Subject: At the United Nations briefing in Geneva Marta Hurtado spokesperson for the Office of the UN high Commissioner for Human Rights, briefed journalist on deep concerns regarding the hostilities and disregard for the protection of civilians as fighting continues to kill and injure scores of civilians around Idlib and Aleppo.
SOUNDBITE (English)—Marta Hurtado, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “We are deeply concerned by the sharp increase in hostilities in northwest Syria and the blatant disregard for protection of civilians. Fighting in southern and eastern Idlib and in western and southern Aleppo continues to kill and injure scores of civilians and displace hundreds of thousands of others.”
“As indicated by the United Nations Undersecretary for Humanitarian affairs Marc Lowcock, the UN human rights office as been able to verify that in five days from 1 to 5 February, we verified incidents in which at least 49 civilians, including 14 women and 17 children, were killed. Of these, seven civilians were killed in Government-controlled areas.”
“Last month, we verified incidents in which at least 186 civilians, including 33 women, 37 boys and 30 girls, were killed. Of these, 14 civilians were killed in Government-controlled areas.”
“The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet repeats her demand to all parties, including the Syrian Government, Russia, Turkey and other state or non-state actors, to ensure the protection of civilians and to carry out their military operations in accordance with international law.”
“It is shocking that civilians continue to bear the brunt of hostilities between all parties to the conflict. It appears foreign powers are battling for territorial and political gains, while blatantly disregarding their obligation to protect civilians.”
“Civilians are killed even as they try to escape the intensifying hostilities. On 3 February, a reported airstrike by pro-government forces hit a bus travelling on a highway near the town of Orum al-Qubra in western rural Aleppo. Nine civilians - all from the same family - fleeing the latest fighting were killed.”
“From 1 to 5 February, we also documented ground-based strikes by non-State armed groups that hit residential areas and educational facilities in Aleppo city. Five civilians, including a woman and her two children, were killed in the al-Hamdaniya neighborhood. Strikes also hit the University of Aleppo, wounding at least one student.”
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Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
“Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza, are unconscionable. For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured,” Jeremy Laurence UN Human Rights spokesperson said at the biweekly press briefing in Geneva.
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Edited News | OCHA
Gaza ‘hungriest place on earth’ with aid stymied – UN humanitarians
Starving Gazans continue to be deprived of aid as international relief efforts are being severely constrained by the Israeli authorities, the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA said on Friday.
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Edited News | OCHA , UNRWA
As a controversial United States and Israel-backed aid distribution plan gets underway in Gaza, the UN called on Tuesday for an “immediate surge” of its own pre-positioned supplies to help prevent starvation.
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Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani today urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to reject a bill that was recently endorsed by parliament allowing trials of civilians in military courts. The Uganda People’s Defence Forces Amendment Bill 2025, which was passed on 20 May and now awaits presidential signature to become law, among others broadens the jurisdiction of military courts, authorising them to try a wide range of offences against civilians.
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Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango today warned of a further deterioration in the human rights situation in South Sudan at the bi-weekly briefing in Geneva.
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Edited News | OCHA , WHO
Syria: ‘Staggering’ needs amid insecurity, health care crisis - UN humanitarians
Millions of people in Syria continue to face mortal danger from unexploded munitions, disease and malnutrition and urgent support is required, UN humanitarians said on Friday.
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Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO
UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount
Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday, But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.
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Edited News
A war reporter from Lebanon who lost a limb in the line of duty is calling for an end to impunity for attacks against journalists.
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Edited News | ITU
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) commemorated 160 years dedicated to connecting the world on Saturday, 17 May in Geneva, Switzerland, during the annual World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
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Edited News | WHO , OCHA
Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege
Amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza into Friday killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas and pleaded for the blockade to end.
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Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Deportations over recent months of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States of America, especially to countries other than those of their origin, raise a number of human rights concerns, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday.
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Edited News | WHO
Gaza: Over 50 child malnutrition deaths amid aid blockade; entire generation will be ‘permanently affected’ - WHO
In the aid desert of Gaza, malnourished children are dying while survivors can expect a lifetime of dire health problems, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.