Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
ICJ orders ‘immediate halt’ to Israel’s Rafah assault
Israel must “immediately halt” its military offensive in Rafah, the southernmost governorate in the Gaza Strip, according to a new order on 24 May by the UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ruling falls short of the full ceasefire South Africa had requested in hearings last week. The ICJ has no way of enforcing its ruling, which Israeli officials have indicated they will ignore. The order comes as part of the case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. A final ruling will likely take years to reach. In the meantime, the court has the ability to issue provisional measures. Previous orders in January and March called on Israel to prevent civilian casualties, stop and punish incitement to genocide, and enable the urgent provision of humanitarian aid. The ICJ deemed a new order was needed as the situation in Gaza has significantly deteriorated since Israel launched a ground invasion of Rafah on 7 May. More than 800,000 people have since been forcibly displaced from the city, which was previously hosting around 1.5 million Palestinians – about 65% of Gaza’s population. Israel has ordered people to evacuate parts of Rafah, but the ICJ said it hasn’t taken adequate steps to ensure they will be safe or have access to basic services – including water – in the areas they were ordered to go to. Israel’s offensive has also forced the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) to halt food distributions in Rafah due to dwindling supplies and insecurity. As part of its provisional measures issued on 24 May, the ICJ also ordered Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing. The two main border crossings used to bring aid and supplies into Gaza are both located in Rafah. The Rafah crossing with Egypt has been closed since Israel seized control of the Palestinian side of the border on 7 May. A limited amount of supplies has been entering through the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel. And it’s not just food that’s needed: Lack of fuel is forcing hospitals to shut down and threatening to grind the humanitarian response to a halt altogether.
Confusion reigns over Haiti stabilisation mission
Just as it appeared imminent, the deployment of a Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to help quell gang violence in Haiti is facing new hurdles. Nearly 200 Kenyan police officers had been expected to land around 23 May – timed to coincide with Kenyan President William Ruto's state visit to the White House. The United States has pledged $300 million to support the mission and has been pushing for it to begin soon, flying dozens of military planes into the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, and preparing a base. However, the Miami Herald reported that the initial deployment of what is expected to become a force of more than 1,000 police and security personnel (from Kenya, several Caribbean countries, and others such as Bangladesh, Benin, and Chad) may now be postponed until early June due to logistical issues, including a lack of armoured vehicles and of helicopters for medical evacuations. An advance Kenyan delegation also found that the barracks weren’t ready and that the communications equipment was insufficient. Approved by the UN Security Council in October, the mission has faced strong opposition in both Haiti and Kenya, where a court order blocked the deployment until Ruto bypassed the ruling through a bilateral agreement with a new interim Haitian government. Throwing a spanner in the works at the 11th hour, the Kenyan opposition leader and lawyer who filed the first petition to stop the deployment is now legally challenging Ruto’s decision again, with the High Court expected to hear this new case on 2 June. According to the UN, 2,500 people have been killed due to gang violence since the beginning of the year, 362,000 have been displaced, and half the population faces acute food insecurity. UNICEF's representative, meanwhile, has warned that the country’s health system is on the verge of collapse. For more, read our Haiti coverage.
UN warns of El Niño ‘catastrophe’ in southern Africa
Drought-hit southern Africa is on the brink of “catastrophe” unless aid is urgently ramped up to reach the more than 61 million people affected by an El Niño weather system that has caused the most intense mid-season dry spell in over a century, the UN has warned. With the July lean season approaching, aid agencies are calling on donors to support a $5.5 billion humanitarian appeal by the Southern Africa Development Community. Among the worst-impacted are: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, southern Malawi, northern Namibia, southeastern Angola, and parts of Madagascar. Meanwhile, climate change-driven storms, flash floods, and landslides in East Africa have killed more than 500 people and displaced over 400,000. The rescue services in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, and Tanzania have been stretched thin by the environmental havoc, with homes and businesses inundated, and roads and bridges washed away.
New Rohingya ‘genocide’ warnings in Myanmar
Campaigners fear the situation for Rohingya in Myanmar could now be “worse than in 2017” – the year an alleged genocide was inflicted upon the mainly Muslim minority group, killing at least 10,000 of them and forcibly displacing more than 750,000 more into Bangladesh. As Myanmar’s civil war intensifies, Rohingya have again been “systematically targeted” by similar violence, including mass killings, torture, and arson, displacing around 200,000 people, according to Wai Wai Nu, executive director of the Women’s Peace Network. She said the violence in western Rakhine state isn’t just being inflicted by the Myanmar military, which perpetrated 2017’s alleged genocide, but also by the Arakan Army, which is fighting the military but also accused of increasingly targeting the Rohingya. While reliable information from inside Myanmar is difficult to obtain, Wai Wai Nu said the situation was particularly bad because the Rohingya “are unable to flee [and] Bangladesh does not open the border”. Her comments came in a press briefing on 23 May that raised the alarm on a 17 May attack on Buthidaung town in which Arakan Army troops allegedly attacked Rohingya residents. The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar, a watchdog, also warned of the risk of another genocide following the attack. For more, read our Myanmar coverage.
EU caught funding, supporting migrant abuses
The EU and individual EU member states are supporting and financing multiple North African governments to detain and deport tens of thousands of mostly Black African asylum seekers and migrants, according to a year-long investigation by the Washington Post, the investigative newsroom Lighthouse Reports, and other outlets. The investigation found that security forces in Morocco, Mauritania, and Tunisia routinely round up asylum seekers and migrants and deposit them in remote areas of the desert without food or water. European money has been used to train some of the units involved, and the units use vehicles that match the make and model of ones donated by EU countries. EU officials have known about the abuses since at least 2019. But that hasn’t stopped the EU from doubling down on the strategy of partnering with third countries with dubious human rights records to try to control migration. Just in the past several months, the EU has signed a 7.4-billion-euro deal with Egypt and a one-billion-euro deal with Lebanon. An investigation by The New Humanitarian recently found that Egyptian security forces are systematically deporting Sudanese refugees from the country. And xenophobic violence and forced deportations of Syrian refugees are growing in Lebanon as well. The EU and its member states are apparently undeterred by the dismal human rights and humanitarian consequences of these policies: 15 of the EU’s 26 member states recently signed a letter advocating to take these partnerships one step further by sending asylum seekers to third countries – likely in Africa – to have their claims processed. Following in the footsteps of the UK, EU member states are advocating to partner with African countries for this purpose.
Pandemic treaty deadline hangs over world health summit
The World Health Organization’s annual ministerial meetings kick off on 27 May with the future of a long-debated pandemic treaty in the spotlight. Negotiations for a new accord to strengthen pandemic preparedness after COVID-19’s failures were going down to the wire as the World Health Assembly approached. Among the sticking points is a proposal for WHO to control a portion of the global supply of vaccines and tests – to avoid the hoarding and queue-jumping that marred the COVID-19 response. The treaty is negotiated by member states, but big pharmaceutical countries have weighed in to oppose elements seen to weaken intellectual property rights. Before the WHA, the Health Justice Initiative, a South African civil society group, released documents showing that pharmaceutical companies tried to charge top vaccine prices and pushed for one-sided terms at the height of the pandemic. “Attempts by these companies to extract monopolistic and high prices for lifesaving vaccines are documented, and now clear for all to see,” said Fatima Hassan, the group’s director. “This must have a bearing on current efforts underway in Geneva to [negotiate] a global pandemic accord.”
Weekend read
Three Mozambican women’s stories of enslavement by jihadist insurgents
‘With the other women, we had unity.’
They are trying to rebuild their lives despite a lack of assistance.
And finally…
Football offers recovery lifeline for Syrian amputees
Over a decade of civil war in Syria left a reported 28% of the population with a disability. And since the country's northwest was devastated by catastrophic earthquakes in 2023, that figure is likely to be even greater today. As part of his ongoing coverage for The New Humanitarian, photojournalist Abd Almajed Alkarh visited a football squad for amputees in rebel-held Idlib and saw how the benefits of being part of a team go way beyond just the physical. Watch his short film below:
