rights in crisis

Rape, forced labor, reprisal attacks and torture are surging in eastern Congo as the result of the recent UN-backed military offensive, according to a new in-depth survey of nearly 600 villagers carried out by international aid agency Oxfam.

Over 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes so far this year as a result of significant increasing violence in DR Congo, Sudan and Somalia, international agency Oxfam said today, as heads of state gather at the AU Summit in Libya to discuss peace and security across the continent.

In June 2009 the blockade on the Gaza Strip enters its third year.

A group of nine major international aid agencies said today that their aid effort of reaching over 1 million victims of the fighting in Swat valley of Pakistan was under threat due to a lack of funds. The agencies face a shortfall in excess of $42m.

Cyclone survivors in Bangladesh are now facing a severe risk of disease as the supply of safe drinking water is reaching crisis levels. Cyclone Aila hit the coast of Bangladesh on 25 May, affecting 3.6m people and leaving over 750,000 people homeless.

We're increasing our emergency response in Somalia, providing water, shelter and other aid to thousands fleeing deadly new violence in the country’s capital. War, drought and malnutrition are thrusting Somalia towards even greater catastrophe.

Thousands of lives are at risk in Sri Lanka because aid to refugees is being restricted by a government ban on aid agency vehicles entering the camps, and difficulties in securing access for staff , Oxfam said today.

International agency Oxfam said today that it has had to double its aid effort in Pakistan as the number of displaced goes over 2 million, making the crisis the greatest internal displacement of people in the country’s history.

Traumatized, exhausted and half-starved civilians who have fled Sri Lanka’s conflict zone are being housed in camps without decent water and sanitation facilities and with inadequate food supplies, international aid agency Oxfam said today.

A coalition of 68 aid and human rights groups said the council should make clear to both the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo and the Congolese army that stronger measures to protect civilians are urgently needed during military operations against Rwandan militias.