United Nations Security Council UNSC

SYRIA: 7th Time Russia And China Veto UNSC Resolution To Protect Civilians

With ‘no’ votes from permanent members Russia and China, the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday failed to adopt a resolution that would, according to press reports, have imposed sanctions against parties using chemical weapons in war-torn Syria. While nine of the [continue reading].

Yemen: The Sound Of Your Silence – A People’s Future Forfeited

Today silence has become more than a war crime. Today silence has become more than just the manifestation of our egocentrism and selfishness. Today silence has enabled, empowered and shielded oppressors and tyrants. Today I’m hoping that silence at last will be broken. Before [continue reading].

South Sudan: MSF Says UN Fails To Protect Internally Displaced Persons

MSF Internal Review of the February 2016 Attack on the Malakal Protection of Civilians Site and the Post-Event Situation

In their internal review published on June 21, 2016, MSF (Doctors without Borders) looked into the February 2016 attack on the Malakal Protection of Civilians Site (PoC) in South Sudan, including a review of the post-event situation: Violence erupted between internally displaced [continue reading].

Congo: Mass Grave Evidence Family Was Murdered by Peacekeepers

Twelve skulls discovered in a mass grave in February 2016 near a peacekeeping base in Boali, Central African Republic. The victims are believed to be individuals who were summarily executed by Republic of Congo peacekeepers on March 24, 2014. (Photo" © 2016 Private/ HRW).

Soldiers from the Republic of Congo killed at least 18 people, including women and children, between December 2013 and June 2015 while serving as peacekeepers in the Central African Republic. A mass grave recently discovered near a peacekeeping base in Boali, and exhumed on [continue reading].

MSF Demands Action From UNSC: Hospitals #NotATarget

MSF assists the South Sudanese population displaced by the conflict in the Upper Nile State. MSF runs a hospital inside the POC (protection of civilians) UN site in Malakal, where approximately 50,000 are currently living, and a clinic in Wau Shiluk, a village on the West Bank of the Nile that has become an IDP settlement with nearly 20,000 persons.

A Social Media Action in Solidarity Against the Targeted Killing of Civilians and Humanitarians Hospitals Are #NotATarget On average, an MSF-supported health structure was bombed or shelled every single week in Syria in 2015 and in the first six weeks of 2016. MSF’s health [continue reading].

🍁 CDN: PM Trudeau Bids For Seat On United Nations Security Council

“From John Humphrey’s work on the UN Declaration on Human Rights to Lester B. Pearson’s pivotal role in the development of peacekeeping, Canadians have accomplished extraordinary things in support of the UN’s mission to promote human rights, development, and peace and security. We are determined to help the UN make greater strides in support of its goals for all humanity.” - Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

While in New York, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau announced Canada’s candidacy for election to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as a non-permanent member for a two-year term that begins in 2021. Canada is committed to playing a positive and constructive role [continue reading].

Iraq: Girls Who Escaped ISIS Are Speaking Out And Fighting Back

The teenager, Nihad Barakat Shamo Alawsi, was taken to Syria and then to the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq, she told an event in London on Wednesday. "They raped us, they killed our men, they took our babies away from us," Alawsi, now 17, said at the event organised by the UK-based AMAR Foundation, a charity that provides education and healthcare in the Middle East.

Several hundred Yazidi And Kurdish women and girls who had been kidnapped by ISIS in Northern Iraq and Kurdistan – sold to the Islamic extremist fighters and used as domestic and sex slaves – have joined an all-female battalion to launch a massive assault against [continue reading].

Yemen: Sale Of Arms To KSA Violation Of International Law

Remains of USA cluster bombs dropped on Almaqash neighborhoods in Sa’ada. Yemen. (Photo: Yemen Post).

Escalating violations, including possible war crimes, that have sparked a humanitarian crisis amid Yemen’s armed conflict will only worsen unless all states immediately impose a comprehensive embargo on arms transfers that could be used by any of the warring parties, Amnesty [continue reading].

Africa: United Nations Pressured to Help End Burundi Violence

A Burundian soldier walks infront of residents during a demonstration against the Rwandan government in Burundi's capital Bujumbura, Feb. 20, 2016.

When U.N. Security Council envoys flew to Burundi in January to try to end months of violence, the central African country’s leader flatly rejected their offer of help and hundreds protested against what they saw as meddling. A month later, with fears of a new ethnic [continue reading].

Syria: MSF’s Dr. Joanne Liu Demands – Stop Bombing Medics

Statement delivered by Dr. Joanne Liu, International President of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, February 18, 2016: Today in Syria, the abnormal is now normal. The unacceptable is accepted. Relentless, brutal, and [continue reading].

Kurdistan: Kurdish Forces Violating Child Soldier Ban

Kurds continue to use children as soldiers

Despite Promises, Children Still Fight UPDATE: The YPG sent Human Rights Watch this response on July 22, 2015, pledging to “follow up” cases referenced in this report. The Kurdish armed group that controls territory in northern Syria, despite some progress, is still not [continue reading].