Edited News | OHCHR , UNHCR , OCHA , UNOG , UNITED NATIONS , WFP
UN “extremely concerned” at worsening humanitarian situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray region
The United Nations expressed alarm on Tuesday about the conflict in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where a communications blackout is making it hard to assess and cope with what is thought to be a growing humanitarian emergency.
“We remain extremely concerned about the safety of civilians in Tigray region in Ethiopia, especially the more than half a million people who remain in the regional capital Mekelle, including 200 workers”, Jens Laerke, spokesperson for UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a regular UN briefing of journalists in Geneva.
“We have finalised a humanitarian preparedness plan intended to help two million people with assistance in Tigray, Afar and Amhara regions. That includes existing humanitarian caseloads that were already helping and an additional 1.1 million people expected to be in need of assistance as a result of this conflict. To support this plan about $76 million will still be needed to finance it.”
Babar Baloch, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that almost 3,000 people were fleeing across the border every day.
“The number of Ethiopian refugees streaming into eastern Sudan has now surpassed 40,000 since the crisis began with more than 5,000 women, children and men fleeing the ongoing fighting in Tigray region over the weekend.”
Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet was worried that hostilities in Mekelle seriously imperilled civilian lives.
“The highly aggressive rhetoric on both sides regarding the fight for Mekelle is dangerously provocative, and it risks placing already vulnerable and frightened civilians in grave danger. The High Commissioner fears that such rhetoric will lead to further violations of international humanitarian law. The High Commissioner expresses alarm at reports of a heavy build-up of tanks and artillery around Mekelle, which is the capital city of Tigray province, following the Government's issuance of a 72 hour ultimatum”, Ms. Shamdasani said.
Humanitarian aid in Sudan would be severely stretched by the growing refugee numbers, World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson Tomson Phiri said.
“The World Food Programme is alarmed at growing numbers of people in need of humanitarian assistance in both Ethiopia and Sudan because of the conflict in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. On Sudan's border with Ethiopia the humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating as the influx of people continues. Needs remain very high, and will likely overwhelm the response”, Mr. Phiri told the briefing.
“We have dispatched enough food to feed 60,000 people for one month. However, the food had to be borrowed from ongoing programmes elsewhere in the country. We literally robbed Peter to pay Paul, and the continued influx of new arrivals will strain our ability to respond to existing humanitarian needs in Sudan, as the country's dealing with multiple crises throughout the country”, he added.
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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.