Manfred Profazi, who is based in Vienna, Austria, has been touring some of the regions in Ukraine which have been most seriously affected by over 13 months of conflict following Russia’s full-scale invasion.

He has told UN News what he’s been seeing across the devastated country and how IOM has provided comfort to people forced to flee their homes due to the fighting and bombardment of civilian areas.

“Travelling in Ukraine these days isn’t easy. When I served as Chief of Mission for the International Organization for Migration from 2012 to 2017, it was possible to fly, or take one of the modern trains across the length and breadth of this vast country.

Now flying is completely impossible, and travel by train still fraught.

My journey this week in Ukraine, from Odesa and Mykolaiv in the south, Dnipro in the east, up to the capital Kyiv and again west to Lviv, was, for security reasons, by road.

It gave me ample time to reflect on the millions of Ukrainians that have taken the same roads to escape the danger and destruction since the start of the war.

Millions of people are in a state of flux, caught between being displaced in their own land, or with their families torn apart. Some stay in Ukraine because they cannot afford to leave, for some because leaving is simply not an option

Over 8 million Ukrainians have fled the country, another 5.3 million are internally displaced. Many people have been displaced several times. Some have travelled abroad, come back, settled, and left again as the frontline changes.

This feeling of dislocation even affects communities and people that have not relocated. Communities have been crushed, unsettled, scattered. The damage in places like Mykolaiv, and countless small towns and villages I passed through this week, scars the landscape and the emotions.

Mykolaiv has been under daily shelling for more than 250 days. Water pipes have been heavily hit. We see people queueing up for drinking water at public distribution points, some of them established by IOM, as we pass through the city. 

Rising from the rubble

The living conditions are very hard for locals and internally displaced people alike. And yet, people stay. People are returning. More than 5.6 million. People are adapting to being in new host communities, and are bringing their skills and their experience to help rebuild their new home.

Of course, rebuilding and reconstruction in the middle of a war is challenging, to put it mildly, but everywhere I went, I saw new infrastructure rising from the rubble. Much of it, I am proud and humbled to say, has been installed by IOM and by organizations working with us, and with local authorities, who have done so much to keep hope alive.

One of many examples is a mobile heating plant, essentially the hangar of a 40-tonne truck, specially adapted to provide heat to a children’s hospital, where hundreds of children – local and displaced – can receive uninterrupted treatment. Blackouts caused by the shelling brought the heating system down, and for several days, the young patients stayed in freezing conditions.

IOM Regional Director Manfred Profazi talks to Valeria about her life as a resident in an IOM-supported dormitory in Dnipro.

I was lucky enough to be able to hear first-person accounts of survival, of resilience, and even optimism from young and old alike. These stories, and the dedication of our staff, keep all of us motivated and focussed on our assistance, and on facilitating recovering without fostering dependency.

Looking back, I’m thinking of Valeriia and her son, who fled the destruction of Bakhmut and are now finally in decent accommodations, thanks to IOM-organized repair works to a dormitory in Dnipro.

She showed me photos of her home, now completely destroyed, and spoke wistfully of her market garden. Now she grows a few greens in a window box. Her son, a diligent student, follows his lessons on a mobile phone, as he doesn’t even have a laptop. They have not given up; they do whatever it takes to retain a simulacrum of normal life.

IOM’s integrated approach allows us to support displaced people and host communities on multiple levels and provide them with a full range of services from infrastructure to income-generation.

We will continue our efforts to support them as long as needed in all the ways we can.”

Read more here, about the work of IOM in Ukraine.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is stepping up efforts to help displaced and war-affected people cope with cold weather.

Children in conflict zones must be protected, not punished, said the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, together with Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, UN Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights while countering terrorism, in a joint statement.

“It is now time to bring them home,” they said. “Many children are now entering their fifth year of detention in northeast Syria, since they were detained by the de facto authorities following the fall of Baghouz in early 2019.”

They called on all actors to ensure the immediate safety and protection of all children, regardless of their location in northeastern Syria to prevent them from suffering further harm.

States have an obligation to protect vulnerable children from abuse and possible violations of their right to life, as recognized by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Victims of terrorism

“Their best interests as extremely vulnerable children must be reinstated as a guiding principle together with their primary status as victims of terrorism and as children in need of special protection under international law,” they said.

Al-Hol and Roj are the two largest locked camps for women, girls, and young boys, holding about 56,000 individuals, including 37,000 foreign nationals. Over half of the population in the camps are children, of which 80 per cent are under the age of 12 and 30 per cent under five.

There are also over 850 boys deprived of their liberty in prisons and other detention centres, including supposed rehabilitation centres, throughout northeast Syria.

Egregious rights violations

The mass detention of children for what their parents may have done is an egregious violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits all forms of discrimination and punishment of a child based on the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of their parents, the experts said.

“These children are detained without any legal basis, judicial authorization, review, control, or oversight, in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which affirms no child shall be deprived of liberty unlawfully or arbitrarily,” they said.

‘No place for children’

Most children have known nothing but conflict and closed camps, where the life conditions amount to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and pose an imminent risk to their lives, physical and mental integrity, and development.

“These squalid camps are no place for children to live with dignity,” the experts said. “They lack access to the most basic needs such as medical treatment and health services, food, water, and education.”

Protection, not punishment

Amid a deteriorating security situation, the experts said all children in this conflict zone deserve to be protected, not punished.

“These children are victims of terrorism and of very serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, and must be treated with dignity in all contexts, whether armed conflict or terrorism,” the experts said. “Safe return to their home countries, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is the only solution and must be prioritized.

“States must urgently repatriate children, together with their mothers – a solution that we now know is eminently feasible,” they said. “We note that it is of the utmost importance that comprehensive rehabilitation programmes are in place when children are repatriated.”

About Special Rapporteurs

Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. These independent experts are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations. They are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.

“The wave of deadly violence sweeping through the occupied West Bank since the beginning of this year is the inexorable consequence of an acquisitive and repressive occupation with no end in sight, and the culture of lawlessness and impunity Israel has nurtured and enjoyed,” UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese said in a statement. 

Tragic loss of life 

Recent months have been marked by escalating unrest between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel’s new hardline government has also pledged to expand West Bank settlements and annex occupied territory. 

Ms. Albanese is the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

She said Israeli violence – including the deadly raid in Jenin refugee camp on 26 January, in the old city of Nablus on 22 February, and in Jericho a week later – has left 80 Palestinians dead, and over 2,000 wounded, in less than 90 days.Thirteen Israelis also were killed by Palestinians during this period.  

“Every loss of life, whether Palestinian or Israeli, is a tragic reminder of the price people pay for not addressing pervasive injustice and its root causes,” she said.  

Repressive occupation, symbolic condemnation 

The rights expert noted that over the past decades, the international community has witnessed record-high numbers of Palestinian deaths and injuries.  

Meanwhile, Palestinians have also endured confinement, land confiscation, home demolitions, fragmentation, discriminatory law enforcement, mass incarceration and other countless abuses, indignities and humiliations.  

“Israel, emboldened by a lack of meaningful intervention, has consolidated its acquisitive and repressive occupation, with Member States offering little more than symbolic condemnation, humanitarians providing band-aid aid, and legal scholars entangled in theoretical debates,” she said.  

‘No equal parties’ 

Her statement urged the UN to “move beyond simply counting casualties and calling for restraint.” 

The Organization “cannot indulge in the condescending acceptance of an irresolvable ‘conflict’ and the myth of conflicting narratives, and in urging the ‘parties’ to ‘de-escalate tensions’ and ‘resume negotiations,’” she said. 

“In reality, there are no equal parties nor a proper ‘conflict,’ but rather an oppressive regime that threatens the right of an entire people to exist,” she insisted. 

Furthermore, “tolerating annexation would legitimise aggression, bringing international law back almost a century: this is the reality the international community must stop immediately and reverse.”  

Oppose annexation, support self-determination 

Ms. Albanese urged the international community to recommit to the ideals of the UN Charter, in the interest of both Palestinians and Israelis. 

“To maintain its credibility and purpose, the UN must acknowledge that conflicting narratives and historical facts must be resolved through the lens of legality and justice, and work effectively to oppose any forms of annexation of occupied territory, realise the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people and terminate the apartheid regime Israel is enforcing upon them.,” she advised.  

About Special Rapporteurs 

Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, which is based in Geneva. 

These independent experts are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations.  

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

Mr. Türk’s warning comes amid the reported harassment and prosecution of justice officials involved with the UN-backed International Commission against Impunity (CICIG), including, most recently, former Commissioner Francisco Dall’Anese.

The UN rights chief called on the Guatemalan authorities “to ensure judges and lawyers can function freely and without fear of reprisals”. An independent judiciary is “vital” for a democratic society, he insisted.

The International Commission against Impunity was an independent body established by a UN-Guatemala agreement in 2007 to carry out corruption probes. Its work ceased in September 2019 when its mandate was not renewed amid attacks by then-President Jimmy Morales.

Barred from standing

Mr. Türk also warned about potential violations of the right to participate in public affairs, as the candidacies of several presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the upcoming June elections were rejected by election authorities.

“I am also concerned that presidential and vice-presidential candidates from across the political spectrum, including Thelma Cabrera, Jordan Rodas and Roberto Arzú, have had their candidacies for the 25 June elections rejected by the Electoral Court on seemingly arbitrary grounds,” the High Commissioner said.

Thelma Cabrera was the only indigenous candidate running for president until the decision to disqualify her from the race. Appeals on all three cases are currently before the Supreme Court.

Judicial independence at risk

Mr. Türk stressed that “the right to participate in public affairs, including the right to vote and to stand for election, is an internationally recognized human right,” adding that judiciary authorities should “decide matters before them impartially, on the basis of facts and in accordance with the law, without any restrictions or improper influence”.

Earlier this year, the UN rights chief sounded the alarm on similar reprisals in Guatemala, as the country’s Special Prosecutor’s Office against impunity announced arrest warrants against three justice officials, including a former CICIG staffer.

Surge in harassment

When presenting his report on Guatemala to the Human Rights Council in March, Mr. Türk pointed out that between 2021 and 2022, his office had documented a more than 70 per cent increase in the number of justice officials facing intimidation and criminal charges in the country.

The harassment was related to the officials’ work on corruption or human rights violations, particularly those that occurred in the context of the civil war from 1960 to 1996. Some had left the country, fearing for their safety.

Guatemala’s human rights record was examined in January 2023 under the Universal Periodic Review. A significant number of recommendations made as part of that process, by other Member States, were related to the need to guarantee the independence of the judiciary, protect justice officials, and strengthen anti-corruption measures and the rule.