West Bank emergency: Israel must end ‘apartheid’ system, says Türk
UN human rights chief Volker Türk has condemned what he’s called the “systematic asphyxiation of the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Alleging decades of discrimination and segregation of Palestinians by Israel in the occupied West Bank, Mr. Türk maintained that the situation resembled an “apartheid system”:
“There is a systematic asphyxiation of the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank. Whether accessing water, school, rushing to hospital, visiting family or friends, harvesting olives; every aspect of life for Palestinians in the West Bank is controlled and curtailed by Israel’s discriminatory laws, policies and practices. Israel is violating international law requiring States to prohibit and eradicate racial segregation and apartheid.”
The UN High Commissioner warned that the situation for Palestinians is rapidly becoming worse by the day.
He also repeated his call for Israel to “end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including by dismantling all settlements and evacuating all settlers”.
The deadly reality of delivering aid in Ukraine
To Ukraine, where civilians and aid teams continue to come under attack from Russian drones and shelling, with more than 230 incidents reported in the first 10 months of 2025 by the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.
On Wednesday, new attacks were reported in Zaporizhzhya and Dnipro, killing at least two people.
Earlier this week, a deadly drone strike at a UN food distribution site in Kherson, killed a 64-year-old man and injured two others.
The UN World Food Programme, which operates the facility in the southern Ukrainian city, said that Monday’s attack happened just one hour before a scheduled bread distribution.
The incident “reflects a deeply concerning pattern”, the agency’s Nanna Skau told UN News:
“This distribution point is also a place where people can get access to clean water and charge their devices…Under international humanitarian law, civilians and humanitarian aid workers must be protected at all times, and humanitarian assistance must never be a target.”
UN data indicates that seven aid staff were killed in Ukraine and 45 injured between January and October 2025.
Uganda elections must be free and fair, say independent rights experts
Next week’s elections in Uganda must be free and fair and not marred by the “pervasive climate of fear” that persists there, independent rights experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Wednesday.
The development comes amid the reportedly heavy-handed deployment of security forces at rallies held by the main opposition party, the National Unity Platform (NUP).
The party’s supporters have been sprayed with chemical irritants and water cannon.
Live ammunition has also been fired at close range, resulting in at least one confirmed death, according to the experts, who are not UN staff and receive no salary for their work.
Before the 15 January poll, the experts expressed concern that the situation is very similar to the 2021 elections, when at least 18 cases of enforced disappearance were confirmed.
They noted that in 2025 alone, at least 160 cases of enforced disappearances were registered in Uganda, with security operatives allegedly abducting opposition members and holding them incommunicado in unidentified safe houses.
Daniel Johnson, UN News
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Source of original article: United Nations (news.un.org). Photo credit: UN. The content of this article does not necessarily reflect the views or opinion of Global Diaspora News (www.globaldiasporanews.com).
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