Africa

Over the past week, mass arrests of people reportedly of Tigrayan origin have continued in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa and elsewhere, the UN rights office said on Tuesday. The alert from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) comes as the World Food Programme (WFP) described the aid situation for vulnerable people in Tigray as “hand-to-mouth”. Citing reports, OHCHR said that at least 1,000 individuals are believed to have been detained by police officers in the last seven days, on suspicion of being linked to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). “Many of those detained have not been informed of the reasons for their detention, nor have they been brought before a court of law or other tribunal to review the reasons for their detention, and have not been formally charged”, said OHCHR Spokesperson Liz Throssell. Ill-treatment concerns “We are also concerned at some reports of ill-treatment in detention”, she noted, adding that the action number of detainees may be much higher. Thanks to the “excessively wide provisions of the state of emergency declared on 2 November to arrest, search and detain people”, OHCHR said that in addition to the capital, arrests have been reported in Gondar, Bahir Dar and other locations. UN staff still held Ms. Throssell said that 10 local staff in Addidas Ababa were still being held, along with 34 contracted drivers. She explained that the sweeping powers of the current state of emergency, which was prompted by the fighting that began a year ago in the northern Tigray region, risked compounding the “already very serious human rights and humanitarian situation”. The UN rights office spokesperson explained that its provisions are extremely broad, with vague prohibitions going as far as encompassing “indirect moral” support for what the Government has labelled as “terrorist groups”. Survival mode In an update on the aid relief situation in the conflict-affected north, WFP said that although recent weeks have seen some improvements in the movement of humanitarian cargo into Tigray, it was “still not enough” to meet the needs of 5.2 million people in the region. Only 1,114 truckloads of supplies have entered Tigray since mid-July, WFP said, adding that there are currently over 14,000 tonnes of food in Mekelle, which is enough to sustain around 825,000 people for 45 days. To date, the UN agency has finalized its second round of food distributions in Tigray, reaching close to 2.6 million people. Running empty Fuel stocks have run out for all humanitarian operations inside the Tigray, however, and there are only 22,000 litres of fuel left inside Mekelle, 10,000 of which are reserved for the emergency relocation of staff and assets. WFP said that it is continuing to negotiate with federal authorities to allow 16 fuel tankers held in eastern neighbouring Afar’s Semera to be permitted to enter Tigray. “All parties have a role to ensure the free flow of aid into northern Ethiopia that will reduce and forestall further severe hunger or loss of life”, the UN food agency said. © UNICEF/Mulugeta Ayene A one-year-old boy is treated for malnutrition at a health centre in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia.

The report on children and armed conflict in CAR highlighted that between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2021, 1,280 children suffered one or more grave violations, with girls accounting for more than 40 per cent of all victims. While most were committed by armed groups, five per cent were attributed to the national armed forces, FACA. “The security situation in the Central African Republic has rapidly worsened in recent months and children are paying a high price for these renewed hostilities”, said Virginia Gamba, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. “I call on the signatories of the Political Agreement to uphold their commitments including those pertaining to children and urgently put in place concrete measures to protect children from harm and prevent further violations”. Recruitment, rape and denial With some 845 children affected, their recruitment and use were the most prominent of violations. Following was rape and other forms of sexual violence, where at least 249 girls fell victim, although the actual scope is likely much worse as the crime is vastly underreported, usually for fear of reprisal, stigma, lack of accountability and support for victims and survivors. The denial of humanitarian access was the third most verified violation, with 226 incidents. “The situation is becoming increasingly difficult for humanitarian actors, who are struggling and facing growing dangers to reach the most vulnerable ones, including children, in dire need of life-saving assistance”, said Ms. Gamba. As of 30 June 2021, 2.8 million people have needed humanitarian assistance and over 717,000 had been internally displaced in the country, based on figures from the UN humanitarian aid office, OCHA. A heavy toll Violence in the country continues to take a heavy toll on children. The report reveals that 155 boys and girls were verified killed or maimed, most by crossfire between parties to the conflict; and 116 were abducted, more than half of them girls. Attacks on schools and hospitals are also concerning, as is the impact of conflict and COVID on education and health systems as well as the growing use of military control of schools. “These incidents deprived children of attending classes or forced them to enrol in different schools”, explained the Special Representative. “I urge all parties to vacate all schools and hospitals that continue to be used, to respect the civilian character of these facilities and to put in place swift and effective measures to prevent this practice in line with the commitment made to the Safe School Declaration that the country has endorsed”, she added. Progress amidst challenges Some progress has been made, including strengthened national legal framework through the promulgation of the 2020 Child Protection Code – with provisions that criminalize the six grave violations of killing and maiming of children; recruiting or using them in armed groups; denial of humanitarian access for children; their abduction; attacks on schools or hospitals; and rape or other grave sexual violence. Also, UN advocacy with armed groups on the ground has led to the release of 653 children and an additional 130 who have been separated since last June. Despite this, impunity remains high. The Special Representative urged the authorities to bring perpetrators to justice and to make full use of the recently promulgated Child Protection Code. Protect children during COVID recovery The COVID-19 pandemic has also weakened protection mechanisms in CAR while school closures have heightened children’s vulnerability, particularly surrounding recruitment and sexual violence. “As countries around the world continue to focus on their response to the pandemic and rollout vaccination programmes, we need to stand ready to respond to the urgent needs of children, particularly in the regions where the situation is the most critical”, said Ms. Gamba, calling on the Government and parties to the conflict to develop a national strategy to prevent grave violations against children. UNICEF/Ashley Gilbertson Three former child soldiers at Elevage camp in Bambari, Central African Republic. (file)

As the humanitarian crisis grows in Ethiopia’s conflict-affected north, the UN announced on Monday that $40 million in funds have been made available to scale up emergency operations. The UN’s top emergency relief official, Martin Griffiths, said that millions of people in northern Ethiopia are now “living on a knife-edge, as the humanitarian crisis is growing deeper and wider”. After returning from visiting Ethiopia, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said that needs are rising across the country, and that the funds would help aid organizations reach some of the most vulnerable. Spiralling needs The situation has spiralled since November 2020, when central government troops clashed with forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). And neighbouring regions Amhara and Afar have also been swept up in the deadly violence and terrible rights abuses The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocation will also support relief agencies providing protection and other life-saving assistance to people affected there as well. “Women, boys and girls continue to bear the brunt of the conflict, yet their protection needs remain underfunded”, Mr. Griffiths warned, his comments coming after the UN humanitarian aid office, OCHA, said that 364 aid trucks have been waiting for authorization to access Tigray since 18 October. According to OCHA’s latest update, the situation in northern Ethiopia remains highly unpredictable with civilians severely impacted and a broad state of emergency declared nationwide. “It is estimated that 80 per cent of essential medication is no longer available in Tigray while most health facilities are not functional due to damage and lack of supplies,” OCHA explained. Only 19 of the 59 mobile health and nutrition teams operating at the end of August are still providing services, owing to a lack of supplies and fuel, the UN humanitarian Office said. Hospitals lacking At a hospital in the Tigrayan capital Mekelle, 47 people have reportedly died of kidney failure because the medical facility lacked dialysis equipment. OCHA added that 32 patients with chronic kidney disease receive treatment twice a week, “instead of the standard three times, due to limited supplies and medicine”, while cancer patients are now using the last remaining stock of expired chemotherapy drugs. “New cancer diagnosed patients are not receiving any drugs”, OCHA said, leaving an estimated 500 cancer patients without treatment. Displacement emergency In neighbouring Amhara to the south, fighting has caused large-scale displacements from North Gonder, Wag Hemra, North and South Wello zones as well as in and around Dessie, Kombolcha, Baati and Kamissie. This has increased humanitarian needs, OCHA noted, including for shelter, food, water, medicines and health services, dignity and hygiene kits for women and protection services. To the east of Tigray in Afar, thousands of people have also been reportedly displaced from Chifra Woreda, Awsi Zone and in Ada`ar Woreda. Drought response In addition to providing help to Ethiopia’s conflict-affected northern regions, communities will also receive support for an early response to drought in the south of the country, Oromia regions and in Somali. Relief agencies will provide drinking water, including to prevent waterborne diseases and mitigate the risk of cholera outbreaks and help pastoral communities preserve their livestock. Despite $25 million from CERF and $15 million from the country-based Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund (EHF), brining a $40 total injection of new resources to Ethiopia, the country still faces a funding gap of $1.3 billion, including $350 million for the response in Tigray.

The latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu Province that began in October, is officially over, national health authorities announced this Thursday. The end of the outbreak, the second in 2021, was declared after no new cases were reported at the end of 42 days, the equivalent of two incubation periods since the last confirmed case was discharged. In total, 11 cases, including six deaths, were reported since the first case was confirmed in Beni in the beginning of October. This was the country’s 13th outbreak – the disease is endemic in DRC – and occurred in the same area as the major 2018 outbreak, which ground on for two years. ‘Crucial lessons’ In total, more than 1,800 people were vaccinated in a campaign that kicked off just five days after the first case was detected. The outbreak marks the first time that the ERVEBO vaccine, that was licensed recently, was used in the country. For the Regional Director for Africa of the World Health Organization (WHO), Matshidiso Moeti, “stronger disease surveillance, community engagement, targeted vaccination and prompt response are making for more effective Ebola containment in the region.” Ms. Moeti also said that, during this outbreak, the country was able to limit infections and save lives. “Crucial lessons are being learned and applied with every outbreak experience”, she said. Quick response In support, WHO deployed experts and supplies, and contributed funds to help contain the outbreak. The response included measures such as contact tracing, testing, disease surveillance as well as community collaboration efforts. The agency notes that “unpredictable and sometimes volatile security” hampered the response in some localities, with health workers and other responders unable to reach insecure areas to monitor contacts or administer vaccines. Sexual abuse The prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation during the outbreak, was a core pillar of the response, said WHO. An expert was deployed to train WHO personnel and partners, and every person in field work received training and each partner agency was obliged to sign up to a code of conduct, to avoid exploitation. Trainers worked directly with community members to raise awareness of sexual exploitation and abuse and how to report it safely. Radio announcements and pamphlets in local languages also helped spread the zero-tolerance message. With the end of the outbreak, the health authorities are maintaining surveillance and are ready to respond quickly to any flare-ups. According to WHO, it is not unusual for sporadic cases to occur following a major outbreak. In fact, results from genome sequencing, conducted by the country’s National Institute of Biomedical Research, found that the first case likely represented a residual case from the 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak. The country has set up an Ebola Survivor Programme, which currently includes more than 1,100 people from previous outbreaks in North Kivu Province. Two survivors from the outbreak that just ended have been enrolled in the programme. For the next 18 months they will receive monthly check-ups, which include medical evaluations, psychological and nutritional support.

An 83 per cent surge in COVID-19 cases during the past week in Africa, driven by the Delta and Omicron variants, is causing fewer deaths than previous spikes, the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed on Tuesday, but more waves could be on the way, due to the continent’s slow vaccine rollout. Updated forecasts warn that Africa may not reach 70 per cent vaccine coverage until August 2024, WHO’s new pandemic assessment found. Surge in cases in Africa With the total number of recorded cases during the pandemic standing at 8.9 million, Africa recorded more than 196,000 new cases last week, up from around 107,000 in the previous week. WHO has said that the number of new cases is currently doubling every five days, the fastest rate this year. Although “the speed of the spread is fast, deaths remain low and even dropped by 19 per cent last week compared with the previous week”, the UN health agency reported. Hospitalizations Currently in its fourth wave, Africa counted a little over 3,000 deaths reported during the first three weeks. According to WHO, around half as many cases were reported in the same time frame during the third wave, which was fueled by the Delta variant. “This upsurge in new cases coupled with low hospitalizations is particularly marked in South Africa which has experienced a 66 per cent rise in new cases during the past seven days compared with the previous period”, the assessment revealed. Hospitalizations have increased by 67 per cent in the past week, but the bed occupancy rate for intensive care units remains low at 7.5 per cent. Though deaths also remain low, this data should be interpreted with caution as the pattern may change in the coming weeks, WHO alerted. ‘Cautiously optimism’ “We are cautiously optimistic that deaths and severe illness will remain low in the current wave, but slow vaccine rollout in Africa means both will be much higher than they should be,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. Speaking during a virtual press conference, Dr. Moeti added that knowing that new variants could regularly emerge to spark new outbreaks globally, “vaccine-deprived regions like Africa would be especially vulnerable”. Vaccine inequity Vaccination coverage remains highly variable across the region. Current data shows that only 20 African countries have vaccinated at least 10 per cent of their population, a target that WHO had set for September 2021. And only six countries have hit the year-end target of fully vaccinating 40 per cent of their population. Mauritius and Seychelles have reached 70 per cent coverage, which is essential for controlling the pandemic, said the agency. At the current pace, WHO estimates that it will take until May of 2022 before Africa reaches 40 per cent coverage and August 2024 before it reaches the 70 per cent mark. ‘We can still save many lives’ Highlighting that it is still possible to save many lives if the pace of vaccination is accelerated in early 2022, Dr. Moeti said that “in a world where Africa had the doses and support to vaccinate 70% of its population by the end of 2021 – a level many wealthy countries have achieved – we probably would be seeing tens of thousands fewer deaths from COVID-19 next year.” WHO data shows that 53 African countries have initiated vaccination programmes, which have administered a total of 264 million doses (or 61% of doses received). Fully vaccinating 70% of Africans requires about 1.6 billion more doses and strengthened efforts to increasing vaccine demand. Pivotal moment Alerting that “complacency is the enemy”, Dr. Moeti said that it is essential to intensify the focus on other barriers to vaccination, such as lack of funding, equipment, and healthcare workers, while tackling vaccine hesitancy. WHO is supporting efforts in African countries to complete district “micro plans”, which identify hard-to-reach populations and outline vaccine delivery strategies to reach them. To increase vaccination coverage, WHO is also encouraging countries to move vaccination sites beyond health facilities and main cities and implement community centered approaches. Travel bans WHO has also raised the alarm over the impact of travel bans on vaccine programmes. Even with Africa’s share steadily dropping, and South Africa no longer leading the world in Omicron infections, 70 countries are still imposing travel bans mainly targeting African countries. “Blanket travel bans have little impact on the course of an epidemic but have a massive socioeconomic effect,” said Dr. Moeti. “Coming after two years of COVID-19, these new travel restrictions are jeopardizing the health of millions of Africans”, she concluded.

The UN continues to take steps to address allegations of sexual misconduct by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR) in the wake of the repatriation of Gabonese troops three months ago. Updating journalists on Monday, Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq reported on action by the UN mission in the country, MINUSCA, and engagement with troop-contributing countries in New York. Assistance to victims In mid-September, the UN announced that all Gabonese military units deployed to the CAR were being immediately repatriated following credible reports of alleged abuse of five girls. “Since the allegations came to light, the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) and the Gabonese authorities have collected evidence which, we understand, would allow the Gabonese authorities to complete their national investigation and inform us of its outcome,” said Mr. Haq. All identified victims have been referred for assistance, he added, underlining this priority. MINUSCA is also looking at ways to address gaps in assistance. A project to provide victims with medical, mental health, psychosocial, legal, and material support, is currently under review. Recent allegations investigated The UN mission also deployed teams to several remote locations in the CAR and gathered information regarding more recently reported allegations of sexual misconduct involving ‘blue helmets’. “We are in the process of informing the Member States concerned, so that national investigations can be launched as soon as possible, with the assistance of the Office of Internal Oversight Services,” said Mr. Haq. Meanwhile, constructive exchanges continue between the UN and countries which contribute troops and police officers to peacekeeping missions “We expect them to take urgent measures to address all allegations concerning their personnel and ensure that perpetrators who are found to have engaged in sexual exploitation or abuse are held accountable in line with national laws,” Mr. Haq told journalists. ‘Spare no effort’ Senior leaders at UN Headquarters in New York have stepped up engagement with other peacekeeping missions, and with other countries contributing uniformed personnel to MINUSCA. Mr. Haq said this is to ensure that matters related to sexual exploitation and abuse are addressed, victims are supported, and prevention is strengthened. “We remain strongly engaged with troop and police-contributing countries to ensure that vetting and selection of their peacekeeping personnel strictly meet the UN standards of conduct,” he said. “The Secretary-General will continue his efforts to ensure that the UN system, as well as Member States, work in a coordinated manner to combat sexual exploitation and abuse and spare no effort in supporting the victims.”

On Wednesday morning, seven UN peacekeepers from Togo died and three others were seriously injured when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in the Bandiagara region in central Mali. The peacekeepers were part of a convoy travelling from Douentza to Sevare, informed the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. António Guterres strongly condemns this heinous attack, he told correspondents in New York at the regular daily briefing. Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the UN chief offered his sincere condolences to the families of the victims, as well as to the Government and people of Togo, and wished a full recovery to all those who were injured. “The Secretary-General also calls on the Malian authorities to spare no effort in identifying the perpetrators of this attack so that they can be brought to justice”, Mr. Dujarric said. ‘Gruesome tally’ In a tweet, the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, noted that “African peacekeepers come to support a country and a people in their region.” “These crimes must not go unpunished”, he added. In another statement, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Mali, El-Ghassim Wane, condemned this “cowardly attack” and stressed that it could constitute a war crime under international law. “This tragedy adds to the gruesome tally of attacks on peacekeepers in Mali,” he said. Mr. Wane, who also acts as the head of the UN Mission in the country (MINUSMA), recalled that the Mission “is the peace operation where peacekeepers have paid the heaviest price, with more than 200 soldiers killed in the war.” Since the start of 2021, dozens of attacks against MINUSMA personnel involving improvised explosive devices have been recorded. According to Mr. Wane, this new attack, like all the others, is another reminder of the urgent need for even more sustained efforts to stabilize central Mali. Another fatality Also on Wednesday, the Spokesperson confirmed that a peacekeeper from Egypt died on Monday in the hospital after succumbing to injuries he suffered during an attack in northern Mali. The peacekeeper was seriously injured on November 22 after the vehicle he was in, as part of a logistics convoy from Tessalit to Kidal, struck an improvised explosive device, about 11 km away from the MINUSMA camp in Tessalit. He was then evacuated to Dakar with two other peacekeepers to receive appropriate treatment.

Growing food insecurity that is already affecting tens of millions of people across West Africa and the Sahel, must not be ignored by the international community, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday. The alert comes as new data from the region indicated that almost 36 million people are expected to be acutely food insecure by the time next year’s lean season comes round. This is usually in June, July and August, but it could start as early as March. This represents an alarming 24 per cent increase on 2020, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) survey, which aid agencies use to gauge levels of need. “Behind these numbers, there are real people,” said Ollo Sib from the World Food Programme (WFP). “We did travel recently across the region. Almost everywhere we went, people are worried.” The IPC survey pointed to 2.6 million people in IPC level 4 which denotes “emergency” status, and a further 13,600 in “famine”-like conditions (IPC5) in inaccessible parts of Borno State in northeast Nigeria. Central African Republic woes Mr. Sib, a WFP senior researcher based in Senegal, said that the agency needs some $700 million to assist people for the next six months. He noted that an additional two million people in Central African Republic (CAR) also need urgent humanitarian assistance. “In total, 38 million in West Africa, Cameroon and CAR will not be able to meet their basic needs, food included, without external support,” he told journalists in Geneva, via Zoom. Highlighting Burkina Faso as an example of wider regional vulnerability, Mr. Sib explained that healthcare workers there had told him that they were now seeing double the number of admissions compared to usual. This was a worrying and unusual development, he explained, given this is still the harvest season. Lethal mix Among the reasons for this deteriorating situation are years of exceptionally dry conditions and poor harvests in the Sahel, which have increased competition for land and water and heightened tensions between farmers and herders. This has contributed to higher food prices in the region, which are “in general 30 to 40 per cent higher compared to the rest of the world”, explained WFP’s Mr. Ollo, Senior Research and Assessment and Monitoring Officer for West and Central Africa Region. “In Bol, in Lake Chad region, pastoralists sell cattle to buy cereals,” he said. “Last year, with one cattle sold, they could buy seven bags of millet, or more. But this year, they told me they are getting only five bags of millet.” Too dangerous to stay Persistent insecurity in the Sahel and Nigeria is also driving the acute hunger crisis, since farming communities now feel too unsafe to stay to plant seed or harvest their crops. There are even fears among previously calm coastal communities in northern Côte Ivoire, Benin and Togo that the armed groups are getting ever closer, Mr. Ollo said, in a call to regional governments to do more to protect their citizens. To make matters worse, the COVID-19 crisis has left people “overwhelmed”, the WFP official continued, pointing to a joint coronavirus impact probe by ECOWAS, WFP and the Economic Commission of Africa (UNECA), that indicated that extreme poverty has increased by three per cent between 2020 and 2021. “The reduced availability of pasture and the limited mobility due to insecurity will pose tremendous challenges to pastoralists in the next few months,” warned Amadou Diop, IPC-CH Regional Advisor for Sahel and West Africa. Briefing journalists in Geneva via Zoom, Mr. Diop explained that the total number of appealed for international assistance to safeguard pastoralists’ livelihoods ahead of the lean season, which is usually from June to August. “Ensuring immediate access to food, sustained food production and preserving food systems are the most cost-effective humanitarian response, paving the way for recovery, especially in conflict-affected areas such as the Liptako-Gourma region and the Lake Chad Basin,” he said.

As Gambians prepare to choose their next president on Saturday, the UN Secretary-General asked on Friday for voters to help foster “a peaceful environment” at the polls. In a statement released by his Spokesperson, António Guterres calls “on the electoral management body, candidates, political party leaders and their followers, through their conduct, to ensure a peaceful environment conducive to a credible, inclusive and transparent” election process. According to news agencies, there are six candidates in the race to preside over the 2.2 million people who live in the West African nation. Adama Barrow, the incumbent, defeated Yahya Jammeh, who had been in power for over 20 years, in 2016. At the time, Mr. Jammeh initially refused to step down, resulting in a constitutional crisis, but he eventually facilitated an orderly transfer of power, with the UN and other partners commending his “goodwill and statesmanship”. Visit As part of the preparations for the election, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Annadif Khatir Mahamat Saleh, is visiting the country. During the three days visit, Mr. Saleh, who also acts as the head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), will meet election observers, civil society organisations and the UN Country Team. On Friday, the Special Representative also had talks with the Gambian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Saleh is accompanied by the Assistant Secretary-General for Afric, Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee. Reparations Commission In his statement, Mr. Guterres also welcomes the completion of the work of the Gambian Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC). On 25 November, the Commission submitted its final report to the President of the Republic. The Secretary-General commended the Commission for its “tireless work” and urged the Government to ensure “speedy follow-up action” on the recommendations contained in the report. Mr. Guterres concluded assuring that the United Nations remains “a staunch partner” in the transitional justice process in The Gambia. “[The UN] stands ready to continue supporting national efforts towards the full implementation of the Commission’s recommendations to ensure justice, reparations for victims and closure, as necessary steps towards national reconciliation and social cohesion”, he assured.

In a statement issued on Friday, they expressed grave concern about the widespread sexual and gender-based violence attributed to Ethiopian, Eritrean, Tigray and Amhara forces, as well as allied militia. These incidents constitute some of the most egregious violations of human rights and humanitarian law, according to the experts. ‘A deliberate strategy’ “They appear to have been used as part of a deliberate strategy to terrorize, degrade and humiliate the victims and the ethnic minority group that they belong to with acquiescence of the State and non-State actors’ parties to the conflict,” they said. “These brutal acts have devastating physical and psychological impacts on the victims, which are exacerbated by the lack of access to assistance, support and redress for survivors.” The UN continues to voice alarm over the war in Tigray, which began just over a year ago. Last month, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, noted that the conflict has been marked by “extreme brutality”. Cases under-reported The rights experts said although the exact prevalence of gender-based violence is unknown, estimates are shocking. From November 2020 through June of this year, some 2,204 survivors reported sexual violence to health facilities across the Tigray region. Furthermore, one of the one-stop centres reported that the majority of victims, or 90 per cent, were underage girls, and estimated that visits have quadrupled since the conflict began. However, the experts said these figures are an underestimation of the true extent of gender-based violence being committed. Cases are severely under-reported due to fear, stigma and inability to access health or support centres. “Despite the humanitarian situation, proper access to facilities is vital to ensure adequate care, for instance for women and girls at risk of developing life-threatening infections, or to allow for abortion for women and girls who become pregnant as a result of rape,” they stressed. Displaced women vulnerable The experts reported that the violence occurred in both rural and urban areas, in the victims’ homes or in places where they were sheltering. In some cases, women and girls were raped because of their perceived or actual political affiliation, to pressure them to reveal the whereabouts of their male relatives, or as acts of revenge. “Internally displaced women and girls in Ethiopia, and Eritrean refugee women and girls living in the Tigray region, have been particularly exposed to sexual violence. Eritrean women and girls, specifically, have been seriously affected by the conflict and doubly victimized,” the experts said. “In addition to the grave consequences of sexual violence, most victims have also been harmed in other ways by the conflict including by having close relatives killed.” Respect and protect The UN experts reminded parties to the conflict of their duty to respect and protect human rights, and to prevent violations in any territory under their control. They also urged the sides to implement recommendations contained in a joint report by the Ethiopian Human Rights Office and its UN counterpart. Those recommendations include taking immediate measures to protect women and girls from rape and other forms of gender-based violence, providing redress to victims, facilitating immediate access to health care, and ensuring independent and impartial investigation of all incidences of sexual violence. Role of UN experts The 14 experts who issued the statement receive their mandates from the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. They monitor specific country situations or thematic issues, such as violence against women, discrimination against women and girls, and the rights of internally displaced persons. The experts are independent of the UN and serve in their individual capacity. As such, they are not UN staff, nor are they paid by the Organization.

Over 700,000 children have been impacted by school closures due to often brutal violence in Cameroon, according to an analysis released by the UN humanitarian arm, OCHA, on Thursday. Two out of three schools are closed in the North-West and South-West regions of the country. On 24 November, four children and one teacher were killed in an attack in Ekondo Titi, in the South-West. Lockdown A recent lockdown imposed by a non-State armed group, from 15 September to 2 October, limited access to basic services including health and education. Over 700,000 children have been impacted by school closures due to violence in northwest and southwest Cameroon., by © Education Cannot Wait/Daniel Beloumou During the period, OCHA reported a series of attacks in the North-West. Eight students were kidnapped, and a girl’s fingers were chopped off after she tried to attend school. Five public school principals were also kidnapped, including one who was then killed. All schools and community learning spaces were closed, except for some schools in a few urban areas which operated at less than 60 per cent capacity. The lockdown and insecurity also forced UN agencies and aid organisations to temporarily suspend the delivery of aid. During that time, about 200,000 people did not receive food. Multiple crisis Nine out of ten regions of the country continue to be impacted by one of three humanitarian crises: the crisis in the North-West and South-West, conflict in the Far North, and a refugee crisis, with people fleeing the Central African Republic. Because of these combined crises, over one million children need urgent education support. To answer some of these needs, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the UN global fund for education in emergencies and crises, is working closely with UN agencies, the Norwegian Refugee Council and other civil society partners. ECW is contributing $25 million over three years and calling for other donors to fill the gap, which is estimated at $50 million. When fully funded, the programme will provide approximately 250,000 children and adolescents with access to safe and protective learning environments in the most-affected areas. Visit Just this week, the Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, and the Director of Education Cannot Wait, Yasmine Sherif, had a joint visit to the country. In a statement, Ms. Sherif said the situation “is among the most complex humanitarian crises in the world today.” “Children and youth are having to flee their homes and schools, are threatened with violence and kidnapping, and being forced into early childhood marriage and recruited into armed groups,” Ms. Sherif recalled. Jan Egeland argued that “putting a schoolbag on your back shouldn’t make you a target”, but unfortunately children in Cameroon “risk their lives every day just showing up for school.” “Cameroon’s education mega-emergency needs international attention, not deadly silence by the outside world,” Mr. Egeland declared.

This feature has been edited for clarity and length. Eddie Ndopu was talking to Melissa Fleming, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications. You can hear the full interview on the UN podcast, Awake at Night. “At the age of two, I was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, a degenerative condition that affects the muscles and results in progressive weakness. In other words, the older I get, the weaker I become, and my doctors gave my family a prognosis that I wouldn’t live beyond the age of five. I have outlived myself by 25 years and counting. However, I’m grappling with the physical manifestation of this rare disease and what is doing to my body: What I was able to do five years ago, I’m no longer able to do today. I had dreams of becoming an artist. I used to sketch incessantly, and now I’m no longer able to do that. But, on the other hand, my disability has really been a gift in the sense that it has allowed me to dream new dreams. I still have my spirit. I still have my mind and I still want to be of service to humanity and the world. And so, while I move through the world, with great difficulty, I know that there is so much more that I’m able to offer. Neil Thomas New Sustainable Development Goals Advocate, Edward Ndopu, Founder, Global Strategies on Inclusive Education, Republic of South Africa. ‘The wind beneath my sails’ My mother has truly been the wind beneath my sails. I admire my mother, not just as a parent, but as a human being, who, in many ways, has sacrificed so much of her own life in order to step in and not just be a primary caregiver but really be my biggest advocate. Because of my degenerative condition, I need to be turned at night every two hours to prevent pressure sores from forming. My mom did that for the better part of my life. Every day, seven days a week. I need to wake up to three hours ahead of time to get dressed. I need assistance, with bathing, with clothing, with feeding, every aspect of my life that’s physical. All of that needs to be facilitated. Right now, I have a team that consists of about four people but my mum did all of that, for twenty-something years, single-handedly. The reason why I was able to attain a mainstream education at the age of seven and become one of only a handful of disabled children in the entire country to be enrolled in a regular school, is because of my mum’s persistence, knocking on every door and being told, “This is not going to work”. She didn’t just do it as my mom. I think she did it because she believed deeply that I am deserving of a life that is truly open, and so I really owe her a debt of gratitude. I have since gone on to graduate from Oxford with a Master’s in Public Policy and became the first African with this degenerative disability to do that. Ever. For me, that’s not just a personal achievement, it also feels like a symbolic victory for all of the disabled kids around the world who never get to see the inside of a classroom. ‘I believe I’m a leader’ The turning point was when I was offered admission into the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg. It’s a Preparatory School for future world leaders. I made it all the way to the finalist weekend, and they called and said, ‘we’re not sure we’re able to meet your needs’. I wrote a letter to the founders of the Academy and I said, ‘My name is Eddie. I believe I’m a leader, I think you’ve made a mistake. I really, really need to be in the school, because I have a dream to make education accessible and inclusive for all of the children with disabilities on the continent of Africa. I want to be able to do that.’ Then, one Sunday afternoon, the phone rang. My Mum said, ‘It’s for you’ and I got the phone and they said, “we got your letter, congratulations. You’ve made it into the inaugural class.” That made me an activist and I’ve never turned back since. I spent those two years becoming the person that I think I was meant to be, and I was exposed to the world. I started a civil rights campaign called the Global Strategy for Inclusive Education and I presented it at the World Economic Forum. I was 19 years old. I won a scholarship to attend college in Canada realized that there is no contradiction between being young and being a leader. ‘A reminder that we are not perfect’ There are 1.2 billion disabled people in the world, covering both visible and invisible disabilities. That’s about 15 per cent of the world’s total population. People don’t know this, because I think that people are afraid of disability and don’t know how to talk about it, because disabilities are still associated with neglect, isolation, and deprivation. Disabled people are still more likely than not to be unemployed, and to not have any access to health care. Poverty is both the cause and the consequence of disability, and the overwhelming majority of people with disabilities live in poverty. I think we don’t talk about disability because we insist on perfection. And I think disability reminds people that actually, imperfection is more intrinsic to all of us than perfection is. Disability reminds us that there is no such thing as normal, so perhaps maybe disability is the most normal.”

“Today, 9.4 million people are living their worst nightmare,” Tomson Phiri, the agency’s spokesperson, told journalists in Geneva. 80 per cent ‘behind battle lines’ Of the people across northern Ethiopia in need of assistance, more than 80 per cent – 7.8 million – “are behind battle lines”. The largest jump in numbers has occurred in Amhara region with 3.7 million people now in urgent need of humanitarian aid. Screening data from all three regions in Northern Ethiopia has shown malnutrition rates of between 16 and 28 per cent for children. Even more alarming, up to 50 per cent of pregnant and breastfeeding women screened in Amhara and Tigray were also found to be malnourished. Delivery of aid According to the WFP spokesperson, a convoy loaded with 2,200 metric tons of life-saving food is expected to arrive in Mekele (in Tigray) in the coming days; 35 trucks have arrived so far and more vehicles loaded with food from Kombolcha are being sent into Southern Tigray today. Corridors into Tigray had been closed due to the recent Tigrayan advances into Afar and Amhara, as well as severe disruptions linked to federal government approvals. Mr. Phiri pointed out that this has meant that less than a third of the supplies needed have entered the region since mid-July. He added that one million litres of fuel is also needed to be able to reach the 7.8 million people behind battle lines. A ‘textbook’ humanitarian crisis While WFP has reached 180,000 people in Tigray in this current round, this amounts to just seven percent of the 2.5 million WFP needs to reach, the spokesperson highlighted. “A famine has not been declared in Ethiopia but…we are running out of words really to capture exactly the situation that is unfolding before our eyes, but… it is the textbook definition of a humanitarian crisis”, he said. Earlier this week WFP delivered food to over 10,000 people in the Amhara towns of Dessie and Kombolcha. These were the first distributions to happen there since they were taken over by Tigray forces almost a month ago. WFP was only granted full access to its warehouses in the region last week. To date, WFP has reached more than 3.2 million people with emergency food and nutrition assistance across northern Ethiopia, including 875,000 vulnerable mothers and children with nutritionally fortified food. In Amhara, WFP has reached more than 220,000 people with food and nutrition assistance and is scaling up to reach 650,000 people. In Afar, WFP has distributed food to 124,000 people out of its targeted 534,000. Urgent action needed Mr. Phiri called for urgent action to be taken to help WFP deliver assistance over the next six months. At least $316 million in funding is required for Northern Ethiopia, with an unprecedented $579 million to save and change the lives of 12 million people across the country over the next six months. © WFP/Leni Kinzli Tens of thousands of Ethiopians have been displaced by the ongoing conflict in the Tigray region. Risk of genocide is real Later on Friday, the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, reiterated her grave concerns regarding the deterioration of the situation. For Ms. Nderitu, several threats are “spiralling the country down to a path where the risk of commission of atrocity crimes, including genocide, is real and must be addressed as a matter of utmost urgency.” She pointed to calls to arms and hate speech, militarization of society, ethnic profiling, denial of humanitarian access and blockage of food to areas under fighting inhabited by specific ethnic communities. The Special Adviser also called on regional and international actors to intensify their engagement to “prevent falling into this abyss.” Ms. Nderitu concluded saying that, while nothing can restore the lives of those that have been lost, it is not late to prevent more suffering and to put an end to the hostilities through dialogue.

According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), preliminary evidence also suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant of concern, as compared to other strains, such as Delta. Currently the number of cases appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa. WHO explains that the variant has been detected at faster rates than in previous surges in infection, suggesting it “may have a growth advantage”. The experts have asked countries to enhance surveillance and genome sequencing efforts to better understand the variant. There are also a number of studies underway and the agency’s technical advisory group, known by the acronym TAG-VE, will continue to evaluate this variant. WHO will communicate new findings to Member States and to the public as needed. Information is still limited On Wednesday, WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, said the information about the now ‘Omicron’ variant is still limited. “There are fewer than 100 whole genome sequences that are available, we don’t know very much about this yet. What we do know is that this variant has a large number of mutations, and the concern is that when you have so many mutations it can have an impact on how the virus behaves”, she said during a Q&A on Twitter. Dr. Van Kerkhove explained that researchers are currently trying to determine where the mutations are and what they potentially mean for diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. “It will take a few weeks for us to understand what impact this variant has, there’s a lot of work that is underway”, she added. UN News/Daniel Dickinson Air travel between has declined significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘Do not discriminate’ Earlier today, the UN health agency urged all countries to adopt a risk-based and scientific approach to travel bans linked to the new variant identified in South Africa and Botswana. Mr. Van Kerkhove thanked researchers from these countries for openly sharing information to the UN health agency. “Everyone out there: do not discriminate against countries that share their findings openly”, she urged, as countries such as Britain, France and Israel have moved to cancel direct flights from South Africa and surrounding nations. According to South African health authorities so far, fewer than 100 cases of the new variant have been confirmed, largely among young people who have the lowest vaccination rate in the country. “Countries can do a lot already in terms of surveillance and sequencing and work together with the affected countries or globally and scientifically to fight this variant and understand more about it so that we know how to go about…so at this point implementing travel measures is being cautioned against”, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier told journalists in Geneva. IMF Photo/James Oatway A woman sews face masks to sell during the COVID-19 crisis in South Africa. Protect yourself and others The WHO officials reminded previous advice: people can do a lot to protect themselves from COVID, including by continuing to wear masks and avoiding crowds. “Everybody that’s out there needs to understand that the more this virus circulates the more opportunities the virus has to change, the more mutations we will see”, said Dr. Van Kerkhove. “Get vaccinated when you can, make sure you receive the full course of your doses and make sure you take steps to reduce your exposure and prevent yourself from passing that virus to someone else”, she added.