View previous stories
	The war in Gaza must end by OCHA, Save the Chidren, UNICEF, agencies   28 Mar. 2024   The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued new provisional measures for Israel as the humanitarian situation in besieged Gaza continues to deteriorate. (UN News)   The ICJ provisional measures state that Israel, “in view of the worsening conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza, in particular the spread of famine and starvation”, shall take “all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza”.   The measures outline that the required aid includes food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care.   The fresh ICJ order also calls on Israel, as a signatory to the Genocide Convention, to undertake those measures, “including by increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary”.   UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric reminded journalists at the daily news briefing that the ICJ operates independently. “We do believe as a matter of principle that all Member States abide by decisions of the court,” he said.   The ICJ was established by the UN Charter as the principal judicial organ of the UN.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1148096 http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148161   Mar. 2024   Children in Gaza need life-saving support. (UNICEF)   The escalation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip is having a catastrophic impact on children and families. Children are dying at an alarming rate – thousands have been killed and thousands more injured. Around 1.7 million people in the Gaza Strip are estimated to have been internally displaced – half of them children. They do not have enough access to water, food, fuel and medicine. Their homes have been destroyed; their families torn apart.   Over 600,000 children – half of the displaced population – are trapped in Rafah. There is nowhere safe for them to go.   Even wars have rules. No child should be cut off from essential services, nor fall from the reach of humanitarian hands. No child should be held hostage or used by any means in armed conflict. Hospitals and schools must be protected from bombings, and they must not be used for military purposes, in accordance with international humanitarian law. The cost to children and their communities of this violence will be borne out for generations to come.   UNICEF continues to press world leaders on every occasion for humanitarian access to the whole of Gaza. To respond to the situation for children in Israel and the State of Palestine, UNICEF is calling for:   An immediate and long-lasting humanitarian ceasefire. Safe and unrestricted humanitarian access to and within the Gaza Strip to reach affected populations wherever they are, including in the north. All access crossings must be opened including for sufficient fuel and materials needed to run and rehabilitate essential infrastructure and commercial supplies.   Safe movement for humanitarian workers and supplies across the Gaza Strip must be guaranteed and reliable telecommunications networks made available to coordinate response efforts.   The immediate, safe and unconditional release of all abducted children, and an end to any grave violations against all children, including killing and maiming of children.   Respect and protection for civilian infrastructure such as shelters and schools, and health, electric, water, sanitation and telecommunications facilities, to prevent loss of civilian and children’s lives, outbreaks of diseases, and to provide care to the sick and wounded.   All parties to the conflict must respect international humanitarian law.   Urgent medical cases in Gaza to be able to safely access critical health services or be allowed to leave, and for injured or sick children evacuated to be accompanied by family members.   * 1.1 million people in Gaza are projected to face catastrophic levels of food insecurity between March and July 2024, up from 378,000 in December 2023, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis released on 18 March:   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/gazas-children-trapped-cycle-suffering http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/alerts-archive/issue-97/en/ http://www.who.int/news/item/18-03-2024-famine-in-gaza-is-imminent--with-immediate-and-long-term-health-consequences http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/03/gaza-halt-war-now-save-children-dying-imminent-famine-un-committee-warns http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/children-gaza-need-lifesaving-support http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/acute-malnutrition-has-doubled-one-month-north-gaza-strip-unicef   http://www.ochaopt.org/content/six-months-war-gaza-betrayal-humanity http://www.ifrc.org/press-release/gaza-six-months-inhumanity http://www.ochaopt.org/content/humanitarian-access-snapshot-gaza-strip-1-31-march-2024 http://www.ochaopt.org/content/statement-humanitarian-coordinator-occupied-palestinian-territory-mr-jamie-mcgoldrick-6-april http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/unicef-state-palestine-humanitarian-situation-report-no-21-escalation-7-20-march-2024 http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147656 http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147916 http://reliefweb.int/country/pse   21 Feb. 2024   Gaza: WFP forced to pause food distributions in north as report warns of worsening crisis   Suspension comes as UN agencies join call for safe humanitarian access and new analysis confirms worst fears.   Hungry, thirsty and weak, more and more Gazans are falling sick, according to a report published this week.   At least 90 per cent of children aged under 5 are affected by one or more infectious diseases, with 70 percent having had diarrhoea in the past two weeks, according to analysis from the Global Nutrition Cluster.   “An immediate humanitarian ceasefire continues to provide the best chance to save lives and end suffering,” the World Food Programme, UNICEF and the World Health Organization said in a statement.   “If the conflict doesn’t end now, children’s nutrition will continue to plummet, leading to preventable deaths or health issues which will affect the children of Gaza for the rest of their lives and have intergenerational consequences,” said UNICEF’s deputy executive director for humanitarian action and supply operations, Ted Chaiban.   High levels of disease, the severe shortage of food and clean water, and the almost total collapse of health services are compounding child wasting and making every day a struggle to survive for adults.   Nutrition screenings conducted at shelters and health centres found that 15.6 per cent of children under 2 are acutely malnourished.   Valerie Guarnieri, World Food Programme Assistant Executive Director for Programme Operations, has called for “decisive improvements on security and humanitarian access, and additional entry points for aid to enter Gaza.”   The situation in North Gaza is particularly alarming. WFP has been forced to pause operations there “until conditions are in place that allow for safe distributions”.   “The decision to pause deliveries to the north of the Gaza Strip has not been taken lightly, as we know it means the situation there will deteriorate further and more people risk dying of hunger,” WFP said in a statement.   WFP is deeply committed to urgently reaching desperate people across Gaza but the safety and security to deliver critical food aid – and for the people receiving it – must be ensured.   “Imagine being so hungry you are willing to run into gunfire to collect food. That’s a reflection of the level of desperation people of Gaza are facing today,” said Matthew Hollingworth, World Food Programme Country Director for Palestine.   In the whole month of January, WFP only managed to get four convoys into Gaza – that’s around 35 truckloads of food, enough for almost 130,000 people. “This is really not enough to prevent a famine, and we know levels of hunger in Gaza City are already at that level or getting to that level”.   “Gaza today looks entirely different than it did four months ago,” he said. “Half the buildings across the entirety of the Strip are rubble.. There’s no, or limited, clean water. It’s a public healthcare crisis as well as a hunger crisis. We desperately need significant amounts of aid to get into Gaza every single day.”   “We need the fighting to stop,” he added, speaking to the media. “If the warfare is over, we can get about the business of making sure that we can get sufficient assistance into all areas of the Strip.”   27 Feb. 2024   Update on Food Security Risks in Gaza by Mr. Ramesh Rajasingham, Director of OCHA Coordination Division, to UN Security Council. (OCHA)   Since the start of the current hostilities following the horrific Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, the UN has warned about the potentially deleterious impact on food insecurity in Gaza, particularly for a population already experiencing high levels of structural poverty after 16 years of blockade.   In December, it was projected that the entire population of 2.2 million people in Gaza would face high levels of acute food insecurity by February 2024 – the highest share of people facing this level of food insecurity ever recorded worldwide.   And here we are, at the end of February, with at least 576,000 people in Gaza – one-quarter of the population – one step away from famine; with 1 in 6 children under 2 years of age in northern Gaza suffering from acute malnutrition and wasting; and practically the entire population of Gaza left to rely on woefully inadequate humanitarian food assistance to survive. Unfortunately, as grim as the picture we see today, there is every possibility for further deterioration.   Hunger and the risk of famine are exacerbated by factors that go beyond just the availability of food. Inadequate water, sanitation, and health services creates a cycle of vulnerability, where malnourished people – especially among the tens of thousands of people who are injured – become more susceptible to disease that further depletes the body’s nutritional reserves.   A steep rise in malnutrition among children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza Strip is a particularly grave concern. And add chronic overcrowding, exposure to the cold and an absence of adequate shelter to this lack of nutrition, and you have created the conditions for massive disease epidemics.   With people in Gaza unable to rely on usual sources of food, humanitarian food assistance is now nearly the sole source of subsistence. Yet as we have reported to the Council on numerous occasions, the humanitarian community is facing overwhelming obstacles just to get a bare minimum of supplies into Gaza, let alone mounting the multisectoral response that would be required to avert a famine.   Our efforts continue to be beset by crossing closures, serious movement restrictions, access denials, onerous vetting procedures, incidents involving desperate civilians, protests and a breakdown in law and order, restrictions on communications and protective equipment, and impassable supply routes due to damaged roads and unexploded ordnance..   The White Note submitted to this Council sets out a number of recommendations for action. It includes ensuring respect for international humanitarian law; the resumption of entry of essential food, electricity, fuel and cooking gas, including by the private sector; the protection and restoration of vital infrastructure and services, including cross-border water pipelines, the lifting of restrictions on fishing activity, access to farmland and the entry of agricultural goods; urgently facilitating greater humanitarian access into and within Gaza, including opening up additional crossing points and finally concerted efforts towards ending this conflict altogether.   But without a doubt, at this stage, very little will be possible while hostilities continue and while there is a risk that they will spread into the overcrowded areas of south of Gaza. We therefore reiterate our call for a ceasefire.   If nothing is done, we fear widespread famine in Gaza is almost inevitable, and the conflict, which since October has claimed the lives of almost 30,000 people, and injured more than 70,000, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, will have many more victims. We put this before the Council as a matter of urgency.   Fears over Gaza catastrophe as brutal conflict enters sixth month. (OHCHR)   We are entering the sixth month of a brutal conflict that has destroyed the lives and homes of countless Palestinians, as well as Israelis. We fear that this already catastrophic situation may slide deeper into the abyss as many Palestinians mark the holy month of Ramadan – a period that is meant to honour peace and tolerance – should Israel launch its threatened military offensive into Rafah, where 1.5 million people have been displaced in deplorable sub-human conditions.   Any ground assault on Rafah would incur massive loss of life and would heighten the risk of further atrocity crimes. This must not be allowed to happen.   The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights repeats that there must be an immediate end to this conflict, and that the killing and destruction must stop.   The hostages, who have now endured over 150 days of suffering and torment, must be released unconditionally and returned to their distraught families.   Israel, as the occupying power, must – we repeat - fully comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law to provide the increasingly desperate civilian population of Gaza with the necessary food and medical supplies, or, if it is unable to do so, ensure that the population has access to critical life-saving humanitarian assistance commensurate with their needs.   Border crossings and corridors must be fully opened and steps must be taken to ensure the free and secure movement of aid convoys to civilians wherever they are located within the Gaza strip if wider starvation and needless suffering are to be averted.   Since 7 October, parties to this conflict have paid little heed to international law that protects human rights and governs the conduct of hostilities. This has been a stain on the collective conscience of humanity. The laws of war are clear and must be respected at all times and in all circumstances. Those who violate them must be held to account.   The High Commissioner reminds all States parties that under Article 1, common to the four Geneva Conventions, they have the obligation to respect and ensure respect for the rules laid down by those Conventions. This obligation includes not only taking all available steps to ensure full compliance by the parties engaged in hostilities, but also means that States must not, through their own policies or actions, facilitate the commission of violations of humanitarian law.   http://actionaid.org/news/2024/gaza-airdrops-and-sea-routes-are-no-alternative-aid-delivery-land http://www.wfp.org/stories/gaza-wfp-forced-pause-food-distributions-north-report-warns-worsening-crisis http://www.unocha.org/publications/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/mr-ramesh-rajasingham-director-ocha-coordination-division-behalf-under-secretary-general-humanitarian-affairs-and-emergency-relief-coordinator-mr-martin-griffiths-update-food-security-risks-gaza-27-february-2024 http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/03/comment-un-high-commissioner-human-rights-volker-turk-risk-famine-gaza http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-civilians-gaza-extreme-peril-while-world http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2024/03/fears-over-gaza-catastrophe-brutal-conflict-enters-sixth-month http://www.icrc.org/en/document/statement-gaza-and-israel-president-icrc http://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/east-mediterranean-mena/israelpalestine/starving-gaza   Feb. 2024   Children are bearing the brunt of the horrors in Gaza, by John Lyons. (ABC News)   The most dangerous place in the world to be a child. That devastating description is now being applied to Gaza by UNICEF as the true extent of the catastrophe of this war emerges.   That devastation is leading to one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time – where, for example, a nurse has had to perform emergency caesarean operations on six dead pregnant women to try to save their babies.   The horrors of Gaza are almost unspeakable. As difficult as all this is to read and to watch, it's important the world does not look away.   Rarely, if ever, have so many children been killed, injured or orphaned as quickly as in Gaza right now.   "The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child," says UNICEF's James Elder. "And day after day, that brutal reality is reinforced."   UNICEF has compiled a range of statistics from Gaza. It says that a Palestinian child is killed every 15 minutes. Thousands more are missing under rubble. One of every 10 children killed in Gaza did not make their first birthday. More than 1,000 children have lost one or both legs.   Save the Children estimates that more than 10 children a day are losing one or both legs — those having limbs amputated are having it done without anaesthetic.   According to UNICEF, there are now at least 19,000 orphans in Gaza and thousands who have lost one parent.   According to Gaza's Ministry of Health, at least 28,000 Palestinians have been killed — including 11,500 children.   Gaza has more children than almost anywhere else — 47.3 per cent of its population is under 18. The Health Ministry says there are at least 65,636 injured people in Gaza – of which 18,000 are children.   Israel's newspaper Haaretz ran the headline: "11,500 Children Have Been Killed in Gaza. Horror of This Scale Has No Explanation."   Entire neighbourhoods in Gaza have been destroyed. The City University of New York and Oregon State University have examined satellite images that show up to 175,000 of buildings have been destroyed or damaged. That's 61 per cent of all buildings.   The UN estimates that 80 per cent of the population — 1.75 million people — are now without anywhere to live.   Nobody can dispute Israel's right to respond to the October 7 atrocities. Any country would have responded had 1,200 people been tortured and murdered and 240 kidnapped.   But it's the dramatic lack of proportionality of the response that Israel will be asked to answer for in years to come.   News agencies report that between October 7 and December 15 Israel dropped 29,000 bombs on Gaza. Many of those 29,000 were 2,000-pound bombs – which can blow out windows as far as a kilometre way. That means, on average, 79 bombs per square kilometre.   When Vladimir Putin has dropped bombs as large as these on civilians in Ukraine the world branded this war crimes.   Israel insists it has tried to protect civilians by dropping leaflets from jets or sending text messages. But if Israel has tried to avoid civilian deaths then it has seriously failed.   UNICEF'S James Elder said there was now one toilet for every 700 people. In some places, people are defecating in the open.   "Diarrhoea cases in children are above 100,000. Acute respiratory illness cases in civilians are above 150,000. Both numbers will be gross under-counts of the woeful reality," said Elder.   "The Gaza strip has the worst level of malnutrition in the world. With malnutrition soaring among Gaza's children, diarrhoeal diseases are becoming deadly." Aid workers say that 135,000 children under two are now at risk of severe malnutrition. UNICEF says that 1.1 million children are unable to access humanitarian aid.   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-executive-director-catherine-russell-rafah-gaza http://www.unicef.org/emergencies/children-gaza-need-lifesaving-support http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-deputy-executive-director-ted-chaiban-upon-conclusion-his-visit http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/statement-unicef-risk-famine-gaza-strip http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/barely-drop-drink-children-gaza-strip-do-not-access-90-cent-their-normal-water-use http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/details-map/en/c/1156749/   http://www.wfp.org/stories/gaza-wfp-forced-pause-food-distributions-north-report-warns-worsening-crisis http://www.wfp.org/stories/humanitarian-operations-risk-conflict-strangles-gaza http://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports-briefs/siege-and-starvation-how-israel-obstructs-aid-to-gaza/ http://gisha.org/en/hunger-in-north-gaza-english/ http://www.acaps.org/en/countries/archives/detail/palestine-risk-of-famine-in-pockets-of-the-gaza-strip   http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/press-releases/catastrophic-hunger-crisis-declared-in-gaza-by-international-food-security-and-nutrition-experts/ http://www.mercycorps.org/press-room/releases/gaza-deaths-from-hunger http://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/lack-of-food-in-gaza-creating-risk-of-famine http://www.hi-us.org/en/gaza-humanitarian-agencies-respond-to-rafah-developments   12 Jan. 2024   Statement by Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator: The war in Gaza must end.   Three months since the horrific 7 October attacks in Israel, Gaza has become a place of death and despair.   Tens of thousands of people, mostly women and children, have been killed or injured. Families are sleeping in the open as temperatures plummet. Areas where civilians were told to relocate for their safety have come under bombardment. Medical facilities are under relentless attack. The few hospitals that are partially functional are overwhelmed with trauma cases, critically short of all supplies, and inundated by desperate people seeking safety.   A public health disaster is unfolding. Infectious diseases are spreading in overcrowded shelters as sewers spill over. Some 180 Palestinian women are giving birth daily amidst this chaos. People are facing the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded. Famine is around the corner.   For children in particular, the past 12 weeks have been traumatic: No food. No water. No school. Nothing but the terrifying sounds of war, day in and day out.   Gaza has simply become uninhabitable. Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very existence – while the world watches on.   The humanitarian community has been left with the impossible mission of supporting more than 2 million people, even as its own staff are being killed and displaced, as communication blackouts continue, as roads are damaged and convoys are shot at, and as commercial supplies vital to survival are almost non-existent.   Meanwhile, rocket attacks on Israel continue, more than 120 people are still held hostage in Gaza, tensions in the West Bank are boiling, and the specter of further regional spillover of the war is looming dangerously close.   Hope has never been more elusive. Gaza has shown us the worst of humanity, as well as moments of great heroism. We have seen how violence cannot resolve differences, but only inflame passions and build new generations of danger and insecurity.   We continue to demand an immediate end to the war, not just for the people of Gaza and its threatened neighbors, but for the generations to come who will never forget these 90 days of hell and of assaults on the most basic precepts of humanity.   It is time for the parties to meet all their obligations under international law, including to protect civilians and meet their essential needs, and to release all hostages immediately.   It is time for the international community to use all its influence to make this happen. This war should never have started. But it’s long past time for it to end.   http://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-tells-security-council-take-urgent-action-end-war-gaza http://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-war-gaza-must-end http://www.unicef.org/mena/press-releases/statement-adele-khodr-unicef-regional-director-middle-east-and-north-africa-1 http://plan-international.org/news/2024/01/24/call-to-stop-arms-transfers-to-israel-palestinian-armed-groups/ http://www.hi-us.org/en/gaza-geneva-conventions-should-be-respected-and-applied http://www.savethechildren.net/news/gaza-10000-children-killed-nearly-100-days-war http://interagencystandingcommittee.org/inter-agency-standing-committee/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-we-cannot-abandon-people-gaza http://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/unrwa-funding-cuts-threaten-palestinian-lives-gaza-and-region-say-ngos http://www.icrc.org/en/unga78-annual-statement-ihl   http://www.ohchr.org/en/media-centre/statements-grave-situation-occupied-palestinian-territory-and-israel http://www.btselem.org/press_releses/20240207_israel_based_civil_society_and_human_rights_organizations_call_for_a_ceasefire http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-khan-kc-ramallah-situation-state-palestine-and-israel http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-khan-kc-cairo-situation-state-palestine-and-israel http://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule139 http://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1   http://www.ibanet.org/Middle-East-test-for-effectiveness-of-international-law-as-death-toll-mounts http://www.justsecurity.org/90789/israels-rewriting-of-the-law-of-war/ http://www.globalr2p.org/publications/atrocities-present-past-and-future-escalating-crimes-and-consequences-in-israel-and-occupied-palestine/ http://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/09/questions-and-answers-october-2023-hostilities-between-israel-and-palestinian-armed http://www.icct.nl/publication/interview-ben-saul-international-humanitarian-law-context-israel-gaza-crisis   http://www.who.int/europe/news/item/23-10-2023-shock-grief-and-the-challenge-of-healing-israel-health-system-responds-to-the-october-attacks http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/10/1142082 http://news.un.org/en/story/2023/10/1142012 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67053011 http://www.icrc.org/en/document/israel-and-occupied-territories-icrc-calls-immediate-protection-civilians-after-horrific http://theelders.org/news/2024-we-must-see-long-view-leadership http://www.crisisgroup.org/global/10-conflicts-watch-2024 http://www.un.org/en/situation-in-occupied-palestine-and-israel   Apr. 2024   Shocking increase in children denied aid in conflicts. (UN News)   All warring parties must allow safe, swift and unfettered humanitarian access and protect civilian infrastructure, top UN officials told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.   Painting a grim landscape of the world’s war zones, Virginia Gamba, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, briefed ambassadors, citing grave concerns, from war-torn Gaza to gang-ravaged Haiti, where famine looms amid rampant violence and displacement.   “Let me be very clear,” she said. “The Geneva Conventions and the Convention on the Rights of the Child contain key provisions requiring the facilitation of humanitarian relief to children in need.   “The denial of humanitarian access to children and attacks against humanitarian workers assisting children are also prohibited under international humanitarian law.”   The UN’s engagement with combatants to end and prevent violations against children is critical, she said.   Data gathered for her forthcoming 2024 report shows “we are on target to witness a shocking increase of the incidents of the denial of humanitarian access globally,” she said, adding that “the blatant disregard for international humanitarian law continues to increase.”   “Without compliance by parties to conflict to allow safe, full and unhindered access for the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance, children’s survival, wellbeing and development are in jeopardy, and our calls are mere echoes in this Chamber,” she told the Council.   “We cannot prevent denial of humanitarian access to children unless we understand it and reinforce our capacity to monitor and prevent its occurrence. We must get on with the job.”   Also briefing the Council, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban, said that as conflicts proliferate around the world, grave violations against children continue, including in Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar.   “The denial of humanitarian access is a particularly pervasive, multifaceted and complex grave violation,” he said. “These actions have devastating humanitarian consequences for children.”   Recalling his visit to Gaza in January, he said he witnessed a “staggering decline in conditions of children” amid widespread destruction, a “quasi blockage on the north of Gaza” and repeated denials for or delays in granted access of humanitarian convoys.   “Attacks on humanitarian workers have also gravely affected humanitarian access with the highest UN staff death toll in our history, our UNRWA colleagues in particular, and new attacks this week with the death of our World Central Kitchen colleagues, killing humanitarian workers trying to feed starving people,” Mr. Chaiban said.   As a result of these constraints, children cannot access age-appropriate nutritious food or medical services and have less than two to three litres of water per day, he said.   “The consequences have been clear,” he warned. “In March, we reported that one in three children under two years of age in the northern Gaza Strip suffer from acute malnutrition, a figure that has more than doubled in the last two months.”   Dozens of children in the northern Gaza Strip have reportedly died from malnutrition and dehydration in recent weeks and half the population is facing catastrophic food insecurity, he stressed.   In Sudan, the world’s worst child displacement crisis, the violence and blatant disregard for permission to allow the delivery of humanitarian assistance essential to protect children from the impact of conflict in Darfur, in Kordofan, in Khartoum and beyond has greatly intensified their suffering, he said.   “We are seeing record levels of admissions for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) – the deadliest form of malnutrition,” the UN deputy chief explained, “but insecurity is preventing patients and health workers from reaching hospitals and other health facilities.”   Assets and staff are still being attacked, and the health system remains overwhelmed resulting in severe shortage of medicines and supplies, including lifesaving items, due to the severe interruption of the supply management system.   “Our inability to consistently access vulnerable children means protection by presence is simply not possible and that risks of other grave violations may escalate without an attendant rise in our ability to monitor or respond,” he said.   He called on the Security Council to use its influence to prevent and end the denial of humanitarian access to children, protect humanitarian workers and allow aid agencies to safely reach those in most need, across frontlines and across borders.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148221   * UN WebTV: Children and Armed Conflict - Coverage of UN Security Council meeting: Addressing the consequences of the denial of humanitarian access for children: http://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1h/k1ho967mpv   Feb. 2024   The world is waging war on its children, in an obscene mockery of international law. (Agencies)   Callous disregard for civilian lives and safety is a disturbing feature of modern armed conflict. From Ukraine and Gaza to Sudan and Myanmar, respect for the “laws of war” is being eroded or is non-existent. Non-combatants are deliberately targeted. Most shocking, and unforgivable, is the wanton harm – the UN term is “grave violations” – done to children.   In his latest report on children and conflict, UN secretary general Antonio Guterres warned that children “continued to be gravely affected” by war-related violence and abuses. By this, he meant killing and maiming, rape, sexual violence, abductions, school attacks and recruitment of child soldiers. All were on the rise, he said.   Some examples: Myanmar’s civil war brought a 140% increase in grave violations in 2022. In South Sudan, intercommunal violence played havoc with children’s lives. Countries with the highest UN-recorded totals of abuses were the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel-Palestine, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Yemen. Guterres’s report was compiled before the Gaza war erupted.   The tsunami of misery makes a mockery of international law, specifically the Geneva conventions. “In all wars, it’s children who suffer first and suffer most,” Unicef says. “Even wars have rules. No child should be cut off from essential services... No child should be held hostage... Hospitals and schools must be protected from bombings… The cost to children will be borne by generations to come.”   In 2022 alone, the United Nations verified 27,180 violations affecting children which were committed in 24 situations and one regional arrangement. The most prevalent violation of 2022 was the killing and maiming of children, while the number of attacks on schools and hospitals showed an unprecedented increase of 112% compared to the previous year. As sobering as the 2022 figures were, they felt pale when contrasted with the dramatic increase in violations against children during 2023.   Armed violence has worryingly increased in many ongoing conflicts including in Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, and most recently in Israel and the State of Palestine.   In Sudan, children have been facing intense hostilities since April, and are subjected to raids, and airstrikes by parties to conflict, resulting in shocking accounts of widespread killing and maiming of children and sexual violence against girls, including rape.   Thousands of children in and around Khartoum, the Darfur states, the Blue Nile, and the Kordofan regions are disproportionately affected by the actions of armed forces and armed groups. Parties to conflict in Sudan must prioritize a cessation of hostilities and a return to peace if children are to be spared further suffering.   Children in the Sahel and Lake Chad basin continue to be victims of armed conflict. Children are raped, abducted, and recruited by armed forces and armed groups, particularly girls, while schools and hospitals are attacked and destroyed. In Haiti, armed groups and gangs are increasingly targeting children and committing all six grave violations against children in doing so.   The use of explosive ordnance, including improvised explosive devices, landmines, and explosive remnants of war, continues to be one of the main causes of child casualties, particularly when used in densely populated areas. Those weapons fiercely and indiscriminately target children in many countries around the world. The situation for children remains very dire particularly due to the impact of explosive ordnance, in Colombia, Iraq, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Ukraine.   Russia’s illegal abduction of thousands of children after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine is another way of waging war on the most vulnerable. Kyiv has documented almost 20,000 cases out of a possible 200,000. They form the basis of war crimes charges brought against Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, by the international criminal court.   “Russia is actively erasing their Ukrainian identity and inflicting unbelievable emotional and psychological damage,” Latvia’s president, Edgars Rinkevics, told a conference devoted to “Russia’s war on children” in Riga this month.   Less watched conflicts and emergencies are equally destructive of children’s lives. Last week saw belated focus on the crisis gripping drought-stricken northern Ethiopia following the war in Tigray. More than 3 million people there face acute hunger. Younger children and babies are most at risk in a country where 45% of the 126m-strong population is aged under 15   “Veterans of relief operations are comparing the crisis to the situation in 1984, when a combination of drought and war caused a famine that killed up to a million people,” wrote regional expert Alex de Waal. “The UN estimates that more than 20 million Ethiopians are in need of food aid.”   The forcible recruitment of children by armed groups, terrorists and criminal gangs is another global growth area. The UN says more than 105,000 children, boys and girls, were involved in violent conflicts between 2005 and 2022, although the actual figure is probably much higher. Child soldiers are not only made to fight. They are also used as guards, lookouts and couriers, and are exploited sexually.   In Myanmar, Burkina Faso and Mali, attacks on schools and hospitals are increasing, the UN says. Denial of humanitarian access is another lethal problem. And so it goes on. A world war on children? How did it come to this?   http://www.unicef.org/children-under-attack http://www.unicef.org/topics/humanitarian-action-and-emergencies http://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/document/stop-the-war-on-children-let-children-live-in-peace/ http://data.stopwaronchildren.org http://childrenandarmedconflict.un.org/2023/11/nothing-to-celebrate-on-worlds-childrens-day http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/11/end-killing-children-armed-conflict-un-committee-urges http://alliancecpha.org/en/TheUnprotected2023 http://blogs.prio.org/2023/12/more-and-more-children-at-risk-of-conflict/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2024/02/imperative-protect-children-war/ http://watchlist.org/resources/advocacy-resources/   http://www.savethechildren.net/news/grave-violations-against-children-must-stop-statement-save-children-ceo-inger-ashing http://medvind.arkon.no/1824624/9065535.html http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/children-and-armed-conflict-report-secretary-general-a77895-s2023363-enarruzh http://www.icrc.org/en/war-and-law/protected-persons/civilians http://www.icrc.org/en/document/we-can-elevate-protection-of-children-in-armed-conflict-as-political-priority http://www.msf.org/war-and-conflict http://www.msf.org/war-and-conflict-depth http://protectingeducation.org/ http://www.unhcr.org/emergencies/ongoing-emergencies http://www.acaps.org/en/thematics/all-topics/humanitarian-access http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/en/ Visit the related web page
	How conflict drives hunger for women and girls by UN Women, The Lancet, HRC, CarbonBrief, agencies   Apr. 2024   How conflict drives hunger for women and girls, by Jemimah Njuki and Carla Kraft. (UN Women)   Women around the world face the brunt of severe hunger, with conflicts exacerbating the inequality. Ending this discrimination requires empowering more women and girls to lead on building peace and food security for all.   Hunger is both a cause and result of conflict. And for the more than 614 million women and girls living in conflict-affected places, hunger is a reality. In countries facing conflict and hunger, women often eat last and least—sacrificing for their families.   Conflict can cause food shortages and the severe disruption of economic activities, threatening the means of survival of entire populations. Additionally, wars commonly trigger the displacement of huge numbers of people, most of them women and girls, cutting them off from their food supplies and livelihoods.   Conflict reduces the amount of food available and people’s ability to access food, food markets, and healthcare. Conflict and displacement have also forced women to abandon their jobs or miss planting seasons.   Of the 345 million people who are severely hungry in the world right now, nearly 60 per cent are women and girls. The proportion is higher in countries suffering from conflict, where women are trapped in a cycle of disadvantage, poverty, and displacement. In countries and regions including Afghanistan, Ukraine, Gaza, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Africa’s Sahel region, South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, women and girls are facing hunger crises due to conflict and fragility.   In Syria, the war has pushed more women to become the main breadwinners, many having to work for the first time with few skills to secure a decent job and fair pay. What little they make barely covers their families’ expenses. According to an Oxfam study, women-headed households are among the hardest hit by hunger, reporting a significant decline in their food consumption, and having to skip meals.   At the height of the crisis in Ukraine, assessments showed food security and mental health were bigger worries for women than men, with 52 per cent of Ukrainian women surveyed saying food security was one of their biggest concerns, compared with just 29 per cent of men.   A UN Women report shows that war-induced food price hikes and shortages have widened the global gender gap in food insecurity, as women reduce their own food intake to give it to other household members.   Women-headed households in Ukraine were already more food insecure prior to the war, with 37.5 per cent of them experiencing moderate or severe levels of food insecurity compared with 20.5 per cent of male-headed households. Rural women in the territories occupied by the Russian military were increasingly unable to perform agricultural work due to high insecurity and lack of resources.   And the entire population of 2.3 million people in Gaza are facing acute levels of food insecurity, with women finding it harder than men to access food. A report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) found that more than half of all Palestinians in Gaza—1.1 million people—have completely exhausted their food supplies and are facing catastrophic hunger.   And with most of Gaza’s fertile farmland having been destroyed and almost all agricultural, livestock, and fishing production halted, this is likely to worsen. The most affected are women, especially mothers and those breastfeeding, and children.   There are many interconnected reasons that conflict causes disproportionate increases in hunger among women and girls, but they boil down to social and economic roles that have been shaped by pervasive gender discrimination. Women are the family caregivers, assuming sole or primary responsibility for taking care of children, elders, and family members who are ill.   This disproportionate impact on women and girls has further consequences. To cope, some families have resorted to early and forced marriage for girls to sustain themselves. Food-related livelihood activities such as tending fields, foraging for food, or fetching water make women and girls vulnerable to conflict-related sexual violence where conflict parties use such violence.   The scarcity of food during conflict forces women and girls to travel further from their villages in search of nourishment, increasing the likelihood of their encountering armed groups who may use sexual violence. Both the threat and actual experience of conflict-related sexual violence impact the well-being of women and girls (as well as their wider families) and affect their ability to provide food and care for their families.   Women have also, however, risen to the challenge of feeding their families and communities during conflict. Experience and evidence show that women are more likely to spend their incomes on food, healthcare, and education. Hence, their engagement and leadership are critical for post-conflict recovery.   Targeting women as the first beneficiaries of food aid and social protection, as well as helping them and their communities to complete harvests, can contribute significantly to improving household resilience and to peacebuilding.   While the connections between conflict and food insecurity are complex, and better information is needed on the issue, including how conflict aggravates the political and structural violence that contributes to food insecurity, there are several actions that the international community can prioritize.   First is strengthening women’s and girls’ voice, agency, participation, and leadership in conflict response, recovery, and peacebuilding. Research has shown that a higher presence of female signatories in peace processes decreases the likelihood of food insecurity in post-conflict societies.   Second is promoting and protecting the right to food by targeting the specific nutrition needs of women and girls, and accelerating the transformation toward more equitable, gender-responsive, and sustainable food systems, as well as equitable access to inputs, technologies, and markets by women.   Third is enhancing gender statistics and sex-disaggregated data to build the evidence base for gender-responsive policy, planning, and reconstruction measures, and to track and monitor the gender-related impacts of food insecurity and energy poverty on women and girls.   Fourth is including food security interventions in peace processes. Sustaining peace encompasses activities aimed at preventing the outbreak, escalation, continuation, and recurrence of conflict, including addressing root causes and moving toward recovery, reconstruction, and development.   Opportunities exist for interventions supporting food and nutrition security and agricultural livelihoods to contribute to conflict prevention and sustaining peace and gender equality—so that not only the symptoms but also the root causes of conflicts are addressed.   In 2018, the United Nations Security Council passed a historic resolution recognizing that hunger drives forced displacement—and, conversely, that forced displacement can have a devastating impact on agricultural production. Hunger will never be eliminated without global peace. This resolution called on all parties to armed conflict to comply fully with international humanitarian law and to protect civilian infrastructure critical for the proper functioning of food production and supply systems. International humanitarian law sets out measures to mitigate the impact of armed conflict on civilians.   What is without doubt is that empowering women and girls can end hunger for good and transform whole communities in the process.   http://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/op-ed/2024/03/op-ed-how-conflict-drives-hunger-for-women-and-girls   Starvation as a weapon of war must stop. (The Lancet)   The theme of World Health Day on April 7 is ‘my health, my right’, underscoring the UN's assertion that “every human being is entitled to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health conducive to living a life in dignity”.   In this week's issue, the report from Under threat: the International AIDS Society–Lancet Commission on Health and Human Rights examines the steady deterioration of the global commitment to human rights in the 21st century, with serious and increasingly damaging effects on health.   Shockingly, one of the most basic of rights, access to food, remains unattainable for the 691 to 783 million people who were food insecure in 2022. In conflict zones, where nearly 60% or 158 million hungry people live, conflict has displaced populations, destroyed economies and infrastructure, and led to high prices for scarce goods.   Moreover, the destruction of the food supply can be deliberately used to starve people as a weapon of war, which has been more commonplace since 2010. One stark and distressing current example: the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has stated that there is a plausible case that Israel is now using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Why is starving people to death increasingly occurring and why do countries and the UN allow it to continue?   According to Alex DeWaal, the Director of the World Peace Foundation, about two-thirds of the people facing hunger “live in war or violence zones”.   Sudan, for example, is facing a famine due to conflict with nearly 18 million people experiencing acute food insecurity. In Ukraine, 11 million people are hungry, owing to Russia's targeting of Ukrainian ports and grain production.   Aid budgets are insufficient for delivering food aid to war zones and aid itself is dependent upon negotiations with warring parties. In Yemen in 2014, the Saudi-backed coalition effectively blockaded the ports in a country that already had widespread malnourishment. Only once widespread mortality had set in was a truce agreed upon. The inevitable outcome was that by the start of 2022, UNDP estimated that the conflict had caused more than 377 000 deaths, with 60% of these deaths the result of hunger, lack of health care, and unsafe water.   Accountability mechanisms are important, but only when heeded. One such initiative is the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), convened by a Famine Review Committee (FRC), of leading humanitarian agencies. The FRC uses a standardised five-point scale to measure hunger, as an early warning system to begin aid before people are starving. For the Famine classification to be declared, an area must have at least 20% of households facing an extreme lack of food, at least 30% of children suffering from acute malnutrition, and two people for every 10 000 dying each day due to starvation or malnutrition and disease. Application of the scale in Gaza concluded that Gaza was above IPC Acute Food Insecurity Phase V (Catastrophe) thresholds. The FRC's calls of Catastrophe have so far not led to sufficient aid reaching the Gazan population.   Despite attempts by combatants and countries to justify starvation of a civilian population as an outcome of war, the Nobel Prize winner in Economics, Amartya Sen argues otherwise. He said, when talking about the Great Bengal and Ethiopian Famines, that understanding starvation necessitates understanding entitlements. Existing economic systems allow some people to be entitled to food, while others are allowed to starve.   This is often the case in conflict zones, where those with means might be able to barter until food aid arrives or they are able to leave the conflict zone. As a result, the most vulnerable, such as pregnant and lactating women and their babies, suffer the greatest burden in terms of morbidity and mortality.   What can be done to hold perpetrators of starvation accountable? Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, have been powerful voices expressing outrage when the rules of war have been violated. They have used their offices courageously to criticise member-states that have broken international humanitarian law. But, as the International AIDS Society–Lancet Commission correctly points out, the UN Security Council inconsistently addresses and rarely enforces international human rights law in conflict settings.   The reality is that geopolitical rivalries prevent collective political action to stop inhumane and illegal actions by rogue governments. As wars worsen and leave deep scars in the moral conscience of the international community, health leaders must insist on the centrality of human rights to protect vulnerable and innocent populations struggling in conflict settings. The use of starvation as a weapon of war is a crime that must be prosecuted and punished to protect the most basic right of all: human dignity.   http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00684-6/fulltext http://www.thelancet.com/commissions/health-and-human-rights   Apr. 2024   30th anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker:   "Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, I grieve the more than one million men, women and children who were killed in cold blood in barely 100 days – the vast majority of them Tutsi, and some Hutu, Twa and others who courageously opposed the genocide. The victims must never be forgotten.   I also salute the many hundreds of thousands of survivors for their bravery. Their resilient pursuit of justice, unity and reconciliation over the decades should inspire us all.   I urge States everywhere to redouble their efforts to bring all surviving suspected perpetrators to justice – including through universal jurisdiction – and to combat hate speech and incitement to commit genocide. The Rwandan genocide may have erupted on 7 April 1994, but it was rooted in years of dehumanizing hatred, incitement and discrimination.   The tragic events of 1994 in Rwanda should forever shock the conscience of humanity and be a constant reminder to States of the need to do everything in their power to prevent the crime of genocide worldwide".   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/04/comment-un-high-commissioner-human-rights-volker-turk-ahead-30th-anniversary http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/02/rwanda-genocide-archives-released   Apr. 2024   UN Committee on the Rights of the Child cancels upcoming session due to UN Funding Crisis, highlights Bede Sheppard - Deputy Director, Children's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch   In an unprecedented move, the United Nations committee of independent child rights experts has cancelled an upcoming series of meetings due to lack of funds. The shortfall was caused by the failure of some countries to pay their membership dues.   This is the latest example of the UN’s human rights monitoring role being undermined by a lack of budgeted funds, and comes on the heels of vacancy freezes at the global organization, and a forced reduction of field investigations conducted by its rights experts.   At the now-cancelled session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the experts were expected to meet – in a safe and confidential manner – with children, civil society organizations, and UN agencies to discuss the child rights records of eight countries.   The cancellation means less scrutiny of developments in Ecuador, where escalating violence and organized crime activity is having a dire impact on children’s rights, particularly girls who have a right to study in safety.   It also means the situation in Ethiopia may further fly under the radar, even as children are killed, injured, and sexually assaulted; and schools attacked and used by military forces, in the conflicts in the country’s north.   The experts will no longer have the opportunity to learn about girls from Indonesia who may have been forced to leave school or withdraw under pressure, due to their decision not to follow local mandatory hijab regulations.   It will now be more difficult for the committee to learn about the ill treatment of children in government-run detention centers in Iraq, or the government’s failure to prohibit corporal punishment against children. And the voices of girls unable to exercise their right to education in Pakistan will continue to be silenced. If the committee cannot learn about these problems, they also cannot make recommendations for change.   Deadbeat governments that haven’t paid their assessed contributions should pay their fair share of the UN’s budget. Otherwise, they are only helping child rights abusers evade being held to account.   http://childrightsconnect.org/joint-letter-on-the-cancellation-of-the-crc-may-pre-session http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/04/child-rights-abuses-go-unchallenged-due-un-funding-crisis http://www.ohchr.org/en/treaty-bodies/crc   28 Mar. 2024   Cancellation of UN climate weeks removes platform for worst-hit communities, writes Dulce Marrumbe head of advocacy at WaterAid’s regional office for Southern Africa. (Climate Home News)   The UNFCCC has said it will not hold regional climate weeks in 2024 due to a funding shortfall – which means less inclusion for developing-country voices.   If the world’s most vulnerable are not at the table, then UN climate talks are no longer fit for purpose.   This week, the UN climate change body (UNFCCC) confirmed that this year’s Regional Climate Weeks will be cancelled until further notice due to lack of funding.   The update comes shortly after UNFCCC chief Simon Stiell made an urgent plea at the Copenhagen Climate Ministerial last week to plug the body’s funding gap, stating that it is facing “severe financial challenges” – putting a rising workload at risk due to “governments’ failure to provide enough money”.   The suspension of the Regional Climate Weeks is hugely disappointing news. It means that a vital platform to express the concerns of people and communities most affected by climate change has been taken away.   The climate weeks are a vital opportunity to bring a stronger regional voice – those who are footing the bill in developing countries for a crisis they have done the least to cause – to the international table in the lead-up to the UN COP climate summits.   Last year we saw four regional climate weeks. These attracted 26,000 participants in 900 sessions and brought together policymakers, scientists and other experts from the multiple regions, with fundamental contributions feeding into the COP28 agenda.   Extremes of both drought and floods are threatening people’s access to the essentials they need to survive. Around the world, ordinary people – farmers, community leaders, family members – are doing everything they can to try to adapt to the realities of life on the frontlines of climate change.   Each Regional Climate Week provides a vital platform for those shouldering the heaviest burden of the climate crisis – such as women and girls, people experiencing marginalisation, and Indigenous communities – to share their experiences, expertise, and unique perspectives.   The climate crisis is a water crisis, and the people on the frontlines of this crisis are vital to solving it. With leadership and participation from those vulnerable communities and groups, we are all better equipped to try to adapt to our changing climate – and to ensure that everyone, everywhere has climate-resilient water, sanitation and hygiene.   Each and every UN climate conference matters. We urgently need global governments to fuel their words with action, open their wallets and prioritise the voices, experiences and solutions of those most affected by the climate crisis. If not, we’ll continue to see climate change wash away people’s futures.   http://www.wateraid.org/media/World-1.5c-breach-marks-cataclysmic-failure-in-protecting-the-most-vulnerable http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/over-24-million-people-southern-africa-face-hunger-malnutrition-and-water-scarcity-0 http://www.carbonbrief.org/climate-change-made-west-africas-dangerous-humid-heatwave-10-times-more-likely/ http://www.unicef.org/zimbabwe/press-releases/rising-heat-drought-and-disease-climate-crisis-poses-grave-risks-children-eastern http://reliefweb.int/report/angola/humanitarian-impact-el-nino-southern-africa-key-messages-march-2024   Apr. 2024   Fossil fuel companies have increased their output of fossil fuels and related emissions since the Paris Climate Agreement. (InfluenceMap Carbon Majors)   57 major oil, gas and coal producers are directly linked to 80% of the world’s global fossil CO2 emissions since the 2016 Paris climate agreement, a new Carbon Majors study has revealed.   This group of state-controlled corporations and shareholder-owned multinationals are the leading drivers of the climate crisis, according to the InfluenceMap Carbon Majors Database, which is compiled by world-renowned researchers.   Although governments pledged in the Paris Climate Agreement to cut greenhouse gases, the analysis reveals that most major producers increased their output of fossil fuels and related emissions in the seven years after that climate agreement, compared with the seven years before.   "The majority of fossil fuel companies totaled higher production in the seven years after the Paris Agreement compared to the seven-year period before. 65% of state-owned companies and 55% of investor-owned companies showed higher production in 2016–2022 than in 2009–2015".   "The increase in production by state- and investor-owned companies after the Paris Agreement compared to before is most prevalent in Asia. All 5 Asian investor-owned companies and 8 out of the 10 Asian state-owned entities are linked to higher emissions in 2016–2022 compared to 2009–2015. This is primarily shaped by rising emissions from Asian coal production".   In the database of 122 of the world’s biggest historical climate polluters, the researchers found that 65% of state entities and 55% of private-sector companies had scaled up production.   During this period, the biggest investor-owned contributor to emissions was ExxonMobil of the United States, which was linked to 3.6 gigatonnes of CO2 over seven years. Close behind were Shell, BP, Chevron and TotalEnergies. A striking trend, was the surging growth of emissions related to state and state-owned producers, particularly in Asia.   The fossil fuel expansion runs contrary to the warning by the International Energy Agency and leading climate scientists that no new oil, coal and gas fields can be opened if the world is to stay within safe limits of global heating.   Climate scientists have emphasized global temperatures are rapidly approaching the Paris target of 1.5C above the pre-industrial era, with potentially dire consequences for people and the rest of nature beyond this threshold.   “It is morally reprehensible for companies to continue expanding exploration and production of carbon fuels in the face of knowledge now for decades that their products are harmful,” said Richard Heede, who established the Carbon Majors dataset in 2013. “Don’t blame consumers who have been forced to be reliant on oil and gas due to government capture by oil and gas companies.”   The Carbon Majors database includes a comparison between long-term emissions trends dating back to 1854, and more recent developments since the 2016 Paris deal. The historical record encompasses 122 entities linked to 72% of all the fossil fuel and cement CO2 emissions since the start of the industrial revolution, which amounts to 1,421 gigatonnes.   In this long-term analysis, Chinese state coal production accounts for 14% of historic global C02, the biggest share by far in the database. This is more than double the proportion of the former Soviet Union, which is in second place, and more than three times higher than that of Saudi Aramco, which is in third.   Then comes the big US companies – Chevron and ExxonMobil, followed by Russian’s Gazprom and the National Iranian Oil Company. After that are two investor-owned European firms: BP and Shell and then Coal India.   The 21st century rise of Asia becomes apparent when the historical records are compared with data from 2016-2022. In this recent period, the China coal share leaps to more than a quarter of all CO2 emission, while Saudi Aramco goes up to nearly 5%. The top 10 in this modern era is dominated by Chinese and Russian state entities and filled out with those from India and Iran.   The picture may change again in the future. The United States is the world’s biggest oil and gas producer even if operations are fragmented among many different companies. The U.S. has granted licences to multiple new exploration projects. Gulf states are also planning to step up their output.   Richard Heede says that fossil fuel producers have a moral obligation to pay for the damages they have caused and exacerbated through their delaying tactics. He cites the proposal made by Mia Mottley, the prime minister of Barbados, for oil and gas companies to contribute at least 10 cents in every dollar to a climate loss and damage fund.   Daan Van Acker, program manager at InfluenceMap, said many of the entities in the Carbon Majors database were moving in the wrong direction for climate stability.   “InfluenceMap’s new analysis shows that this group is not slowing down production, with most entities increasing production after the Paris agreement. This research provides a crucial link in holding these energy giants to account on the consequences of their activities.”   "The Carbon Majors research shows us who is responsible for the lethal heat, extreme weather, and air pollution that is threatening lives and wreaking havoc on our environment. These companies have made billions of dollars in profits while denying the problem and delaying and obstructing climate policy".   "They are spending millions on advertising campaigns about being part of a sustainable solution, all the while continuing to invest in more fossil fuel extraction. These findings emphasize that, more than ever, we need our governments to stand up to these companies, to end the era of fossil fuels and ensure a truly just transition." - Tzeporah Berman, Chair at Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty   http://carbonmajors.org/briefing/The-Carbon-Majors-Database-26913 http://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/fossil-gas/the-supermajors-plans-could-kill-115-million-people/ http://globalenergymonitor.org/report/drilling-deeper-2024-global-oil-gas-extraction-tracker/ http://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-new-oil-and-gas-projects-since-2021-could-emit-14bn-tonnes-of-co2/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/04/global-large-companies-must-do-far-more-to-cut-carbon-emissions-and-limit-climate-damage/ http://insideclimatenews.org/news/04042024/fossil-fuel-companies-homicide-charge/ http://www.unicef.org/blog/urgent-need-child-centred-loss-and-damage-fund http://www.endchildhoodpoverty.org/publications-feed/climatechange   http://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-climate-adaptation-becomes-less-effective-as-the-world-warms/ http://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/climate-change-risk-to-price-stability-higher-average-temperatures-increase-inflation-1 http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-01173-x http://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/indians-may-already-be-experiencing-temperatures-close-to-limits-of-human-survivability-without-even-being-aware-95278 http://www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/latest-news/amazon-rainforest-at-the-threshold-loss-of-forest-worsens-climate-change http://wmo.int/news/media-centre/climate-change-indicators-reached-record-levels-2023-wmo
	View more stories