This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Ukraine prisoner of war trials in Mariupol could be a war crime: OHCHR

Reports that Russian authorities and affiliated armed groups in Ukraine’s Mariupol plan to put prisoners of war on trial in the coming days, could be a war crime, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday.

The development comes after photos and video footage published in the media appeared to show metal cages being built in Mariupol’s philharmonic hall, apparently to restrain captured Ukrainian soldiers during legal proceedings. 

OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said that international humanitarian law prohibits the establishment of courts solely to judge prisoners of war.

She added that a lack of independent access to these detainees left them exposed to the risk of torture, to extract a confession:

“We’ve examined videos, for example one in which a captured serviceman from the Ukrainian armed forces was beaten, castrated, shot and killed by men who appear to be members of Russian armed forces or affiliated armed groups. We have reasonable grounds to believe this video was not staged.”. 

The UN human rights office spokesperson also highlighted public statements by Russian officials and affiliates, that had described Ukrainian soldiers as “war criminals”, “Nazis” and “terrorists”, undermining the presumption of innocence.

DR Congo declares Ebola resurgence in North Kivu 

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have declared a resurgence of Ebola virus.

The announcement came late on Monday evening after confirmation of one case of the highly transmissible disease in the country’s eastern province of North Kivu. 

According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), a 46-year-old woman died from Ebola on 15 August, in Beni town in North Kivu.

She had been treated in hospital where blood samples confirmed that she had the same strain of Ebola as the one responsible for the 2018-2020 outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces - the country’s longest and largest encounter with the disease, which is endemic in DRC.

Although Ebola flare-ups “are occurring with greater frequency” in DRC, WHO’s Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said that the health authorities in North Kivu had stopped several previous outbreaks and would “no doubt” bring this one under control quickly, too.

The last episode of Ebola in Beni in December 2021, lasted about two months and claimed six lives before it was contained.

Myanmar: 5 years since Rohingya mass exodus, UNHCR urges solutions

To Myanmar, where it’s been five years since more than 700,000 ethnic Rohingya fled military persecution for neighbouring Bangladesh, and where the UN refugee agency, UNHCR on Tuesday appealed to the international community to help them.

Far greater financial support and solutions for Rohingya men, women and children are needed today, the UN agency said, particularly in the vast Cox’s Bazar camp complex in Bangladesh.

It’s now the world’s largest refugee camp, with almost one million stateless Rohingya, and conditions are extremely overcrowded and, in some cases, dangerous, said UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo:

“Protection needs — especially for women, children and people with disabilities — are often under-reported. Violence against children and women, especially gender-based violence, is shrouded in stigma that can render survivors voiceless, often unable to access legal, medical, psycho-social or other forms of support. Some have resorted to dangerous boat journeys to seek a future for themselves and their children.”

UNHCR reported that many Rohingya want to return home to Myanmar – but only when it is safe to do so, and as long as can move around freely and have access to citizenship.

Today’s response plan for Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh who are also in need of humanitarian support, is only 49 per cent funded, with $426 million received so far this year.

Katy Dartford, UN News.