The Biden administration said Wednesday it has determined that both sides in the ongoing conflict in Sudan have committed atrocities in the African nation’s western region of Darfur and elsewhere, saying the fighting “has caused grievous human suffering.”

"Based on the State Department’s careful analysis of the law and available facts, I have determined that members of the e Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have committed war crimes in Sudan.  I have also determined that members of the RSF and allied militias have committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing" Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

The finding does not include sanctions being imposed on leaders or members of either side but creates the authority for the U.S. to impose them.

“This determination provides force and renewed urgency to African and international efforts to end the violence, address the humanitarian and human rights crisis, and work towards meaningful justice for victims and the affected communities that ends decades of impunity,” Blinken said. “Today’s determination does not preclude the possibility of future determinations as additional information about the parties’ actions becomes available.”

The Biden administration has already imposed sanctions on RSF and Sudanese army officials for their actions in other parts of the country, including Khartoum, the capital.

On Monday, the administration imposed sanctions on three Sudanese men accused of undermining “peace, security and stability.” Those sanctions freeze all property and assets held by Taha Osman Ahmed al-Hussein, Salah Abdallah Mohamed Salah and Mohamed Etta al-Moula Abbas in U.S. jurisdictions.All three held senior government positions under former autocratic President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan for 30 years. They were forced out of public office after al-Bashir was toppled in a popular uprising in 2019.

The sanctions were the latest the U.S. has imposed on Sudanese leaders and companies in recent months.

In September, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Abdel-Rahim Hamdan Dagalo — brother of the RSF leader — for alleged acts of violence and human rights abuses committed by the paramilitary.

In June, the U.S. placed sanctions on four key companies either linked to or owned by the army and the RSF. In addition, it put visa restrictions on officials from both Sudanese sides, as well as other leaders affiliated with al-Bashir, but didn’t specify who was affected.

Sudan plunged into chaos in April when long-simmering tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Force paramilitary commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo escalated into open warfare.

In Darfur, which was the site of a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s, the conflict has morphed into ethnic violence, with the RSF and allied Arab militias attacking ethnic African groups, according to rights groups and the U.N.

Read more here and here

The Justice Department has filed war crime charges against four members of the Russian military accused of abducting and torturing an American during the invasion of Ukraine.

Suren Seiranovich Mkrtchyan, 45, Dmitry Budnik, Valerii LNU (last name unknown), and Nazar LNU were each charged in connection with their unlawful detainment of a U.S. national in the context of the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The defendants are alleged to have interrogated, severely beaten, and tortured the victim. They also allegedly threatened to kill the victim and conducted a mock execution. The charges are the first ever brought under a U.S. war crimes law, the department said.  The US war crimes law, passed in 1996, criminalised any "grave breach" of the Geneva Conventions involving Americans as victims or perpetrators. The law applies if either the victim or the perpetrator is a national of the United States or a member of the U.S. Armed Forces. 

"As the world has witnessed the horrors of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, so has the United States Department of Justice,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “That is why the Justice Department has filed the first ever charges under the U.S. war crimes statute against four Russia- affiliated military personnel for heinous crimes against an American citizen. The Justice Department will work for as long as it takes to pursue accountability and justice for Russia’s war of aggression.”

“Thanks to the tireless and unprecedented work of federal law enforcement agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the Justice Department, four Russian soldiers, accused of unthinkable, unacceptable human rights violations against an American citizen, have been charged with war crimes and will be brought to justice,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “The indictments unsealed today send a clear message to Russia – our government will spare no effort and spare no resource to hold accountable those who violate the fundamental human rights of an American.”

“Since the start of their unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Russia has weaponized human rights abuses to wreak unimaginable tragedy,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “Today’s indictment – the first ever under the U.S. war crimes statute – makes clear that the FBI will work with the full cooperation of international law enforcement to bring justice to the victims of these atrocities. The human toll of the conflict in Ukraine weighs heavily on the hearts of the FBI, and we’re resolved to hold war criminals accountable no matter where they are or how long it takes.”

“Torturing and unlawfully confining a protected person are serious human rights abuses that must not go unpunished,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “These historic criminal charges – the first ever brought under the U.S. war crimes statute – are an important step in the Justice Department’s continuing efforts to pursue every avenue of accountability for those who commit war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine.”

According to allegations in the indictment, Mkrtchyan and Budnik were commanding officers of military units of the Russian Armed Forces and/or the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, and Valerii and Nazar were lower-ranking military personnel. The defendants are alleged to have been fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine when they allegedly committed war crimes.

In April 2022, Mkrtchyan and soldiers under his command allegedly abducted the victim, a U.S. national, from his home in the village of Mylove in the Kherson Oblast region in southern Ukraine and unlawfully confined him for at least 10 days. During the abduction, Mkrtchyan, Valerii, Nazar, and others allegedly threw the victim face down to the ground while he was naked, tied his hands behind his back, pointed a gun at his head, and severely beat him, including with the stocks of their guns. Mkrtchyan, Valerii, Nazar, and others then allegedly transported the victim to an improvised military compound in Mylove.

“These charges reflect that the defendants’ alleged actions are not only grave breaches of the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, but also violations of U.S. law,” said U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia. “We are proud to be at the forefront of the Justice Department’s effort to hold perpetrators of war crimes violations accountable in Ukraine and will continue to pursue them. We thank our investigative partners on this case, the War Crimes Accountability Team, the FBI Washington Field Office, and Homeland Security Investigations for their outstanding efforts to gather evidence required for these charges.”

The indictment also alleges that Mkrtchyan and Budnik led and participated in at least two interrogation sessions during which the four defendants and others tortured the victim. During one interrogation, Mkrtchyan, Valerii, and Nazar allegedly stripped off the victim’s clothes and photographed him. The defendants and others then allegedly severely beat the victim, pointed guns at the back of his head, and threatened to shoot him. Budnik allegedly threatened the victim with death and asked for his last words. Shortly thereafter, Nazar and others allegedly conducted a mock execution. They allegedly forced the victim to the ground, put a gun to the back of his head, then moved the gun slightly and shot a bullet just past the victim’s head.

“These historic charges are the culmination of a complex investigation by the FBI and our partners that spans the globe,” said Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the FBI Washington Field Office. “The FBI will continue to work alongside our domestic and international partners to pursue justice and hold those accountable who commit such atrocities against others.”

“Acting on behalf of the Russian Armed Forces and the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, these four individuals allegedly violated the human rights of an American citizen,” said Executive Associate Director Katrina W. Berger of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).  “According to the charges, they unlawfully detained and tortured the American citizen, and even went so far as to carry out a mock execution. The unsealing of these charges for war crimes is an important step in bringing the responsible parties to justice. HSI will continue to aggressively pursue anyone who violates the human rights of our American citizens – at home or overseas.”

The defendants are charged with three war crimes – unlawful confinement, torture, and inhuman treatment – and one count of conspiracy to commit war crimes. If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The U.S. and Russia do not have an extradition treaty, but the Justice Department has brought repeated criminal cases against Russian nationals, most notably for cyber crimes and including for interference in the 2016 presidential election. In some of those cases, the defendants have been taken into custody by American officials, such as when they’ve traveled outside Russia.

Read more at the Department of Justice 

The  United States have sanctioned two russian military officials for their "involvement in gross violations of human rights" in Ukraine.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken imposed visa restrictions on Russian Armed Forces Col. Azatbek Omurbekov, also known as “The Butcher of Bucha,” and Guard Corporal Daniil Frolkin. They were sanctioned for involvement in the extrajudicial killings of civilians from Andriivka, Ukraine

“As a result of today’s action, Omurbekov, Frolkin, and their immediate family members are ineligible for entry into the United States,” the top US diplomat said.

Omurbekov was the commanding officer of Russia’s 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade when it controlled Andriivka, and he “led the brigade to Bucha, Ukraine, where the Department of State determined that the 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade killed, beat, dismembered, burned, and conducted mock executions of civilians,” according to the statement.

The State Department sanctioned the entire unit in June 2022 for human rights violations.

Blinken said in his statement Monday that “the reports that Omurbekov and Frolkin were involved in gross violations of human rights, as documented by NGOs and independent investigations, are serious and credible.”

“By publicly designating Omurbekov and Frolkin, the United States reaffirms its commitment to upholding human rights, acknowledging the injustice experienced by victims and survivors, and promoting accountability for those responsible for human rights violations,” he said.

Read more here

Nearly 20,000 men have fled Ukraine since the outbreak of war to avoid being drafted. 

The BBC reports that  Another 21,113 men attempted to flee but were caught by the Ukrainian authorities.

After Russia's invasion, most men aged 18-60 were banned from leaving. But data obtained by the BBC reveals dozens have made it out daily.

The BBC has established - by requesting data of illegal border crossings from neighbouring Romania, Moldova, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia - that 19,740 men illegally crossed into these countries between February 2022 and 31 August 2023.

The majority - 14,313 - were attempting to walk or swim across the border, and the remaining 6,800 relied on fraudulently obtained official paperwork stating fake exemptions such as fabricated illnesses, the Ukrainian authorities said.

The president's parliamentary representative, Fedir Venislavskyi, acknowledged to the BBC that the problem was serious.

"The government realises that this phenomenon is not isolated and that it is widespread. But unfortunately, I would emphasise that corruption is very resilient," he said - adding that Ukraine was doing "everything possible to keep the number of corruption cases to a minimum".

Mr Venislavskyi said the number of men who had left or had tried to leave was having no impact on the war effort.

"I am convinced that the resilience and readiness of Ukrainians to defend their independence, sovereignty and freedom is 95-99%," Mr Venislavskyi told the BBC.

"Those who try to avoid mobilisation are about 1-5%. They are definitely not critical to the defence of Ukraine." He said there were no plans to radically increase the number of those eligible for mobilisation.

The 40,000-plus number of men who have fled, or tried to flee, could represent a significant proportion of the men Ukraine needs to replenish its army. In August, US officials estimated the Ukrainian military death toll to be up to 70,000 - although Kyiv won't give a figure.

Read more at the BBC 

A group of lawyers representing Palestinian victims of Israeli attacks on Gaza have filed a complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC), arguing that Israel’s actions amount to the crime of genocide.

Gilles Devers, a veteran French lawyer and the victims’ representative before the ICC, submitted the complaint to the prosecutor as part of a four-person delegation in the Dutch city of The Hague last Monday.

The civil society initiative could result in arrest warrants being issued against top Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“It is clear for me that there are all the criteria for the crime of genocide,” Devers told Al Jazeera, adding that cases such as ex-Yugoslavia and Rwanda set the precedent against which the complaint had been submitted.

The group also collected the witness accounts of Palestinian victims whom they legally represent in court.

With mounting allegations of serious war crimes being committed in Gaza, Devers said governments that did not wish to be found complicit should refrain from backing Israel.

“Governments must choose which camp they are on, if they support human rights or genocide. They cannot give speeches about international law and human rights and then accept Israel’s attack without doing nothing,” he said.

Israel does not recognise the ICC, but Devers said that did not render the court ineffective.

In 2021, the ICC ruled that it has jurisdiction over grave crimes committed in occupied Palestinian territories, including potential war crimes committed by any party on the ground.

The ICC in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s alleged involvement in war crimes in Ukraine. While Putin rejected the verdict and did not surrender to the court’s jurisdiction, the decision was a symbolic moment and limited the Russian leader’s ability to travel internationally, including to attend international forums.

Read more at Al Jazeera

Grave violations committed by Israel against Palestinians in the aftermath of 7 October, particularly in Gaza, point to a genocide in the making, UN experts said last week.

They illustrated evidence of increasing genocidal incitement, overt intent to “destroy the Palestinian people under occupation”, loud calls for a ‘second Nakba’ in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory, and the use of powerful weaponry with inherently indiscriminate impacts, resulting in a colossal death toll and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure.

“Many of us already raised the alarm about the risk of genocide in Gaza,” the experts said. “We are deeply disturbed by the failure of governments to heed our call and to achieve an immediate ceasefire. We are also profoundly concerned about the support of certain governments for Israel's strategy of warfare against the besieged population of Gaza, and the failure of the international system to mobilise to prevent genocide,” they said.

The bombardment and siege of Gaza have reportedly killed over 11,000 people, injured more than 27,000 and displaced 1.6 million persons since 7 October 2023, while thousands are still under the rubble. Of those killed, about 41 per cent are children and 25 percent are women. On average, one child is killed and two are injured every 10 minutes during the war, turning Gaza into a “graveyard for children,” according to the UN Secretary-General. Almost 200 medics, 102 UN staff, 41 journalists, frontline and human rights defenders, have also been killed, while dozens of families over five generations have been wiped out.

“This occurs amidst Israel’s tightening of its 16-year unlawful blockade of Gaza, which has prevented people from escaping and left them without food, water, medicine and fuel for weeks now, despite international appeals to provide access for critical humanitarian aid. As we previously said, intentional starvation amounts to a war crime,” the experts said.

They noted that half of the civilian infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed, including more than 40,000 housing units, as well as hospitals, schools, mosques, bakeries, water pipes, sewage and electricity networks, in a way that threatens to make the continuation of Palestinian life in Gaza impossible.

The experts also raised the alarm about the escalation of violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, by soldiers and armed settlers. Since 7 October 2023, at least 190 Palestinians have been killed, more than 2,700 injured, and over 1,100 individuals displaced in the occupied West Bank. On 9 November, Israeli forces also bombed, for the second time, the Jenin refugee camp with heavy artillery and airstrikes, killing at least 14 Palestinians. The increasingly coercive environment has also led to forcible displacement of several communities of pastoralists and Bedouin People in the Jordan Valley and south of the Hebron Hills.

They also expressed alarm over discernibly genocidal and dehumanising rhetoric coming from senior Israeli government officials, as well as some professional groups and public figures, calling for the “total destruction”, and “erasure” of Gaza, the need to “finish them all” and force Palestinians from the West Bank and east Jerusalem into Jordan. The experts warned that Israel has demonstrated it has the military capacity to implement such criminal intentions.

In the short-term, the experts reiterated their call to Israel and Hamas to implement an immediate ceasefire, and:

1. Allow unimpeded delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza;

2. Ensure the unconditional, safe and secure release of the hostages taken by Hamas;

3. Ensure that Palestinians arbitrarily detained by Israel are released immediately;

4. Open humanitarian corridors toward the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Israel, especially for those that have been most affected by this war, the sick, persons with disabilities, older persons, pregnant women and children;

They also recommended:

5. The deployment of an international protective presence in the occupied Palestinian territory under the supervision of the UN;

6. Collaboration of all parties with the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on the investigation opened in March 2021, as well as crimes arising from the recent events, underlining that the crimes committed today are partly due to a lack of deterrence and continued impunity;

7. Implement an arms embargo on all warring parties;

8. Address the underlying causes of the conflict by ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory.

Read more here

 South Africa has filed a referral to the International Criminal Court for an investigation into war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.

“As South Africa we have accordingly, together with many other countries across the world, referred this whole Israeli government action to the International Criminal Court,”  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday during a state visit to Qatar.

“We have put through a referral because we believe that war crimes are being committed there. And of course we do not condone the actions that were taken by Hamas earlier, but similarly we condemn the actions that are currently underway and believe that they warrant an investigation by the ICC,” he added.

The move comes as South African lawmakers were expected to debate a motion on Thursday calling for the closure of the Israeli Embassy in South Africa and the cutting of all diplomatic ties with the country until it agrees to a cease-fire.

Ramaphosa said his country believes Israel is committing war crimes and genocide in Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians have been killed and hospitals and public infrastructure have been destroyed.

The South African government has also called on the International Crime Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by mid-December.

South Africa, along with Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti, submitted a referral to the ICC to investigate whether war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Gaza.

South Africa's far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) opposition party on Thursday proposed a parliamentary motion for the Israeli embassy in South Africa to be closed and diplomatic relations to be suspended.

"In the name of our own constitutional values we must end these relations until the human rights of Palestinians are respected, promoted and protected," said the EFF party leader, Julius Malema.

"Israel must comply with international law and until then any relations with them must be regarded as an offense to our constitution."

South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) endorsed the motion that is expected to be put to a vote in parliament next week.

Read more here

A French court has issued an international arrest warrant for the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for complicity in war crimes against humanity linked to a chemical weapons attack.

Three others – including Assad’s brother Maher, head of an elite army unit – are also subject to warrants over the use of banned sarin gas in two attacks in August 2013 that killed more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of children.

.The move was a major step to hold Mr. al-Assad and his circle accountable for some of the worst atrocities committed in the yearslong Syria conflict.

In the absence of any international court or tribunal that has jurisdiction over Syrian crimes, a patchwork of efforts for accountability has been underway for some time. Several countries, including Germany, Sweden and France, have launched prosecutions of individuals — mostly of low-level members of the Syrian security forces.

A special war crimes unit in the French judiciary has been investigating a complaint against Mr. al-Assad and his close associates that was filed in March 2021 by three international human rights groups.

Campaigners seeking justice for the killings hailed as “a historic moment” what is believed to be the first time a sitting head of state has been the subject of an arrest warrant in another country for crimes against humanity.

“The French judiciary’s issuance of arrest warrants against the head of state, Bashar al-Assad, and his associates constitutes a historic judicial precedent. It is a new victory for the victims, their families and the survivors, and a step on the path to justice and sustainable peace in Syria,” said the lawyer Mazen Darwish, founder and director general of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), a civil party to the case.

The arrest warrants make the legal charge of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes against all four.

Steve Kostas, senior managing lawyer at the Open Society Justice Initiative, said: “This is the first time a sitting head of state has been the subject of an arrest warrant in another country for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“This is a historic moment – with this case, France has an opportunity to establish the principle that there is no immunity for the most serious international crimes, even at the highest level.”

The attacks happened in the early hours of 21 August 2013 in the district of Ghouta in the eastern suburbs of Damascus controlled by opposition rebels, and almost led to American intervention in the civil war.

Read more here

The European Union has condemned an escalation of violence in the Darfur region, situated in Sudan, warning of "another genocide". 

The EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell cited in a statement witness reports that more than 1,000 members of the Masalit community were killed in Ardamta, West Darfur, in just over two days earlier this week during attacks by the RSF and affiliated militias.

"These latest atrocities are seemingly part of a wider ethnic cleansing campaign conducted by the RSF with the aim to eradicate the non-Arab Masalit community from West Darfur, and comes on top of the first wave of large violence in June," Borrell said.

The RSF has its roots in the Janjaweed militias which fought on the Government side against a rebel coalition in the Darfur war two decades ago. Some of its leaders face outstanding war crimes and atrocity crimes charges.

Preliminary information obtained from survivors and witnesses suggests Masalit civilians suffered six days of terror at the hands of the RSF and its allied militia after they took control of the Sudanese army’s base in Ardamata on 4 November,” said OHCHR Spokesman Jeremy Laurence, speaking in Geneva.

The army base is located just outside the West Darfur capital, El Geneina.  Some of the victims were summarily executed or burnt alive.

Many of those killed were young Masalit men and relatives of Sudanese soldiers remaining in Ardamata after the troops fled the town.

Mr. Laurence said women and girls were reportedly subjected to sexual violence in the Ardamata camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and in some homes. Thousands of people have been displaced, with some fleeing across the border to Chad.

The RSF and its allied militias reportedly looted property at Ardamata and another IDP camp, Dorti, as well as the Al-Kabri neighbourhood, all of which are mainly inhabited by the Masalit community.

IDPs were tortured and many executed, their bodies left unburied on the streets.  

OHCHR said 66 Masalit men were summarily executed in three separate incidents on 5 November alone. In Al-Kabri district, men were separated from women and killed. Hundreds more men were arrested and taken to various RSF-run detention camps. Their fate and whereabouts remain unknown. 

The conflict in Sudan stems from two generals vying for dominance, with clashes between their competing flanks — the army and a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces 

The army chief, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has been Sudan’s de facto leader since 2019.

He rose to power in the tumultuous aftermath of the uprising against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, Sudan’s leader of three decades, who was ousted in April 2019 following a wave of popular protest.

Before that, General al-Burhan had been a regional army commander in Darfur, when 300,000 people there were killed and millions of others displaced in fighting from 2003 to 2008 that drew worldwide condemnation for its human rights violations and humanitarian toll.

After civilians and the military signed a power-sharing agreement in 2019, General al-Burhan became the chairman of the Sovereignty Council, a body created to oversee the country’s transition to democratic rule. But as the date for the handover of control to civilians approached in late 2021, he proved reluctant to relinquish power.

General al-Burhan’s main rival is Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, who leads the country’s Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group.

General Hamdan, widely known as Hemeti, rose to prominence as a commander of the notorious Janjaweed militias, which were responsible for the worst atrocities of the conflict in Darfur.

In October 2021, General al-Burhan and General Hamdan united to seize power in a military coup, making them effectively the leader and deputy leader of Sudan. But they soon fell out.

Many diplomats, including those from the United States, attempted to negotiate an agreement between the two generals that would see them hand power back to civilians.

But they could not agree on how quickly the Rapid Support Forces would be absorbed into the army. In April, after months of rising tensions, their troops went to war against each other.

The United Nations estimates Sudan now has more displaced people than any other global crisis. Some six million people have fled their homes, many to neighbouring Chad and Central African Republic, while roughly half the nearly 50 million population are thought to need food aid.

Charities on the ground have warned that the atrocities committed particularly in West Darfur are a grim echo of the massacres seen during the region’s genocide 20 years ago.

In the capital, which was once home to well over six million people, around two-thirds of the population have fled.

Eatizaz Yousif, Sudan director for the International Rescue Committee, said: “Khartoum now is just like a ghost city. It’s being haunted by the smell of bodies in the street. Hospitals, homes, markets: all of them being bombed or looted.”

Food is scarce and when people brave the crossfire to venture out to forage, they must contend with the predations of the warring parties.

Dr Yosif, who works for a local cultural NGO, said: “If you get a chance to get out to find food it will be taken by the army or RSF this is the problem we faced.”

Fighters from each side also expect to be fed by the local population when they set up checkpoints. Young men are taken and pressed into fighting for one side or another.

He said: “It led to the loss of most of the young men. To this day, we do not know their whereabouts. This is a real problem. I have a brother who has been missing for two months.”

In Darfur, which was riven by a genocidal conflict 20 years ago, the current fighting has turbocharged renewed ethnic conflict.

Read more here

Pakistan on Monday opened three new border crossings to accelerate the repatriation of undocumented Afghan nationals who have been ordered to leave the country or face expulsion, officials said.

The new crossings were set up at the Afghan border in southwestern Balochistan province in addition to the main crossing in Chaman district, said Jan Achakzai, information minister for the provincial caretaker government.

The main crossing had been overwhelmed with Afghan refugees seeking to return home voluntarily, he said.

More than 280,000 Afghan nationals have left Pakistan since the new policy was announced in early October, according to the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR).

Islamabad has begun round-up operations across the country after the deadline for voluntary departure expired on Nov. 1.

Pakistan has so far rejected calls from the United Nations, rights groups and Western embassies to reconsider its expulsion plan or to identify and protect Afghans who risk persecution at home.

Kabul has also asked Islamabad to give Afghan nationals ample time to leave.

The expulsion drive has driven relations between the neighbours to a new low, with Islamabad reiterating its claim that Islamist militants use Afghan soil to plan and carry out attacks in Pakistan. Kabul says Pakistan's security is a domestic problem.

The mass migration has also raised fears of a humanitarian crisis as Kabul grapples with hundreds of thousands of people arriving and staying in makeshift tent villages on its side of the border at the onset of winter.

Five judges at the supreme court unanimously upheld an appeal court ruling that found there was a real risk of deported refugees having their claims in the east African country wrongly assessed or being returned to their country of origin to face persecution.

In the summary provided by the president of the court, Lord Reed, extensive reference was made to the other legal obligations that would prevent the UK from removing asylum seekers to a third country where there was a real risk that they could be returned to their country of origin without their application being properly addressed. This is the so-called principle of non-refoulement. In this survey of the applicable law, the ECHR was mentioned only in passing.

Having set up the legal test to be met, the Supreme Court then emphasised the substantial and detailed evidence that had been placed before the court by an intervener in the proceedings, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The court was persuaded by this evidence that there was no firm basis for being confident that the Rwanda government would comply with its international obligations. It was not enough for the Rwanda government to assert that it would do so, in the face of compendious material showing that it did not.

This means that it is the UN rather than the ECHR that has provided the practical obstacle to the government’s pursuit of the Rwanda policy, which undermines the attacks on the Strasbourg court in the run-up to today’s verdict. In essence, the UK leaving the ECHR would make little, if any, difference to the appeal decision that was handed down today.

The Supreme Court emphasised, as expected, that this was a legal rather than a political decision. The court was careful to leave open the possibility that the Rwanda policy could be made workable, subject to amendments and refinements

In response Rishi Sunak has said he will introduce emergency legislation to revive his Rwanda plan.

At a press conference on Wednesday, the prime minister said he did not agree with the Supreme Court decision but that he “respected it” and “accepted it”.

He said he will introduce “emergency legislation” to deem Rwanda a safe country and prevent the “merry-go-round” of legal challenges. The new legislation will deem Rwanda a 'safe' country. 

Earlier this year The British government sent five Tamil refugees, who have attempted suicide on the British-held island of Diego Garcia, to Rwanda for medical treatment despite their pleas for resettlement.

According to the New Humanitarian, one asylum seeker attempted suicide by swallowing the blade of a broken pencil sharpener, whilst another broke a sewing needle and swallowed both parts. This was also attempted by three Tamil men stationed on the island on 13 March.

Read more at the Guardian 

Luis Moreno Ocampo has called Isarel's blockade of Gaza as a "crime against humanity and a genocide.

Speaking to BBC Newsday the former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court condemned the attacks by Hamas and Israel's blockade of Gaza. 

He said, 

“Hamas’s attack on October 7 is clearly a crime against humanity… Because killings with the intention to strike a group is a genocide, and Hamas’s official intention is to strike Israelis,” he told the BBC's Newsday programme.

“It's a war crime, because taking hostages is a war crime,” he added.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo also referred to Israel’s subsequent blockade of Gaza as a “crime against humanity and a genocide”.

“One of the forms to commit a genocide is to inflict on the people [sic] conditions to destroy them. And that's exactly what the blockade is.

“The blockade is blocking water, food, hospitals cannot work, [there is] no electricity for people who can go nowhere. Israel has the right to defend itself, but cannot block 2 million people and in doing so make it into a concentration camp,” he said.

Luis Moreno Ocampo is an Argentine lawyer who served as the first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from 2003 to 2012.

Sixty-two aid trucks have entered Gaza since last weekend, carrying much-needed food, water and medical supplies. But none have delivered fuel, which Israel has blocked over concerns it could be stolen and used by Hamas.

At least 7,028 Palestinians have died in Gaza including 2,913 children and 1,709 women as a result of Israeli strikes, as per the Gaza health ministry.

The death toll from the conflict in Gaza is at its highest since Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the region in 2005.

Read more here

A panel of UN experts have called the bombings of schools and hospitals in Gaza as crimes against humanity and highlighted the "risk of genocide against the Palestinian people".

The experts raised serious humanitarian and legal concerns over Israel tightening its 16-year siege of the enclave and its population and long-standing occupation, depriving 2.2 million people of essential food, fuel, water, electricity and medicine. An estimated 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, are in desperate need of prenatal and postnatal care. The number of internally displaced people across the Gaza Strip is estimated at around one million.

The UN experts called for the protection of all humanitarian workers, after the World Health Organization (WHO) documented more than 136 attacks on health care services in the occupied Palestinian territory, including 59 attacks on the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the death of at least 16 health workers since the beginning of hostilities on 7 October. Israeli bombardment on Gaza has also killed 15 staff of the United Nations Refugee Works Agency (UNRWA) and four Palestine Red Crescent paramedics in an ambulance. An ambulance driver of Magen David Adom in Israel lost his life while driving to treat injured people.

“We are sounding the alarm: There is an ongoing campaign by Israel resulting in crimes against humanity in Gaza. Considering statements made by Israeli political leaders and their allies, accompanied by military action in Gaza and escalation of arrests and killing in the West Bank, there is also a risk of genocide against the Palestinian People,” the experts said.

“There are no justifications or exceptions for such crimes. We are appalled by the inaction of the international community in the face of belligerent war-mongering,” the experts said.

The tragedy at al-Ahli Arab hospital in the north of the Gaza Strip provoked Worldwide condemnation. 

Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli airstrike for the explosion that Gaza’s health ministry said on Wednesday had killed 471 Palestinians and wounded 314 others.

Israel has said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which has denied blame.

The blast occurred on Tuesday and Gaza officials have said at least 471 people were killed in the explosion, with more than 300 wounded.

Channel 4 News have reported on new findings disclosed by several human rights organisations which they say cast doubt on some aspects of Israel's account of the Gaza hospital explosion.

Forensic Architecture, Earshot and the Ramallah based NGO Al Haq have shared new information with Channel 4 News.

Earshot investigators have analysed two aspects of the blast. The first was Doppler effect sound analysis of the missile tracking to the hospital that night. 

The analysis produced mapping concludes the missile came from a variety of new firing points east of the hospital not West as the IDF had claimed. 

The second aspect examines is the tape released by the IDF of allegedly two Hamas operatives discussing the explosion. The Forensic sound analysis states that "This recording is made up of two separate channels and demonstrates that these two voices have been recorded independently and these two independent recordings have then edited together in a digital audio workstation such as ProTools or logic and have added effects such as pan control and then recomposed".

They conclude, that

"The audio analysis cannot categorically state that the audible dialogue is fake, we can say that the level of manipulation required to edit these two voices together disqualifies it as a source of credible evidence. Earshot's opinion is that this recording does not meet the standard required for evidence and should not be used by the media without the clear caveat that it has been digitally manipulated"

Forensic Architecture, a research group based at the University of London, analysed photos of the impact crater at the scene, saying that “patterns of radial fragmentation on the southwest side of the impact crater, as well as a shallow channel leading into the crater from the northeast” indicate the projectile likely came from the northeast – “the direction of the Israeli-controlled side of the Gaza perimeter”.

Chris Cobb-Smith, an investigator and explosives expert, also agreed the evidence indicated the projectile may have come from the opposite direction claimed by the Israeli military, according Forensic Architecture.

This lined up with the conclusions of a so-called “Doppler Effect analysis” by the Earshot audio investigation group, which looked at sound waves related to distance, and found that the missile likely approached from the northeast, east, or southeast, but not from the west as Israel’s military has claimed.

Human rights investigators have shared new information with Channel 4 News that they say casts doubt on some aspects of Israel’s account of the Gaza hospital explosion.@alextomo reports. pic.twitter.com/h9C02qMYLj

— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) October 20, 2023

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The escalation in fatalities and severe human rights violations against innocent civilians in Darfur, including refugees and internally displaced people, is worsening six months into the deadly conflict in Sudan.

According to UNHCR’s newly released protection brief, nearly 4,000 civilians have been killed and 8,400 injured in Darfur, between 15 April and the end of August, with the majority believed to have been targeted mainly due to their ethnicity, particularly in West Darfur. Tragically, displaced children, including refugees, have been caught in the crossfire, killed or maimed as their schools were impacted by shelling. Those who have reached safe locations are battling acute psychological distress.

Civilian property has not been spared. At least 29 cities, towns and villages have been destroyed across Darfur after extensive looting and burning. Indiscriminate shooting and heavy shelling in camps and gathering sites sheltering displaced people have resulted in hundreds of casualties.  

One hundred and thirty-nine civilian structures, including community water points, schools, markets and hospitals, have been destroyed, damaged, looted or occupied. Medical staff attempting to operate ad hoc clinics in private residences have been deliberately targeted.

Schools in Darfur have been closed, cutting off access to education and safe spaces for millions of children and exposing them to serious risks of sexual violence, distress, trauma and family separation. The number of unaccompanied and separated children is increasing. As the conflict has destroyed livelihoods, refugee children remain at heightened risk of abduction into forced labour, recruitment into armed groups, and of being trafficked.

The UK Minister for Africa, Andrew Mitchell, told the BBC this bore "all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing". It is the first time the British government has used the term to describe what is happening in Sudan.

Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads one side in the conflict - the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) - told the BBC he would co-operate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to bring those guilty to justice.

Much of the ethnic violence is blamed on militias which are part of - or affiliated to - the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group fighting the SAF for control of the country.

The RSF has repeatedly denied any involvement in the violence in the region and has called for an independent international investigation.

The analysis has been carried out by the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), a research body partly funded by the British government, which is gathering open-source evidence about the fighting in Sudan.

The latest verified fires were in a village called Amarjadeed, in southern Darfur, where Nasa and satellite imagery showed burn scars between 18 September and 9 October.

"The scale of what we've been able to document is bigger than what we've ever seen before," says Ben Strick, CIR's director of investigations.

"We've documented 89 fires, which damaged 68 villages since 15 April, which is a huge amount. In some of these, it is small buildings that have been targeted. But in some of them, whole villages that have been wiped out. That scale is enormous when we think upon the impact on civilians.

"What we're seeing is a pattern of abuses, a pattern of villages being burnt, one after the other, specifically in Darfur, which is where we're seeing some of the heaviest violence outside of Khartoum."

Twenty years ago, hundreds of thousands of people were killed in Darfur amid fighting between non-Arab rebel groups and a militia known as the Janjaweed, which later grew into the RSF. Some Janjaweed leaders and even the president at the time, Omar al-Bashir, have been indicted by the ICC on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, which they have denied.

Read more at the BBC