News headlines in January 2024, page 17

TORONTO, Canada, Jan 11 (IPS) - The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) published the following Q&A with human rights attorney and political analyst Diana Buttu on South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice ICJ). The court is scheduled to hold hearings on the petition January 11-12.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 11 (IPS) - The continued devastation of Gaza by Israel has triggered widespread charges of war crimes, genocide, forced displacement, ethnic cleansing, starvation as a weapon of war and mass killings of civilians – over 22,000 at last count—compared to 1,200 killings by Hamas.

These accusations have prompted growing demands for intervention by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, which has remained silent while its Prosecutor Karim Khan is accused of double standards and playing politics.

Recent developments in Colombia have highlighted the need to move forward in implementing the 2016 peace agreement signed by the Government and the FARC-EP militia group, UN Special Representative Carlos Ruiz Massieu told the Security Council on Thursday.

Russian strikes have continued to “wreak havoc” on Ukrainian cities, causing death and destruction and leaving millions of civilians without access to vital services, the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) said on Thursday.

The UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Thursday that it is “deeply concerned” over a recent spate of arbitrary arrests and detentions of women and girls by Taliban officials for alleged non-compliance with the Islamic dress code.

South Africa has set out its case accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Conventionpointing to the current situation in the bombarded, besieged Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians.

West Africa has seen shifting political sands throw up contrasting challenges over the past six months, revealing a stark contrast in the region’s journey towards democracy, the UN envoy for the region said on Thursday.

Recurring denials and severe access constraints continue to paralyze aid teams trying to respond to the immense needs in northern Gaza, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, has warned.

One of the legends of UN history is a tale that spread across the world and the decades. Did then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev remove his shoe and bang it on a desk in the UN General Assembly Hall in 1960?

South Africa addressed the UN's highest court on Thursday in a bid to end the mass killing of civilians in Gaza, accusing Israel of carrying out genocide against Palestinians there – a claim that Israel has strongly denied as "baseless".