UN News Today 03 October 2024 |

Victims of deadly Lebanon escalation describe fleeing ‘total destruction’

People in Lebanon uprooted by Israeli airstrikes including in central Beirut have described being forced to flee “total destruction”, amid fresh reports of Hezbollah projectile attacks into Israel and close-quarter clashes along the UN-patrolled “Blue Line” separating the two countries.

In the Lebanese capital, UN humanitarians reported “another night of strikes” and ongoing attacks, as aid workers continued trying to help all those in need. This was “despite their own families being displaced and searching for safety”, said the UN’s top humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, Imran Riza.

In an update on Thursday, the UN migration agency, IOM, reported that 1,600 people have been killed in Lebanon and 6,000 others injured in recent days.

Meanwhile, the head of World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned that the death toll “is rising” with hospitals overwhelmed with the influx of injured patients.

In Ukraine, aid teams report another apartment block hit in Kharkiv

To Ukraine, where Russian shelling has hit another apartment block in Kharkiv, UN aid teams said on Thursday.

Attacks in the northeast city killed or injured more than 190 people in September alone, said the UN’s top aid coordinator in Ukraine, Matthias Schmale:

“We just met an elderly gentleman here, who lives in a building next door and he has experienced now twice over in the last two years, this building being hit. So one thought that’s going through my mind is the mental trauma that people suffer from these repeated strikes…in September alone there were 53 strikes in Kharkiv, that’s not normal. This should never be accepted as normal.”

The development follows a deadly attack on a market in Kherson city on Tuesday that killed and injured more civilians, and another a week ago on a hospital in Sumy, which is also in the northeast of Ukraine.

In a related development, the UN World Food Programme announced that it has signed an agreement with the Zaporizhzhia city authorities to support the school meals programme.

The deal means that for the rest of the academic year, the UN agency will provide meals for 14,000 students who study in 71 underground schools in the city.

UN rights chief repeats call for reforms and justice for people of African descent who’ve died in police custody

The UN’s human rights chief has stressed how important it is for the families of people of African descent who’ve died in police custody to see justice served.

Volker Türk made the appeal at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, during a debate about changes countries should make to prevent excessive use of force and other human rights violations by law enforcement officers.

“Across the globe, the scourge of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance” still festers, Mr. Türk said.

He demanded justice for seven people of African descent whose deaths are emblematic of the need to reform the “institutional, structural and historical root causes of systemic racism”, before naming Luana Barbosa dos Reis Santos, João Pedro Matos Pinto, Hanner García Palomino, Adama Traoré, Kevin Clarke, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

The UN rights chief listed continuing racial discrimination and abuse across the globe, including in the Americas, where women and girls of African descent experienced “deep disparities” in accessing sexual and reproductive health services that has resulted in high rates of maternal deaths.

In Australia, Mr. Türk said that young South Sudanese Australians have been subjected to racial profiling, racial abuse in public and vilification by the media, while in Brazil, women of African descent have faced particularly high levels of gender-based violence and killings of lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex women.

In Europe, some Muslim women of African descent who wear religious dress have reported being the target of offensive gestures, verbal insults and physical attacks, the High Commissioner said, adding that in Libya, migrant women and girls of African descent are at particular risk of violence.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.

Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved.