Aid trucks on Ukraine frontline, Africa schools closed due to insecurity, Georgia rights defenders – Global Issues

About 2,000 people are still living in the town of Berislav, including more than 70 children and 90 people with only limited mobility. “Despite the constant shelling, they did not evacuate the area, which has no electricity, no gas, and which UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a briefing to reporters in New York, “of the United Nations. “There is no water at the UN,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. Aid workers provided a portable power station, cleaning supplies, beds, blankets and warm clothes, he added During the escalation of missile attacks and bombardment by Russian forces in Donetsk and Sumy regions, the mandatory evacuation of “homes, stores, agricultural properties, and gas and electricity infrastructure was reported “The government of Ukraine tells us that they have begun the mandatory evacuation of children and their caregivers from another 40 towns and villages around the Donetsk region,” Mr. Dujarric said. .” Wednesday saw a wave of Russian attacks kill a mother and her three daughters, among seven others. In the western city of Lviv. A boy and another girl were also killed in the drone and hypersonic missile attacks. The attacks followed the deadliest single Russian attack of the year, which killed 53 people in the central city of Poltava. Nienke Wopen, head of the United Nations Children’s Fund office in Lviv, told UN News on Thursday that 66 people in the city were also injured during Wednesday’s strike, including 10 children. More than 14,300 schools in West and Central Africa have been closed due to violence and insecurity. For violence and insecurity, the UN Office for the Coordination of Aid, OCHA, reports. OCHA said that as of June this year, 2.8 million children – many of them displaced – were deprived of access to education, from Mali to the Democratic Republic of the West. of the Congo in the east. The latest aid assessment shows a volatile humanitarian situation in the region, with security incidents rising 103 percent from March to June compared to the start of the year. A slight increase in the number of school closures from March to June compared with the previous three-month period, and a small additional number of internally displaced people and refugees – add to the pressure on services. OCHA highlighted that a “major” lack of funding continues to hamper the humanitarian response. It said only a quarter of children in affected areas had access to education in the latest period under review, compared with one in two earlier in the year. Georgia: Targeted and persistent repression of human rights defenders must end: UN experts say human rights defenders have faced a “wave of repression” in Georgia this year that shows no sign of abating. Mary Lawler, the United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said on Thursday. “In late 2023, I went to Georgia to inspect the environment for human rights defenders in the country, and things are at a standstill,” Ms. Lawler said, adding that since then “the situation has gotten a lot worse.” The independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council cited the targeting of human rights defenders. During Parliament’s adoption of the Foreign Influence Transparency Act earlier this year. Enacted on 28 May 2024 despite widespread popular protests in the country, it puts Georgia in violation of human rights obligations regarding freedom of association and expression, coming into force. on August 1. “As the government railroaded the ‘Foreign Agents Act’ through Parliament, human rights defenders were subjected to devastating, targeted attacks,” Ms Lawler added. “They were physically assaulted. , subjected to threatening phone calls and human rights organizations. And their individual members saw their offices and homes painted with threats and smears.” Fueling the fire The Special Rapporteur emphasized that these attacks were carried out with impunity, and in some cases, appeared to have been encouraged by public statements by high-ranking government officials. “Government officials and members of the ruling party publicly defaming human rights defenders as enemies of the people remain a major problem in Georgia,” he said, adding that “these statements encourage attacks against human rights defenders.” do and legitimize, and in the context of Georgia, it is increasingly clear that this is what they intend to do.” Special Rapporteurs are appointed to monitor and report on specific country situations or thematic issues around the world. They are not employees of the United Nations and are independent of any government or organization. They serve in their individual capacity And do not get paid for their work.
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