This is being compounded by an increase in child and forced marriage, and the recruitment of boys by combatants in the continuing war between rival generals that erupted nearly a year ago.

All this is happening against the backdrop of the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in the country that has caused an unprecedented mass displacement of over nine million people.

Access to support for victims and survivors has reportedly deteriorated since December, eight months after the outbreak of conflict between Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), the Human Rights Council-appointed experts said.

Girls sold at ‘slave markets’

Young women and girls, including internally displaced persons, are reportedly being trafficked, they said.

“We are appalled by reports of women and girls being sold at slave markets in areas controlled by RSF forces and other armed groups, including in North Darfur,” the experts said.

Some of the cases of child and forced marriage are occurring due to family separation and gender-based violence, including rape and unwanted pregnancies. 

“Despite previous warnings to both Sudanese authorities and RSF representatives, we continue to receive reports of recruitment of children to actively participate in hostilities, including from a neighbouring country,” the experts said. 

“The recruitment of children by armed groups for any form of exploitation – including in combat roles – is a gross violation of human rights, a serious crime and a violation of international humanitarian law,” they said. 

Special Rapporteurs and other independent experts are not UN staff and are independent of any government or organization. They serve in their individual capacity and receive no salary for their work.

Mass grave found in Libya highlights migrant horrors

A mass grave has been found in southwest Libya containing at least 65 migrants who are believed to have died while being smuggled through the desert.

According to the UN migration agency (IOM), which sounded the alarm on Friday, increasing numbers of people are dying on dangerous routes to northern Africa and beyond.

Without legal pathways for migrants, “such tragedies will continue to be a feature along this route,” the agency warned.

Questions remain

The circumstances are not clear surrounding the deaths of those found in the mass grave and their nationalities are also unknown. 

Libyan authorities had launched an inquiry, IOM said, urging the “dignified recovery, identification and transfer of the remains of the deceased migrants” and for their families to be notified.

According to the UN agency’s Missing Migrants Project, at least 3,129 people died or disappeared in 2023 along the so-called “Mediterranean route”. 

Even before the discovery of the mass grave, it was already the deadliest migratory route in the world.

Massive rise in displacement in DR Congo poses dire threat to children

A major upsurge in violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo that has displaced at least 400,000 people in North Kivu since the beginning of the year is exposing children to unacceptable levels of violence, said the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Friday.

At-risk children must receive further protection to avoid more deaths, the agency added.

In the latest incident on Wednesday highlighting the spillover of the conflict into South Kivu province, an explosion in the town of Minova seriously injured four children who required hospital treatment.

Schoolchildren bombed

“It is tragic that at a busy time of day when many children were returning home from school, this explosion from a bomb maimed four innocent children,” said Katya Marino, UNICEF Deputy Representative to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “The town is already under incredible strain with massive numbers of new arrivals of internally displaced people.”

More than 95,000 newly displaced people, half of whom are children, arrived in Minova in February as the conflict in North Kivu expanded.

Over the past week, UNICEF and local partners distributed essential household supplies in Minova to more than 8,300 newly displaced families. The area is now increasingly difficult to access with assistance, either by road or boat.

UNICEF has been assisting children affected by the conflict there with a package of basic but essential services since 2023 while supporting community-based networks to refer and protect children caught up in the fighting between numerous rebel groups and government forces.

Mahamat Said Abdel Kani – a top-ranking leader of the mostly-Muslim Séléka militia – pleaded not guilty to all charges, which relate to atrocities carried out in 2013, in the Central African Republic capital, Bangui.

Much of the violence stemmed for clashes between Séléka and the mostly-Christian Anti-balaka faction.

Occupation

Before the crimes were committed, from late 2012 to early 2013, Séléka militia advanced towards the capital, attacking police stations, occupying military bases, capturing towns and regional capitals, and targeting suspected supporters of President François Bozizé.

They seized Bangui in March 2013 and with forces numbering up to 20,000, looted homes while searching for sympathisers of Mr. Bozize, shot those fleeing in the back or killed others in their homes.

“Women and girls were raped and gang-raped in front of their children or parents; some died as a result of their injuries,” the arrest warrant for Mr. Said stated.

Civilians targetted

“Part of the civilian population was targeted through multiple acts of murder, imprisonment, torture, rape, persecution on political, ethnic and religious grounds, and pillaging of houses belonging to non-Muslims and others perceived to be complicit with or supportive of the Bozizé government,” the warrant continued.

Mr. Kani’s charge sheet includes imprisonment, torture, persecution, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts, committed in Bangui between approximately April and November 2013.

He saw “oversaw the day-to-day operations” of an infamous detention centre where men were taken after being arrested by Séléka members.

Appalling conditions

“Prisoners were held in small, dark, crowded cells with only a bucket as a toilet and little or no food, causing detainees to drink their own urine,” the ICC statement read.

Detainees were whipped with strips of rubber, beaten with rifle butts and told: “We’re going to kill you one by one”.

It was common for prisoners to spend several hours in a specific stress position so painful that some “would ask to be killed”. The position, known as “arbatacha”, involved tying a detainee’s hands and legs are tied behind their back, with their legs touching their elbows.

Extracting confessions

Mr. Said allegedly referred to the technique as “the most effective to obtain confessions”, the ICC warrant explained, while also noting that he was responsible for deciding which prisoners should be transferred to an underground cell located under his office.

At another detention centre known as CEDAD, where conditions were described as “inhumane”, the court maintained that Mr. Said was the “operations commander” and “kept a list of persons to be arrested” or ordered their arrest.

The trial continues.

“The scale of human rights violations is unprecedented in Haiti’s modern history,” Volker Türk said in a video statement to the UN Human Rights Council, part of an interactive dialogue on his most recent report on the Caribbean country. 

“This is a humanitarian catastrophe for an already exhausted people.”

State of emergency 

Speaking in French, Mr. Türk said the already alarming situation in Haiti has deteriorated in recent week as gangs launched attacks against police stations, prisons, critical infrastructure and other public and private facilities.

A state of emergency is in effect but while institutions are collapsing, a transitional government is not yet in place following the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry three weeks ago.  

“The Haitian population cannot wait any longer,” he said.

Record violence 

Meanwhile, escalating violence has had devastating impacts on the population, with a shocking increase in murders and kidnappings.

Between 1 January and March 20 alone, 1,434 people died and 797 others were injured in gang-related violence. Mr. Türk said this was the most violent period since his office began monitoring gang-related killings, injuries, and kidnappings more than two years ago. 

Sexual violence, particularly against women and girls, is pervasive and has most likely reached record levels. 

More than 360,000 Haitians are now displaced, and roughly 5.5 million, mainly children, are dependent on humanitarian aid. Although 44 per cent of the population is facing food insecurity, delivery of additional aid is becoming almost impossible.

Mr. Türk recalled his visit to the capital Port-au-Prince just over a year ago, where he met two young girls. One had been gang-raped and the other had survived a bullet to the head. He warned that an entire generation is at risk of being victims of trauma, violence and deprivation. 

“We must end this suffering. And we must allow the children of Haiti to know what it is to feel safe, to not be hungry, to have a future,” he said. 

Protect people, ensure aid access 

In his report, the High Commissioner called for restoring some degree of law and order as an immediate priority to further protect Haiti’s people from violence and ensure access to humanitarian assistance. 

This will require close cooperation with the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission, authorized by the UN Security Council last October, whose deployment he hoped was imminent. 

“All measures taken to restore security must fully comply with human rights standards,” he said, adding that “humanitarian corridors must be established as soon as possible.”

Give Haitians hope 

Mr. Türk urged all stakeholders in Haiti to put the national interest at the heart of their discussions so that agreement can be reached on the arrangements for the transitional government. 

“The transitional authorities must strive to create the conditions necessary for free and fair elections to be held. They must also begin the process of strengthening police and judicial institutions in order to reestablish the rule of law and, therefore, put an end to impunity,” he said. 

The protection of children must also be an absolute priority, including those recruited by armed gangs.  In this regard, he highlighted the need for reintegration programmes, including prolonged psychosocial support as well as guaranteed access to quality education and healthcare.

He also called for the international community to take stronger measures to prevent the illicit supply, sale, diversion or transfer to Haiti of light weapons, small arms and ammunition. 

“It is time to end the political impasse, urgently rebuild peace, stability and security in the country, and give Haitians the hope they so desperately need,” he said. Check out our UN News explainer video from last week on the crisis:

Turn words to action: Haiti representative 

The Permanent Representative of Haiti to the UN in Geneva, Justin Viard, hailed the High Commissioner’s report and underscored the deep challenges that Haitians are facing. 

He stressed that the international community and Haiti must act together to address both the gangs and the root causes of the crisis, which include widespread unemployment, a failing educational system and food insecurity.

“We must move from words to concrete actions,” he said. “We cannot allow for Haiti to one day show up in a page of history as an example of the powerlessness of the international community or the abandonment of the population of a UN Member State.”

Strengthen human rights 

The UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada Al-Nashif, was in the room to answer questions from country and civil society representatives. 

She spoke of engagement around the UN-backed multinational support mission that will assist the Haitian National Police to ensure that it complies with relevant international human rights standards.

“All this means that the capacities of the human rights service will require more strengthening in certain areas, particularly, for example, violence against children,” she said.

No escape: rights expert

The High Commissioner’s designated expert on the human rights situation in Haiti, William O’Neill, was also present to respond to questions, noting that insecurity was the chief concern raised and “everything else flows from that.” 

He said the airport in Port-au-Prince has been closed for more than four weeks, while gangs control access to all major roads in and out of the city, meaning that “there is no escape – air, land or sea”.

Mr. O’Neill reported that Haiti’s largest hospital has basically been emptied out, “and today we heard that a gang has overtaken and taken over the whole premises, what’s left of it.”

Support Haiti’s police

Highlighting the deployment of the UN-backed multinational mission, he emphasized its supporting role, stating that it is “not an occupation”. 

Although the mission will boost Haiti’s police, he said the national force will also need intelligence support, assets such as drones, and the means to intercept gang communications and halt illicit financial flows to them.

“They need some vetting,” he added.  “There’s some Haitian National Police, unfortunately, that are still in connivance with the gangs and that’s got to be addressed.”

The justice system, currently “on its knees”, will also need assistance with investigating and prosecuting gang leaders when it is back to functioning.

Stop the slide

Echoing the UN human rights chief, Mr. O’Neill urged countries to work to stop the flow of arms and ammunition to Haiti’s gangs. He noted that some representatives also pointed to the need for sanctions against the people who sponsor the gangs.

“If we take those three measures – the support service for the police, sanctions, arms embargo – we begin to maybe turn around the momentum in a positive direction and stop it from this slide that we’ve seen intensify over the last few weeks,” he said.

The rights expert also called for greater support for the $674 million humanitarian appeal for Haiti which is currently around seven per cent funded.