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Daily Wrap

5 August 2024

Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Nine UNRWA staff to be fired for potential role in 7 October attacks on Israel

The UN said on Monday that nine staff working for its Palestine refugee agency UNRWA will be sacked because they may have been involved in the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks against Israel.

UN Affairs

Justin Brady, Head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan.

Sudan famine: Emergency response must include more than food, urges top UN aid official

The battle to prevent lives being lost in Sudan to famine must include a comprehensive "package of assistance", not just food, the top UN aid official in the country told UN News on Monday.

Humanitarian Aid

Barbed wire around a camp for some 25,000 people displaced from Srebrenica. The fence was there to keep people from wandering into the surrounding fields that may have been mined. (1995 photo)

UN Special Adviser urges States to hold perpetrators of genocide accountable

The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide is urging States hosting fugitives to prosecute or extradite them for international crimes in a statement released on Monday, which highlighted the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

Human Rights

Iran's protest crackdown disproportionately targeting minorities: UN experts

Government-led crackdowns on protesters in Iran have had a disproportionate impact on the country's ethnic and religious minorities since 2022, particularly in the Kurd and Baluch communities, according to a new advocacy paper released by the Human Rights Council-appointed International Fact-Finding Mission on Monday.

Human Rights

More than 1 million people have been displaced in Gaza, the majority multiple times. (file)

Israel: Amid reports of torture inside jails, rights experts call for end to impunity

Reports of alleged torture and sexual violence in Israel's Sde Teiman prison represent "the tip of the iceberg", UN independent human rights experts warned on Monday, calling for swift action to end impunity surrounding reports of violations against Palestinian detainees.

Human Rights

The Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, pictured here, along with other cities, has witnessed widespread anti-Government protests.

Bangladesh: UN urges peaceful transition as PM resigns and flees the country

Top United Nations officials underscored the need for a peaceful and democratic transition in Bangladesh after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country on Monday in the face of massive anti-Government protests, which claimed the lives of hundreds of demonstrators in recent weeks.

Human Rights

Refugee athlete Cindy Ngamba (left) is set to become the first ever medalist for the Refugee Olympic Team.

Historic first medal for Refugee Olympic Team

Cindy Ngamba has made history by becoming the first ever refugee athlete guaranteed to receive an Olympic medal – the colour yet to be determined – following a dominant quarter-final boxing match at the Paris Games on Sunday.

Migrants and Refugees

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk at the 55th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2024.

Middle East: UN rights chief warns against wider war, appeals for urgent de-escalation

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Monday for an urgent de-escalation in the Middle East as tensions mount in the wake of recent deadly attacks linked to the war in Gaza, which is about to enter its 10th month.