Military aircraft dropped bombs and fired on a crowd of people in Kanbulu Township, located in Sagaing Region, who had gathered that morning for the opening of a new town hall, according to media reports.

Guterres condemns attack 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned the attack and called for those responsible to be held accountable, his Spokesperson said in a statement. 

Mr. Guterres offered his deepest condolences to the families of the victims.  He also called for the injured to be allowed urgent medical treatment and access to assistance. 

“The Secretary-General condemns all forms of violence and reaffirms the primacy of protection of civilians, in accordance with international humanitarian law,” the statement said. 

End the violence 

Myanmar’s military seized power in February 2021 following disputed elections the previous November, detaining democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other top officials. 

Thousands of people have been killed since the coup, and the UN continues to speak out against the ensuing repression, human rights violations and abuses. 

The Secretary-General reiterated his appeal for the military to “end the campaign of violence against the Myanmar population throughout the country”, in line with a Security Council resolution adopted in December. 

Resolution 2669 demands an immediate end to all forms of violence in Myanmar. It further calls for restraint, de-escalation of tensions and the release of all prisoners. 

Rights chief ‘horrified’ 

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, also issued a statement, saying he was “horrified” by reports of the airstrikes. 

“It appears schoolchildren performing dances, as well as other civilians, attending an opening ceremony at the hall in Pazi Gyi village, Kanbalu Township were among the victims. A helicopter gunship then reportedly fired on those fleeing the hall,” he said. 

The UN rights chief noted that despite clear legal obligations for the military to protect civilians in the conduct of hostilities, “there has been blatant disregard for the related rules of international law.” 

Hope for accountability  

He called on all parties to take “all feasible precautions” to protect civilians from the effects of attacks, including by avoiding locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas. 

“As I have previously noted, there are reasonable grounds to believe that the military and its affiliated militias are responsible for an extremely broad range of human rights violations and abuses since 1 February 2021, some of which may constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes,” Mr. Turk said. 

“I firmly believe the international justice processes now underway will one day hold the military leadership accountable for such crimes,” he added. 

Mr. Guterres’s appeal came as the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, warned about the ongoing crisis faced by people displaced by violence from Somalia to Ethiopia.

Relocation for the most vulnerable has begun, said UNHCR, after an uptick in violence in northern Somalia’s Lascanood city pushed close to 100,000 people to flee to a remote area of Ethiopia’s Somali region in the past two months.

“Since clashes started in mid-February, thousands of people have arrived in the Somali region of Ethiopia seeking safety,” said UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado. “As of last week, 91,000 people had been registered by the Ethiopian authorities.”

Ms. Sarrado added that although the pace of arrivals had slowed, refugees continue to show up, fleeing ongoing violence in Somalia.

Ethiopia currently hosts a total of nearly 990,000 refugees from neighbouring countries including South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan.

Thousands of unaccompanied children

According to UNHCR, most of the refugees arriving from Somalia are women, children and older people, including “more than 3,400 unaccompanied and separated children and adolescents”.

Ms. Sarrado said that these young refugees had told UNHCR “harrowing stories” of how they became separated from their families when clashes began and have since been unable to re-establish contact with their family members.

Relocating the most vulnerable

Now, a relocation of some of the refugees is underway, “with 1,036 of the most vulnerable people transferred from border areas to a new settlement over the past three days”, Ms. Sarrado said.

Transportation to a new site, located some 50 kilometres from the border in Mirqaan, Bokh district, is being organized by the Ethiopian authorities with UNHCR and partners.

Better protection and services

Ms. Sarrado said that “the Government of Ethiopia has generously allocated 400 hectares where refugees can settle and access existing services, such as health care, water and education”, adding that “UNHCR continues to engage with local authorities and leaders to assess gaps in basic services, so support benefits both refugees and Ethiopians as well”.

With needs on the rise, the establishment of the new site is designed to help provide newly arrived refugees who have been living in precarious conditions with shelter, core relief items, food and water.

Ms. Sarrado explained that “relocation is taking place because [refugees] were settling at the border with Somalia, they were sleeping outdoors, the areas where they were staying started to be overcrowded, leading to increased protection risks”.

A multi-faceted crisis

The fighting in Lascanood, which is the capital of the Sool region and part of the breakaway territory of Somaliland, has opposed Somaliland troops and a local clan claiming the town.

In a joint statement in February this year, the United Nations and an international coalition of partners condemned the violence and expressed concern about attacks against civilians, calling for “unhindered humanitarian access” to the remote area in order to “urgently address the needs of those displaced and impacted by the ongoing violence”.

In March, UNHCR and humanitarian partners launched a $116 million inter-agency emergency refugee response plan to respond to critical needs faced by refugees and host communities in the area.

Just last week, in its latest update on the crisis, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the situation has escalated “at a time when people in Sool Region are experiencing unprecedented water shortages due to severe drought and facing an elevated risk of disease outbreaks”.

Both Somalia and neighbouring Ethiopia have been hit hard by a historic five years of drought in the Horn of Africa. 

Support for Somalia

Speaking in Mogadishu on Tuesday at a press encounter with the President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, UN chief Mr. Guterres said that “Somali people deserve the solidarity of the international community”.

He called for urgent funding for the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan for the country, currently only 15 per cent funded. 

“We are deeply concerned at reports that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are going missing and are at high risk of being trafficked within the UK,” the three experts, or Special Rapporteurs, said in a statement.

Local authority responsibility

They said that instead of being housed in hotels, children should be placed in the care of local authorities, where they can be properly looked after.

“The current policy of placing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in hotels places them outside of the UK child protection system and is discriminatory,” they added, noting that failures and gaps in child protection heighten risks of trafficking.

They stressed the urgent need to trace the missing children, and to provide human rights-compliant reception conditions and protection, for unaccompanied children seeking asylum – without discrimination on grounds of nationality, migration status, race, ethnicity and gender.

“The UK Government appears to be failing to abide by its core obligations under international human rights law”, the experts said.

Hundreds still unaccounted for

They noted reports that 4,600 unaccompanied children have been housed in six hotels since June 2021, and that 440 of them had disappeared. Some 220 remained unaccounted for as of 23 January this year, the majority of whom were Albanian nationals.

“The practice has allegedly developed in a climate of increasing hostility towards victims of trafficking and contemporary forms of slavery, refugees, asylum seekers and migrants,” the Human Rights Council-appointed experts said.

Some Members of Parliament have reportedly been critical of victims of trafficking seeking protection under the UK’s Modern Slavery Act and the National Referral Mechanism, undermining the Government’s obligation to protect victims and prevent them from being potentially trafficked.

The experts added that they have been in contact with the UK Government regarding their serious concerns.

Special Rapporteurs and other independent experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. They monitor and report on specific country situations or thematic issues.

They are not UN staff and do not receive payment for their work.

The centre, run by the Diké organization, provides a host of services to the LBGTI+ community, including sexual healthcare, psychological care, human rights education, advocacy activities and safe shelter for those who need it, including migrants and displaced persons.

It is supported by the Spotlight Initiative, a global partnership between the European Union and the United Nations to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls.

Find out more about the centre, and read the stories of some of those who see it as a safe space, here.

“We mourn the more than one million children, women, and men who perished in one hundred days of horror 29 years ago,” António Guterres said in his annual commemorative message on the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

He went on to say that: “We honour the memory of the victims – the overwhelming majority Tutsi, but also Hutu and others who opposed the genocide. We pay tribute to the resilience of the survivors. We recognize the journey of the Rwandan people towards healing, restoration, and reconciliation. And we remember – with shame – the failure of the international community.”

From hate speech, to hate crime

“A generation since the genocide, we must never forget what happened – and ensure future generations always remember,” said the UN chief, how easily hate speech – a key indicator of the risk of genocide – turns to hate crime and how “complacency in the face of atrocity is complicity.”

No place, and no time is immune to danger – including our own.

Stand firm against intolerance

Mr. Guterres stressed that preventing genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other serious violations of international law, is a shared responsibility and a “core duty” of every member of the United Nations.

Calling for everyone, in all nations, to stand firm against rising intolerance, be ever vigilant – and always ready to act – he concluded: “And let us truly honour the memory of all Rwandans who perished by building a future of dignity, security, justice, and human rights for all.”

The Memorial Ceremony to mark the 29th anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda will be held at UN Headquarters in NY on Friday, 14 April, featuring addresses by the Secretary-General, the President of the UN General Assembly, and other officials, as well as remarks from a survivor of the genocide.

A wreath laying and lighting of candles, as well as a ceremony featuring statements from senior UN officials and testimonies from survivors, will be held at the UN Office in Geneva on Thursday, 13 April.

José Francisco Calí Tzay, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, expressed hope that governments will follow the Holy See’s lead, noting that its impact is still being felt today. 

‘Open wound’ 

“The doctrine of discovery is still an open wound for many Indigenous Peoples around the world,” he said. “It must be addressed as part of a reconciliation process between Indigenous Peoples and colonial States.” 

The papal doctrine was used to claim indigenous territories in the Americas, Africa and elsewhere in the world.  

Mr. Calí Tzay commended the Vatican’s recognition of the harmful effects of colonisation, including the pain suffered by Indigenous Peoples.  He welcomed Pope Francis’s call to abandon the colonising mentality and promote mutual respect and dialogue. 

‘Important step’ 

“The Holy See has taken an important step towards reconciliation and healing with Indigenous Peoples by rejecting all concepts that fail to recognise their inherent human rights,” he said.  

“The doctrine was recognised as vesting a unilateral right of European colonial powers to claim superior sovereignty and rights over Indigenous Peoples’ lands and resources, based on their supposed lack of civilisation and religion.”  

He added that it continues to have a negative impact on indigenous rights in some countries. 

Tool of deprivation 

He said the Doctrine of Discovery provides a legal basis to unilaterally deprive Indigenous Peoples of their rights to title and ownership of their traditional lands and territories by States that continue to use this legal theory as part of their national law, legislation, and jurisprudence, particularly in relation to land disputes. 

The UN expert noted that this was among the root causes of intergenerational trauma suffered by Indigenous Peoples, as currently manifested in high rates of suicide among youth, over-representation in the criminal justice system, disproportionate violence against women and girls, and racial discrimination. 

Review and repudiate 

He urged all States that still uphold the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ to follow the Vatican’s lead in formally repudiating the decree and reviewing all jurisprudence and legislation that relies on it. 

Special Rapporteurs like Mr. Cali Tzay, and other UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts, are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations, as part of the Council’s Special Procedures.  

They are not UN staff and do not receive any compensation for their work.