Middle East

Thirteen independent UN human rights experts raised concerns on Thursday over the planned execution by authorities in Saudi Arabia of a 57-year-old Jordanian citizen convicted for carrying amphetamine pills across the border in 2014, reminding that drug offences “do not meet the threshold for most serious crimes”. 

Syria needs less military activity and more focus on the political process, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Tuesday, appealing for restraint amid a worrying trend towards escalation. 

Conflict between Israelis and Palestinians “is again reaching a boiling point”, the UN Middle East envoy told the Security Council on Monday, warning of escalating violence amid a stalled peace process. 

Following calls from UN human rights chief Volker Türk for an independent investigation into ongoing deadly violence against protesters in Iran, the Human Rights Council has created a fact-finding mission, related to the protests that began on 16 September 2022.  

Saudi Arabia must adopt a moratorium on executions for drug-related offenses, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday, responding to the recent resumption of capital punishment for these crimes. 

Seven weeks since the UN-mediated nationwide truce in Yemen expired, the UN Special Envoy told the Security Council on Tuesday that despite “incidents of concern”, full-fledged war has not returned. 

Children across the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) are again confronting a surge in violence, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday, describing the “unacceptable reality” that on average, over 10 children have been killed every week since the beginning of the year.

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, called on Tuesday for the immediate release of thousands of Iranian citizens who have been detained after peacefully demonstrating against the Government following the death of Mahsa Amini for breaking strict hijab rules two months ago.

The family and lawyers of a jailed Saudi activist, who reportedly is being held incommunicado, must be granted immediate access to him, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, said on Wednesday. 

Warring factions in Yemen are being urged to extend a UN-mediated truce following reports of deaths and injuries of civilians from sniper attacks and shelling. The truce, which started at the beginning of April, ended more than a month ago, and human rights chief, Volker Türk, says that there is grave and growing concern for the safety and security of civilians.

The first cholera outbreak in nearly three decades in Lebanon is now spreading throughout the country, with more than 1,400 suspected cases, and 17 reported deaths so far, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.

Amid growing geopolitical divides and deepening inequalities, cooperation is the only way forward, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in Algiers on Tuesday, addressing the Summit of the League of Arab States. 

Throughout Syria’s civil war, women have risked their security to mediate the various conflicts that have affected their communities. Since international efforts to end the fighting have stalled, their role has grown in importance.

With daily violence spiralling out of control in the occupied West Bank, leaders in both Israel and Palestine need to take steps to restore calm as best they can, “with the full support of the international community”, said the UN’s top official in the region on Friday.

Israel’s occupation is illegal and indistinguishable from a “settler-colonial” situation, which must end, as a pre-condition for Palestinians to exercise their right to self-determination, the UN’s independent expert on the occupied Palestinian territory said on Thursday.