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	Harmful information is putting lives at risk during crises by International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC)   Mar. 2026   Harmful information is undermining life-saving humanitarian action at a time when disasters are affecting more people, more often, according to the World Disasters Report 2026, released by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).   Between 2020 and 2024, disasters affected nearly 700 million people, caused more than 105 million displacements, and claimed over 270,000 lives – with the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance more than doubling (INFORM Severity index).   The World Disasters Report 2026 warns that harmful information and dehumanising narratives are increasingly undermining trust, putting the lives of humanitarian workers and communities at risk.   In polarized and politically charged contexts, humanitarian principles such as neutrality and impartiality are increasingly misunderstood, misrepresented or deliberately attacked online.   Drawing on evidence from crises across the world, the report emphasises that trust has become one of the most critical, and fragile, assets in humanitarian action.   Jagan Chapagain, IFRC Secretary General, said:   “In every crisis I have witnessed, information is as essential as food, water and shelter. But when information is false, misleading or deliberately manipulated, it can deepen fear, obstruct humanitarian access and cost lives.”   Global examples of harmful information in action:   Spain: During floods in Valencia, false narratives online accused the Spanish Red Cross of diverting aid to migrants, fuelling xenophobic attacks on volunteers.   South Sudan: Rumours that humanitarian agencies were distributing poisoned food caused people to avoid life-saving aid and led to threats against local Red Cross staff, temporarily disrupting operations.   Lebanon: Overlapping crises saw false claims that volunteers were spreading COVID-19, favouring certain groups in aid distribution, or providing unsafe cholera vaccines, eroding trust and endangering vulnerable communities.   Bangladesh: Despite delivering first aid and assistance across multiple districts during a period of political unrest, volunteers faced widespread accusations of inaction and political alignment, leading to harassment and long-term reputational damage.   The report highlights that around 94 per cent of disasters are managed by national authorities and local communities without international assistance. However, while volunteers, local leaders and community media are often the most trusted messengers, they operate in increasingly hostile and polarised information environments.   Mr. Chapagain added: “Without trust, people are less likely to prepare, seek help or follow life-saving guidance; with it, communities act together, absorb shocks and recover more effectively. Maintaining trust is not optional – it is a humanitarian necessity.”   The World Disasters Report 2026 calls on governments, technology companies, humanitarian agencies, communities and local actors to recognise that trustworthy information is a matter of life and death. Recommendations include:   Technology platforms: Prioritise authoritative information from trusted humanitarian, health and local actors in crisis contexts. Provide low-bandwidth, multilingual, and locally relevant tools and transparently moderate harmful content.   States and policymakers: Invest in evidence-based regulation and support local data systems that monitor crises and harmful information, strengthening transparency, accountability and an environment that enables principled humanitarian action.   Humanitarian agencies: Embed harmful information preparedness into humanitarian operations as a core function, with trained teams, standardised tools, predictive analytics, and strong community engagement to anticipate, detect, and respond to harmful narratives.   Communities and local actors: Act as trusted messengers, support digital and media literacy, participate in rumour tracking, and ensure local perspectives shape responses to safeguard access and trust – recognising that communities are central to the solution.   The World Disaster Report 2026 is available to policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and the public, providing a roadmap for building resilience to harmful information before, during, and after crises.   http://www.ifrc.org/press-release/ifrc-warns-harmful-information-putting-lives-risk-during-crises   Mar. 2026   Disinformation undermining humanitarian action. (The Lancet)   A new report by the IFRC shows how disinformation fuels hostility and leads to health-harming choices. John Zarocostas reports.   The surge in harmful disinformation is undermining humanitarian action and putting the lives of aid workers and communities at risk, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has warned in its annual disaster report, published on March 5. Drawing on global evidence, the report says that trust is one of the most fragile assets in humanitarian action.   In his foreword, Jagan Chapagain, IFRC Secretary-General, said that “In every crisis I have witnessed...information is as essential as food, water, and shelter. But information can also cause harm. When false, misleading or deliberately manipulated, it can deepen fear, fuel discrimination, obstruct humanitarian access and cost lives.” Addressing harmful information “requires a shift in mindset”, the report concludes, cautioning that trust in institutions will likely continue to decline.   Gisella Lomax, Senior Advisor on Information Integrity at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told The Lancet that threats to information integrity on and off digital platforms, such as misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech, “are no longer a peripheral issue for humanitarian action—they are a direct operational and protection risk, especially in conflict and crises”.   Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, told The Lancet: “Harmful information, as outlined in the report, can have a two-fold impact on delivering humanitarian assistance: it can fuel hostility and create fear towards communities and humanitarian workers, and can also lead people to make unsafe choices. One of these would be avoiding treatment for a health condition.”   The IFRC cites several examples of the impact that harmful information has had on humanitarian action. During the 2024 floods in Valencia, false narratives online accused the Spanish Red Cross of diverting aid to migrants, “fuelling xenophobic attacks on volunteers”. In Lebanon, amid overlapping crises, there were false claims, the IFRC said, that volunteers were spreading COVID-19, favouring certain groups in aid distribution, or providing unsafe cholera vaccines, eroding trust and endangering vulnerable communities.   Christina Wille, Director of Insecurity Insight, which contributed case studies to the report, told The Lancet that her organisation noticed links between false narratives and attacks on health responses during the 2019 Ebola outbreak in DR Congo. “We recorded 87 health workers killed and multiple health facilities set on fire”, Wille said. “Many of these attacks were driven by false claims about where the disease came from, how quarantined patients were being treated, and why the death toll was so high.”   Over the past decade, she said, 137 vaccination workers have been killed worldwide, including 81 during polio campaigns. Wille noted that misperceptions about the purpose and safety of vaccines have played a significant role. “Rumours and conspiracy narratives don’t just undermine public trust. In some contexts, they translate directly into resistance and targeted violence against frontline health workers.”   Lomax said that the majority of UNHCR personnel in 75 countries had witnessed hate speech and that misinformation and disinformation had negatively affected the delivery of UNHCR's mandate.   “Misinformation and disinformation are weakening the foundations of humanitarian health work. When trust in reliable information erodes, essential decisions—such as vaccinating a child, seeking care, or following outbreak guidance—can become harder for some to make”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, told The Lancet.   “At the same time, false narratives can isolate communities from those working to support them, even putting some health workers at risk. Protecting health today requires not only effective medicines and vaccines, but also safeguarding the integrity of the information people rely on”, he added.   Pascal Barollier, Chief External Engagement Officer at Gavi, told The Lancet, “vaccine mis- and dis-information is often thought of only as a problem of the Global North. This is not the case, and while it is true that vaccine confidence in Gavi-supported lower-income countries remains strong, we are hearing more and more that exposure to false or misleading content online is impacting vaccination rates.”   The IFRC calls for a shift from reactive response to resilience to counter a problem expected to intensify with artificial intelligence, enabling the large-scale creation and spread of harmful content. The organisation recommends that states and policy makers invest in evidence-based regulation, integrate harmful information management into crisis preparedness and response frameworks, invest in early warning and verification systems to deliver reliable information, and empower communities and local actors.   It also urges technology platforms to prioritise authoritative information from trusted humanitarian, health, and local actors in crisis contexts and the rapid moderation of harmful content.   http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00507-6/fulltext Visit the related web page
	Survivors of Torture Rewrite the Rules by Alice Edwards UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment   May 2026   There is no shortage of cases of torture in the headlines. The details are grim, as always: Abuse behind closed doors, lives irrevocably altered, justice pursued years — sometimes decades — too late. Across today’s crises, from Ukraine to Sudan, Myanmar to Gaza, allegations of torture and ill treatment are especially graphic.   But once a legal case closes or the news cycle moves on, another story begins. It is quieter and less visible: What happens to those who survive torture.   As the United Nations special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, I have met survivors from all walks of life and from across the world — in rehabilitation centers, refugee communities and legal clinics — who carry its effects long after the physical wounds have healed.   What they have told me is that after they survive torture, they must confront a second struggle: To be believed, to gain access to care, to navigate complex institutions and to obtain legal recognition. Survivors spoke about the stigma, economic struggles and the breakdown of relationships.   International law is rightly proud of the absolute prohibition of torture. It is one of the clearest, most universally accepted norms we have: there are no justifications, no exceptions, no circumstances under which it is permitted. The right to rehabilitation and reparation is also well established in international human rights law.   Yet while the world has banned torture, survivors are often neglected or sidelined. A new charter written by people who have experienced this most violent of crimes sets out their demands to the world to help them recover.   Countries are obliged not only to prevent torture, but also to ensure that victims receive redress, including the means for as full a recovery as possible. Yet there is a profound gap between the prohibition against torture and being truly free from its torment.   Too often, torture is treated as an event — something that happens in a prison cell, an interrogation room or a conflict zone — and ends when the abuse stops. That is far from survivors’ realities.   People tortured as children may still bear the shame as adults. Individuals with permanent disabilities caused by torture must navigate this constant reminder and double burden.   Shireen Khudeeda, a Yazidi child survivor of sexual enslavement by the terrorist group Daesh and a human rights defender, spoke to me about how her suffering continues while members of her community taken by the terrorists remain unaccounted for. Ten years later, around 2,600 Yazidi and other victims have not been found.   A former Bahraini politician, Jawad Fairooz, described how after enduring 45 days of beatings, torture and solitary confinement, he was stripped of his nationality while visiting Britain, a secondary punishment that has long-lasting effects on his life to this day.   Another survivor, Donatien Ndabigeze, narrowly escaped an execution attempt that killed his wife and cousin and that was perpetrated by Burundian soldiers at his home in Bujumbura. He told me that waiting for justice can be “unbearable.”   Which seems to be the goal of some governments, hoping that through delays and unreasonable procedural formalities, survivors and their legal claims will go away.   Similar stories of the profound impact of torture have been shared with me, and I have met hundreds of survivors during my mandate. Over the past three years, I convened regional hearings — in Bogota, Nairobi and Kathmandu — which brought together 42 survivors from 36 different nationalities. A further 120 survivor-led organizations as well as individuals wrote to my mandate about how survivor care and consultation could be improved.   From these conversations, the first global Charter of Rights for Victims and Survivors of Torture and other cruelty was born, which I presented to the 61st session of the Human Rights Council in March.   The Charter sets out a practical framework, a kind of bill of rights, for what justice and recovery should look like from survivors’ perspectives. The Charter insists on access to specialized healthcare; long-term psychological support; legal recognition; financial stability; human-centered justice; truth-telling and reconciliation. Above all, they are demanding to participate in decisions that affect their lives.   At the heart of the Charter is a clear, consistent position: Survivors are calling for meaningful involvement in designing laws, policies, humanitarian programs and rehabilitation services not as an afterthought but as equal partners.   Involvement would include formalizing their role in national and international efforts, ensuring diverse voices are represented, including women and other marginalized survivors, and providing direct funding to survivor-led organizations, so they can engage effectively.   The UN has built a powerful legal and moral consensus against torture. The Survivors’ Charter is the missing piece in the global campaign to end torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It represents an historic shift, from law written about survivors, to norms shaped by them.   Resounding support was expressed for the Charter by countries speaking at the Human Rights Council in March, alongside supportive statements from the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and civil society organizations.   My ambition is that this document will become an internationally endorsed standard, complementary to the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on right to a remedy and reparation for atrocity crimes.   For survivors, this step is not abstract. It is about whether they can sleep at night. Whether they can work. Whether their societies can heal. And whether they can regain the lives they had hoped to lead.   The question now is which countries and international organizations are prepared not only to condemn torture but also to stand with — and learn from — those who have survived it.   * Alice Edwards is grateful to the International Rehabilitation Council for Victims of Torture and the World Organization Against Torture, as well as local organizations that hosted survivor hearings: the Corporación Centro de Atención Psicosocial (Psychosocial Care Center) of Colombia, the Independent Medico-Legal Unit and the Mwatikho Torture Survivors Foundation of Kenya and the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization Nepal (TPO Nepal).   http://passblue.com/2026/05/05/survivors-of-torture-rewrite-the-rules-banning-it/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/03/new-survivors-charter-sets-out-global-blueprint-justice-after-torture http://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/torture/sr/charter-victims-survivors-en.pdf http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc6142-torture-and-other-cruel-inhuman-or-degrading-treatment-or http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/06/new-questions-and-answers-paper-sets-out-path-towards-torture-free-trade http://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-torture Visit the related web page
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