The number of children who died in global conflicts tripled in 2023 compared to the previous year, and the number of women doubled, denounced on Tuesday the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, in his update on the situation of fundamental freedoms on the planet.

In total, the civilian victims in the multiple conflicts that ravage the planet in places such as Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Burma, Syria or Yemen, among many others, grew by 72%, Türk said at the opening of the 56th session of the Human Rights Council, citing statistics from the office he heads.

“It is disheartening to see how the different parties to the conflict exceed the limits of the acceptable and legal on many fronts, with a total contempt for the other, trampling on human rights,” the head of human rights told the delegations of the United Nations member states.

Faced with this, “the murder of civilians has become a daily routine, as well as the destruction of infrastructure. Children who are shot, hospitals bombed, heavy artillery against entire communities,” he denounced.

Türk gave as a first example of these abuses the situation in Gaza, where he recalled that 120,000 people have been killed or injured in eight months of Israeli attacks.

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“The relentless attacks in Gaza are causing immense suffering and widespread destruction, and the arbitrary obstruction of humanitarian aid continues. Israel continues to arbitrarily detain thousands of Palestinians. This cannot continue,” Türk said, recalling that UN reports indicate that Israel and Hamas could be committing war crimes.

The Austrian also stressed that since in May Israel intensified its operations in Rafah, in the southern end of the Gaza Strip and the last refuge for many Palestinians who left their homes in areas further north, “more than a million Palestinians have necessarily had to move once again.”

In the war in Ukraine, the High Commissioner expressed his concern about the deterioration of the country’s situation after two and a half years of Russian invasion and particularly denounced the situation in Kharkov, where the recent Russian land offensive “has destroyed entire communities.”

“Many inhabitants, mostly elderly, hide in the basements, without electricity, water or adequate food, while the area suffers intense attacks with explosives,” said the Austrian.

Türk also recalled that the repeated waves of large-scale attacks by Russia against energy infrastructure have destroyed 68% of Ukraine’s electricity production capacity, “placing the system at a point of no return, especially for the winter.”

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But Türk also alluded to other conflicts less present in the headlines and televisions, in places such as the Sahel, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Haiti or Sudan, the latter country that according to the High Commissioner “is being destroyed before our eyes.”

The generals at the head of the two sides in conflict in Sudan “have responsibility in the commission of possible war crimes and other atrocities,” including ethnic attacks and sexual violence, he said.

“They are ultimately responsible for the impact of their actions on civilians, with effects such as mass displacement, the threat of famine, or an ever-increasing humanitarian disaster,” said the high commissioner.

At other levels that do not yet reach the open conflict, Türk also warned on Tuesday about the speeches “that turn migrants into scapegoats,” something that in his opinion has become common “between populists and the extreme right” in electoral campaigns in Europe, North America and other regions.

He also denounced setbacks in the situation of women and girls from various countries, with flagrant examples in Iran and Afghanistan, where they suffer serious violations of their fundamental freedoms.

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