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UN Human Rights briefing renewed violence in Ituri, DRC -Continued fighting in Libya impact on civilians, hospitals.
Ituri, RDC renewed violence in Ituri, DRC.
Renewed inter-communal violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern province of Ituri, resumed in this province on the Ugandan border. The United Nations Joint Human Rights office in the DRC published a report in January that this type of acts of violence, if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population, may constitute crimes against humanity.
1. Aerial shots: Ituri province
2. Travelling shot: Driving into the Hema Internally Displaced camp in Bunia
3. SOUNDBITE (English)—Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “We are alarmed by the worsening security situation in Djugu and Mahagi territories, where more than 150 people have been killed in the last 40 days in a series of attacks by Djugu-based perpetrators. The attackers are for the most part members of the CODECO armed group, most of whom are from the Lendu ethnic community.
4. Wide shot: Hema victim (women in the centre) speaking with UN human rights officer
5. SOUNDBITE (English)—Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “In March alone, our Office recorded 107 civilians killed and 43 injured. So far in April, another 49 people have been killed, 13 wounded and six abducted. There are some more figures in the note. But the latest violence happened last Saturday when CODECO fighters attacked the village called Koli at night, killing 23 civilians just in that one village.”
6. Wide shot: Hema children in camp in Bunia
7. SOUNDBITE (English)—Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “Assaults on communities by these armed elements escalated significantly during March, with several gruesome assaults being reported. The attacks multiplied after the CODECO leader, Ngudjolo Duduko Justin, was killed on 25 March. And this reportedly triggered infighting for control of the group, which split into five factions, all carrying of which are carrying out attacks.”
8. Medium shot: Hema victim
9. SOUNDBITE (English)—Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “It is important to note that leaders of the Lendu community the civilian leaders not the members of CODECO have mostly distanced themselves from the attackers.”
10. Medium shot: Hema women victim with amputated arm
11. SOUNDBITE (English)—Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “The brutality of the attacks, with perpetrators using machetes to kill women and children, raping, looting property, destroying houses and killing livestock, suggests the aim is to inflict lasting trauma on the affected populations, forcing them to flee, and so gain control over the territory, which is rich in natural resources.”
12. Close up shot: Amputated limb of Hema women
13. SOUNDBITE (English)—Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “Despite the atrocities, the affected communities, mainly the Hema, but also the Alur, the Ndo Okebo and the Mambisa, generally shown restraint. However, we are worried that if the attacks continue without a
decisive response from the security forces to defend the civilian population, those communities may form self-defense militias, and that would increase the likelihood of an overall descent into all out inter-communal violence which would be absolutely catastrophic.”
14. Wide shot: Hema camp in Bunia
15. SOUNDBITE (English)—Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): “So we call on the authorities to strengthen the presence of security forces and state officials in the region, to ensure there are thorough investigations into all alleged abuses and human rights violations, to hold all perpetrators to account in fair and impartial trials and provide victims and their families with access to justice, truth and reparations.”
16. Various Hema camp
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- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
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“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
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Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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