As the war continues, the UN agency warns tens of thousands of children will ‘likely die’ without more aid.
At least 700,000 children in Sudan are likely to suffer from the worst form of malnutrition this year, and tens of thousands could die, the United Nations children’s agency has warned.
A 10-month war in Sudan between its armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated the country’s infrastructure, prompted warnings of famine and displaced millions of people inside and outside the country.
“The consequences of the past 300 days means that more than 700,000 children are likely to suffer from the deadliest form of malnutrition this year,” James Elder, spokesperson for UNICEF, told a press conference in Geneva on Friday.
“UNICEF won’t be able to treat more than 300,000 of those without improved access and without additional support. In that case, tens of thousands would likely die.”
Elder defined the most dangerous form of malnutrition as severe acute malnutrition, which makes a child more likely to die from diseases such as cholera and malaria. He said 3.5 million children were projected to suffer severe acute malnutrition.
UNICEF provides “ready-to-use therapeutic food”, or RUTF, a life-saving food item that treats severe wasting in children under five years old, to Sudan.
Elder said there had also been a “500 percent increase” in just one year in murders, sexual violence and recruitment of children to fight.
“That equates to terrifying numbers of children killed, raped or recruited. And these numbers are the tip of the iceberg,” he said, reiterating the urgent need for a ceasefire, and for more aid.
‘Lethal combination’
Catherine Russell, the executive director of UNICEF, echoed Elder’s comments.
The “lethal combination of malnutrition, mass displacement, and disease” is quickly growing, she warned in a statement.
“We need safe, sustained, and unimpeded humanitarian access across conflict lines and across borders – and we need international support to help sustain the essential services and systems that children rely on for survival,” she said.
UNICEF is appealing for $840m to help slightly more than 7.5 million children in Sudan this year, but Elder deplored the lack of funds collected in previous appeals.
“Despite the magnitude of needs, last year, the funding UNICEF sought for nearly three-quarters of children in Sudan was not forthcoming,” Elder said.
The UN on Wednesday urged countries not to forget the civilians caught up in the war in Sudan, appealing for $4.1bn to meet their humanitarian needs and support those who have fled to neighbouring countries.
Half of Sudan’s population – approximately 25 million people – need humanitarian assistance and protection, while more than 1.5 million people have fled to the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan, according to the UN.
“The world needs to stop turning a blind eye,” he said. “Where is our collective humanity if we allow this situation to continue.”
Israeli forces bombed areas in the southern border city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s internally displaced population is sheltering, as the United States warned that a military push into the city could be a “disaster”.
Aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if Israel follows through on its threat to enter Rafah, where people are desperate for shelter and one of the last remaining areas of the Gaza Strip into which its troops have not moved.
“To conduct such an operation right now with no planning and little thought in an area” where one million people are sheltering “would be a disaster,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said on Thursday.
He said Washington had “yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation”.
Earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that more than a million civilians were trapped in the city in southern Gaza.
“Half of Gaza’s population is now crammed into Rafah. They have nowhere to go,” he said.
Palestinians in Gaza are desperately hoping a ceasefire could arrive in time to head off the threatened Israeli assault on Rafah, hard against Gaza’s southern border fence and now home to more than a million people, many of them in makeshift tents.
Israeli planes bombed parts of the city on Thursday morning, residents said, killing at least 14 people in attacks on two houses. Tanks also shelled some areas in eastern Rafah, intensifying the residents’ fears of an imminent ground assault.
Diplomatic efforts
The warnings come as diplomats sought to salvage ceasefire talks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a Hamas proposal.
In a sign that the diplomacy was not over, a Hamas delegation led by senior official Khalil Al-Hayya arrived in Cairo on Thursday for ceasefire talks with key mediators Egypt and Qatar.
Netanyahu said on Wednesday terms proposed by Hamas for a ceasefire were “delusional”, and pledged to fight on, saying victory was in reach and just months away.
Despite Israel’s rejection of the Hamas proposal, more talks are planned. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met mediators this week on his fifth trip to the region since the start of the war, said he still saw room for negotiations.
Blinken also said that the civilian death toll was too high and reiterated that Israel’s operation should put civilians first.
“And that’s especially true in the case of Rafah, where there are somewhere between 1.2 and 1.4 million people, many of them displaced from other parts of Gaza,” he said.
He said he had suggested some ways to minimise harm in talks with Israeli leaders, but gave no details. Blinken departed to return to the US on Thursday afternoon.
The Hamas delegation in Egypt is expected to meet officials including Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, Egyptian security sources said.
Hamas proposed a ceasefire of four and a half months, during which all hostages would go free, Israel would withdraw its troops and an agreement would be reached on an end to the Israeli offensive. Its offer was a response to a proposal drawn up by US and Israeli spy chiefs with Qatar and Egypt, and delivered to Hamas last week.
Hamas says it will not agree to any deal that does not include an end to the offensive and Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it will not withdraw or stop fighting until Hamas is eradicated.
Israel began its large-scale military offensive after Hamas fighters killed 1,139 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on October 7, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s military said on Thursday that, during the past day, its troops had killed more than 20 fighters in Gaza’s main southern city Khan Younis, now the site of some of the war’s most intense fighting.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 27,840 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, and more than 67,000 injured since the war began.
The Israeli bombardment continued in Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, killing Palestinian television journalist, Nafez Abdel-Jawwad, and his son.
At least 124 journalists and media representatives have been killed in the enclave so far, Gaza’s information ministry said.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the main UN aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, said on X that the agency had not been permitted to bring food to areas where people are on the verge of famine.
Kyiv claims 20,000 children have been taken from Ukraine to Russia without families’ or guardians’ consent.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has urged Russia to end the forcible transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine and return them to their families.
Last month, a panel of 18 independent experts pressed Russia on deportation allegations while reviewing its record.
Their conclusions, published on Thursday, called on Russia to “put an end to the forcible transfer or deportation of children from occupied Ukrainian territory”.
Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has argued that “placements for evacuated children are arranged, first and foremost, at their request and with their consent”.
Yet Kyiv has alleged that 20,000 children have been taken from Ukraine to Russia without the consent of their families or guardians, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged illegal deportation of children, an accusation the Kremlin denies.
Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, is also accused of abducting children from Ukraine and has been issued an arrest warrant by the ICC.
The UN committee demanded that Moscow investigate war crimes allegations against Lvova-Belova but did not mention Putin.
[Al Jazeera]
The committee also asked Moscow to provide information about how many children were taken from Ukraine and where they are living, so “parents or legal representatives can track them, including through identification of such children and registration of their parentage, and ensure that children are returned to their families and communities as soon as possible”.
They expressed concern at the impact that Russia’s war in Ukraine is having on children, outlining the “killings and injuries of hundreds of children as a result of indiscriminate attacks … with explosive weapons”.
However, Russia has argued that it has only been protecting vulnerable children from a warzone.
In January’s hearing in Geneva, the head of the Russian delegation, Alexey Vovchenko, the labour and social protection deputy minister, denied that any Ukrainians were forcibly removed from their country. He said 4.8 million residents of Ukraine, including 770,000 children, had been taken in by Russia.
But UN committee chairperson Ann Skelton said the committee members and the Russian delegation had been “talking past one another” at the meeting.
“We found often in the dialogue that we were using one type of terminology and they were using another,” she said.
“We were using the word ‘adoption’, and they were denying that it’s adoption and talking about ‘fostering children’.”
Last year, the UN added Russia to a list of countries that violate children’s rights in conflicts, referencing boys and girls who were killed during attacks on schools and hospitals in Ukraine.
A United States security bill that would curtail funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees is raising alarm, as rights advocates say a years-long effort to dismantle the agency is gaining steam amid Israel’s war on Gaza.
The proposed $118bn legislation, a draft of which (PDF) was blocked in the US Senate on Wednesday, includes a provision prohibiting Washington from allocating any funds to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Seth Binder, advocacy director at the Middle East Democracy Center, said this would apply to humanitarian assistance included in the bill as well as any previously approved funds for UNRWA that have not yet been allocated, a sum totalling about $300,000.
“It’s unclear … where and how this specific provision may become law, if it ever is able to,” Binder told Al Jazeera. “But it is concerning nonetheless just given recent developments.”
UNRWA came under renewed scrutiny last month after the Israeli government accused around a dozen of the agency’s more than 13,000 Gaza employees of taking part in Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7, which killed a reported 1,139 people.
UNRWA immediately sacked the employees in question and announced that it was opening a probe into the allegations, which it described as “shocking” and “serious”. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also has appointed an independent panel to investigate.
Israel has yet to provide evidence to back up its allegations, but the US and several other countries quickly suspended funding to the agency as a result. UNRWA relies on government contributions to fund its operations in the occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
Against that backdrop, the Senate bill — which had the support of President Joe Biden — reflected growing bipartisan acceptance of what previously were Republican-driven attempts to curtail UNRWA, said Ethan Mayer-Rich at the Arab Center Washington DC.
“We’re seeing a pretty quick departure from what used to be a split down party lines,” he told Al Jazeera. “It’s reckless, and ultimately I think history is going to see [the US] as being completely complicit in what is unquestionably an incredibly tragic and dire situation.”
Mayer-Rich, the centre’s liaison for US government affairs, added that “the conversation in part is guided by the Biden administration”.
“We’ve seen, at this point, an endorsement by the highest level of office that it’s OK for Democrats to call into question UNRWA’s mandate, to call into question the necessity of its mission, which has long been a Republican-guided effort,” he said.
“This is a message that will have a durable impact on the way that Democrats are talking about UNRWA and the necessary services it provides.”
Palestinians walk amid the destruction from Israeli bombing in Gaza City on January 27 [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]
‘A huge hole’
Indeed, current attempts in the US to defund UNRWA come at a critical time.
The agency is leading humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza, where Israel’s military bombardment has killed more than 27,708 Palestinians and caused wide-scale destruction since October 7.
Palestinians in the besieged enclave also face dire food, water and medical shortages. The local healthcare system is near total collapse, and more than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced. Many families have sought shelter at UNRWA-run facilities.
Since the Biden administration announced its UNRWA funding freeze in late January, top UN officials — as well as human rights advocates and humanitarian aid groups — have issued multiple pleas asking Washington to reconsider.
The US previously provided $422m to the agency in 2023, making it UNRWA’s largest contributor. Those funds accounted for nearly 30 percent of UNRWA’s contributions last year, explained Bill Deere, director of the agency’s Washington representative office.
“If this proposal were to become law, that’s a huge hole that would have to be filled,” Deere told Al Jazeera in an email, referring to the Senate bill.
The legislation, which included more than $14bn in additional US security assistance to Israel, had the backing of the White House, but it is unlikely to reach Biden’s desk to be signed into law, particularly after Wednesday’s setback in the Senate.
Top Republicans have also said it will be “dead on arrival” if it reaches the House of Representatives, amid calls for stricter immigration measures.
Still, Deere — who described the atmosphere in Washington as a “challenging policy environment” — said the bill “demonstrates that we need to keep discussing with lawmakers the fact that UNRWA and the UN have acted swiftly and decisively in the wake of the recent news”.
He also warned that the agency “will have a very hard time operating beyond March 1st if donor states do not resume their support” and stressed that UNRWA operates beyond Gaza alone.
“Hundreds of thousands of Palestine refugees in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan will lose access to primary healthcare, direct food support, rental assistance, and education,” Deere said. “Human decency aside, such an occurrence also poses a regional stability issue.”
Reinvigorated pressure
But despite those warnings, Republicans have seized on the accusations against UNRWA to reinvigorate a years-long effort to stymie the agency. “This is something that they’ve long been trying to do, and they’ve really seized the moment,” said Mayer-Rich.
At least seven pieces of legislation aimed at defunding or disbanding UNRWA have been introduced by the Republicans in Congress since Israel’s allegations were made public, according to a tally by the Arab Center Washington DC.
Republican legislators held a subcommittee hearing last week titled, “UNRWA Exposed: Examining the Agency’s Mission and Failures”.
And a group of nearly two dozen Republican senators had called for legislation to include “an immediate and permanent prohibition” on US assistance to UNRWA. “The United States must permanently stop all contributions to UNRWA,” they said (PDF) on January 31.
The push comes less than six years after former Republican President Donald Trump ended US assistance to the agency in 2018, saying that Washington was shouldering a “very disproportionate share of the burden of UNRWA’s costs”.
That move — widely seen as part of the Trump administration’s hardline, pro-Israel stance — crippled UNRWA’s operations. Biden restored funding in 2021.
Tariq Kenney-Shawa, US policy fellow at Palestinian think tank Al-Shabaka, said Israel and its allies in the US have attacked UNRWA for decades in an effort to weaken the right of Palestinian refugees to return to what is now Israel, a long-standing demand.
“What Republicans would like to see is a dismantling and defunding of UNRWA so that the Palestinian refugee ‘problem’ can fade into the annals of history,” he told Al Jazeera.
While Republicans have historically been the “loudest voices” pressuring UNRWA, Kenney-Shawa explained that staunch support for Israel in the US is bipartisan. Some establishment Democrats last month quickly called to cut funding to the agency, too, following the recent allegations.
He also noted the timing of the accusations against UNRWA and the US funding cut, just hours after the International Court of Justice determined on January 26 that Israel was “plausibly” committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
“Representatives of the [Biden] administration have themselves emphasised the critical role that UNRWA plays in providing aid and support for Palestinian refugees and Palestinians in need,” Kenney-Shawa said.
“But at the same time, I think their larger concern is providing cover for Israel at any cost — and I think that cost is Palestinian refugees and is UNRWA.”
US to ‘redirect’ funding
Though the Senate bill is unlikely to pass in its current form, the UNRWA provision continues to raise alarm.
The US State Department acknowledged this week that the Biden administration is looking into other ways to support humanitarian efforts in Gaza because the legislation contains language that would block its ability to fund the agency.
Spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters on Monday that Washington plans to “redirect funding for UNRWA to other partners to provide assistance in Gaza”, including to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
The Senate bill included $1.4bn of humanitarian assistance for Gaza, Patel said. “This is tangible money that we believe will save lives and have a direct impact on Palestinian civilians.”
Palestinian children in a makeshift tent in Rafah, southern Gaza on February 4, 2024 [Abed Zagout/Anadolu Agency]
However, the leaders of several UN agencies — including UNICEF and the WFP — said last week that suspending funds for UNRWA would have “catastrophic consequences” because “no other entity has the capacity to deliver” what is needed in Gaza.
The International Rescue Committee and other humanitarian groups also said, “UNRWA’s humanitarian role in this crisis is indispensable and cannot remotely be replaced by any other aid organization”.
According to Kenney-Shawa, the future of UNRWA funding in the US right now largely hinges on the political will of the Biden administration and the Democratic Party.
“If the Biden administration is truly committed to the provision of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, like they on paper say they are, then there are avenues to push back against Republicans and make sure there is no provision within these proposed bills that automatically just cuts funding outright,” he said.
But that appears unlikely, Kenney-Shawa explained, because it would mean standing up to Republicans and pro-Israel lobby groups in an election year — and possibly appearing to challenge Israel.
“I think the Republicans are, as always, … seizing the opportunity to kind of put the Biden administration between a rock and a hard place, knowing full well that, at the end of the day, the Biden administration is going to side with Israel.”
Panel to be led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who will work with European research organisations.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has announced the creation of an independent panel to assess the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
The aid agency has been under fire over accusations by Israel that 12 of its staff members were involved in the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7.
More than a dozen countries – including the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden – have suspended funding to the agency.
The independent panel will be led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, who will work with three European research organisations, the UN said in a statement.
The goal of the investigation is to “assess whether the agency is doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they are made”.
The European research groups working on the independent assessment are the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr Michelsen Institute in Norway and the Danish Institute for Human Rights.
The panel is due to submit an interim report to Guterres in late March and a final one in late April with, if necessary, recommendations for “improvement and strengthening” of the agency’s mechanisms.
This assessment is separate from an internal probe that the UN launched last month after the accusations were first made against the 12 UNRWA employees.
The October 7 attacks by Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,139 people, mostly civilians, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on official Israeli figures.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that the UN agency has been “totally infiltrated” by Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007.
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said he was looking forward to the findings of the review group.
“I welcome the appointment by UN Secretary-General of an independent review group to assess how UNRWA ensures neutrality and responds to allegations of serious breaches. I look forward to the conclusion & recommendations of the report which will be made public,” Lazzarini said in a social media post.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Monday that his government has evidence linking the agency to “terrorism” that it plans to submit to the UN panel.
“We will submit all evidence highlighting UNRWA’s ties to terrorism and its harmful effects on regional stability. It is imperative that this committee brings the truth to light,” Katz wrote on the social media platform X.
An Israeli intelligence dossier alleged about 190 UNRWA employees, including teachers, have doubled as Hamas or Islamic Jihad fighters, the Reuters news agency reported.
Palestinian officials have accused Israel of falsifying information to tarnish UNRWA. The UN fired nine of the accused workers, condemned “the abhorrent alleged acts” and launched an investigation into the allegations.
Promising to eliminate Hamas, Israel launched a devastating bombardment and ground assault on Gaza, killing at least 27,478 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian authorities.
More than 80 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced and vast swathes of the territory have been reduced to rubble during the Israeli campaign.
What impact will UNRWA funding cuts have on Gaza? Marc Lamont Hill speaks to UN Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is worsening with more than 26,000 Gaza Palestinians killed and another 1.7 million displaced since October 7th.
At least a dozen countries have announced they will be suspending funds for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) after Israel accused 12 of the agency’s employees of participating in the October 7th attacks.
UNRWA has been a crucial provider of humanitarian aid in Gaza, so why, during a time of crisis and based only on allegations, have countries pulled their funding? What will happen to civilians who depend on the agency for survival?
On UpFront this week, Marc Lamont Hill talks to the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, on the impending consequences of UNWRA’s funding cuts.
Colombo, Sri Lanka – Sixteen-year-old Ohnmar* has never experienced the joys of attending school, the excitement of playing with friends during recess or simple pleasures of life like savouring a satisfying meal.
Ohnmar, a Rohingya, was born “stateless” because Myanmar has not granted citizenship to members of his community since 1982. He fled to Bangladesh with his family during the Myanmar military’s genocide against the Rohingya in 2017 and has been a refugee since.
Two years later, his father died of illness. In December 2022, the rest of the family left a refugee camp in Bangladesh hoping to reach Indonesia by boat. But the boat’s engine failed during the perilous journey, and his mother and three brothers drowned.
Ohnmar, along with nearly 100 other survivors, were rescued by the Sri Lankan navy off the island nation’s northern coast. Since then, he has been living in Sri Lanka as the only surviving member of his family.
The teenager currently shares a home with other refugees and has no one to take care of him. He said he has not had a proper meal in two days.
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had granted Ohnmar a monthly allowance after he was released following a three-month detention after being rescued. He would use the money to buy meals and other basic necessities.
But the UNHCR scrapped the allowance for refugees in December, so now Ohnmar often goes hungry for days. He depends on meals shared by other refugees.
“Please help me settle in another country permanently. Otherwise, I will starve and become homeless,” Ohnmar told Al Jazeera at Panadura, a town 27km (17 miles) south of the capital, Colombo.
Current status of refugees
Sri Lanka is home to hundreds of refugees like Ohnmar desperate to settle down permanently in another country. But they fear time is running out.
Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol – two key legal documents that protect transnational rights. Moreover, there is no domestic law or mechanism to deal with refugees or asylum seekers on the island.
This has made Sri Lanka a transit point for refugees until the UNHCR helps them resettle in another country.
But the UNHCR told Al Jazeera it will close its Colombo office in December because most of the people displaced internally during Sri Lanka’s long civil war had returned to their native places.
“The phasing-down process will continue through the end of 2024, and UNHCR will maintain a liaison presence in Sri Lanka from 2025 onward,” UNHCR spokesperson Liania Bianchi told Al Jazeera in an emailed response.
The UNHCR is the only organisation in Sri Lanka that has handled the process of registering refugees and filing applications on their behalf with other countries for permanent resettlement. It also offered them monthly allowances “tailored to individual needs” and scholarships for children to attend school.
Refugees and asylum seekers fear they will be stranded when the UNHCR wraps up its operations. According to the agency’s latest data from mid-2023, there are 567 refugees and 224 asylum seekers in Sri Lanka, most of them Pakistanis.
Riffat, extreme left, and Saeed, extreme right, fled Pakistan after facing attacks for their inter-caste marriage [Hassaan Shazuli/Al Jazeera]
A large number of Pakistani refugees belong to the Ahmadi Muslim sect, which has been long persecuted for religious reasons and considered non-Muslims under Pakistani law. There are also Pakistani Christians and Shia among the asylum-seeking population.
Some of these refugees have been unable to leave Sri Lanka for nearly a decade or more because their applications have been rejected by host countries. The UNHCR does not allow refugees to choose a country to settle in permanently. They have to wait until it files applications with countries likely to accept them.
‘Help us resettle before leaving’
Yuzana*, 18, last saw her family when she left a refugee camp in Bangladesh in 2022. She left her family behind when she moved out of the camp, hoping it would increase her prospects for a better life.
Since Rohingya are stateless, they do not have passports and cannot travel by air. In their search for safe and permanent shelters, they are forced to undertake dangerous journeys by sea on rickety boats packed beyond capacity.
Like Ohnmar, Yuzana was also among the refugees rescued by the Sri Lankan navy in December 2022 after their boat to Indonesia had engine trouble.
“I have never been to a school. My only request is to help me move to a country permanently, so that I can start studying. Without that, I am clueless about my future,” Yuzana told Al Jazeera. “I can’t stop thinking of my family. I want to meet them soon.”
Yuzana, a minor at the time of her rescue, was first placed at a detention centre with other refugees and later moved to an orphanage from which she was released this month.
“The UNHCR handled all my expenses since I came here [Sri Lanka]. They even gave me a voucher to buy essentials. I am surviving using that. But now they have stopped giving the allowances. I don’t know what to do,” she said.
Khine*, 51, another Rohingya rescued in 2022 along with his two sons and grandchildren, said he was grateful to the Sri Lankan navy and the UNHCR for helping him stay in the country.
“We were kept at a detention centre for three months. After we were released, the UNHCR gave us monthly allowances, which was helpful to me. Now it is difficult to survive without the allowance,” he said.
Khine said the UNHCR must help refugees move to another country before closing its office in Sri Lanka.
“The early days of my life are over, but what will happen to my kids and grandkids? Without citizenship, there is no hope,” Khine told Al Jazeera. “How can the UNHCR leave without solving our problem? We can’t go back to our country.”
‘Give us the allowance’
As living costs soar, exacerbated by a severe economic crisis in Sri Lanka, the UNHCR’s decision to stop the monthly allowances for refugees and scholarships for children in primary grades has come as a double whammy.
The cost of essentials including cooking gas, food and utilities has risen after the government increased value-added taxes up to 18 percent in January. Crops destroyed by heavy rains have also led to an increase in food prices.
Carrots, for instance, are being sold at 1,975 Sri Lankan rupees ($6) a kilogramme (2.2lb), up from 200 rupees ($0.6) a year ago, central bank data show.
Worse, refugees are legally barred from working in Sri Lanka, forcing them to rely on the UNHCR allowance or donations from charities – both barely enough to meet their needs.
In the coastal city of Negombo, about an hour’s drive from Colombo, Fareedun Saeed; his wife, Riffat Fareedun; and their two daughters are struggling to make ends meet.
The UNHCR initially granted them a monthly allowance of 22,000 rupees ($68) before increasing it to 43,000 rupees ($134) amid skyrocketing inflation in 2022.
“We used the money to pay the rent, buy food, and pay our electricity and water bills. Now they have stopped the allowance. I don’t know what to do,” Saeed told Al Jazeera.
For more than a decade, they have been living in a small house with barely enough space to move around. With food becoming increasingly expensive, the Fareeduns are surviving on roti, a flatbread they have with lentil curry or eggs once a day.
“My daughters say they can’t eat roti every day. But I have to convince them to eat this. I don’t eat much. We give our food to our daughters,” Fareedun, a certified beautician, told Al Jazeera.
A member of the Sayed caste, Fareedun married Saeed, who hails from the Sheikh caste. Intercaste marriages are often considered unacceptable in some parts of Pakistani society.
Scars on Fareedun’s left forearm and Saeed’s head remind them of the days they were attacked for their marriage after it was opposed by their families.
A scar on Saeed’s head is reminiscent of the attacks on his family before they sought refuge in Sri Lanka [Hassaan Shazuli/Al Jazeera]
“We are appealing to all countries: Please grant us resettlement. I can’t go back to Pakistan. They will kill me. I’d rather die here,” Fareedun said, adding that her applications for immigration to Australia and the United States were rejected.
After the UNHCR allowances were scrapped, Fareedun has been skipping her high blood pressure medication and often falls sick as a result.
Riffat has stopped taking medication for her high blood pressure after the UNHCR stopped monthly allowances [Hassaan Shazuli / Al Jazeera] (Restricted Use)
Both her daughters – 14-year-old Fathima Fareedun, a ninth-grade student, and 12-year-old Aysha Fareedun in grade seven – received UNHCR scholarships to pursue their educations, which have now been scrapped.
Saeed showed two quotations each of nearly 24,000 rupees ($75) that he received from a bookshop to buy books for his daughters. “How can I buy this when I don’t have an income? They don’t allow us to work. Soon, my daughters won’t be able to go to school.”
Fathima was three when she arrived in Sri Lanka. “At times, I haven’t gone to school because we couldn’t pay for transport,” she told Al Jazeera. “Please help us resettle in another country. I want to study and become a doctor.”
What happens next?
The UNHCR said it will coordinate with Sri Lankan authorities after closing its office to ensure refugees and asylum seekers are protected and not sent back to countries where they are at risk of persecution.
“UNHCR will continue to advocate with the authorities for them to ratify the 1951 convention [and] develop a national asylum system in the country,” Bianchi told Al Jazeera.
“UNHCR will also continue to work to ensure that refugees already identified for resettlement continue the departure process.”
But Ruki Fernando, a refugee rights activist, said their basic rights are being violated because they cannot work and their access to education is hampered.
“Sri Lanka must have a domestic law and mechanism to process asylum applications and offer permanent resettlement and citizenship to at least a small number of people,” Fernando told Al Jazeera.
“The government should provide housing to these refugees and allow their children to be part of the country’s free education system.”
Refugees and asylum seekers have occasionally been threatened, attacked and deported from Sri Lanka. The UNHCR’s planned departure has heightened fears of more abuse and deportations.
In 2014, the Supreme Court permitted authorities to deport several Pakistani asylum seekers after the government accused them of committing crimes and spreading malaria.
Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at the time that at least 18 malaria cases were detected among asylum seekers that year. The cases were discovered when Sri Lanka had no local malaria infections and was awaiting a malaria-free certification from the World Health Organization, the ministry said.
The UNHCR at the time accused Sri Lanka of violating international laws.
“When the previous deportations happened, UNHCR was the key agency which intervened on behalf of refugees and asylum seekers. When the UNHCR is absent, there is a question of who will intervene on behalf of them,” Fernando said.
Chomden*, 20, a widow and mother to a five-year-old daughter, left Myanmar in 2017. She is sceptical about her future after the UNHCR stopped her monthly allowance of 31,000 rupees ($96).
“If the UNHCR is planning to close the office without a proper solution, we can’t imagine what will happen to us,” she told Al Jazeera.
“Rather than leaving us stranded here, it’s better if they can repair our boat and push us back into the ocean. At least we will die there quickly.”
*Some names have been changed to protect identities.
The UN official said he was ‘appalled’ by the killings in central Mali.
The UN rights chief on Thursday said he was “appalled” by alleged summary executions of 25 people by Mali’s army and “foreign military personnel” last week in a region plagued by violence from armed groups.
Volker Turk also expressed alarm at the killing of approximately 30 others in attacks over the weekend in central Mali, a particular hotbed of violence.
“I am appalled by credible allegations that Malian armed forces accompanied by foreign military personnel summarily executed at least 25 people in Welingara village, in the central Nara region on 26 January,” Turk said in a statement.
“I am also alarmed by reports that about 30 civilians were killed in attacks by yet unidentified gunmen on two other villages – Ogota and Oimbe – in the Bandiagara region over this past weekend,” he added.
Gathering and verifying information in Mali is made difficult by the country’s vast geography, deteriorating communications infrastructure and security concerns.
Rebel violence that started in northern Mali in 2012 spread to the centre of the country in 2015, when Katiba Macina – an al-Qaeda-affiliated group – was established, led by the Fulani hardline preacher Amadou Kouffa.
West Africa recorded more than 1,800 attacks in the first six months of 2023, resulting in nearly 4,600 deaths and creating dire humanitarian consequences. According to an ECOWAS top regional official, this was just “a snippet of the horrendous impact of insecurity”.
Mali is currently led by a military government that seized power in 2020 and turned away from former colonial power France, before pushing the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA to leave at the end of 2023.
The government has chosen instead to pivot towards Russia, both politically and militarily. This January, it announced its withdrawal from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), alongside Burkina Faso and Niger, which are also led by their militaries. The regional bloc has been central in condemning and imposing sanctions on the trio after the takeovers.
France once had a strong presence across the Sahel, but announced the withdrawal of its troops from the three countries after the coups.
Many observers have claimed Mali has enlisted the services of Russian mercenaries, despite frequent Malian denials.
The UN and local sources have regularly accused the Malian army and its allies of abuses against civilians, which Mali has also categorically denied.
UN rights investigators and groups like Human Rights Watch said that Malian troops and foreign forces – presumed to be Wagner – were behind the massacre of at least 500 people in the central Malian town of Moura in March 2022.
“It is essential that all allegations of arbitrary deprivations of life, including summary executions, are fully and impartially investigated and those found responsible brought to justice in trials observing international standards,” the UN rights chief said Thursday.
To date, none of the investigations launched in Mali into abuses by the military has been successful.
The US has paused funding to the UN agency after Israel said some of its staff were allegedly involved in the attacks.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says it has opened an investigation into some employees Israel alleges were involved in the October 7 attacks, and that it has severed ties with those staff members.
“The Israeli authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks on Israel on October 7,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said on Friday.
“To protect the agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay.”
Lazzarini did not disclose the number of employees allegedly involved in the attacks, nor the nature of their alleged involvement. He said, however, that “any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror” would be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “horrified by this news”, according to his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. He added that the UN chief had asked Lazzarini to conduct a probe to ensure any UNRWA employee guilty of abetting the October 7 attacks be terminated and referred for potential criminal prosecution.
The US Department of State said it was troubled by the allegations, which it said pertained to 12 UNRWA employees. It said it would provide no additional funding to the agency until the allegations were addressed.
“The Department of State has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them,” spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement that the 27-member bloc would “assess further steps and draw lessons based on the result of the full and comprehensive investigation”.
UNRWA, whose biggest donors in 2022 included the US, Germany and the EU, has repeatedly said its capacity to render humanitarian assistance to people in Gaza is on the verge of collapse.
Established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, the agency provides services including schooling, primary healthcare and humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
Since the onset of the war on Gaza, Israeli authorities, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have accused it of fuelling anti-Israeli incitement – allegations it denies.
UNRWA says it has provided aid to desperate people in Gaza and used its facilities to shelter those fleeing Israeli attacks.
The agency’s shelters have also been repeatedly targeted by Israeli missiles during the war, despite pleas for safe passages to deliver humanitarian aid and assistance.
The appeal comes as the number of people forced to migrate reached 117 million by the end of 2022, the IOM said.
The United Nations migration agency has launched its first “global appeal”, aiming to drum up $7.9bn to help those forced to leave their homes due to everything from conflict to climate change.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) made its annual appeal Monday, as it seeks to bolster efforts to protect migrants, reduce displacement and expand avenues to migrate legally.
The appeal comes at a time when top donor governments face tight budgets. The IOM says it hopes funding will come from individual and private-sector donors in addition to governments.
The agency’s new director-general, Amy Pope, said the funding will benefit 140 million people – both migrants and the communities that house them.
The appeal comes as the number of people forced to migrate reached 117 million by the end of 2022, the IOM said in a report accompanying the appeal.
“Irregular and forced migration have reached unprecedented levels and the challenges we face are increasingly complex,” Pope said. “The evidence is overwhelming that migration, when well-managed, is a major contributor to global prosperity and progress.”
Pope said that organisations need to be planning for future migration rather than reacting to waves of migration as they happen.
“The evidence shows us that only being reactive means that more people are dying and being exploited as they migrate. This appeal will allow us to save more lives and work together more responsibly,” she said.
The IOM’s “Missing Migrants” project estimates at least 60,000 people have died or disappeared making such journeys in the last nine years, especially those crossing into Libya, then heading across the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
IOM data shows that 281 million international migrants, from manual labourers to white-collar jobholders, generate nearly 10 percent of global economic output.
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