News in Brief 18 January 2024 |

This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Gaza aid obstacles continue to delay vital relief, warn UN aid teams

In Gaza, as medicines for Israeli hostages were reportedly allowed into the enclave for the first time on Thursday along with a consignment of relief supplies for Palestinians, UN humanitarians warned that the level of assistance for many Gazans was “almost catastrophic”.

The development came as UN aid coordination office OCHA, reported ongoing “intense” Israeli bombardment and rocket fire into Israel by Palestinian armed groups.

According to the UN World Food Programme, WFP, the continuing violence has made it nearly impossible to distribute aid relief much beyond Rafah in the south of the Strip, where well over 1.2 million people now shelter in dangerously overcrowed conditions.

The WFP alert echoes repeated appeals for greater access by other UN agencies working to reach all five Gaza governorates. 

In the first two weeks of the year, humanitarian agencies planned 29 missions to deliver lifesaving supplies north of Wadi Gaza; only one in four made it after Israeli authorities denied the rest, according to OCHA.

Sudan war: UN investigators begin probe into human rights violations 

Top rights experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council have begun their work to investigate grave allegations of crimes in war-torn Sudan, the UN human rights office reported on Thursday.

Chair of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan, Mohamed Chande Othman, said that Sudanese civil society organisations and others had started to share information with the investigators this week in Geneva.

“These allegations underscore the importance of accountability, the necessity of our investigations  and the vital need for the violence to end immediately,” Mr. Othman said.

It has been nine months since Sudan’s rival militias began fighting; it’s left thousands dead and displaced millions.

The Human Rights Council appointed the fact-finding mission’s three investigators on 18 December. Their work will pay “particular attention” to allegations of sexual violence and the military recruitment of children.

Top rights expert on freedom of expression to visit the Philippines

To the Philippines, where the UN-appointed Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression Irene Khan is to conduct an official visit to the country in the coming days.

Official visits are a vital part of the work of Special Rapporteurs who report back to the Human Rights Council.

Duri ng her mission from 23 January to 2 February, Ms. Khan’s priorities include assessing the safety of journalists, human rights defenders and civil society actors in the Philippines, in addition to examining the country’s legal and policy framework with regard to freedom of opinion and expression.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.