International Civil Aviation Organization. Top news of the day | Wednesday: Crimea, grain from Ukraine, Israel-Gaza, air transportation UN
The main news of the day in the UN and in the world: 10 years of occupation of Crimea, war crimes during the conflict in Gaza, Ukrainian wheat for Sudan, global passenger traffic above pre-pandemic levels.
Occupation of Crimea
The illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 led to the imposition of Russian citizenship, laws and orders in all spheres of life on the peninsula. Occupation authorities suppressed opposition, committing serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. This is stated in a report published on Wednesday prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to mark the ten-year anniversary of the events that led to the de facto secession of the peninsula from Ukraine.
Gaza conflict
The UN Human Rights Council will hear a report from OHCHR on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It said all parties to the Gaza conflict violated international humanitarian law and likely committed war crimes. The office is calling for further investigation to identify those responsible and overcome the situation of “entrenched impunity.” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called on Israel to stop using the practice of collective punishment, and on Palestinian militants to immediately release all hostages.
Ukrainian grain
Ukraine donated more than 7 thousand tons of wheat to the people of Sudan, where an armed conflict has been ongoing since April 2023. The volume of grain provided will be enough to feed about a million Sudanese for a month. The wheat was donated as part of the Grain from Ukraine initiative and will be distributed by the World Food Programme. Currently, nearly 18 million people in Sudan face severe food insecurity. WFP warns of looming catastrophic famine as lean season approaches.
Civil Aviation
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) projects that air passenger traffic will be 2 percent higher in the first quarter of 2024 than in 2019. Demand for air transport this year is expected to exceed pre-pandemic levels by about 3 percent. By the end of last year, air traffic on most routes had already reached or exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Despite high fuel prices and economic uncertainty, total airline operating income in 2023 is estimated at $39 billion, the same as 2019.