With more than 12,000 killed and 7.3 million people displaced, ongoing warfare in Sudan has steadily broken down the country’s political, social, and medical services. Reports suggest more than 24 million of the country’s 46 million people need assistance; cholera cases had risen to over 8,200 by late December; and between 70 percent and 80 percent of hospitals in affected states have been left nonfunctional.
As violence and displacement counts rise, humanitarian aid efforts haven’t kept up. Instead, initiatives to negotiate between the warring powers—the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan “Hemeti” Dagalo—have been the priority for the international community, neglecting the suffering that ordinary Sudanese citizens have endured for the last nine months.… Seguir leyendo »
Recently, Michael Kofman, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and one of the foremost analysts of the war in Ukraine, urged that the west “plan for the long war”. He was talking about the military challenges facing the country: ammunition, air defence, key enablers and scaling up training.
Kofman is right – the massive scale of the operation ahead cannot be overestimated. A recent trip I made to Kyiv confirms the extraordinary bravery, resilience and commitment of the Ukrainian population. But it also laid bare the civilian cost of the war, visible and invisible. With no end to the war in sight, civilian and humanitarian needs must be planned for, not just military ones.… Seguir leyendo »
For close to a decade, at least four million people living in the parts of northwest Syria controlled by rebel groups have depended on the United Nations for food, medicine, and basic services. Back in 2014, as the country’s civil war raged, the UN and other aid agencies received Security Council approval to deliver essential supplies across the Syrian-Turkish border without the permission of the Syrian regime. But all that changed on July 10 of this year, when Russia—a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad—vetoed the extension of this humanitarian lifeline. As a result, millions of lives were thrown into jeopardy.… Seguir leyendo »
In April, I was volunteering with World Central Kitchen along Poland’s border with Ukraine. A barbeque chef from North Carolina stood next to me in the warehouse as we unpacked bread for sandwiches. “I heard the International Red Cross is kidnapping Ukrainians and taking them into Russia”, he said confidently.
The chef said that earlier, at a nearby cafe, a man went from table to table telling diners the humanitarian organization was forcibly deporting Ukrainians to Russia. Social media users shared and posted tweets about the purported kidnappings, with mentions of the Red Cross peaking over a three-day period at the end of March.… Seguir leyendo »
Sanctions play a major role in the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The United Nations (UN) has not imposed sanctions, but an important number of states have done so. They have imposed a wide array of restrictions and the number of targeted – or ‘designated’ – persons is unprecedented.
The public has been captivated by the freezing of oligarchs’ assets. There is ongoing discussion about seizing them to provide compensation for war damage. Debate continues about how far to ban oil and gas imports.
One aspect of the sanctions has received far less attention, even though it can exacerbate the effect of the conflict of civilians.… Seguir leyendo »
I was first in northern Ethiopia in the mid-’80s in the wake of the horrific famine that took the lives of a million people. In the 35 years since then, Ethiopia’s story has been one of remarkable progress. Children in school and jobs created. Roads, railways, factories and power stations built. Addis Ababa became one of the leading African cities; Ethiopia a bulwark of relative stability in the region.
What’s tragic about the current conflict is the danger of all that progress being lost.
As I write, the conflict in and around Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region is well into its fifth week, with hundreds of people reportedly killed, tens of thousands displaced and millions enduring day after day without food, water and power.… Seguir leyendo »
Es ya un clamor mundial. La ayuda humanitaria tiene que dejar de ser un objetivo en zonas de conflicto. En los últimos diez años el número de vidas perdidas en ataques a personal humanitario ha aumentado de forma imparable, alcanzando 313 víctimas en 2017. Es simplemente inaceptable. Día a día, nuestros profesionales sobre el terreno se encuentran con un espacio humanitario cada vez más reducido, ante un fenómeno de criminalización de la ayuda sin fundamento alguno, con la impotencia de saber qué personas, dónde y cuándo están muriendo de hambre y no poder acceder hasta ellas.
Hoy, más que nunca, urge recuperar el Derecho Internacional Humanitario.… Seguir leyendo »
Syria’s civilians have suffered tremendously through the country’s seven years of conflict. Now, as the Syrian government and its allies prepare to retake Damascus’s Eastern Ghouta suburbs, hundreds of thousands will be caught in the crossfire once more. The humanitarian corridors announced by Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu for Eastern Ghouta, and proposed for the Rukban camp on the border with Jordan further east, are unlikely to substantially mitigate that suffering.
To be sure, any means for civilians to safely and voluntarily escape the violence in besieged Eastern Ghouta is positive and welcome. But the corridor announced unilaterally by Russia and the Syrian government through the Wafideen camp lacks the sort of guarantees that would allow Ghouta’s nearly 400,000 residents to use it or other concerned parties, including UN Security Council members, to endorse it.… Seguir leyendo »
Imaginez les 19 millions d’habitants de l’Etat de New York ou l’ensemble de la population des Pays-Bas, sous des bombardements incessants, privés d’une aide indispensable à leur survie, dans l’impossibilité de fuir, délaissés par la communauté internationale. Depuis deux ans, ce n’est pas une fiction mais bien le quotidien des 19 millions de personnes qui ont besoin d’aide humanitaire au Yémen. Aujourd’hui s’ouvre à Genève une conférence des donateurs présidée par le Secrétaire Général des Nations unies, Antonio Guterres.
A cette occasion, nos cinq organisations expriment leur révolte face à ces vies en sursis, ces millions de femmes, d’hommes et d’enfants, otages de l’inertie diplomatique et de la barbarie des belligérants qui bafouent chaque jour le Droit international humanitaire.… Seguir leyendo »
Le 26 mars marquera le triste anniversaire des deux ans de l’escalade du conflit au Yémen. La famine approche, la diplomatie piétine et le conflit perdure entre les rebelles Houthis et la coalition militaire menée par l’Arabie saoudite. Al-Qaida et l’organisation Etat islamique ajoutent également un niveau de terreur supplémentaire à l’horreur que vivent les populations.
Une crise humanitaire généralisée
Depuis deux ans, les Yéménites vivent au rythme du conflit : des bombardements, des attentats, des frappes de drones, un blocus aérien et maritime, et une trop maigre réponse humanitaire. Dans un silence diplomatique coupable, la France a fait le choix de préférer négocier avec l’Arabie Saoudite des programmes d’armement et d’équipements militaires, plutôt que de s’impliquer dans la résolution du conflit.… Seguir leyendo »
2017 will mark the sixth anniversary of the Syrian conflict -- a war that has left nearly half a million dead and forced millions of others from their homes.
The new year brought a ceasefire brokered by Russia, Iran and Turkey. But the ceasefire is serving as cover for "business as usual". The Syrian government continues to use illegal means of war to crush political opponents and citizens, forcing them to accept an uncertain and unjust "peace". But peace achieved by these means cannot, and will not, hold.
This should come as no surprise. Fundamental flaws are baked into this agreement.… Seguir leyendo »
With Russian and Syrian forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad’s regime rapidly closing in, the situation for those trapped in eastern Aleppo in the first week of December was growing grimmer by the hour. It was especially dire for the White Helmets, a Syrian first-responders group that had won international acclaim for its humanitarian work, including a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Assad regime held a different view, describing the group as rebels and terrorists.
On Dec. 8 at 3:30 p.m. in Boston, one of the first messages from the White Helmets to reach researchers at Harvard University’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative said that “three gas bombs have been dropped in the area within the last two hours and they [the White Helmets] feel they have less than 48 hours to evacuate before they are seized.”… Seguir leyendo »
«En Syrie, apporter une aide humanitaire est parfois plus dangereux que de porter une arme», explique le représentant d’une association syrienne. Si le 19 septembre, un convoi de l’ONU a été attaqué pour la première fois, les humanitaires sont régulièrement pris pour cibles. Les structures médicales et les écoles sont bombardées, de même que les entrepôts et les lieux de distribution.
Quand le premier convoi d’aide a atteint la ville assiégée de Daraya en juin, de lourds bombardements ont eu lieu durant deux jours, empêchant les civils de se rendre aux points de distribution. «Notre rêve serait que les humanitaires syriens bénéficient d’une protection internationale», déclare l’un de nos partenaires comme s’il parlait d’une utopie et non du respect d’une obligation reconnue de droit international humanitaire.… Seguir leyendo »
Rebels in Aleppo say they have broken the siege of the city, but have yet to establish a secure route for civilians. Government forces under President Bashar al-Assad deny they have been pushed out of the city. The battle for Aleppo may mark a military turning point, but for Aleppo's remaining residents, it marks only an intensification of a misery that seems to go unheeded by the international community.
No one is coming to save the Syrians. If President Obama did not act in 2013 after the chemical attacks in Ghouta, where children died of asphyxiation, testing his "red line", then he surely will not act now after footage of chemical attacks two weeks ago in Idlib showed fighters, allegedly poisoned by Assad's chlorine, gasping for breath.… Seguir leyendo »
For millions of Syrian civilians trapped for five years by a relentless war, mere lifesaving aid, let alone refuge, is out of reach. But for the 75,000 displaced people caught on Jordan’s desert frontier with Syria, salvation is only yards away. Unlike many of their fellow citizens, they can be saved. So why have they been effectively abandoned?
They are assembled in a kind of buffer zone on an inhospitable strip of land, much of it within Jordanian territory, just north of the official Jordanian border. But that border is closed, which prevents aid from reaching these desperate refugees and at the same time prevents them from seeking safety.… Seguir leyendo »
El secretario general de Naciones Unidas, Ban Ki-moon, nos ha convocado a la I Cumbre Humanitaria mundial. Estamos llamados a dar respuesta a las crisis humanitarias que asolan buena parte del planeta. Más de 125 millones de personas están necesitadas de asistencia y protección urgente y más de 60 millones han sido desplazadas de sus hogares como consecuencia de guerras como las de Siria o Yemen o de catástrofes como el terremoto de Ecuador.
No se trata de situaciones esporádicas sino de crisis estructurales. Somos conscientes de que la comunidad humanitaria está al límite de su capacidad de respuesta. Tan solo en Siria, desde 2011, han muerto más de 280.000 personas, son 6,5 millones los desplazados internos y hay más de cuatro millones de refugiados.… Seguir leyendo »
On Feb. 3, the United Nations suspended talks between the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and representatives of the Syrian opposition. The Geneva talks, which were aimed at ending the five-year-old civil war, had bogged down in distrust and regional politics before they even got underway.
The UN mediator, Staffan de Mistura, hinted that the initial round of discussions collapsed because the Syrian regime refused to lift the sieges that are slowly starving hundreds of thousands of people across the country. Assad’s regime has been using starvation as a weapon — technically a war crime, when used against civilians — for the past four years.… Seguir leyendo »
Support for Syria’s neighbouring states in tackling the long-term challenges posed by the spillover of the conflict is welcome. Yet, funding pledges for humanitarian support − like those at this week's donor conference in London − are being fundamentally undermined by developments on the battlefield and the fraying political situation in neighbouring countries. The breakdown of talks in Geneva indicates that the situation will get worse before it gets better.
Political progress difficult to see
The divide between the humanitarian and the political is painfully apparent in the contrast between the hope espoused by leaders at the London donor conference and the acrimony expressed by those at the talks in Geneva.… Seguir leyendo »
Je souhaitais vous revoir dans votre village au cœur du Donbass où nous vous avions connue cet été. Alors, sous un soleil resplendissant, nous étions convenus de reconstruire votre maison.
La veille de notre nouvelle rencontre, le 7 octobre, il faisait encore un temps doux et automnal. Profitant des dernières températures clémentes, les clients venaient nombreux savourer leur café sur les terrasses de Donetsk sans risque de se faire faucher par un obus. Le cessez-le-feu tenait depuis six semaines.
Le lendemain, le thermomètre enregistrait sans transition les premières valeurs négatives de la saison, funestes prémices d’un hiver rude et précoce.… Seguir leyendo »
Le 3 octobre, l’hôpital de Médecins sans frontières de Kunduz a été bombardé par l’armée américaine pendant les opérations pour reprendre la ville aux Taliban. Les derniers décomptes indiquent une vingtaine de morts - humanitaires et malades, y compris des enfants - et des dizaines de blessés graves. L’hôpital est désormais fermé, MSF ne pouvant plus garantir la sécurité de ses installations, ce qui prive les blessés de la seule antenne chirurgicale efficace dans la région. Il s’agit par ailleurs d’un des incidents les plus meurtriers pour l’ONG, tous terrains confondus, depuis des décennies. Les bombardements américains résultent-ils d’une erreur due au fog of war, incident tragique mais excusable étant donné la confusion inhérente aux combats urbains ?… Seguir leyendo »
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