UN opens humanitarian affairs segment as rights office warns record killings of defenders

The United Nations opened a three-day humanitarian affairs segment on Thursday, and senior officials used the platform to warn that shrinking funding and contested operating environments are undermining life-saving assistance.

Tom Fletcher, head of OCHA and the UN emergency relief coordinator, told the meeting that in a changing world "aid organizations not only face a gap between growing needs and shrinking funding ... but also between needs and our ability to deliver." He called on member states, parties to conflicts, donors and the private sector to play their part and stressed that respect for international humanitarian law and protection of aid workers are "indispensable to humanitarian action."

In parallel, the UN human rights office released a data set showing attacks against human rights defenders have reached record levels, with preliminary figures indicating about 950 human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists were killed or forcibly disappeared last year—more than double a decade ago. An agency official summarized the data and said the trends are "alarming."

The Security Council also held an open debate on women, peace and security. UN Women executive director Simab Bahu said women's participation in UN-led processes reached between 16 and 23% over the past five years—roughly double the global average—but remains too low. The briefing highlighted a doubling of uniformed women in peacekeeping since 2018, from less than 5% to over 10%, and the rollout of a network for uniformed women peacekeepers that counted up to 1,800 members from 90 countries.

Ending: Officials urged greater state and donor support to protect aid workers, uphold human rights, and accelerate gender parity progress in peace operations.