peace and Security - Gaza’s health system is ‘barely surviving’ after more than five months of Israeli bombardment, the head of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. In a social media post, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that only 10 out of 36 hospitals are now partially functioning in the enclave. Al-Amal hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis closed on Tuesday, Tedros noted, after media reports indicated that Israeli troops forced medical teams and patients to evacuate. The development came as the UN aid coordination office OCHA underscored that obstacles continue to prevent the flow of humanitarian supplies throughout Gaza – and as the UN’s top rights official said it was “plausible” that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of...
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Gaza: World court issues fresh measures for Israel as crisis deepens
INTERNATIONAL, 28 March 2024, Law and Crime Prevention - The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday issued new provisional measures for Israel as the humanitarian situation in bombarded and besieged Gaza continues to deteriorate. The world court issued the new order in response to a recent request made by South Africa, which submitted a case in December accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, based on its continuing offensive following Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel which left almost 1,200 dead and more than 240 taken hostage. Since then, more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes and attacks, according to figures from Gaza’s health ministry. Israel to ensure aid deliveries The ICJ provisional measures state that Israel, “in view of the worsening conditions of life faced by Palestinians in...
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New $1.4 billion plan to support South Sudanese refugees
INTERNATIONAL, 28 March 2024, Migrants and Refugees - The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and partners on Thursday appealed for $1.4 billion this year to support more than two million South Sudanese refugees in five African countries and local communities hosting them. Since the start of the conflict in South Sudan over 10 years ago, growing humanitarian needs compounded by dire food shortages, continued insecurity, and the impacts of climate change, have kept refugees in exile and prompted new displacement. Four consecutive years of flooding have also destroyed homes and livelihoods, sparking further cross-border movements. Scattered across the region South Sudan remains Africa’s largest refugee crisis, UNHCR said. While the war in neighbouring Sudan has forced nearly 200,000 South Sudanese to relocate to safer areas within the country, and hundreds of thousands...
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Bold action needed now to address ‘cataclysmic’ situation in Haiti
INTERNATIONAL, 28 March 2024, Humanitarian Aid - Immediate and bold action is required to tackle the “cataclysmic” situation in Haiti, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said in a report issued on Thursday. Corruption, impunity, and poor governance, compounded by increasing levels of gang violence, have eroded the rule of law in the Caribbean country and brought State institutions close to collapse. The impact of generalised insecurity on the population is dire and deteriorating, severely affecting human rights. Prevent further suffering “Tackling insecurity must be a top priority to protect the population and prevent further human suffering. It is equally important to protect institutions essential to the rule of law, which have been attacked to their very core,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. The report covers the period...
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