Pilots from Australia have been playing a crucial role in South Sudan as the United Nations ramps up its peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.

South Sudan is now in its fifth week of unrest.

The human rights situation in the Central African Republic is being discussed by experts in Geneva on Monday.

Twenty-three children in the Central African Republic are recovering in a UN-supported recovery centre after being released by armed groups in the capital, Bangui.

The children, including six girls, are between 14 and 17 years old.

Palestinian refugees sheltering in a camp situated in Syria are living in what has been described as “unimaginably harsh” conditions.

South Sudan is developing into a “horrifying humanitarian and human rights disaster” according to a senior UN official who has completed a four-day visit to the country.

Syrian women are hoping that next week’s international conference in Geneva will be a “serious step” towards ending the violence and bloodshed in their homeland.

The trial of four men accused of the February 2005 car bomb attack which killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri opened on Thursday.

The case is being heard at a Special Tribunal in The Hague, in The Netherlands, and the defendants are being tried in absentia.

An independent expert on the human rights situation in Cambodia is concerned that a political impasse stemming from last year’s elections is having a detrimental impact on peace and prosperity.

The UN human rights human rights chief, Navi Pillay, has warned armed opposition groups in Syria that executions and unlawful killings may amount to war crimes.

The warning comes as reports emerge that there have been a succession of mass executions in northern Syria.

There is a real risk of genocide in the Central African Republic if urgent action is not taken now to stabilize the situation.