Embattled journalist and WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, persists within the stark barriers of Belmarsh Prison, acquiring an infamous reputation akin to Guantanamo Bay due to its harsh, meticulously secure, and ostensibly inhumane confinement conditions. His name has been interwoven with a lengthy battle for informational freedom, providing a polarized viewpoint that aligns him as a champion of truth for some and a jeopardizer of state secrets for others.
Um Sangour primary health care facility in Kosti, White Nile state, Sudan, is the only health facility that used to support the whole camp population. This health facility now receives 700 patients daily after the population of the camp has doubled due to the conflict in Khartoum. © UNHCR/Ala Kheir
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have issued a dire warning regarding the deteriorating health conditions in Sudan, where more than 1,200 refugee children under the age of five have died between May 15 and September 14. These tragic deaths are attributed to a suspected measles outbreak compounded by high levels of malnutrition in nine refugee camps in Sudan's White Nile state.
Migrants playing football at one of IOM’s seven transit centers in Niger where close to 5,000 people receive essential services. Amidst the current political instability, humanitarian corridors must be established to allow migrants to return home in a safe and dignified manner. Photo: IOM/Souleymane Galadima
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) issued a stark warning today, emphasizing the critical need for immediate action to address the worsening political turmoil in Niger, which has further exacerbated vulnerabilities among migrants, internally displaced persons, and host communities.
The turmoil, which began in late July, has prompted border closures and airspace restrictions, resulting in significant shifts in migration patterns.
Armed Taliban security personnel parade on a Humvee convoy as they celebrate the second anniversary of their takeover near the US embassy in Kabul on August 15, 2023. Afghanistan's Taliban government marked on August 15 the second anniversary of their takeover of the country with celebrations and a public holiday, issuing a defiant statement commemorating their surge back to power. LEHTIKUVA / AFP
In a somber revelation, Afghanistan finds itself grappling with a two-fold crisis: an alarming number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and a distressing prevalence of explosive remnants of war that disproportionately affect children. As reported by TOLO News, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has declared Afghanistan one of the most weapons-contaminated countries globally, with a staggering 85 percent of explosion and unexploded mine victims being children.
Rohingya refugees and humanitarians have faced unprecedented challenges in 2023, including fires, cyclones, and ongoing threats of monsoon-related disasters, putting their resilience to the test. Photo: IOM
As the Rohingya crisis reaches its sixth year in Bangladesh, the situation of nearly one million refugees remains unchanged, caught in a cycle of uncertainty and vulnerability. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is urging the global community to ensure the provision of essential humanitarian aid and long-term support for both Rohingya refugees and the communities hosting them.
A girl looks out a damaged window at a house Israeli soldiers demolished at the Asker camp for Palestinian refugees east of Nablus city in the occupied West Bank, early on August 8, 2023. The Israeli army demolished the house of Abdel Fatah Khroushah accused of an attack which killed two Israelis in the occupied West Bank at the end of February. LEHTIKUVA / AFP
The escalating violence and illegal land takeovers by Israeli settlers have resulted in the displacement of almost 500 Palestinians from seven communities in the past 20 months. This distressing trend continues, with twelve families from the Ras At-Tin Bedouin community, located northeast of Ramallah, forced to flee their homes this week.
The situation has raised concerns among humanitarian organizations, with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) condemning the displacement.
Photo: Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has received distressing reports from its field teams detailing the violent eviction of displaced families from a settlement in Kabul. Approximately 280 families have been left homeless as a result of this demolition. Shockingly, during the traumatic evacuation process, two young lives, a 4-year-old and a 15-year-old, were tragically lost. Bulldozers were deployed early yesterday morning, reducing the camp to rubble by day's end.
This aerial view shows makeshift structures of people displaced by drought at the Ladan internally displaced people (IDP) camp in Dolow on May 1, 2023. LEHTIKUVA / AFP
Statement by Jan Egeland, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Secretary General, on the new global displacement figures.
“This has been a dark decade. Every year, the world watches the number of displaced people increase, and then does too little to protect and assist the displaced. There is a reason for the dramatic increase in refugees and internally displaced: we fail to prevent war and violence, and national and international leaderships fail in conflict resolution where we have protracted emergencies.
A seven-year-old girl pours water on her father’s head to help him relieve the summer heat. IOM, through its partners, regularly supplies water to IDP camps in northwest Syria. Photo Credit IOM
The Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), António Vitorino, is raising alarm over the scarcity of funding for humanitarian operations required to support millions of Syrians and their host communities in Syria and neighbouring countries.
Attended by the IOM Director General, the Brussels conference taking place on 14-15 June, represents a significant opportunity to collectively show solidarity and commitment to the people most affected by the Syria crisis.
Man in Cox's Bazar refugee camp. Photo: Jessica Wanless / NRC
The excruciating new cut in food rations for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh will have a deadly impact, warned the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
According to the World Food Programme (WFP) the UN agency has again been forced to make additional cuts to already dwindling food assistance due to critical funding gaps.
Photo: Abdulkadir Mohamed / NRC
A toxic mix of conflict, severe drought and devastating floods has forced more than 1 million people in Somalia to flee their homes in just 130 days – a record rate of displacement for the country.
The figures recorded by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), show that conflict was among the main causes of displacement between 1 January and 10 May this year, while over 408,000 people were displaced by floods sweeping across their villages and another 312,000 people were displaced by ravaging drought.
LEHTIKUVA / AFP
Afghanistan remains one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters as Human Rights Watch in a recent report on Afghanistan said that two-thirds of the country's population is food insecure, reported Tolo News.
"Afghanistan has largely disappeared from the media, but it remains one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters," said the HRW report.
Israel's Iron Dome air defence system intercepts rockets launched from Gaza City, on May 10, 2023. Israel's army and Gaza militants traded heavy cross-border fire on May 10, with 22 Palestinians killed over two days amid the worst escalation of violence to hit the coastal territory in months. LEHTIKUVA / AFP
Statement by the Norwegian Refugee Council on the recent escalation in the Gaza Strip:
“Renewed conflict in Gaza shows that the international community has failed in preventing Israel from using unnecessary lethal force against civilians and ensuring basic needs for the population it occupies,” said Caroline Ort, NRC’s country director for Palestine.
Books in the Finnish bookstore in Helsinki. LEHTIKUVA
Afghan burqa-clad women beg for alms in the middle of a street during rainfall on the outskirts of Kabul on March 30, 2023. LEHTIKUVA / AFP
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has arrested Gonzalo Lira, a US-Chilean national living in Kharkov, on suspicion of pro-Russian sympathies. This is the second time Lira has been taken into custody by the SBU. Lira, a writer and filmmaker who moved to Kharkov several years ago and is married to a Ukrainian, was previously detained in April 2022 but was released after a week, with no charges pressed.
The International Criminal Court on March 17, 2023 announced it had issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for the "unlawful deportation" of Ukrainian children. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan launched an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine just days after Russia's invasion. LEHTIKUVA / AFP
"Well, I think it's justified," US president Joe Biden said of news that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russian president Vladimir Putin and "children's rights commissioner" Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova over their actions in Ukraine. "[The ICC's jurisdiction is] not recognized internationally by us, either. But I think it makes a very strong point."
Nearly three months into the war Ukraine, events up-ended quite a few assumptions by quite a few people. I count myself in that crowd.
I didn't expect Vladimir Putin to order the invasion.
Jorge Arreaza, Minister of the People’s Power for Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, addresses the Security Council meeting on the situation in Venezuela. 26 February 2019 Photon: UN
April 25: Foreign Minister Arreaza Describes Excruciating Suffering of the Venezuelan People Resulting From US Sanctions;
April 26: US Violates its Obligation as UN Host Country and Sanctions the Foreign Minister for Speaking Truth to Power
“We are not only on the wrong side, we are the wrong side.” Pentagon Papers Expert Daniel Elllsberg
On April 11, the ongoing saga of journalist and transparency activist Julian Assange took a dangerous turn. Ecuador's president, Lenin Moreno, revoked his asylum in that country's London embassy.
