Human Rights

The UN’s refugee agency on Friday said that Europe has hosted only a “miniscule” number of Syrian refugees, and needs to do more the help Syria’s neighbors shoulder the refugee burden. “We’re calling on European countries to strengthen their response to the Syrian crisis.We’re urging states to ensure access to their territory, we’re urging states to ensure fair and efficient …

Article and photos by Mohammed Omer in Gaza July 9, 2014: I am writing this as ambulance and rescue crews continue to search for bodies. Among the ones they have uncovered so far are those of 4-year-old Mohammed Nawasra, whose body was found underneath the ruins of his home in the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, his …

The Gaza Health Ministry has so far confirmed the deaths of 82 Palestinians in Gaza due to Israeli air strikes which started on Tuesday. The deadliest strikes happened on Tuesday and on Thursday, both causing eight deaths – Tuesday’s strike tore down a house in southern Gaza, while Thursday’s strike took out a home in Khan Younis. Of the 82 …

IRAQ: More than 1,000 killed in Iraq violence in June 500,000 existing refugee population in Iraq 300,000 additional refugees throughout June as fighting between Islamist militants and the government continued (Sources: http://online.wsj.com/articles/refugee-numbers-in-iraq-rise-by-300-000-amid-fighting-1402665943, http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/iraq-violence-killed-more-1-000-june-united-nations-n139116, http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48117) SYRIA: 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon 35 percent of Lebanon’s population are Syrian refugees 30,000 people, including Lebanese, without access to safe drinking water 20 percent unemployment rate in Lebanon, compared to 10 percent last year …

On Tuesday, the United Nations warned that thousands of female Syrian refugees were caught in a “spiral of hardship, isolation and anxiety”, either separated from their husbands or widowed, and struggling to survive. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN agency for refugees, said in a new report that the plight of about 145,000 Syrian refugee women …

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday said that Iraqi forces were shored up around Baghdad but will need external help to regain some of the territory it lost to the militant offensive sweeping across the nation. He added that American military advisers were evaluating the Iraqi army’s condition, and suggested that US military …

On Thursday, the United Nations said that it does not expect a let-up in the number of Syrian refugees fleeing to neighboring Jordan and asked for funds to help Jordan cope with the influx. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of Syrian refugees in Jordan is expected to increase by up to 33% and reach …

On Thursday, the Human Rights Watch said that women in Syria have been victims of unreasonable unrest, discrimination, harassment and torture at the hands of both rebel and government forces during the three-year conflict. The global rights group, in its report, urged international leaders to “hold those responsible for such abuses to account”. Liesl Gerntholtz, women’s rights director at Human …

On Wednesday, A Palestinian teenager was abducted and killed in a possible act of revenge for the murder of three Israeli youths by militants, triggering clashes in east Jerusalem. Palestinian leaders condemned the killing, and held Israel responsible for it, demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government act to prevent any revenge attacks. “I demand the Israeli government punish the killers …

International Rights group Amnesty International has gathered evidence which suggests that extrajudicial executions of detainees have been conducted by Shi’ite militias and government forces in the cities of Mosul, Ba’quba and Tal ‘Afar. Relatives of those executed and surviving detainees had given graphic, detailed accounts of the executions, which suggest that Iraqi forces had carried out several vindictive attacks against …