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U.N. agencies report child deaths in Suwaida and urge Sri Lanka to pursue accountability reforms
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Summary
UNICEF and the U.N. human rights office reported recent violence in Suwaida, Syria, that killed and injured children and damaged infrastructure, and the U.N. human rights office urged Sri Lanka to implement reforms and address past abuses.
The United Nations reported that recent violence in Suwaida, Syria, left at least 22 children dead and 21 injured, and that critical infrastructure including water and electricity networks were damaged.
The World Health Organization said at least five health centers were under attack in July in the area and that two physicians were killed; an ambulance was obstructed, the U.N. said. UNICEF deployed 14 mobile health and nutrition teams and provided health and nutrition supplies to more than 4,000 children and women, and supplied safe drinking water and fuel for pumping stations benefiting more than 30,000 people, according to the briefing.
The U.N. also reported that more than 190,000 people, mostly women and children, were forced to flee their homes during the violence.
Separately, the U.N. human rights office released a report urging the government of Sri Lanka to use a "historic opportunity" to break entrenched impunity and implement transformative reforms, including a formal acknowledgment of violations and abuses committed during the civil war, the spokesperson said. Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, emphasized that the process should start with clear acknowledgment of past violations.
Why it matters: the combined losses, infrastructure damage and displacement in Suwaida increase humanitarian needs; the Sri Lanka report calls for accountability and reforms that U.N. human rights officials say are long overdue.
No formal actions or new funding allocations were announced during the briefing.
