Israeli Soldiers Open Fire At Gaza Aid Site. 27 Palestinians Killed. The New York Times June 3, 2025 By Aaron Boxerman ,Ameera Harouda, Patrick Kingsley , and Iyad Abuheweila Aaron Boxerman and Patrick Kingsley reported from Jerusalem, Ameera Harouda reported from Doha, Qatar, and Iyad Abuheweila from Istanbul. This is the second large-scale deadly shooting in three days near the distribution site in the southern city of Rafah, where thousands of Palestinians have tried to secure aid. 1:07 https://nyti.ms/4mELtZ3   Israeli soldiers opened fire Tuesday morning near crowds of Palestinians walking toward a new food distribution site in southern Gaza, the Israeli military said. The Red Cross and Gaza health ministry said at least 27 people had been killed. It was the second such shooting in three days near the same site in the city of Rafah, where thousands of desperate and hungry Palestinians have been coming early each day in hopes of securing food. Israeli soldiers opened fire on Sunday  near an approach to the distribution center. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said at least 23 people were killed. The deadly incident on Tuesday was the latest chaos to tarnish the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a contentious new Israeli-backed aid system in Gaza that has been beset by problems since it began operations last week. The foundation confirmed in a statement that “a number of civilians were injured and killed” after they deviated from an Israeli-designated “safe corridor” that led to one of its distribution sites. Much is riding on the new initiative: Aid agencies say Gaza faces the threat of widespread starvation  in the wake of the 80-day Israeli blockade on food deliveries  that ended in mid-May. The Israeli military said its forces had fired near “a few” people who had strayed from the designated route to the site and who did not respond to warning shots. The statement called them “suspects” and said they had “posed a threat” to soldiers. A military spokeswoman declined to explain the nature of the perceived threat. The United Nations has boycotted the new system, saying  that it endangers civilians by forcing them to walk for miles to get food on a route that goes past Israeli military lines. The U.N. has also argued that the positioning of the distribution points, mostly in Israeli-occupied areas of southern Gaza, could facilitate an Israeli plan to displace the population of northern Gaza.   Palestinians carrying bags of aid in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday. Credit...Abdel Kareem Hana/Associated Press A U.N. memo  circulated before the initiative was launched last week warned of “overcrowded distribution sites” and said that Israeli forces or U.S. contractors might “use force to control crowds.” The memo also cautioned about the potential for “organized and opportunistic looting” near the hubs. Many of those problems have been in evidence since the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operations. The organization has only announced four aid distribution points, compared with 400 under the previous U.N.-coordinated system across Gaza, and most of the new sites have not been operational on most days. Huge crowds of hungry Palestinians have been arriving early each morning at the aid sites hoping to get a package of food. They have often walked for miles in the pre-dawn darkness. Palestinians witnesses have described a violent scramble for whatever boxes of food are available, rather than orderly handouts. Ahmed Abid, 28, said he walked for miles from the coastal area of Mawasi in the dark. As he approached a roundabout leading to the distribution center this morning, he said the sound of shooting burst out, and he fled into a ditch. After the gunfire subsided, Mr. Abid resumed walking to the aid site, where he was shocked by the huge crowd. “Everyone rushed — whoever arrived first got something, and whoever was late went home empty-handed,” he said. “People were tearing at each other.” Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, suggested that the casualty figures provided by aid groups and Palestinian health workers in Gaza were inflated. He declined to say how many the military believed had been killed or wounded on Tuesday. “There was warning fire. It did not harm that number of people, as far as we understand,” he said. The United Nations condemned the killings. “Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law and a war crime,” Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement. Aid groups said the bloodshed in recent days underscored the risks of the new system. “Today’s events have shown once again that this new system of aid delivery is dehumanizing, dangerous and severely ineffective,” Claire Manera, an emergency coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement  on Sunday. A Palestinian man injured by Israeli fire near an aid distribution center in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Tuesday. Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has faced mounting international criticism, including from the country’s traditional allies. Last month, Britain, France and Canada said in a joint statement  that Israeli threats to mount a massive new offensive against Hamas, as well as its two-month blockade on humanitarian aid to Gaza, were “wholly disproportionate.” Israel says the new aid system is needed to prevent Hamas from stealing and stockpiling food, as well as from financing its war effort by selling food to civilians at elevated prices. U.N. officials have argued there is no evidence that international aid was diverted by Hamas. But the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is an untested private group, which pays American contractors to distribute food from sites in Israeli-patrolled areas of southern Gaza. The group has dismissed its critics, arguing that it has successfully delivered more than 100,000 boxes of food to hungry Gazans. The organization has been rocked by turmoil since its inception. Its executive director, Jake Wood , resigned hours before it was set to begin operations. He said that the group would not be able to operate independently and impartially, adding that it would be impossible to implement its plan and adhere to his humanitarian principles. Boston Consulting Group, the U.S. advisory firm, also said it had stepped back from its involvement with the aid organization. The firm said in a statement that it had placed a partner who had worked on the project on leave as it conducts an internal review of its work. On Tuesday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it had appointed Reverend Johnnie Moore, an evangelical pastor, as executive chairman. Palestinians mourning relatives who were killed as they gathered near an aid center.Credit ...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Many of the casualties have arrived at the International Committee of the Red Cross’s field hospital in Rafah. On Tuesday, the clinic received the bodies of 19 people as well as eight others who subsequently died from their wounds, the aid group said in a statement. “The majority of cases suffered gunshot wounds. Again, all responsive patients said they were trying to reach an assistance distribution site,” the Red Cross said. Jamal Azzam, a nurse at the hospital, said in a phone interview that he had treated many young Gazans alongside his colleagues admitted for gunfire wounds. “The scenes were tragic,” he said. “It was like a battlefield full of blood and injured — everyone was lying on the ground, everyone screaming and everyone shouting.” Dr. Ahmad al-Farra, a senior administrator at Nasser Hospital, a medical center in Khan Younis a few miles from the site of the shootings, said in a phone interview that many of the victims were children aged 10 to 13 with gunshot wounds. Some Israelis said that Hamas was trying to undermine the new system by instigating chaos and encouraging people to riot. A child wounded in what the Gaza health ministry said was Israeli fire near a distribution site. Credit...Hatem Khaled/Reuters “Hamas is under pressure due to the food distribution operation managed by an American company, and is trying in every way to sabotage it,” Naftali Bennett, Israel’s former prime minister, wrote on social media . “Hamas wants to control the food, and through it, to control the people. Israel is denying Hamas this control.” Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting from Haifa, Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting from Rehovot, Israel, and Bilal Shbair from Deir al-Balah, Gaza. Aaron Boxerman  is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem. Patrick Kingsley  is The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, leading coverage of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank. Copyright 2025 The New York Times Company

Mass Killings in February Highlight Grave Risks to People in Occupied Areas M23 fighters at the Stade de l'Unité in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, February 6, 2025. © 2025 ALEXIS HUGUET/AFP via Getty Images (Nairobi) – The  Rwanda -backed M23 armed group summarily executed at least 21 civilians and most likely many more in Goma, eastern  Democratic Republic of Congo , on February 22-23, 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. The M23 has occupied Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, since January 27, 2025. Witnesses said that on the afternoon of February 22, at least three pickup trucks carrying dozens of M23 fighters arrived at various parts of Goma’s Kasika neighborhood. They executed seven people west of Katindo military camp, a former Congolese army barracks. The bodies of 11 more people, including a boy, were found at a construction site near the camp. On February 23, the fighters rounded up people, including to forcibly recruit them, and killed three men as they tried to escape. “The M23’s brutal control over Goma has created a climate of fear among those perceived to be allied to the Congolese government,” said  Clémentine de Montjoye , senior Great Lakes researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The mass killings don’t seem to be actions by rogue fighters, but rather the M23 leadership’s efforts to solidify their control by whatever means necessary.” The absence of reports of fighting between the warring parties and the nature of the wounds indicate that M23 fighters deliberately executed those in their custody, which are war crimes , Human Rights Watch said. Between February and May, Human Rights Watch remotely interviewed 22 people, including witnesses to the killings, victims’ relatives, and medical workers, among others. Researchers reviewed  media reports , and geolocated and analyzed photographs and videos sent directly by sources or found on social media. On May 23, Human Rights Watch contacted Lawrence Kanyuka, spokesperson for the M23’s allied Alliance Fleuve Congo, but received no response.  Human Rights Watch received credible information that the M23 was drawn to the Kasika neighborhood because of reports of crime and activity by the Congolese army and the “ Wazalendo ,” militia groups aligned with the Congolese government. M23 fighters searched houses and local businesses for young men. “They started shooting and took around 25 people from the streets,” said a resident of an area close to Katindo camp, whose 25-year-old relative was killed that day.  Human Rights Watch confirmed that M23 fighters executed seven people on streets close to Katindo camp and received credible reports of dozens more killings. “[The M23] went into stores and shot people in the head on the Avenue du Commandant Belge,” said a witness. “The bodies were then piled up in two places: 10 in one place and 15 in another.” Residents described seeing over a dozen bodies on Kasika Avenue. “[The M23] showed me the bodies of people on the ground and said: ‘This is what we're going to do with you,’” said a woman whose relative was taken away. “I saw 18 bodies; others were on other streets.” Eleven bodies were found at a construction site less than 100 meters from the camp, based on witness accounts and geolocated and verified videos and photographs. Human Rights Watch verified the identities of six victims, all civilians and neighborhood residents.  The relative of a victim taken from their house said: “The M23 walked off with him, and the next morning we found his body in the construction site with other bodies.” A relative and a neighbor of a 15-year-old boy said that the M23 took him and executed him, and dumped his body in the construction site with the others. Photographs and videos show several bullet holes and blood on the wall on the execution site, as well as items on the ground that appear to be bullet cases, indicating that some of the victims were shot there. The Independent Forensic Expert Group of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims estimates less than 24 hours had passed since the people were killed and photographed, matching witness accounts. A photograph posted to Facebook at 10:13 p.m. local time on February 22, taken during daylight hours, indicates the victims were killed sometime before nightfall, at 6:40 p.m. on February 22.  On February 22, M23 fighters shot three people on a street just west of Kasika. “When we arrived, my friend and two others were still breathing,” said a friend of a victim. “The M23 refused to let us approach them and fired into the ground. When [my friend] died, they agreed to let us take him to the morgue.” Human Rights Watch geolocated a video shared by a resident showing one of the bodies being loaded onto a truck on Mulongwe Avenue, west of the neighborhood. The witness said he saw six other bodies on that street.  Human Rights Watch also geolocated and verified a video showing men rounded up by M23 fighters on February 23 near a sports field commonly known as “terrain des scouts.” “We saw the M23 take around 20 people and make them sit on the ground,” said a witness. “They started intimidating them – they were youth from the neighborhood, but they accused them of being FARDC [Congolese army]. At least three people tried to run away but were shot dead.” An independent source corroborated that men trying to escape were killed, but could not verify the victims’ identities. The video shows an M23 fighter with a red arm band, believed to belong to the military police unit. The detained men were driven away in a truck, according to a witness. A resident and an independent source said they believed the men were being forcibly recruited. © 2025 Human Rights Watch Three medical workers said that over 50 bodies were collected from the Kasika area on February 22 and 23, which matches information provided by residents and others. Human Rights Watch verified the identities of 13 victims. Many of those killed had a gunshot wound to the head or chest, based on witness accounts. Commanders and combatants who directly ordered or carried out abuses should be held criminally accountable, Human Rights Watch said. Military commanders and civilian officials can also be held criminally liable for crimes committed by their subordinates if they knew or should have known of crimes being committed and failed to prevent or punish the crimes.  The fighting in eastern Congo between the M23 and Rwandan forces against the Congolese military and allied armed groups has exposed civilians to serious crimes by all parties to the conflict, including summary killings, sexual violence, forced displacement, and pillage. In October 2024, the International Criminal Court prosecutor  announced that his office would renew investigative efforts in Congo with a focus on crimes in North Kivu since January 2022. The court’s investigation should include the executions of civilians in Goma by M23 fighters, Human Rights Watch said. “The Rwandan government, as the direct supporter of the M23, may be complicit in the armed group’s war crimes ,” de Montjoye said. “Concerned governments, including those attempting to broker peace deals between the warring parties, should press Rwanda to end its support and ensure that justice for serious crimes is a priority.” © 2025 Human Rights Watch

Defence lawyers for Ratko Mladic, who is serving a life sentence for genocide, asked the Hague court for his release, saying he has been transferred to palliative care and “his remaining life expectancy is measured in months”. Lamija Grebo, June 3, 2025 Ratko Mladic in court in The Hague in June 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/Jerry Lampen/Pool. Ratko Mladic’s lawyers have made an urgent request to the UN’s International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague to release the wartime Bosnian Serb military chief on humanitarian grounds because he has already been transferred to palliative care and only has months to live, according to the court motion made public on Tuesday. The motion for release said that the UN Detention Unit in The Hague, where he is being held, has “told Mr. Mladic and his family that his medical conditions cannot be cured, and that they are shifting to palliative care and end-of-life considerations, and that his remaining life expectancy is measured in months”. Calling for the 83-year-old genocide and war crimes convict to be given provisional release or conditional early release, the motion argued that “Mladic’s limited life expectancy is a central humanitarian issue that should be given decisive weight”. It insisted that there is no risk of flight due to his terminal diagnosis, short life expectancy, need for palliative care and the fact that he is bedridden. Mladic’s lawyers Dragan Ivetic and Branko Lukic said in the motion that since March 2024, he has had three medical incidents that medical officers at the UN Detention Unit have assessed as life-threatening or potentially life-threatening. “Given the nature of Mladić’s terminal and incurable health condition and his short life expectancy, continued detention serves no legitimate purpose and amounts to inhuman treatment and punishment,” their motion argued. They said that granting Mladic release would save the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals and the UN Detention Unit the costs of palliative care and allow Mladic to explore all medical options for prolonging and improving his quality of life, as well as to live out the rest of his life with his family in a humane and comfortable manner. Mladic was convicted under a final verdict in June 2021 of the genocide of Bosniaks from Srebrenica, the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats across the country during the war, terrorising the population of Sarajevo with a campaign of shelling and sniping during the siege of the city, and taking UN peacekeepers hostage. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. During his time in custody in the Netherlands, Mladic has had several serious medical problems and has suffered two strokes and a heart attack. His lawyers have repeatedly claimed that he has not been getting proper treatment and that his health problems have been underestimated. The UN court has repeatedly declined requests for him to be hospitalised for treatment. Copyright BIRN 2015

How the Supreme Court Made 500,000 Legal Immigrants Vulnerable to Deportation The New York Times May 31, 2025 The court decisions are an abrupt turnaround for a population that entered the country legally and shared detailed information about their whereabouts with the government. By Hamed Aleaziz Reporting from Washington The government knows their names. Their fingerprints have been scanned into government computers. The Department of Homeland Security knows where most of them live, because the immigrants in question — more than 500,000 of them — reside in the United States legally. But two new Supreme Court decisions have left them open to deportation, an abrupt turn for a population that has been able to remain in the country by using legal pathways for people facing war and political turmoil at home. “Thousands of people — especially Haitians, Cubans and Venezuelans — instantly shift from ‘lawfully present’ to ‘deportable,’” said Jason Houser, a former official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Biden administration. Now, with their protections revoked while legal challenges move through lower courts, many immigrants have found themselves in a vulnerable position . Because so many of them have shared detailed information with the government, including addresses, biometrics and the names of their sponsors, they could be easy to track down at a moment when the Trump administration is looking for ways to deport people quickly. Whether and how aggressively the administration might move to begin rounding up people whose legal protections have been revoked remains unclear, though officials signaled several months ago that they feel they have the authority to do so. “It’s chaotic and unnecessary, and we’re already receiving panicked calls and emails, and the crescendo will only grow,” said Karen Tumlin, founder and director of Justice Action Center, an immigrant advocacy group that has challenged last week’s rulings in court. “The Supreme Court has effectively greenlit deportation orders for an estimated half a million people, the largest such de-legalization in the modern era,” she said. The Supreme Court acted in both cases on emergency applications by the Trump administration, which has pushed for more arrests and deportations, even for people who are in the United States legally. The administration argues that some immigration programs are being abused and allow people into the country who would otherwise be turned away. The court gutted two such programs in the last couple of weeks, humanitarian parole  and Temporary Protected Status , which together have shielded more than a half-million people from deportation. The decisions were unsigned and gave no reasoning, which is typical of emergency proceedings. “Ending the C.H.N.V. parole programs, as well as the paroles of those who exploited it, will be a necessary return to common-sense policies, a return to public safety, and a return to America First,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department. She was using an abbreviation for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, the countries in the humanitarian parole program targeted by the Trump administration. Mr. Houser said the court decisions amount to “a seismic shift” in the number of people the Trump administration can target for deportation. Some immigrants affected by the rulings have been in the country less than two years, which means they could be deported using an expedited system that sidesteps the normal immigration court process. The decisions come as top White House officials have been publicly complaining about the pace of deportations . The problems are due in part to the logistical constraints of immigration enforcement, including the lack of resources and capacity to detain people. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at the Department of Homeland Security field office in Nashville, Tenn., this month. White House officials have been anxious to ramp up the pace of deportations. [None of these officers are legally " police" in any jurisdiction.] Credit ...Seth Herald/Reuters But there is another factor that often hamstrings ICE officers: the difficulty of finding their targets. Many immigrants live under the radar or have moved from their last known address long ago. That’s why ICE is taking aggressive new measures, including detaining people at immigration courts  when they show up for hearings. The tactic is a significant break from past practice, when immigration officials largely steered clear of courthouse arrests out of concern that they would deter people from complying with orders. Tracking down people who entered the country legally is yet another escalation. George Fishman, a former homeland security attorney in the first Trump administration, noted that while many of the immigrants could qualify for expedited removal, others would end up in an immigration court system that is plagued by delays. For those who find themselves in court, “it’s not going to mean the immediate removal of anybody,” he said. But Trump administration officials have signaled that they intend to use expedited removal whenever they can. In a public register notice in March announcing that it would end the humanitarian parole program, the Trump administration said it was hampering D.H.S.’s ability to deport people quickly. Expedited removal  typically is used on people who are picked up at the border, as a way to quickly turn them back without court proceedings. But Mr. Trump expanded it significantly so that ICE agents can use the process for anyone who has been in the United States less than two years. In its March notice, the administration said expedited removal prevents “further straining of the overburdened immigration court system.” Andrea Flores, who was a Biden-administration immigration official, said the notice was not subtle. “Their own justification for terminating this legal status now is to be able to put them in expedited removal, since the majority arrived less than two years ago,” she said. “The Supreme Court’s decision is callous and will embolden this administration to go further in singling out Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Cubans, penalizing them for complying with our immigration laws and returning them to grave harms.”   Hamed Aleaziz  covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy for The Times. A version of this article appears in print on June 2, 2025, Section A, Page 13 of the New York edition with the headline: Legal Immigrants Left Vulnerable By Two Decisions   Copyright 2025 The New York Times Company

27 May 2025 Alexis Huguet/AFP via Getty Images The Rwandan-backed March 23 Movement (M23) has killed, tortured and forcibly disappeared detainees, held some as hostages, and subjected them to inhumane conditions at detention sites in Goma and Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). These acts violate international humanitarian law (IHL) and may amount to war crimes, Amnesty International said today. Between February and April 2025, Amnesty International interviewed 18 former civilian detainees – all men – who had been held unlawfully in M23 detention sites in Goma and Bukavu, nine of whom were tortured by M23 fighters. “M23’s public statements about bringing order to eastern DRC mask their horrific treatment of detainees. They brutally punish those who they believe oppose them and intimidate others, so no one dares to challenge them,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa. “Regional and international actors must pressure Rwanda to cease its support for M23.” Amnesty International is calling on M23 to immediately release arbitrarily detained civilians, including those forcibly disappeared and whose whereabouts should be disclosed. M23 should treat detainees humanely and provide them with access to lawyers and their families. Independent monitoring bodies must urgently be granted access to all M23 detention sites. M23’s public statements about bringing order to eastern DRC mask their horrific treatment of detainees. They brutally punish those who they believe oppose them and intimidate others, so no one dares to challenge them,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa. “Regional and international actors must pressure Rwanda to cease its support for M23. Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa Unlawful Killings at Detention Sites Eight detainees said that they witnessed fellow detainees die in detention, likely from torture and harsh detention conditions. They said hundreds were held in overcrowded, unsanitary cells without sufficient food, water, sanitation facilities or healthcare. Most were held incommunicado and denied access to their families and to lawyers. I saw one man who was assassinated…It was like he was a member of a band of bandits. [M23] were asking him where he kept the weapons and where is so and so. They shot him in the stomach and the right arm, like in the shoulder. Former Detainee According to testimonies from former detainees, M23’s detention sites in Goma include: the provincial office of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) known as  Chien Méchant  (vicious dog); a compound near the state-owned  Radio-Télévision Nationale Congolaise  (RTNC) on Mount Goma; the provincial assembly building; the 34th military region compound; and a make-shift detention centre in Kanyaruchinya, outside Goma. In Bukavu, M23 has detained individuals in the main ANR office and a military camp in Bagira neighborhood. Amnesty International is aware of four other M23 detention sites in Goma where detainees were held between a few days to over a week. Two former detainees described how they witnessed M23 fighters kill two detainees with hammers and shoot another who died on the spot. “I saw one man who was assassinated,” said a former detainee from Goma. “It was like he was a member of a band of bandits. [M23] were asking him where he kept the weapons and where is so and so. They shot him in the stomach and the right arm, like in the shoulder.” Another detainee, at a different site, said he saw an M23 fighter kill two detainees. “The M23 [fighter] brought out a hammer and hit him in the ribs. He died on the spot. They took another person. He said he was a former member of the Republican Guard [an elite corps of soldiers that is responsible for the security of the president of the DRC]. They hit him with the hammer, but he didn’t die immediately. In the morning, he was dead.” Arbitrary Detentions Former detainees told Amnesty International that M23 accused them of supporting the Congolese army or government through working with civil society, hiding or possessing weapons, knowing the whereabouts or being affiliated with other armed group members, civil servants or government officials, looting, or speaking out against M23 abuses. Detainees said M23 never produced evidence of these accusations and at least 12 of them were not informed of reasons for their detention. M23 detained others to persuade them to work with them or to forcibly recruit them into their ranks. Most detainees told Amnesty International they had no communication with, or visits from, their families, and were effectively held incommunicado. The family member of one detainee, who was trying to see him, said: “They won’t let me talk to him. He’s in bad condition. The [M23 fighters] told me he was sick. They said: “We really whipped him, and he has wounds on his buttocks that are hurting him.” Congolese who have gone to Rwanda have also been subject to arbitrary arrest. Rwandan border officials detained at least three Congolese men in February 2025 and handed two of them over to M23 fighters in Goma. The two men were released after almost two weeks at an M23 detention site where they faced inhumane conditions. Rwanda immigration officials also detained Victoire Hategekimana Hakizimana, a 35-year-old NGO worker, on 12 February at the Ruzizi border crossing. He has been missing ever since. Amnesty International wrote to Rwanda’s Ministry of Justice and Attorney General on 7 May 2025 and to the president of M23 and its spokesperson on 9 May 2025. The organization shared its findings and requested information about the conduct of Rwanda’s immigration officials and M23 fighters in relation to specific allegations documented in this press release. At the time of publication, the organization had not received any response from Rwanda’s Ministry of Justice and Attorney General or M23 representatives. Torture of Detainees Amnesty International interviewed four family members of three detainees, who were tortured by M23 while in detention and died after their release, and a family member of a detainee who died in M23 custody. All 18 former detainees said they were either tortured or witnessed M23 fighters torture others in detention. At  Chien Méchant , the compound on Mount Goma, the provincial assembly, and the 34th military region compound, former detainees said M23 fighters hit them, including with flexible wooden rods, boards, electric cables, engine belts, gun butts, or sticks, on their backs, legs, buttocks and genitals, leaving them with signs of trauma. At least nine detainees received medical treatment for their wounds following their release, with five hospitalized. In four other cases, Amnesty International reviewed photos of wounds consistent with detainees’ accounts of torture. M23 fighters beat a man, who was later detained at the ANR office in Bukavu for three weeks, 100 times with wooden rods. Every morning, they whipped him and fellow detainees 10 times on their backsides when they were taken to the bathroom. “[The M23 fighters] said they were giving us our morning tea,” he said. At the 34th military region compound in Goma, two detainees held there in early March said M23 beat detainees regularly. “I was beaten for five days,” said a former detainee. “Everyone was hit. They said they were going to kill me. They said: ‘We don’t need you. We will take your wife, and we will impregnate her.’ “ In Kanyaruchinya, M23 detained a civilian in late March in a shipping container for five days. Before his death at a hospital in Goma, he described to a family member how M23 fighters had pinned his arm between their knees and then broke two bones in his arm.  At  Chien Méchant , in the early morning, most detainees were brought out of their cells to the courtyard for flogging. They were beaten on their backside with a rubber electric cable or wooden rods. In early April, one detainee was beaten so badly that he could not stand up or sit down and could only lie on the ground. Fellow detainees had to pick him up to move him. At the Mount Goma detention site, two detainees described how M23 fighters whipped them repeatedly on their buttocks and backs. One of them recounted his experience: “They take a chair and put it on your shoulders so that you don’t move. The soldiers whip you one after the other until they get tired. As soon as the one who is whipping gets tired, another one continues. They were three or four to beat me up.” Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab verified a  video , which first appeared on social media on 18 March 2025, that showed men in uniforms beating a man with wooden rods at the  Stade de l’Unité  in Goma. M23 fighters controlled the city and were the only fighters who had access to the stadium. Amnesty International has  documented  how M23 used the stadium to torture abducted hospital patients and caregivers in late February and early March 2025.    Enforced Disappearances Amnesty International documented several cases of enforced disappearance. Relatives looked for their loved ones at detention sites in Goma and Bukavu, but M23 fighters often refused to grant them access or denied that their relatives were there, amounting to enforced disappearances. Amnesty International interviewed three detainees and two relatives of detainees who explained how families looked for their loved ones at M23 detention sites but were often misled by M23 fighters who concealed the whereabouts of their loved ones. A detainee at a detention site in Goma said: “I was there five days without my family knowing. The families do the rounds [of the detention centers]. They go to the front gate, and they ask the guards: do you know if so and so is here? [The guards] check the list and say yes if they want to. Or they say no even though you are there. They lied twice to my family that I wasn’t there.” One family hired a person with ties to M23 and had access to a detention site to verify their loved one was there because M23 would not reveal his whereabouts. Ransom Payments M23 often required families to pay large ransoms to secure the release of their family members. Eight detainees said their family members paid M23 ransoms for their release. Ransom amounts ranged from a few hundred US dollars to over US$2,000. Numerous family members visited M23 detention sites in Goma and Bukavu and attempted to negotiate ransom amounts with M23 fighters. One family spent several weeks attempting to negotiate the release of a family member, and the amount of ransom, finally asking senior M23 members to intervene. “My family arrived [where I was detained], and [M23 fighters] asked for money without telling them where I was,” said one detainee. The family eventually paid several hundred dollars for his release. Inhumane Conditions at M23 Detention Sites Five detainees held in overcrowded, collective cells on Mount Goma in February 2025 told Amnesty International there was a lack of space in some cells, which forced detainees to sleep while sitting on the concrete floor or standing up. Cells were dark, hot, and poorly ventilated. Guards brought food only once a day, usually a plate of boiled corn to be shared. There was no running water and detainees spent weeks without bathing. One detainee said: “It was incredibly hot… People were drinking each other’s urine. On rainy days, you could drink rainwater.” He said that there were only three toilets for hundreds of detainees, and they were forced to unclog them by hand. The detainees were only allowed one bathroom break a day and, at night, those with diarrhoea defecated into small bags or boxes if they were available. Congolese know all too well the cruelty of M23…They continue to live in misery as international actors have become complacent, waiting patiently for a peace deal while M23 keeps brutalizing Congolese. Amnesty International demands that M23 immediately release all civilians and cease these unlawful, brutal practices. Tigere Chagutah In mid-March, M23 moved detainees by bus from Mount Goma to the provincial assembly detention site, apparently due to overcrowding, but the cells there also became overcrowded. One detainee said he was held in a tiny cell with many others, some of whom were ill. He said that if they complained about being sick, M23 tortured them. At a second detention site on Mount Goma, a former detainee described being held in an underground, earthen cell. “The hole was long. It was more than 2 meters deep. It was really hot. With the heat, some people died. I lost my (relative). He died after one week [in detention]. He died from a combination of torture, lack of food, lack of water.” IHL prohibits parties to the conflict, including organized armed groups, from arbitrarily detaining civilians. Murder, cruel treatment and torture, as well as outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, against detainees, as well as enforced disappearances, are also prohibited under IHL and may amount to war crimes. Moreover, M23’s detention of civilians to compel them or their family members to pay for their release may amount to the war crime of taking hostages. “Congolese know all too well the cruelty of M23,” said Tigere Chagutah. “They continue to live in misery as international actors have become complacent, waiting patiently for a peace deal while M23 keeps brutalizing Congolese. Amnesty International demands that M23 immediately release all civilians and cease these unlawful, brutal practices.” © 2025 Amnesty International

Court strikes down laws adopted by the Republika Srpska Assembly in reaction to a verdict convicting the entity’s president, Milorad Dodik, of undermining 'state authority over part of its territory'. Azem Kurtic, May 29, 2025 Judges at Bosnia’s highest court. Photo: Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday suspended all laws adopted by the assembly of the country’s Serb-led Republika Srpska entity in response to a first-instance verdict against the entity’s president, Milorad Dodik. Among them is the so-called “foreign agents” law, which imposed reporting obligations, inspections and possible bans on NGOs and independent media. The court said the law mirrors Russian legislation and violates rights to freedom of association. The court also ruled that the Law on a Special Register and Public Disclosure of Non-Profit Organisations is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. “It does not meet a ‘pressing social need’ and is not necessary in a democratic society,” the ruling noted. The court also struck down entity laws excluding state authority over key areas such as justice and security, saying they undermine Bosnia’s sovereignty. In February, the entity’s National Assembly voted to ban Bosnia’s state-level court and prosecutor’s office, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council and the State Investigation and Protection agency, SIPA, from exercising jurisdiction in the entity. Dodik enforced the laws through a presidential decree in early March. Following this, the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia opened a new investigation into “an attack on the constitutional order” and issued an arrest warrant for President Dodik, Republika Srpska Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic, and the speaker of the Republika Srpska assembly, Nenad Stevandic, who failed to answer two summons for questioning. “They effectively abolish state authority over part of its territory,” the court noted of the laws. Amendments to the entity’s criminal code were also annulled for lacking legal clarity and for subordinating state institutions to entity laws. All the laws were passed in February 2025 after Dodik was sentenced in a first-instance verdict to one year in prison plus a six-year ban on being President of Republika Srpska for defying the decisions of the High Representative, the international official overseeing Bosnia’s 1995 peace agreement. Prior to the court’s final ruling, all the laws were provisionally suspended in March. Their implementation has caused Bosnia’s biggest political crisis since the end of 1992-95 war. Copyright BIRN 2007

Aftermath of a Russian airstrike in Sumy city, Ukraine. (April 2025 photograph) © Humanitarian Mission Proliska 29 May 2025 I Peace and Security        A glimmer of hope for peace in Ukraine has been overshadowed by a devastating new wave of Russian attacks, UN officials told the Security Council on Thursday, warning of soaring civilian casualties and a worsening humanitarian crisis that could derail a diplomatic end to the war. “ The longer the war continues, the longer its regional and global impacts will be felt, and the more difficult it will be to find a peaceful resolution ,” said  Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs . She recalled the adoption of Security Council resolution 2774 in February – the first since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – which sparked a sense of optimism for a diplomatic solution.   That has since been replaced by a sense of international frustration – and more suffering in Ukraine following the surge in attacks. “ The hope that the parties will be able to sit down and negotiate is still alive, but just barely ,” Ms. DiCarlo warned. Rising civilian toll The weekend’s escalation has been described as the largest wave of attacks, with record numbers of long-range missiles and drones killing and injuring dozens of civilians and damaging homes and infrastructure in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, and other cities. Russian regions bordering Ukraine also reported civilian casualties and infrastructure damage. According to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, nine civilians were killed and 117 injured by Ukrainian strikes between 19 and 25 May, with a further 17 civilians killed and over 100 injured the week before. “The United Nations is not able to verify these reports. However, if confirmed, these figures serve as a vivid reminder of the rising civilian toll of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine , most egregiously in Ukraine, but also increasingly in the Russian Federation itself,” Ms. DiCarlo said. International humanitarian law strictly prohibits attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, she stressed. “They are unacceptable and indefensible – wherever they occur – and must stop immediately.” ‘Every delay costs lives’ Lisa Doughten, Director for Financing at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( OCHA ), painted a dire picture on the ground.   Over 5,000 people – mostly from Kherson, Donetsk and Sumy regions – were newly displaced in the past week alone, adding to the 3.7 million already displaced across Ukraine. An estimated 1.5 million civilians in Russian-occupied areas remain largely cut off from humanitarian assistance. Despite escalating challenges, humanitarian organizations – many of them local NGOs – continue to deliver food, water, hygiene kits and protection services. However, only a quarter of the $2.6 billion needed for the 2025 humanitarian response plan has been funded, leaving aid workers struggling to meet rising needs. “ Every delay costs lives . Every dollar helps us reach the next family under fire with aid, educate the next child out of school, help evacuate people with disabilities, and sustain water in front-line communities,” Ms. Doughten said. “The needs do not shrink. And so, our resolve cannot falter.” A wideview of the Security Council meeting as members discuss the situation in Ukraine. © UN Photo/Loey Felipe The war is a strategic mistake: US Sanctions for Russia are “still on the table” if they make the “wrong decision” to continue the catastrophic war against Ukraine, the representative of the United States, John Kelley, told ambassadors. “President [Donald] Trump has emphasised from the beginning that this war was a strategic mistake and should never have happened; time is not on the side of any who would prolong it,” Mr. Kelley said. The US also condemned Russia’s decision to launch record numbers of long-range missiles and drones against civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine this past weekend. Mr. Kelley noted that if Russia makes the “wrong decision to continue this catastrophic war,” the United States may be forced to end their negotiation efforts. “To be clear, in doing so, we would not be ‘abandoning’ our principles or our friends. Rather, we would be recognising Russia’s refusal to work with us toward a desirable outcome,” he said. Mr. Kelley also referenced President Trump’s conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on 21 May, saying that the US is expecting a “term sheet” which will outline a Russian ceasefire proposal. “We will judge Russia’s seriousness towards ending the war not only by the contents of that term sheet, but more importantly, by Russia’s actions,” Mr. Kelley said. Ukraine trying to derail peace: Russia Russia’s Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya accused the Ukrainian Government of attempting to “deceive and mislead” President Donald Trump in order to push the US away from its central role brokering negotiations. “As long as the spectre of the ‘Russian threat’ persists, [Volodymyr] Zelensky’s clique can avoid accountability for embezzled budget funds and Western – primarily American – aid, which now totals tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars,” Mr. Nebenzya said. “Even their partners in Europe and the [Joe] Biden administration, who have also profited greatly from the conflict in Ukraine, are starting to grow weary of this.” Regarding allegations that Russia is targeting civilians in Ukraine, he claimed the casualties are the result of Ukrainian air defense systems being “positioned near residential buildings and public infrastructure in violation of basic international humanitarian law.” He stated that the true targets of Russian strikes are military-industrial sites, citing the destruction of ammunition depots and other weapons facilities in various Ukrainian regions. Ukraine open to talks that ‘yield tangible results’ Khrystyna Hayovyshyn, Deputy Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, said that the international community must increase pressure on Russia, including through sanctions, to end the “diplomatic stalemate” for which she squarely blamed Russia. “Ukraine did not initiate this war, nor do we desire its continuation,” Ms. Hayovyshyn said. She noted that President Volodymyr Zelensky remains willing to meet President Vladimir Putin at any point for direct talks, but that the Russian President has not made himself available – including failing to attend the negotiations in Türkiye where Mr. Zelensky was present. “We are not afraid of talks,” she said. “We are for constructive talks.” Ms. Hayovyshyn said that “only positive result” of the meeting in Türikye was the agreement from both Russia and Ukraine to each release 1,000 prisoners of war. But she reiterated that Ukraine would not compromise on its territorial integrity or sovereignty when negotiating for peace. “Achieving peace at any cost will not end the war. A comprehensive, just and lasting peace must rest on a fundamental respect towards non-negotiable principles,” she said. © 2025 United Nations.

May 16 2025 By Wycliffe Muia Delays in implementing the peace deal have sparked fears of fresh violence in Tigray. AFP via Getty Images Ethiopia's main opposition party has condemned a ban on its activities, saying it posed a "serious threat" to the 2022 peace deal that ended two years of conflict in the northern Tigray region. The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) has called for the African Union to mediate with the federal government after the electoral agency revoked its legal status as a party. The party, which governs Tigray and dominated the entire country for many years, was on Wednesday banned for failing to hold a general assembly. The decision follows months of political tensions in Tigray and comes ahead of nationwide elections that are due to take place by June next year at the latest. The party led a coalition that overthrew the government in 1991 and ruled Ethiopia until 2019 when it was dissolved a year after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had taken power. He then formed a new national party, a move rejected by the TPLF. The dispute culminated in a civil war that saw tens of thousands of people killed and millions forced from their homes in northern Ethiopia before a truce was signed in November 2022. 'No-one can handle another war' - Tigrayans fear fresh Ethiopian conflict The party runs Tigray's interim administration which was established in 2023 as part of the peace deal, known as the Pretoria peace agreement. But the party has been unable to conduct internal elections because of a split, with two factions laying claim to control of the party. The National Election Board of Ethiopia, which supervises the conduct of political parties, on Wednesday "resolved to formally deregister" the TPLF on the grounds that it had failed to hold a general assembly. But the party has protested against the move and called on the African Union to put "pressure" on the federal government to suspend the enforcement of the ban. In a letter to the AU, the party said the ban "denies the TPLF a right it had reclaimed through the Pretoria Agreement and poses a serious threat to the foundation of the peace process". It added that the peace deal stipulated that both parties recognise each other's legitimacy and any political issue should be resolved through dialogue. TPLF deputy chairman Ammanuel Assefa told the BBC that the decision by the electoral board could "damage the Pretoria agreement" which "is going to be dangerous". "This isn't just about TPLF, but also about undermining what people have sacrificed," Ammanuel added. Delays in implementing the terms of the agreement, including the return of some one million people displaced by the war, have fuelled fears of fresh violence in Tigray. Several countries including the US, UK and the European Union have warned about the escalating tension, saying there must be "no return to violence". More on Ethiopia's civil war: 'I lost my leg on the way home from school' How war has hurt Ethiopia's Olympic hopes How a massacre in the sacred city of Aksum unfolded Why Ethiopia is so alarmed by an Egypt-Somalia alliance © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved

Forensic officers work near the site of an incident where a car plowed into a crowd of Liverpool fans during a parade celebrating their side’s Premier League soccer title, in central Liverpool, Britain, on May 27. (Phil Noble/Reuters) Why did Liverpool police quickly say that a driver who struck a crowd was White? The Washington Post May 28, 2025 By Steve Hendrix with Rachel Pannett LONDON — When a minivan plowed into a crowd  of soccer fans in Liverpool about 6 p.m. Monday, one of the first bits of official information the police released was the age, ethnicity and nationality of a man apprehended at the scene. “We can confirm that the man arrested is a 53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area,” Liverpool police said in a post  on X while paramedics were still treating injured fans and getting dozens of them to hospitals. The biographical detail was a departure from the typically closed-mouth approach of British police as investigations unfold, especially in their early hours. But officials were seemingly determined to head off the   kind of dangerous backlash that has accompanied other shocking attacks and accidents, some of which have been followed by a wave of racially charged disinformation that leads to further violence. “It was a real step away from the usual information released,” said Peter Williams, police communications expert at John Moores University’s Liverpool Center for Advanced Policing Studies. “The social media part of this is something they have been really grappling with.” Police announced Tuesday that the 53-year-old man was charged on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving and being under the influence of drugs when he followed an ambulance into a blocked street. The man remained in custody, and his motives were still under investigation, police said. Almost 50 people were injured in Monday’s incident, which came as fans were gathered in the city center for a parade to celebrate Liverpool’s Premier League soccer championship. At least 27 people were taken to hospitals, and two remained in serious condition Tuesday. There were no reported fatalities, and police said late Monday they had not been seeking other suspects or treating the incident as terrorism. The potential explosiveness of the situation was well-known in Liverpool, one of many cities in Britain and Europe where fears of terrorism and tensions over immigration have been quick to flare, and where social media outrage has transformed into real-world brutality. The same Merseyside Police Department, named for Liverpool’s broader county, was widely criticized last summer for keeping some information tight after an attacker stabbed three young girls to death  at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the nearby town of Southport. Police, bound by additional privacy protections for juveniles,   initially said only that a “17-year-old male” from a town in Lancashire had been arrested. Speculation laced with outright falsehoods raced across social media that the suspect was a Muslim asylum-seeker who was on counterterrorism watch lists. Infrequent police updates — among them, that the boy had been born in Wales   — did little to quell the rage being deliberately stoked, including by right-wing nationalist groups. “Quite often in this disinformation space it is the vacuum and the ideas of government cover-ups that are as important as the specific facts being speculated about,” said Jonathan Hall, an attorney who serves as the British government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, and who had been critical of the police’s slow release of information following the stabbings. Crowds attacked a mosque in Southport the day after the stabbings as Britain’s worst riots in nearly a decade erupted over several days. Mobs targeted hotels housing migrants, and some 53 police officers were injured. Only after the riots had ended did police reveal that the accused attacker was a Christian, born to parents who had legally immigrated to Britain from Rwanda years earlier. By then, a raft of online conspiracy theories had been entrenched, and hundreds of people had been arrested. Monday’s ramming event threatened to reignite the chaos. Within minutes of the car hitting the crowd, social media provocateurs were reposting videos and driving speculation. “Was his name Mohamad,” wrote one poster on X. “The West must wake up,” said another. The quick release of the arrested man’s race and nationality may have cut short that dynamic. By Tuesday, much of the coverage of the event focused on the reaction of Liverpudlians at the scene and questions about traffic control and event planning. “It does seem to have died away on social media,” Williams said. He expects other departments to loosen up their communication policies after similar events. “I think it’s very significant,” Hall said of the police response this time. “Here it was apparently clear early on that there was no one else involved and there wasn’t terrorism. Authorities did the right thing.” According to witnesses, the vehicle appeared stuck and unmoving on a closed and crowded road before suddenly lurching backward, and then plowing forward, as pedestrians rocked the car and pounded on the windows. Police said Tuesday they believe the man trailed behind an ambulance that was let onto the closed street. The ambulance was trying to reach a parade spectator who needed assistance for a possible heart attack. Officials did not say whether the man intentionally tried to drive into the crowd or was too impaired to recognize the danger. The investigation was continuing, they said. Officials have been wrestling with the growing role that social media outrage — fact-based or not — can play as a follow-on crisis to explosive events. A government-ordered review published this month found that most police departments in Britain have not kept up with the risks posed by the “overwhelming speed and volume” of online invective. The report, written by His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Andy Cooke, called for more intelligence of online groups, better self-regulation by social media companies and, among other measures, for police to be more transparent with information that could counter false claims. “That’s obviously a lesson learned,” Williams said of the Liverpool response Monday.   Copyright 2025 The Washington Post

A destroyed school in Posad-Pokrovske, Kherson region, Ukraine. (file) © UN Ukraine 28 May 2025 I Human Rights Russian drone attacks against civilians in the Kherson region of Ukraine constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes, independent UN-appointed human rights investigators concluded in a new report published on Wednesday.  “Russian armed forces have committed the crimes against humanity of murder and the war crimes of attacking civilians, through a months-long pattern of drone attacks targeting civilians  on the right bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Province,” the Independent International Commission of Inquiry  on Ukraine said . Attacks have been carried out since July 2024 in Kherson city and 16 localities stretching over more than 100 kilometres in riverfront areas under Ukrainian Government control.  They are ongoing and nearly 150 civilians have been killed and hundreds more injured to date, according to official sources. Attacks ‘planned and organised’ “The recurrence of these attacks for over 10 months, against multiple civilian targets and in a wide geographic area, demonstrates that they are widespread and systematic and have been planned and organised , requiring the mobilisation and allocation of necessary resources,” the report said. The Commission examined over 300 publicly available videos of attacks and over 600 text posts on Telegram channels and, where possible, identified victims.  Over 90 residents from affected areas were interviewed, including victims, witnesses, local authorities and medical personnel.  Civilians were targeted “in various circumstances, mainly when they were outdoors, both on foot or while using any type of vehicles” the report said. Most victims were men, but women and children also were affected. ‘My husband died in my arms’ A woman from Poniativka village recounted that in September 2024, she was walking home with her husband and suddenly heard a drone. It was already above their heads and immediately dropped an explosive, giving them no time to seek shelter. Both were injured.  “ My husband died in my arms, bleeding to death, because the ambulance did not arrive on time . I tried to stop the bleeding with a T-shirt, but it was not enough,” she said. Videos posted on Telegram Russian forces mostly used civilian drones that are widely commercially available, which were then modified. “ The weaponized versions of these drones allow their operators, via an embedded camera, to remotely track, aim, and drop explosives on targets . They can return to their point of origin to be reused,” the report said. “Occasionally, perpetrators employed suicide drones that are also equipped with cameras but that explode upon impact on their targets.” Hundreds of the video feeds have been regularly disseminated on Russian Telegram channels, some of which have thousands of subscribers.  “The video footage that they posted displays the attacks and the resulting death, injury, damage, or destruction, and is styled like video games, often accompanied by background music and threatening text,” the report said. Ambulances targeted Furthermore, ambulances also have been targeted and struck by drones to prevent them from reaching victims, and some have died because they could not get to a medical facility in time.  “A 45-year-old man from Stanislav village recounted that in November 2024, a drone dropped an explosive near him as he was riding a moped, badly injuring his leg. An ambulance arrived, and while he was receiving first aid, a drone dropped two explosives on the ambulance ,” the report said. The Commission stressed that the use of drones to target civilians and civilian objects is a violation of the fundamental principle of international humanitarian law as such attacks may only be directed at military objects. “The Commission therefore concludes that Russian armed forces perpetrated the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against civilians in Kherson Province,” it said, while “ posting videos of civilians being killed and injured amounts to the war crime of outrages upon personal dignity .” ‘Drones were attacking everything’ The drone attacks have spread terror among residents of the affected areas. Many wait for cloudy days to go out, or seek cover under trees, where possible.  “Drones were attacking everything; minibuses, cars, pedestrians… every time you went out of the house, you had to check the sky and look out for a buzzing sound and, in any case, run ,” a man from Antonivka settlement told the Commission. Moreover, fear is further induced by frequent messages posted on Telegram, such as “ Get out of the city before the leaves fall, you who are destined to die .” “The recurrent drone attacks, the widely disseminated videos showing them, and numerous posts explicitly exhorting the population to leave suggest a coordinated state policy, on the part of the Russian authorities, to force the population of Kherson Province to leave the area,” investigators said. They concluded Russian forces may have committed the crime against humanity of forcible transfer of population. Mandate from Human Rights Council The commission is mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate all alleged violations and abuses of human rights, violations of international humanitarian law and related crimes in the context of the aggression against Ukraine by Russia. The three Commissioners serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including the UN. © 2025 United Nations.

Free access to weapons would only heighten the ongoing violence in the country. A fire burns following an aerial bombardment that resulted in casualties at the medical charity MSF-run facility, destroying the last remaining hospital and pharmacy in the northern town of Old Fangak, South Sudan on May 3, 2025 [Medecins Sans Frontieres/Handout via Reuters] By Tigere Chagutah In 2015, as a civil war was raging in South Sudan, the United Nations Security Council imposed the first set of sanctions on the country, including asset freezes and travel bans on various senior officials. Three years later, after a ceasefire agreement was repeatedly violated, the UNSC mustered the votes to impose a full arms embargo. Fragile peace eventually settled in, but the embargo was kept in place and was extended every year. The review of the embargo is now coming up on May 29 and there is a push from African members of the UNSC – Sierra Leone, Somalia and Algeria – to lift it. On March 18, the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) publicly called for this measure to end. But lifting the embargo on South Sudan at this moment would be a mistake. Violence has come back to plague the country, killing at least 180 people between March and mid-April, amid deepening divisions between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, who has been placed under house arrest. Allowing more weapons to enter the country would only escalate the dire situation. This would not be in the interest of neighbouring countries and the African Union as a whole. Under the AU’s development plan, Agenda 2063, the continent set itself an ambitious goal of “Silencing the Guns” by 2020, later extended to 2030. With this, the AU wants to “end all wars and violent conflicts and promote dialogue-based mechanisms for conflict prevention and resolution”. Yet, the AUPSC’s call for lifting the embargo on South Sudan does not fall in line with these goals. The justification for this stance is that free access to more weapons can enable the unification of government and opposition forces and reform the security sector. But this logic ignores the growing fractures in South Sudan amid the renewed tensions between Kiir and Machar. Placing more guns in the hands of warring parties involved in serious human rights violations and crimes under international law would only make the situation worse. South Sudan’s security and defence forces have attacked the very people they are tasked to protect: Civilians. The South Sudanese army, National Security Service and armed opposition forces have been implicated in war crimes and human rights violations for well more than a decade, including by the AU’s Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan and the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan. Indeed, around the time the AUPSC called for the lifting of the arms embargo, South Sudan’s government reportedly used improvised incendiary weapons in aerial attacks, killing at least 58 people and injuring others, including children. To be sure, the existence of the arms embargo is not enough – its enforcement is key. That is already faltering after in early March, Uganda sent troops and military equipment to South Sudan without providing notification or receiving special exemption from the UNSC Sanctions Committee. This is a clear violation of the embargo. South Sudan’s Mi-24 helicopters also seem to be on the move, despite the government’s fleet reportedly being non-functional and grounded since the arms embargo was imposed in 2018. This suggests spare parts have been sourced in violation of the embargo. On May 4, Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, reported that two helicopter gunships had bombed its medical facility in Old Fangak the day before and fired at the town, killing seven and injuring 20 others. Deliberate attacks on a medical facility performing its humanitarian function violate international humanitarian law and would constitute a war crime.  This is yet another indication of why the UNSC must renew the arms embargo and strengthen its enforcement. If properly implemented and enforced, a renewed UNSC arms embargo would not obstruct security sector reform. Instead, it would block the disorderly and destabilising accumulation of arms in South Sudan, which is spurring the current conflict and contributing to violations against civilians. If the AU is serious about silencing the guns, it should back the strict controls prohibiting arms transfers to South Sudan, and the African states in the UNSC should vote to renew the arms embargo. © 2025 Al Jazeera Media Network

A bombed building smolders following an attack in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. (file) © Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine/Anastasiia Honcharuk 26 May 2025 I Peace and Security        The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has called for an immediate end to the daily killings and destruction across Ukraine, following a weekend of deadly attacks that left at least 14 civilians – including three children – dead and dozens more injured. The majority of those killed and injured were in major cities such as Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv, or in populated areas in other regions. Meanwhile, large numbers of long-range drones launched into Russia by Ukrainian armed forces injured at least 11 civilians over the weekend, according to Russian authorities. Silence the guns High Commissioner Volker Türk  underscored the urgency for an end to hostilities. “It is time to put an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to commit to – and implement – a comprehensive ceasefire that stops the daily killing and destruction, and to start genuine peace negotiations, built on respect for international law,” he said . He highlighted that – even amid ongoing hostilities – people deprived of their liberty must be protected. Summary executions, torture and all forms of inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners are always prohibited, in any circumstances, and must stop immediately. In addition, civilian detainees should be released as soon as the lawful reason for their detention ceases to exist and their protection against refoulement  must be ensured, he said. Relief, but also loss High Commissioner Türk welcomed the recent exchange of prisoners of war and civilian detainees. Nearly 900 prisoners of war and 120 civilians from each side were exchanged. Most of the civilians appeared to have been detainees, but details on individuals included in the exchange are not yet available, according to his office, OHCHR . “Many families can now breathe a sigh of relief because their loved ones have finally returned home,” Mr. Türk said. “But at the same time, other families have lost relatives and their homes, as their communities across Ukraine came under attack.” Impact on children In a separate statement , the UN Children’s Fund ( UNICEF ) expressed deep concern for the impact of the latest attacks on Ukraine’s children. Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Representative in Ukraine, said that in the past three days, at least three children were reportedly killed in Zhytomyr, and at least 13 children were injured in several regions across the country. “Ukraine’s children have suffered for far too long. How many more futures must be stolen? The senseless violence and loss of young lives must stop,” Mr. Mammadzade said. According to UNICEF, more than 220 children were killed or injured between January and April 2025 – a 40 per cent increase compared to the same period last year. “Attacks on civilian areas must end, and children must always be protected,” Mr. Mammadzade emphasised. “Above all, children need an end to this war.” © 2025 United Nations.