The UN’s top humanitarian official in the country Matthias Schmale informed that severe hunger is affecting 4.3 million people in Nigeria’s Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. The number of children under five at risk of life-threatening severe acute malnutrition has doubled in one year to reach 700,000.
Describing the situation in the region, Mr. Schmale said: “I have been to Borno and the other two states several times, I’ve seen mothers fighting for lives of their malnourished children in nutrition stabilization centres.” The children he spoke to complained about being hungry for days.
“Those of us who are parents must imagine what it’s like when you cannot ensure your children have enough to eat,” he emphasized.
Drivers of crisis
The “catastrophic” situation is primarily the result of more than a decade of insecurity linked to non-State armed groups, which prevents people from farming and earning income from the land, Mr. Schmale said.
Another harmful factor is climate change and extreme weather impacts. Last year saw the worst floods in ten years in Nigeria, which affected more than 4.4 million people across the country, not just the north-east.
Soaring prices of food, fuel and fertilizers have exacerbated the crisis, and the response remains severely underfunded. The UN official said that out of the $1.3 billion in humanitarian funding needed for the region, only 25 per cent has been secured so far.
Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba unveiled the Secretary-General’s latest annual report, for 2022, which showed there were 27,180 grave violations overall, an increase from the previous year.
The recorded violations only refer to verified information, with the likely toll much higher, and cover four categories: recruitment and use of children into armed groups or forces, killing and maiming, rape and sexual violence, and abduction.
Two thirds of violations involved boys, spanning 24 different conflict situations. A total of 8,831 children were killed or maimed, and another 7,622 were recruited by armed groups or forces.
Worst offenders
Ms. Gamba told journalists at a press conference in New York that the countries recording the highest number of violations were the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Israel, the State of Palestine, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Yemen.
“The monitoring and verification of grave violations remained extremely challenging, including owing to access constraints leading to the underreporting of such violations and an increase in violations verified in 2022,” according to the report.
The countries where “the worst deterioration” occurred were Myanmar, South Sudan, and Burkina Faso.
A young child eats food in a camp for displaced people in North Kivu province following fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Schools and hospitals
There were 1,163 attacks on schools recorded, and 647 attacks on hospitals – a 112 per cent increase, the report said.
The widespread military use of schools both by armed forces and armed groups, is a “very worrisome trend”, said Ms. Gamba, calling for them to remain “zones of peace”.
Nearly 2,500 children were detained, a practice that “should only be used as a last resort and for the shortest period”, she added.
Russia added to offenders’ list
Ms. Gamba said that Russian forces and affiliated armed groups in Ukraine were being added to the annex of the report as a notable offender, for the number of attacks on hospitals and schools carried out during the invasion and the killing of children during military operations.
Russia’s use of rocket systems, airstrikes, and shelling of populated areas had resulted in “very high casualties”, she said, adding that her engagement with Moscow to introduce measures to decrease attacks would continue.
She said that the Ukrainian armed forces had also received a warning from the UN Secretary-General through the report owing to attacks carried out on schools and hospitals during the war.
Stressing that even defensive responses needed to accord with international humanitarian law, she commended progress made by the Ukrainian Government to make improvements.
Israel, Palestine not added
The Special Representative said Israel and the State of Palestine would not be added to global list of offenders, emphasizing that a warning not to repeat the urban assault on Gaza in May 2021 and retaliatory missile launches had been heeded sufficiently.
She said there had been an “important decrease” in Israeli airstrikes during 2022, noting that the whole purpose of publishing the report and highlighting violence was to change behaviour and strengthen protection.
However, she raised concerns over the continuing high level of violence in the West Bank and other occupied territories so far this year.
Among those added to the offenders’ list are armed groups in the DRC including M23, Mai-Mai Zaire, and CODECO. Two non-State actors in Burkina Faso were also added.
Ms. Gamba also highlighted the addition of Myanmar’s military rulers, listed for attacks on schools and hospitals, saying “they sit with five violations”.
In addition, she said two situations – in Haiti and Niger – are of growing concern to her office.
“The choice is clear,” said Tor Wennesland, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO). “Either continue along the downward spiral of violence and provocations leading to a political vacuum or turn towards constructive dialogue linked to concrete actions that can create hope and a political horizon.”
‘Alarming spike’
Urging Israeli and Palestinian leaders to “put on the brakes and rethink the options”, he warned of an “alarming spike in violence” across the northern and central occupied West Bank that has led to numerous Palestinian and Israeli casualties over the past 13 days, since the submission of his latest monthly report, covering the period between mid-May and mid-June.
Providing a grim snapshot of current hotspots, he said military operations – including airstrikes in the West Bank – clashes, attacks, and extremely high levels of settler-related violence, have continued and intensified dramatically.
In addition, he reported the use of more sophisticated weapons by Palestinians, including an advanced improvised explosive device and rockets launched towards Israel.
‘Settler rampage’
From 20 to 25 June, Israeli settlers perpetrated 28 violent attacks against Palestinian villages, he said, adding that the “settler rampage” had caused one death and dozens of injuries.
Israel, as the occupying power, has an obligation to protect Palestinians and their property in the Occupied Territory and to ensure prompt, independent, impartial, and transparent investigations into all acts of violence, he said.
“The deepening occupation, settlement expansion, the high levels of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, and, critically, the absence of a political horizon are rapidly eroding hope among Palestinians and Israelis, and particularly among youth, that a resolution of the conflict is achievable,” he said.
‘Extremely dangerous’
“The speed and intensity of the security deterioration we are witnessing on the ground are extremely dangerous,” he said.
“The unfolding events seriously challenge broader stability and undermine the Palestinian Authority,” he added.
While the ceasefire following the Gaza escalation in May has held, there is a constant risk that events in the West Bank could spill over into the Gaza Strip, he said.
Aid consequences
Equally concerning are the Palestinian Authority’s fiscal and institutional challenges, exacerbated by funding shortages, including for UN agencies, that impact the delivery of crucial basic services. This may further aggravate the deterioration of the situation on the ground, he cautioned.
“Let there be no doubt, neither the Palestinian Authority nor the UN will be able to provide humanitarian assistance without donors urgently stepping up financial support,” he warned.
Regarding other significant developments, he said that the UN’s Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA, resumed after four months full service delivery in the West Bank, including at 42 health clinics and 90 schools serving more than 40,000 children. The disruption was due to a work dispute with the local staff union and a strike, he noted.
‘We must urgently act’
But, the ongoing security situation remains a grave challenge, he said.
“We must urgently act collectively to stop the violence,” he said. “At the same time, it is crucial to bring the parties back onto a path that addresses the political issues driving the current dynamics, so that a process to resolve the core issues can begin.”
Council renews DR Congo sanctions, Somalia mission
At the outset of the morning meeting, the Council unanimously adopted two resolutions, renewing for six months the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) and extending by one year the current sanctions regime covering an arms embargo, travel ban, and asset freeze that require States to refrain from, among other things, providing weapons to non-governmental entities operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
For more details on this and other meetings occurring throughout the UN system, visit our dedicated UN Meetings Coverage page.
“The effects of climate change are becoming more severe, and the number of people displaced across international borders is rapidly increasing,” said Ian Fry, independent human rights expert on climate change, who took up the new post last year.
“In 2020 alone, 30.7 million people were displaced from their homes due to weather-related events. Droughts were the main factor,” Mr. Fry said in his latest thematic report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. “We must take immediate steps to give legal protection to these people.”
Multiple rights violations
The independent expert said that people displaced by climate change face multiple human rights violations including of their rights to food, water, sanitation, housing, health, education and, for some, their basic right to life.
“The human rights implications of climate change displacement, in particular across international borders, are significant and truly disturbing,” the expert said.
He called it “profoundly worrying” that large numbers of people displaced across borders, die or go missing every year on both land and sea.
More than 50,000 lost their lives during migratory movements between 2014 and 2022. “It is equally shocking to note that more than half of those deaths occurred on routes to and within Europe, including in the Mediterranean Sea,” he said.
Displacement and natural disasters
According to the independent expert, displacement due to climate change can take many different forms.
It can involve sudden events or more slow acting factors such sea level rise or drought. Most people affected by these events feel they have no choice but to move. Women and children are the most impacted by disasters and the effects of climate change, and also account for the majority of displaced people.
“The international community must realise its responsibility to protect people displaced across borders by climate change impacts,” the expert said.
Legal protection
Mr. Fry explained that the world was not operating in a total vacuum in terms of legal protection safeguards, with several options already in place.
“The Human Rights Council should prepare a resolution for submission to the UN General Assembly urging the body to develop an optional protocol under the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees to address displacement and legal protection for people all over the world affected by the climate crisis,” the expert said.
“Until then, I urge all nations to develop national legislation to provide humanitarian visas for persons displaced across international borders due to climate change, as an interim measure,” he said.
Independent experts and other UN Human Rights Council-appointed rights experts, work on a voluntary and unpaid basis, are not UN staff, and work independently from any government or organisation.
“We’ve already seen over 560,000 people crossing into neighbouring countries…[and] nearly two million people displaced internally,” said Raouf Mazou, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, following a visit to Sudan.
Since conflict erupted there on 15 April when rival militaries clashed, more than half a million people have reached neighbouring countries in a bid to escape the fighting, with Egypt receiving the most refugees followed by Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Central African Republic.
Reaching one million marker
Based on the continuing violence, the UN agency now expects that its previous estimate of one million refugees will be surpassed.
In response to the crisis, UNHCR and other UN agencies, humanitarian partners, and host communities have increased efforts to provide emergency shelter, clean water, health care services, psychosocial support, and other vital assistance to help displaced populations inside and outside Sudan.
Host communities unaffected by the conflict until now are also “seeing the consequences”, Mr. Mazou said.
“All are in need of protection and assistance,” he added. “What is also quite striking, and which needs to be underlined, is how welcoming the host populations are.”
West Darfur horror
Although violence has erupted across multiple fronts, UNHCR raised particular concerns about West Darfur. Aid access is “limited” amid reports of “wanton killings” by militia that the UN human rights office, OHCHR, has condemned.
Bordering West Darfur, Chad has seen 170,000 people crossing its borders to flee the conflict, according to the UN refugee agency. Many, including women and children, have arrived needing treatment for their injuries, the agency said.
At the same time, the rainy season has thwarted aid workers from reaching those crossing the border and transporting them to refugee camps, the agency said.
Tents have been set up at the Gorom refugee camp in South Sudan to host new arrivals from Sudan.
South Sudan returnees
More than 120,000 people crossed the border into South Sudan, where sparse infrastructure and security concerns represent significant challenges that are preventing new arrivals from moving on, the agency warned. Much of the assistance they need will have to be airlifted, which is both costly and complex.
Meanwhile, UNHCR teams are registering new arrivals, providing them with emergency relief, and helping them to reach different locations as quickly as possible.
Most of the arrivals are South Sudanese, returning to their country, Mr. Mazou said.
“They are part of the 800,000 South Sudanese refugees who were in Sudan, but they are now going back,” he said.
Strained resources
Capacity at border reception and transit facilities in neighbouring countries have been strained by the sheer numbers of people arriving, leading to overcrowding and further stretching of already limited resources, the UN refugee agency said.
Those fleeing Sudan arrive exhausted after days or sometimes weeks on the road, shocked by the violence they have witnessed and in need of food, medical care, and relief items, UNCHR reported.
During a donor conference for Sudan in Geneva on 19 June, $1.52 billion in pledges were received against an appeal for $3 billion to address the current situation.
Learn more about how UNHCR is helping the people of Sudan and those fleeing the violence here.
This summer will be “the first in more than three years that many of us will enjoy without the looming threat of COVID-19”, but the life-threatening virus has not gone away completely, said WHO’s regional director for Europe, Hans Kluge, told reporters at a virtual press conference from Copenhagen.
Each week, the coronavirus causes at least 1,000 new deaths across the region every week, he said, outlining other health concerns at the start of the holiday season.
Coping with “long COVID”
Over the first three years of the global health emergency, 36 million people across the region may have experienced “long COVID”, a complex condition that scientists still know very little about, according to data from WHO’s partner, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in the United States.
“That’s approximately one in 30 Europeans over the past three years,” explained Dr. Kluge, underscoring that those affected may still be finding it hard to return to “normal life”.
Besides harming people in its protracted form, “COVID-19 exploited an epidemic of diseases, including cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and chronic lung illnesses, which account for 75 per cent of mortality in our region today,” he said, reiterating WHO’s call for more research to develop comprehensive diagnostics and treatment for long COVID.
Response to the threat
Dr. Kluge encouraged all eligible, especially those of vulnerable groups, to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“We should ensure at least 70 per cent vaccine coverage for these groups, including both primary and additional booster doses,” he said.
He also advocated for more physical activity and a healthier lifestyle. Undertaking, if possible, 25 minutes of moderate exercise a day, quitting smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, and limiting salt intake could significantly increase one’s resilience to both infectious and non-communicable diseases, he added.
“Last year in our region, extreme heat claimed 20,000 lives between June and August,” he said.
Limiting outdoor activity, staying hydrated, keeping homes cool, and having more time to rest are some of the ways to survive the heat, he said, asking people to “look out for each other” and to check in on elderly relatives and neighbours.
Containing mpox
A recent resurgence of mpox infections appeared in the United States and then in Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom, Dr. Kluge said .
While only 22 new mpox cases were recorded in the European region during the month of May, he suggested that people in high-risk groups get vaccinated, limit contact with others in the case of symptoms, and avoid close physical contact, including sexual, with someone who has mpox.
Welcoming the United Kingdom’s efforts to continue its vaccination programme, he urged other countries to further reduce barriers to testing, vaccination, and care for persons in high-risk groups.
“About five million children under the age of five are estimated to be facing acute malnutrition in 2023 in the Horn region, in the Greater Horn. That is about 10.4 million, that is just a staggering figure,” said Liesbeth Aelbrecht, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) incident manager for the greater Horn of Africa emergency.
Three year high
“What our colleagues are seeing in clinics and in hospitals, since the beginning of this year, are the highest level of severely malnourished children who are now coming to these facilities with medical complications since the crisis began three years ago.”
Echoing that alert, World Food Programme (WFP) Senior Emergency Officer Dominique Ferretti said that almost three years of drought had given way to rains and devastating flash floods: “While we just concluded a rainy season which performed better than predicted, one rainy season is not enough to bring an end to the crisis.”
Women collect water in drought-stricken Marsabit in northern Kenya.
Although long-awaited rains arrived in March across the eight-member Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region – encompassing Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda – and with it the hope of relief, flash-flooding inundated homes and farmland, washed away livestock and closed schools and health facilities.
The result was the highest number of reported disease outbreaks in the greater Horn of Africa so far this century. Their frequency can be linked directly to extreme climate events, according to the UN health agency.
Ms. Aelbrecht noted ongoing outbreaks of cholera and measles, together with “very high numbers” last year and this year, including malaria cases.
“So, with the impact of flooding, we see these diseases worsening. Malaria, I would like to remind you, is one of the biggest killers in the region.”
Climate complications
Climate concerns are key to food security in the coming months, the UN Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO) noted at a press conference in Geneva.
Global forecasts indicate that El Niño weather pattern conditions are already present and will strengthen through the rest of the year, which could bring above-average rains during the October to December rainy season across eastern parts of the region, including much of Kenya, the Somali region of Ethiopia and Somalia.
“El Niño may somewhat reduce the risk of flooding in flood-prone areas such as South Sudan,” said Brenda Lazarus, Food Security and Early Warning Economist at FAO’s Subregional Office for Eastern Africa.
Nevertheless, she indicated that “on the risk’ side, below-average rains and dry spells, along with other drivers of food insecurity would likely negatively impact agricultural production and increase already alarming levels.
Investing is key
FAO emphasized the need to shift from a system focused mainly on emergency response, to anticipating and mitigating crises through investments such as in rainwater harvesting, soil and water conservation, or the use of more drought tolerant crops – and ensuring seeds are locally available.
Involving young people in building silos could also boost community resilience, the UN agency noted.
The 60 million severely food insecure include more than 15 million women of reproductive age, 5.6 million adolescent girls and close to 1.1 million pregnant women.
Close to 360,000 of them are expected to give birth in the next three months, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Women who are forced to look for food just to survive “do so on the expense of their own health,” said Michael Ebele, UNFPA Regional Humanitarian Adviser for East and Southern Africa.
Increased risk of deaths
“So, we are seeing pregnant women not being able to go for antenatal care, not attending to other illnesses they may be having. And then, that comes with risks of complications…then the risks of maternal deaths increase.”
Malnutrition among pregnant and lactating mothers puts their unborn and breast-feeding children at risk of malnutrition and propagates malnutrition through entire life cycles in communities.
Malnourished mothers are also less able to withstand complications in pregnancy which put them at greater risk of losing their child.
“Because of the limited amount of resources, we have seen an increase in the risks of survival sex”, said Ms. Ebele, “increasing the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, particularly of women and girls”.
Grain initiative threat
Asked by journalists how badly the Horn of Africa would be affected if the UN-brokered Black Sea Initiative to facilitate Ukrainian grain exports to the world’s markets is not renewed next month, WFP’s Mr. Ferretti replied that “the reality is that Ukraine is the breadbasket, it is a major supplier and it would hit us hard if this Black Sea initiative was not renewed”.
A woman leaves a refugee camp in Rwanda on her way to resettlement in Norway.
Escalating challenges
With a deepening refugee crisis, security breakdowns and conflicts, urgent action is required to address the escalating challenges faced by millions forced on the run worldwide.
“We are witnessing a concerning increase in the number of refugees in need of resettlement in 2024. Resettlement remains a critical lifeline for those most at risk and with specific needs,” said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Asia region tops the list, with nearly 730,000 refugees likely requiring resettlement support, representing around 30 per cent of the total.
Urgent assistance
With the Syrian war extending into its 13th year and remaining the world’s largest refugee situation, refugees there continue to need the most resettlement support for the eighth consecutive year, with around 754,000 requiring urgent assistance.
Refugees from Afghanistan are estimated to have the second-highest level of needs, followed by refugees from South Sudan, Myanmar, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
“I ask all States with the means to step up and provide sustainable and multi-year resettlement commitments to offer safety and protection to those in need and to share the international community’s responsibility for refugees”, urged Mr. Grandi.
Resettlement provides a lifeline of hope and protection to those facing extreme risks by offering a durable solution while at the same time playing a pivotal role in relieving the pressure on host countries and strengthening the broader protection framework.
“The lives of millions depend on that responsibility being given meaning,” Special Adviser on responsibility to protect (R2P) issues George Okoth-Obbo said, introducing the Secretary-General’s latest report and speaking on his behalf.
“This annual debate is a reminder to us not to drift from our commitment, our duty, our responsibility to protect.”
Preventing ‘contagion of mass atrocities’
Mr. Okoth-Obbo said the debate provides an opportunity to reflect on the cardinal political and moral commitment the world made 18 years ago to ensure that the “contagion of mass atrocities” would “never again” mark humanity.
At the 2005 World Summit, UN Member States had affirmed their responsibility to protect their own populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.
In doing so, they agreed to support each other in realizing their roles under the R2P concept and to take collective action, in line with the UN Charter, where States were unable or unwilling to do so themselves.
“Yet, countless civilians continue to be caught in situations of conflict, violence, and egregious human rights violations which may amount to genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing,” he said. “R2P thus remains as imperative today as when the world resounded ‘never again’ at the World Summit in 2005.”
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
George Okoth-Obbo, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, addresses the General Assembly.
Development-protection nexus
In his report, the Secretary-General encourages Member States to invest in national capabilities and coordination mechanisms for early detection, early warning, prevention, and response to atrocities, and to develop improved systems for data collection and analysis to identify key risks that are embedded in social and economic patterns of deprivation or exclusion.
The report also explores a R2P’s intersection with development, Mr. Okoth-Obbo said.
“The keystone of R2P is, as has been underlined so many times, prevention,” he said. “At the same time, to craft and deliver solutions that are effective for this purpose, it is crucial that the root causes, risks, triggers, and multipliers of atrocity crimes are properly discerned.”
Drawing on the foundational objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the report underlines that development can build the conditions for sustainable peace, equitable growth, and accountable governance, thereby cementing the prospects for realizing the fundamental R2P purposes and objectives.
Walking the walk
In the same vein, he said risk factors, drivers, and multipliers of atrocity crimes include underdevelopment, poverty, social inequality, conflict, food insecurity, stressors on social resilience, governance, institutional failure, lack of accountability, discrimination, and human rights abuses.
Most crucially, he said, the report calls particularly on States to comprehensively recognize, own, and politically champion the intersection between R2P and sustainable development.
It also calls on them to leverage related policies, strategies, and programmes across the whole spectrum of atrocity risk assessment.
He said he was looking forward to hearing plans of action from Member States, as they rise to the various challenges. He also underlined the importance of inclusion, including civil society, faith communities, traditional leaders, minority groups, and through media outreach.
“Let us today, in the context of the relationship between development and the responsibility to protect, catalyse every thought, idea, and way forward we could advance to help build a more prosperous world for all free from the risks or actualities of mass atrocities,” he said.
For more details on this and other meetings occurring throughout the UN system, visit our dedicated UN Meetings Coverage page.
Today, more than 100 armed conflicts are raging worldwide, devastating communities, winding back development, and leading to grave violations of human rights.
Ranging from severe beatings to sexual humiliation and rape, torture iswidely used as a means of war. And often, torture involves the use of tools or instruments, mock executions, and forcing victims to watch family members also being tortured, said the UN human rights chief Volker Türk.
Torture happens in both official detention centres as well as secret sites, away from any scrutiny.
In a video address Mr. Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, recalled meeting a victim of torture whose harrowing story left an indelible mark: “It revealed the horror of what human beings are capable of inflicting on one another. He will carry that deep trauma for the rest of his life.”
Zero-tolerance to torture
Torture is a serious crime, unequivocally prohibited under international law, and never justified under any circumstances.
Under the UN Convention against Torture all States must investigate and prosecute allegations of torture, as well as cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. They are obligated to prevent torture through every possible means.
“Yet in almost all cases, the people who ordered and commit the crime of torture escape justice”, said the OHCHR chief.
The Committee against Torture, a body of 10 independent human rights experts that monitors implementation of the Convention, regularly reminds States of their obligations to educate and inform all military personnel, especially those charged with duties related to detention, about the prohibition.
“States must take a zero-tolerance approach in investigating and prosecuting acts of torture committed by their regular armed forces, and those forces under their effective control,” said Claude Heller, the Committee’s chair, “A vital first step in this is the explicit criminalization of torture at the domestic level.”
Help to the victims
The scale of torture is alarming, with hundreds of thousands of victims spanning prisoners of war, human rights activists, and innocent civilians who can be caught up in random sweeps. Such acts of brutality occur in thousands of locations across countries on every continent, the UN rights chief reminded.
He said it was especially important to ensure that “torture – wherever it takes place – is documented, investigated, prosecuted and punished.”
By establishing the facts and seeking accountability, much needed help can be extended to victims of torture.
“Every torture victim has a right to acknowledgement, justice and redress”, said Mr. Türk.
Over four decades ago, the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture was established to provide social assistance, medical care, psychological support, and to help victims secure justice and deter future acts of torture.
It works with civil society groups in more than 120 countries and has reached over one million survivors. Today, however, the demand for the Fund’s assistance is so high, that thousands of requests for aid have had to be turned down.
“We need more funds to match rising demand,” said the rights chief in a tweet.
Taking away torture tools
The High Commissioner said that another effective way of preventing future cases of torture away from the battlefield, was to go after the trade in instruments of torture.
“I am fully supportive of all efforts to limit trade in items that could be used for torture, including through a new international torture-free trade treaty”, he said.
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