This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

Gaza: UN rights chief slams ‘unconscionable death and suffering’ 

As the war drags on in Gaza, UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Tuesday condemned Israel’s “relentless” attacks across the war-shattered enclave, while repeating calls for the release of all remaining hostages.

Speaking at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mr. Türk also reiterated serious concerns that war crimes have been committed by all sides since conflict erupted on 7 October, sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks on multiple targets in Israel.

“Israel’s relentless strikes in Gaza are causing immense suffering and widespread destruction. The arbitrary denial and obstruction of humanitarian aid have continued, and Israel continues to detain arbitrarily thousands of Palestinians. This must end. Palestinian armed groups continue to hold many hostages, and, in some cases in densely populated areas, putting them and Palestinian civilians at further risk. These hostages must be released.”

“There has been unconscionable death and suffering,” the UN rights chief told Member States, as he highlighted the widespread destruction caused by more than eight months of heavy fighting. “More than 120,000 people in Gaza, overwhelmingly women and children, have been killed or injured since 7 October, as a result of the intensive Israeli offensives,” he said.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights noted that the number of civilian deaths in armed conflict worldwide soared by 72 per cent last year.

Mr. Türk referenced data gathered by his Office showing that the number of women killed in 2023 doubled compared to 2022, while the number of children killed had tripled.

Myanmar in Human Rights Council spotlight

Staying with the UN rights chief, who issued an alert on Tuesday about Myanmar, where he said that human rights are disintegrating “at breakneck speed”.

Volker Türk’s comments coincide with ongoing heavy combat between the country’s generals who seized power in February 2021 and separatist rebel movements fuelled by a popular uprising that has pushed the military out in some places.

But horrific rights violations are happening in areas where the Myanmar military is still in control, the UN rights chief said, as he described forced conscription, the indiscriminate bombardment of towns and villages, beheadings, midnight drone attacks and people being burned in their homes while they sleep.

Mr. Türk announced investigations into “several reported attacks against civilians in Rakhine State and Sagaing over recent days”.

Large numbers of civilians have been allegedly killed “in airstrikes, naval artillery barrages and shootings”, he said, before expressing deep concern for the residents of Maungdaw town in Rakhine state, where the separatist Arakan Army has issued an evacuation order to all remaining residents.   

The largely Rohingya population “have no options. There is nowhere to flee,” Mr. Türk said.

Stark variations in attitudes to migrants, asylum seekers: UNHCR 

Attitudes to refugees are hardening in some Western countries, but three in four people continue to believe that those fleeing war or persecution should be able to seek safety in other countries.

That’s according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, which on Tuesday published the findings of a global survey into how asylum seekers and refugees are viewed in the Global North and South.

The UNHCR poll conducted with Ipsos found that 73 per cent of people in 52 countries agreed that people “should be able to take refuge in other countries, including their own”. 

But the data showed that support for providing refuge has fallen “in a number of countries” from the high levels in 2022, in the aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

People surveyed in countries with a long tradition of hosting vulnerable newcomers such as Uganda and Kenya were generally more optimistic about refugee integration - but some major hosts and Western countries were “less positive” - the UN agency said.

UNHCR explained that although one in three people believed that refugees would positively contribute to their country's labour market, economy and culture, the same number held the opposite view. 

The UN agency survey also revealed concerns about the impact of refugees on national security and public services, notably in countries with large refugee populations, the UN agency said, ahead of World Refugee Day on Thursday.

Daniel Johnson, UN News.