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DO Bie Daalt
DO Bie Daalt
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A top Human Rights Council-appointed probe into potential rights abuses linked to Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine, outlined on Friday the “devastating” impact of the war on the country’s
children.
After its latest official visit to Ukraine, the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine expressed
deep concern that threats to the rights and lives of youngsters were “constantly multiplying”.
Schools have been destroyed or demolished after nine months of war, and ensuring access to
education is also proving very difficult in areas where Russian-backed troops have pulled
back, such as Kharkiv and Kherson, the commissioners said.
In a statement the fact-finding mission’s three Commissioners also explained that they had
“devoted significant attention” to the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine – in
particular, its energy and transportation grids.
“Both are preconditions for accessing rights, and civilian infrastructure is protected by
international humanitarian law,” they said in a statement.
They added that they intended to examine the issue “in detail” and would return to it in their
report to the Human Rights Council next March.
An alert now from the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, about a dramatic increase in the
number of people attempting to cross the Andaman Sea, from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The Southeast Asia waterway is one of the deadliest in the world and more than 1,900 people
have already made the journey since January year - six times more than in 2020.
“UNHCR warns that attempts at these journeys are exposing people to grave risks and fatal
consequences. Tragically, 119 people have been reported dead or missing on these journeys,
this year alone.”
Most of those risking their lives are Rohingya refugees, who fled Myanmar in their hundreds
of thousands in 2017, to escape military persecution.
In an appeal for help from Governments in the region, UNHCR said that the most recent
arrivals included more than 200 people in North Aceh, Indonesia, where the
authorities allowed them to disembark and provided shelter.
To the global cost-of-living crisis and some reassuring news from the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization - FAO - that the cost of many key foodstuffs remained “largely
steady” last month.
Latest data from FAO’s Food Price Index found that world cereal prices fell by 1.3 per cent
in November – although they remain more than six times higher than 12 months ago.
Wheat and maize also traded more cheaply last month, partly influenced by the extension of
the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
But international rice prices moved up by 2.3 per cent, FAO said, which is as much as
vegetable oil increased, after seven consecutive months of decline.
Sugar also rose by more than five per cent in November, owing to harvest delays in key
producing countries, and India’s decision to lower its export quota.