This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Afghanistan’s Taliban responsible for revenge killings, torture of former officials: OHCHR, UNAMA

In Afghanistan, hundreds of former government officials and members of the armed forces have allegedly been killed despite assurances from the Taliban of an amnesty, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday.

A new publication by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) presents “credible” reports that between 15 August 2021 and 30 June 2023, the country’s de facto authorities were responsible for 218 extrajudicial killings, 14 enforced disappearances, over 144 instances of torture and ill treatment, and 424 arbitrary arrests and detentions.

In interviews, individuals described beatings with pipes, cables, verbal threats and abuse at the hands of de facto security force members. UNAMA also heard from family members whose relatives had been arrested or gone missing, their bodies found days or even months later. 

UN human rights chief Volker Türk said that the targeting of former officials despite previous assurances is a “betrayal of the people’s trust”. He urged the Taliban to prevent further violations and hold perpetrators to account.

DRC: Millions face hunger as funding dries up, warns WFP

Hunger is creeping up on millions of people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as armed conflict and displacement ravage the country’s agriculture, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.

With more details on the crisis in the east of the country here’s WFP’s director in DRC, Peter Musoko in Kinshasa:

“1.5 million people [are] in a state of emergency level food insecurity across Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. Farmers in this region are facing a constant threat of violence, hampering their ability to cultivate their land and severely impacting crop yields.”

WFP noted that DRC is the largest food crisis in the world, with 25.8 million people food insecure. Malnutrition affects 4.4 million, access to essential services including healthcare and education is scarce and gender-based violence is rampant.

The UN agency requires $728 million for its response efforts in the eastern region, Mr. Musoko said, but faces a “staggering” funding gap of $567 million over the next six months.

Generative AI likely to augment rather than destroy jobs: ILO

With fears mounting over the capacity of generative artificial intelligence, or AI, to take over people’s jobs, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has said that most workers are likely to be assisted by AI, not replaced

Here’s more from ILO Senior Economist Janine Berg, one of the authors of a new study analysing the effects of the latest wave of Generative AI, such as chatGPT, on the labour market:

“It’s not really about replacing jobs, unless your job consists only of those tasks that can be replaced by AI. Then you have a threat of being automated away. It’s really clerical professions that are going to be most affected. Almost 80 per cent of their tasks are likely to be affected by AI.”

Given that women are over-represented in clerical work, female employees are more than twice as likely to be affected by automation as men.

The study points out that the socioeconomic impacts of Generative AI will depend on how it is implemented, while advocating for an “orderly, fair and consultative” transition. 

“Workers’ voice, skills training and adequate social protection will be key,” the study’s authors wrote – otherwise, there is a risk that only a small number of well-prepared countries and workers will benefit.

Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer, UN News.