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Papua New Guinea’s Rapid Tides Expose Climate Risks

Coastal Communities Bear Brunt of Climate Inaction

Earlier this month, parts of Papua New Guinea (PNG) experienced a surge in king tides that flooded communities and displaced approximately 53,000 people. King tides are the highest predicted tides of the year and are reaching higher and farther as…
Two boys in a canoe
News

Papua New Guinea: Violence Against Women Accused of Sorcery

Protect Women Targeted; Hold Attackers to Account

(Melbourne) – The Papua New Guinea government should protect women accused of practicing “sorcery” from violence and hold the attackers to account, Human Rights Watch said today. At least five women have been attacked since March 2021, one of whom was…
Screenshot from the testimony of Dr. Fiona Hukula at the Special Parliamentary Inquiry into Gender-Based Violence in Port Moresby on May 24, 2021.  
News

In the Central African Republic, War’s Most Forgotten Victims

I can’t stop thinking about Marie. She was 30 years old when I met her in 2015. Two years earlier, six fighters armed with rifles and machetes burst into her home in the capital of the Central African Republic, Bangui. Two of the fighters held her…
Josephine, 28, said she fled her home in Bangui with her husband and five young children due to fighting in the city in October 2014. When she returned to her neighborhood to collect clothes and dishes for the family, three anti-balaka stopped her and t
News

Survivors of Rape in Conflict Should be in School

Victims of Sexual Violence Need More Support to Continue Education

In 2015, as conflict raged in the Central African Republic, Evelyne (not her real name) was returning from selling cassava leaves near Boda, in the country’s southwest, when an anti-balaka fighter threw her on the ground, raped her, and…
Josephine, 28, said she fled her home in Bangui with her husband and five young children due to fighting in the city in October 2014. When she returned to her neighborhood to collect clothes and dishes for the family, three anti-balaka stopped her and t
News

Central African Republic: Civilians Targeted as Violence Surges

UN Peacekeeping Mission Faces Renewal, Needs Expansion

(Nairobi) – Violence threatening civilians has surged in recent months in the Central African Republic’s south-central and southeastern regions. To protect people at risk, the United Nations Security Council should renew the mandate of the UN…
Anti-Balaka fighters in Gambo, Mboumou province, Central African Republic, on August 16, 2017.
News

Time to Hear Survivors of Rape in Central African Republic Conflict

When an armed group attacked “Irène’s” home in the Central African Republic, fighters shot her husband in both legs as he tried to flee, and tied their five-year-old daughter to a post when she began to cry. “Irène,” 36, held her palms over her eyes as…
Angèle, 27 ans, serre son enfant dans ses bras à Bangui, en République centrafricaine. Les combattants de la Séléka ont tué son mari et ses parents, avant de la capturer près de Bambari en juin 2014, a-t-elle raconté. Ils l’ont détenue en tant qu’esclave
News

Central African Republic: Sexual Violence as Weapon of War

Widespread Rape, Sexual Slavery by Armed Groups

(New York) – Armed groups in the Central African Republic have used rape and sexual slavery as a tactic of war across the country during nearly five years of conflict, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Commanders have…
Josephine, 28, said she fled her home in Bangui with her husband and five young children due to fighting in the city in October 2014. When she returned to her neighborhood to collect clothes and dishes for the family, three anti-balaka stopped her and t
News

Saving the Lives of Women Raped in War

UN Secretary-General Calls for Safe Abortion Access

At today’s United Nations Security Council debate, member states will discuss the secretary-general’s annual report on sexual violence in conflict. In this year’s annual report, the secretary-general recognizes sexual and reproductive…
A sign emphasizing the importance of healthcare and protection for survivors of sexual violence at a hospital in Kaga Bandoro, Central African Republic.
News

Central African Republic: Ugandan Troops Harm Women, Girls

Repeated Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

(Nairobi) – Ugandan soldiers in the Central African Republic have sexually exploited or abused at least 13 women and girls since 2015, including at least one rape, and threatened some victims to remain silent, Human Rights Watch said today. The Ugandan…
“Karin,” a 15-year-old girl in Obo who was eight months pregnant at the time of photo.
News

A Chance for UN Peacekeeping to Get It Right

Investigate, Prosecute Peacekeepers Accused of Sexual Assault

Thérèse, a 14-year-old in the Central African Republic, probably doesn’t know that defense ministers from around the globe will meet in London on Thursday this week to discuss United Nations peacekeeping. But she has a stake in what happens there. …
A United Nations peacekeeper stands alongside a road near the refugee camp of Saint Sauveur, in the Central African Republic capital, Bangui, November 29, 2015.
News

Central African Republic: Raped and Abandoned as War Rages

The attack started while she was drawing water for her family. “Sophie,” then 20 years old, was returning to her home in Bambari, in Central African Republic (CAR), when she heard that the Seleka, mostly Muslim fighters who had ousted the previous…
A sign emphasizing the importance of healthcare and protection for survivors of sexual violence at a hospital in Kaga Bandoro, Central African Republic.
News

Holding Abusive UN Peacekeepers to Account

Despite their mandate to maintain peace and protect people in war-torn countries, some UN peacekeepers have themselves been abusers. Highly publicized allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic have…
Women walk by a United Nations peacekeeping armored vehicle guarding the outer perimeter of a school used as an electoral center at the end of the presidential and legislative elections, in the mostly muslim PK5 neighborhood of Bangui.
News

Dispatches: High-Profile ICC Warning to Commanders on Rape

Today’s International Criminal Court (ICC) conviction of a former Democratic Republic of Congo vice president was both a victory for sexual violence victims and a stark warning to senior commanders who turn a blind eye while their troops rape and commit…
Former Congo vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba looks up when sitting in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court to stand trial in The Hague, Netherlands, September 29, 2015.
News

UN: Stop Sexual Abuse by Peacekeepers

New Report Reveals Lack of Justice, Protection for Victims

(New York) – The United Nations and its member countries should do more to investigate and prosecute peacekeepers who commit sexual exploitation and abuse, and to support the survivors, Human Rights Watch said today. In his annual report on special…
Women walk by a United Nations peacekeeping armored vehicle guarding the outer perimeter of a school used as an electoral center at the end of the presidential and legislative elections, in the mostly muslim PK5 neighborhood of Bangui.
News

Central African Republic: Rape by Peacekeepers

UN, Troop-Contributing Countries Should Hold Abusers Accountable

(Nairobi) – United Nations peacekeepers in the Central African Republic raped or sexually exploited at least eight women and girls between October and December 2015. Among the survivors are a 14-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman who said peacekeepers…
A MINUSCA base behind the Bambari airport, Central African Republic. From September to December 2015 members of the UN peacekeepers from the Republic of Congo guarded the airport and allegedly committed numerous acts of sexual abuse and exploitation again
News

Dispatches: A Year of Reckoning on Sexual Abuse by UN Peacekeepers

Last week, an independent panel released a much-anticipated report on sexual exploitation and abuse by peacekeepers and United Nations staff of the very people they are meant to be protecting. Reports of egregious abuse by peacekeepers in the Central…
News

Dispatches: Central African Republic Gripped With Fear

A country “gripped with fear” is how the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, described the Central African Republic during a September 4 visit. His words echo what I’ve heard from hundreds of victims and witnesses…
MINUSCA peacekeepers questioning villagers outside of Batangafo, August 2015
News

Dispatches: Will Shocking Stories Force the UN to Act?

A 12-year-old girl is reported to be the latest victim of sexual abuse by the very people dispatched to protect her: United Nations peacekeepers. In the most recent case we know of, documented by Amnesty International, UN peacekeeping forces are said to…
un haiti

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