Bolivar Square in Caracas, Venezuela. Daily Top Stories | Friday: Russia, Gaza, Afghanistan, Venezuela, New UN Coordinator in Ukraine UN
The main news of the day in the UN and in the world: the situation in the Kursk region, comments of the Israeli minister on the need for a famine in Gaza, the Taliban ban on women’s participation in sports, arbitrary detentions of protesters in Venezuela, a new UN coordinator in Ukraine.
Victims in Russia and Ukraine
The UN Office for Human Rights (OHCHR) is concerned about reports of civilian casualties in the Kursk region of Russia, said OHCHR representative Elizabeth Throssell, answering a journalist’s question at a press briefing in Geneva. Meanwhile, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, commenting on the fighting in the area of the Kursk nuclear power plant, called on the parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid a nuclear accident. Meanwhile, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown condemned the strike, which killed and injured dozens of civilians in the city of Konstantinovka, Donetsk region.
The UN is shocked by the statement of the Israeli Finance Minister
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) spokesman Jeremy Lawrence said High Commissioner Volker Türk was “shocked and appalled” by comments by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich suggesting that allowing two million Palestinians in Gaza to die of starvation was “justifiable and moral” in order to free Israeli hostages. Türk condemned the comments “in the strongest possible terms,” which he said “incited hatred against innocent civilians.” Lawrence said starving civilians as a method of warfare and collective punishment of a population constituted a war crime.
Women’s Rights in Afghanistan
Independent UN experts have called on national and international sports bodies to take decisive action against the Taliban’s ban on women and girls in sports, calling it an unacceptable infringement on Afghan women’s rights. Despite the ban, Afghan female athletes living in exile are competing as part of the Afghan and refugee teams at the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. The country’s Olympic team does not wear the symbols of the current de facto authorities, and the Taliban does not recognize women as team members.
Protests in Venezuela
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has expressed concern about numerous cases of arbitrary detention of peaceful protesters, including children and adolescents, as well as journalists, members of political parties, human rights defenders and other protesters following the elections in Venezuela, which took place in late July. Volker Türk called on the authorities to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained and to put an end to this practice.
New UN Coordinator in Ukraine
On Sunday, Denise Braun will complete her two-year term as the UN Coordinator for Ukraine. The Secretary-General has appointed Matthias Schmale of Germany as the new Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the country. He will take up his duties on 11 August. Schmale previously served as a senior adviser in the UN Development Coordination Office and has held several positions with the UN Refugee Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and other humanitarian and development organizations.