Local activist Norma Andrade, who was recently at the UN Office in Geneva to raise awareness about femicide, knows the issue first-hand. Her own daughter, Lilia Alejandra, was murdered in that same city in 2001.

“As my granddaughter would sum it up: we are worth a peanut – which in other words means that a woman is just disposable,” she told UN News.

“On one day, she was working in a factory, the next day she disappeared, the next she is found dead, while another person has already replaced her at work, so [her death] is only important to her family – not for society, not for the government, much less for the authorities or the company,” she explained.  

Impunity is rampant

According to Ms. Andrade, the fact that Juárez is a key border crossing with the United States contributes to the lack of community rootedness, which dehumanizes the population and makes it harder to fight the crime of femicide.

But the problem is not confined there. Across Mexico, around 10 women and girls are killed every day by intimate partners or other family members, according to Government data. 

Since 2001 – the year when Lilia Alejandra was killed – 50,000 women have been murdered, while the impunity rate exceeds 95 per cent. 

Furthermore, only two per cent of cases end in a criminal sentence and only one in 10 victims dares to report their aggressor.

There is no justice

Ms. Andrade has survived two murder attempts in the 23 years since her daughter’s body was discovered, as she continues her quest for justice.  

“In Mexico, the growing number of disappearances is real, but this boom in organized crime and drug trafficking has erased what is happening to women, not that it stopped happening, but it is becoming invisible…”, she said.

Even though the violence against women is increasing, its visibility is going down – local activist Norma Andrade

Speaking about the lack of justice, she said that even when the skeletal remains of a missing young woman are found, it is an “achievement” as it gives closure to their families. “It gives them a place to go and mourn their daughter,” she added.

Since the disappearance of her daughter, Ms. Andrade has been fighting for justice. 

“Recently, an expert made me see a reality that I hadn’t seen for the past 23 years, one that I didn’t want to accept: maybe I won’t find justice for Alejandra. Or at least not the legal justice that I want that would put Alejandra’s attackers in jail”, she stressed.  

Her case was transferred to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, located in Costa Rica, in December 2023. 

Symbolic justice

“Perhaps we can find moral or symbolic justice,” Ms. Andrade said, “because the moment the Mexican State is given a criminal sentence […] it publicly acknowledges that it didn’t protect Alejandra, neither all the Alejandras in the country, nor all those children who were orphaned when their mothers were murdered; and that would alleviate to some extent the lack of legal justice”. 

Blaming the lack of political will, Ms. Andrade who is also a co-founder of non-profit association of mothers whose daughters were victims of feminicide in Ciudad Juárez, added that the mothers are the ones “swimming against the tide”.

Supported by other women, academics, feminists, and civil society, they are the ones “who must go, protest and raise their voices to be taken into account”, she said. 

In recent years, the crimes have sparked several waves of protests and put gender violence at the top of Mexico’s political agenda.

Keeping the issue of femicide in the spotlight and making information available and accessible for women, is key for holding the authorities accountable and preventing violence against women and girls. 

Since 2011, UN Women, in partnership with key state institutions, has published periodic studies analysing the scope, trends, characteristics of femicide in the country.

‘Look at us’

Ms. Andrade stars in the documentary Norma, in search of justice directed by French journalist Brigitte Leoni, which was screened in Geneva ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November.

She hopes the documentary will bring more visibility to the cases of disappearance, noting that “this boom in organized crime has caused people to flee, crossing into the United States, and drug trafficking has made what is happening to women invisible”.

Speaking in Geneva, home to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UN News asked Ms. Andrade what message she would like to share with rights experts. 

“Look at us, look at the mothers. Come here and see the families and don’t just stick with the image that the government gives to the outside world”, she said.

Femicide transcends borders

Violence against women is a global crisis, according to a report by UN Women and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), released on the International Day.

The commemoration marks the start of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, an annual campaign that runs through 10 December, Human Rights Day.

Regional data shows that femicide transcends borders, socio-economic status and cultures, but its severity varies.

Africa recorded the highest rates of intimate partner and family-related femicides, with 21,700 women killed in 2023, followed by the Americas and Oceania.

In Europe, 64 per cent of victims were killed by their intimate partners; in the Americas, it was 58 per cent. 

In contrast, women in Africa and Asia were more likely to be killed by family members than by their partners.

The report revealed that globally, 140 women and girls died every day at the hands of their partner or a close relative in 2023 – one woman killed every 10 minutes.  

These deaths represent an increase of over 1,000 on the total killings for 2023, according to figures verified by OHCHR.  A further 2,212 people were injured and 1,494 kidnapped.

“These figures alone cannot capture the absolute horrors being perpetrated in Haiti but they show the unremitting violence to which people are being subjected,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk.

Shocking massacre

OHCHR recalled that in one of the most deadly and shocking incidents, at least 207 people were killed in a massacre in early December orchestrated by the leader of the Wharf Jérémie gang in the Cité Soleil area of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Many of the victims were older people accused of causing the death of the leader’s son through alleged voodoo practices. To erase evidence, gang members mutilated and burned most of the bodies, while others were thrown into the sea.

OHCHR also documented 315 lynchings of gang members and people allegedly associated with gangs, which on some occasions were reportedly facilitated by Haitian police officers.

Additionally, 281 cases of alleged summary executions involving specialized police units occurred during 2024.

Impunity still prevalent

“It has long been clear that impunity for human rights violations and abuses, as well as corruption, remain prevalent in Haiti, constituting some of the main drivers of the multi-dimensional crisis the country faces, along with entrenched economic and social inequalities,” said Mr. Türk. 

“Additional efforts from the authorities, with the support of the international community, are needed to address these root causes.”

The human rights chief stressed that restoring the rule of law must be a priority. He added that to this end, the UN-backed Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) in Haiti needs the logistical and financial support it requires to successfully implement its mandate.

Furthermore, the Haitian National Police, with the support of the international community, should also strengthen its oversight mechanism to hold accountable police officers reportedly involved in human rights violations.

Implement sanctions and arms embargo

Mr. Türk restated his call for the full implementation of the UN Security Council‘s sanctions regime on Haiti, as well as the arms embargo, which are crucial to preventing the supply of firearms and ammunition to the country.  

“Weapons flowing into Haiti often end up in the hands of the criminal gangs, with tragic results: thousands killed, hundreds of thousands displaced, essential infrastructure and services, such as schools and hospitals, disrupted and destroyed,” he said. 

He further noted that deportations of Haitians continue even though the acute insecurity and resulting human rights crisis in their homeland do not allow for safe and dignified return.

The High Commissioner reiterated his call to all States not to forcibly return anyone to Haiti. 

The approved $3.72 billion regular budget (RB) for 2025 represents an increase of about $1 million over the Secretary-General’s October proposal to the Assembly’s Fifth Committee, which oversees administrative and budgetary matters.

It also includes technical adjustments following the adoption of other resolutions and decisions by UN intergovernmental bodies since the proposed budget was submitted. The total budget appropriation for 2025 amounts to $3,717,379,600.

The regular budget funds UN programmes across key areas, including political affairs, international justice and law, regional cooperation for development, human rights and humanitarian affairs, and public information.

In addition, the Organization maintains a distinct budget for peacekeeping operations, with the fiscal cycle 1 July to 30 June, while the RB cycle aligns with the calendar year.

Programme of action for LLDCs

In a separate action, the General Assembly adopted the Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2024-2034, aiming to tackle the unique challenges faced by nations without direct access to open seas.

Landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) face significant hurdles in trade and development, relying on transit nations, which leads to higher trade costs, delays and reduced competitiveness in global markets.

The Programme of Action identifies five priorities: promoting sustainable economic growth through innovation and structural transformation, enhancing regional trade integration, improving transport connectivity, building climate resilience, and ensuring effective implementation strategies.

The new framework builds on the Vienna Programme of Action (2014-2024) and the Almaty Programme of Action (2003), which laid the groundwork for addressing the persistent obstacles plaguing LLDCs.

In a scheduled update mandated by the Council in Geneva, Nada Al-Nashif said that these attacks had led to the deaths of 574 civilians – an increase of 30 per cent over the previous year.

She noted that Russian bombardment had also damaged key infrastructure such as water, heating and transport services, with several major attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Russia accuses Ukraine of ‘terrorist acts’

The Russian delegation at the Council rejected the Deputy High Commissioner’s allegations and accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out “terrorist acts on homes in various Russian regions”.

The Ukrainian representative condemned ongoing deadly attacks by Russian forces; one on New Year’s Eve involved 100 drones that left two dead and seven injured, including two pregnant women in the capital, Kyiv.

Ms. Al Nashif also warned of “increasing, gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of humanitarian law, including possible war crimes”.

And she said that Ukrainian prisoners of war, “both men and women, described widespread and systematic torture … severe beatings, electric shocks, strangulation and prolonged solitary confinement. Most reported being subjected to sexual violence, including rape and forced nudity”.

Credible allegations of executions

“I am deeply concerned by a significant increase in credible allegations of executions of Ukrainian military personnel captured by Russian armed forces. Summary executions constitute a war crime. The Office recorded 62 such executions in 19 separate incidents during the reporting period and verified 5 of these incidents…”

Ms. Al Nashif also noted that Russian prisoners of war held by Ukraine reported being subjected to torture, severe beatings, sexual violence and dog attacks, mostly in places of transit before reaching official places of internment.

According to the UN monitoring mission in Ukraine, since February 2022, conflict there has killed more than 12,300 civilians, including more than 650 children, with at least 27,800 injured.

Over 700 medical facilities and 1,500 schools and colleges have also been damaged or destroyed.

A report published by the Office documents attacks carried out between 12 October 2023 and 30 June 2024, raises serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law. Medical personnel and hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law, provided they do not commit – or are not used to commit, outside their humanitarian function – acts harmful to the enemy.

“As if the relentless bombing and the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza were not enough, the one sanctuary where Palestinians should have felt safe in fact became a death trap,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. “The protection of hospitals during warfare is paramount and must be respected by all sides, at all times,”.

The study has been released just days after the last functioning major healthcare facility in northern Gaza, Kama Adwan Hospital, was taken out of service after a raid by Israeli military forces, leaving the population of North Gaza with almost no access to adequate health care.

Staff and patients were forced to flee or were taken into custody, with many reports of torture and ill-treatment. The director of the hospital was taken into custody and his fate and whereabouts are unknown.

Possible war crimes, crimes against humanity

During the period covered by the report, there were at least 136 strikes on at least 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities, claiming significant casualties among doctors, nurses, medics and other civilians, and causing significant damage, if not complete destruction of civilian infrastructure.

The report explains that, in the exceptional circumstances when medical personnel, ambulances, and hospitals lose their special protection because they fulfil the strict criteria to be considered military objectives, any attack on them must still comply with the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack. Failure to respect any of these principles constitutes a breach of international humanitarian law.

Intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are treated, provided they are not military objectives; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such, or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities, including the launching of an indiscriminate attack resulting in death or injury to civilians; and intentionally launching disproportionate attacks, are also war crimes, the report adds.

Under certain circumstances, the deliberate destruction of healthcare facilities may amount to a form of collective punishment, which would also constitute a war crime.

The report also notes that several of these acts, if committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, further to a State or, in case of non-State actor, organizational policy, may also amount to crimes against humanity.

Were hospitals being used for military purposes?

In most instances, Israel alleges that the hospitals were being improperly used for military purposes by Palestinian armed groups, the report states. However, insufficient information has so far been made available to substantiate these allegations, which have remained vague and broad, and in some cases appear contradicted by publicly available information.

If these allegations were verified, this would raise serious concerns that Palestinian armed groups were using the presence of civilians to intentionally shield themselves from attack, which would amount to a war crime.

500 medical professionals reported killed, mass graves found

The impacts of the Israeli military’s operations in and around hospitals, and associated combat, extend far beyond the physical structures, the report finds.

Women, especially pregnant women, have suffered gravely. Many women have given birth with no or minimal pre- and post-natal care, increasing the risk of preventable maternal and child mortality. The UN Human Rights Office received reports that newborns had died because their mothers were unable to attend postnatal check-ups or reach medical facilities to give birth.

The increasingly limited healthcare system prevented many of those who had sustained trauma injuries from receiving timely and possibly life-saving treatment. By the end of April 2024, according to the Ministry of Health of the State of Palestine (Palestinian MOH), 77,704 Palestinians were injured. Many injured reportedly died while waiting to be hospitalized or treated. According to the Palestinian MOH, by the end of June 2024, more than 500 medical professionals had been killed in Gaza since 7 October.

The Israeli military’s first major operation against a hospital involved Al Shifa Medical Complex in November 2023. It raided the facility a second time in March 2024, leaving it in complete ruin by 1 April. Subsequent to the withdrawal by the Israeli military, three mass graves were reportedly found at the hospital, with at least 80 corpses retrieved, raising serious concerns that crimes under international law may have been committed. Some of these bodies were reportedly found with catheters and cannulas still attached, suggesting they had been patients.

Possible targeting of medical staff and patients

In some of the attacks, the Israeli military likely used both heavy weapons and air dropped munitions with wide area effects, the report finds. It appears that an MK 83 munition was used in the 10 January airstrike in front of Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Middle Gaza. Reportedly, at least 12 people were killed, including a journalist and several internally displaced persons (IDPs), and 35 people were injured. The use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects in a densely populated area raises serious concerns of an indiscriminate attack.

The report finds that another feature of such attacks has been the apparent targeting of people inside hospitals, but that in most of these cases it was difficult to determine attribution. The UN Human Rights Office verified multiple cases of people being shot dead at Al Awda Hospital in Jabalya, including a volunteer nurse who was fatally shot in the chest while looking out of a window on 7 December 2023.

“It is essential that there be independent, thorough and transparent investigations of all of these incidents, and full accountability for all violations of international humanitarian and human rights law which have taken place,” said Mr. Türk. “All medical workers arbitrarily detained must be immediately released.”

“It must also be a priority for Israel, as the occupying power, to ensure and facilitate access to adequate healthcare for the Palestinian population, and for future recovery and reconstruction efforts to prioritise the restoration of the medical capacity which has been destroyed over the last 14 months of intense conflict.”

The funding will be used to deliver life-saving reproductive health services and vital gender-based violence prevention programmes to more than 45 million people.

The appeal comes as an estimated 11 million pregnant women will require urgent support in 2025.

Record displacement and devastation

UNFPA recalled that global crises displaced a record 122.6 million people this year.  Women and girls comprised half of those affected, and disasters and climate shocks carry devastating consequences for them.

For example, the risks of pregnancy and childbirth become life-threatening, and incidents of rape and other gender-based violence escalate sharply.

Furthermore, the increase in crises and rising needs were met with insufficient funding, creating a staggering 75 per cent resource gap across 34 country situations.  As a result, millions of women and girls were left without access to essential services, often with life-threatening – and sometimes fatal – consequences.

Invest in women and girls

“With this funding appeal, we are calling on the international community to invest in the health and dignity of women and girls caught in crisis, and to help build a future free from fear and violence,” said Dr. Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director.

Listen to our recent interview with Dr. Kanem, who discusses the UN agency’s mission:

UNFPA aims to advance two key priorities in 2025 – strengthening local and national responses and enhancing emergency preparedness, as well as to increase the share of humanitarian funding to local and women-led organizations from 35 per cent to 43 per cent. 

It will also enhance early response capacity by expanding the prepositioning of critical supplies across various hubs worldwide, to ensure swift and effective action when crises arise.

Despite unprecedented access and funding challenges, UNFPA reached over 10 million people with reproductive health services in 2024 and supported gender-based violence prevention and response services for 3.6 million people across 59 crisis-affected countries.

The agency also deployed networks of thousands of midwives and medical teams to humanitarian zones, equipped over 3,500 health facilities to deliver life-saving care, and established more than 1,600 safe spaces for women and girls. 

On Monday the United States military sent 11 long-term detainees from the facility to Oman after reaching agreement with the Government there on relocation and resettlement. 

Only 15 detainees now remain, according to news reports. The prison opened in 2002 and at its peak it held more than 600 prisoners overseen by over 2,000 military and civilian personnel.

Captured in Pakistan

Captured in March 2002 in Faisalabad, Pakistan, following the 11 September 2001 attacks, Abu Zubaydah was transferred to CIA custody and held at multiple secret locations, where he was reportedly tortured, the experts reminded in a press release issued on Wednesday.

Despite being imprisoned for nearly two decades, he remains in Guantánamo Bay without any formal charges having been made.

Release ‘long overdue’

“We are exceptionally requesting a Presidential pardon for Mr. Abu Zubaydah, owing to his treatment while in detention and the lack of due process since he was first detained,” the experts stated. “His immediate release and relocation to a third safe country are long overdue.”

The Human Rights Council-appointed experts highlighted Abu Zubaydah’s serious health conditions, which include injuries sustained during torture that have allegedly been exacerbated by the denial of medical attention.

They also noted significant impediments to lawyer-client communication.

Various international and regional human rights mechanisms have examined Abu Zubaydah’s case, establishing that he has suffered multiple human rights violations within the context of the US rendition and secret detention programme, the experts noted.

“In addition to his liberation, we request that Mr. Abu Zubaydah is accorded an enforceable right to compensation and other measures of reparation, in accordance with international law,” the working group members and Special Rapporteurs said.

The experts emphasised the profound psychological and physical trauma he has endured due to torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, and enforced disappearance. They reiterated their call for the US Government to immediately release and relocate him to a safe third country.

“We recall the principle of joint responsibility that applies to States when more than one of them was involved in the perpetration of a human rights violation,” the experts said. “Accordingly, we call on States to proactively offer their territory for the prompt relocation of Mr. Abu Zubaydah.”

The experts also expressed concerns about the continued detention of 14 other individuals at Guantánamo Bay, who are in varying stages of legal proceedings and face allegations of ongoing human rights abuses.

Independent rights experts are not UN staff, receive no salary for their work and are independent of any organisation or government.

Reflecting on 2024, he stated that “hope has been hard to find”, with wars causing enormous pain, suffering and displacement, and inequalities and divisions fuelling tensions and mistrust.

“And today I can officially report that we have just endured a decade of deadly heat,” he said.

‘No time to lose’

The Secretary-General noted that the top 10 hottest years on record have occurred in the past decade.

“This is climate breakdown — in real time.  We must exit this road to ruin — and we have no time to lose,” he said.

“In 2025, countries must put the world on a safer path by dramatically slashing emissions, and supporting the transition to a renewable future. It is essential — and it is possible.”

Hope drives change

Mr. Guterres said that even in the darkest days he has “seen hope power change.”

In this regard, he saluted activists of all ages who are raising their voices for progress, as well as “humanitarian heroes overcoming enormous obstacles to support the most vulnerable people.”

The Secretary-General said he also sees hope in developing countries fighting for financial and climate justice, and in the scientists and innovators breaking new ground for humanity.

He stressed that the Pact for Future, adopted last September by UN Member States, is a new push to build peace through disarmament and prevention.

Other aims include reforming the global financial system, pushing for more opportunities for women and youth, and ensuring that technologies “put people over profits and rights over runaway algorithms”.

Here, he also underlined the need to always stick to the values and principles enshrined by human rights, international law and the United Nations Charter.

Nations united

The Secretary-General concluded by stating that there are no guarantees for what lies ahead in 2025.

He pledged to stand with all those working to forge a more peaceful, equal, stable and healthy future for all people.

“Together, we can make 2025 a new beginning,” he said. “Not as a world divided. But as nations united.”

It has been almost three years since the 24 February 2022 full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has killed thousands of civilians and destroyed vital infrastructure, putting the economy under enormous strain.

The UN has recorded more than 28,000 civilian casualties and over 10,000 deaths, but acknowledges that the actual toll is very likely to be higher.

As the frontline shifts and hostilities increase, more than 14 million Ukrainians are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance. The conflict is responsible for the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War. Over 6.3 million refugees have fled to neighbouring countries and 3.7 million people are internally displaced.

That means nearly one-third of the population has been forced to flee their homes, including more than half of all Ukrainian children. Some 30 per cent of the jobs that existed before the invasion have been erased, and the population has faced tax hikes and funding shortages, not to mention frequent power outages resulting from attacks on energy infrastructure.

UN aid lifeline: Millions supported amidst devastation

Throughout the conflict, the UN has been at the core of relief operations, working closely with Ukrainian authorities, local partner organizations and volunteers to make sure that assistance reaches those who need it, particularly in frontline communities.

In every part of the country, emergency assistance is mobilized in the wake of attacks. UN agencies are helping to demine, remove debris, provide basic services, find shelter for displaced people and provide healthcare, including mental health and psycho-social support. Last year alone, the World Food Programme (WFP) supported 1.6 million Ukrainians each month by providing food and cash assistance, demining agricultural land and supporting feeding programmes in schools and other institutions, whilst the UN humanitarian office reached 2.6 million people with health-related assistance over the course of 2024.

Despite the ongoing bombardments, Ukraine is rebuilding. . Dozens of projects are in the pipeline, focusing on the construction and repair of schools, kindergartens, hospitals, social housing, heating and water systems, and other social infrastructure.

Efforts to rebuild damaged energy infrastructure are not deterred by the continuing attacks. UN agencies and partners are providing over 500 MW of critical power generation and solar capacity, to ensure access to electricity, heating, and water.

There has been a decisive focus on decentralization to ensure that every region, including small towns and villages, is less reliant on electricity supplies from large, centralized power stations, reducing vulnerability to blackouts in the case of an airstrike. 

Whilst the destruction of a large power plant could paralyse a wide area and cut off tens of thousands of people from the grid, a decentralized system with a large number of small, renewable plants is better able to resist an attack: solar panels hit in a bombardment can be replaced within a single day. The UN Development Programme is fostering this new approach, assisting with everything from contract negotiations to training in solar panel installation.

‘The future starts as soon as sirens stop’

Despite the large numbers who have left the country, many of those who have stayed are content to remain, according to senior UN officials. For Matthias Schmale, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, the willingness of the population to endure and even thrive throughout the conflict is a remarkable sign of their resilience.

Speaking to UN News, Mr. Schmale expressed his hope that the UN’s commitment to support Ukrainians for as long as needed would give them hope for a more dignified future. “I see that people start rebuilding as soon as possible, whether it’s businesses, homes or lives. The future starts as soon as sirens stop. People don’t want to leave.”

The strength of the population is also praised by Kenan Madi, Chief of Field Operations at the Ukraine UNICEF (UN children’s agency) office. “Despite the challenges, despite everything they are going through, they all want to stay in their area, in their villages. They don’t want to leave,” he told UN News in a recent interview. No one is dreaming about leaving. It’s the opposite. Everyone is dreaming about staying. It gives me the assurance that hopefully when this war stops, the Ukrainian population is ready to immediately start rebuilding in a better way and build back better”.

The characterization of Ukrainians as a resilient people goes beyond the anecdotal: a large scale UN-backed 2024 study, based on in-depth interviews with over 7,000 respondents in all of the territories under government control, showed that Ukrainians continue to demonstrate a strong sense of national identity and belonging to their homeland. The findings highlight the strength of Ukraine’s national identity as an important unifying force in the face of the ongoing war.

A costly path to recovery

Nevertheless, the challenges facing the country are enormous, and extremely costly. The full cost of reconstruction and recovery is now estimated to be around $468 billion, according to a joint assessment by the Ukrainian government, World Bank, European Commission and the UN.

With winter temperatures dropping well below freezing, the UN’s humanitarian winter response plan aims to address emergency needs, including providing solid fuel, cash assistance, and water system repairs. Some $500 million is required to fully implement these efforts by March 2025.

In the coming days, UN humanitarian officials will travel to Ukraine to assess the latest situation, ahead of the launch of a fresh humanitarian appeal. Additionally, a broader humanitarian appeal for $2.2 billion is being prepared for 2025 to assist an estimated 12.7 million people.

The cholera outbreak was detected in the camp in early October and subsequently confirmed by laboratory tests. Because Al Hol does not have a specialist treatment centre for acute watery diarrhoea, it is crucial that as many people are vaccinated as quickly as possible, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, insists. 

“For the first time we received the vaccine of cholera from northwest Syria to the northeast to vaccinate people in Al Hol camp, even [despite] the escalation and security situation in the country, but we managed to access to the people and get them with the vaccine,” UNICEF health and nutrition officer Khourchid Hasan told UN News.

Mr. Hasan credited the caretaker authority in Damascus with making the shipment possible, along with the local authorities in Syria’s northeast, who facilitated delivery of the vaccines to the gates of Al Hol, which is controlled by the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Conditions ‘back to normal’

And despite threats published on social media last December “that there will be an attack on this camp and [that ISIL planned on] releasing their families” which closed access to Al Hol for three days, Mr. Hasan insisted that the vaccine rollout will not stop. 

“Everything is back to normal,” he said, adding that at least 14,000 people have received a cholera vaccination so far: “The campaign is ongoing even during the season’s holidays and the vaccination teams are doing a great job there to give this lifesaving as treatment to children and their caregivers.”

Teams of vaccinators work by making their way on foot through the camp’s tented shelters with a loudhailer urging families to bring themselves and their children to receive their dose. Once delivered, the vaccine protects against cholera, which can be deadly within hours if it is not treated correctly.

Mr. Hasan stressed that that the campaign was able to go ahead after the agency successfully transported 25,000 doses of vaccine from northwest Syria across former active battle lines. He also praised the awareness-raising work of UNICEF’s social behaviour change and risk communication colleagues and partners, who engaged with community networks in support of the oral cholera vaccine campaign and fostered trust among Al Hol’s population.

For years, Al Hol has housed the wives and children of ISIL fighters, displaced people and refugees caught up in the Syrian war, which erupted after deadly Government repression of peaceful protesters in 2011.

Conditions remain dire

The majority of those held there by the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are Syrian and Iraqi nationals. Conditions are dire and have been the subject of numerous alerts by top rights experts reporting to the Human Rights Council.

Foreign nationals who either went to or were coerced to travel to Syria to join ISIL fighters and their children are held in an annexe of the camp, which is divided into five zones. In December, the population of the tented settlement was almost 40,000 people.

Al Hol is in fact two different camps: Al Hol, which is close to the Iraqi border, and Roj camp, located on the border with Turkïye; they are both in Al-Hasakeh governorate. Male ISIL fighters are held in a prison in Al-Hasakeh city about 45 kilometres away.

Cholera was detected for the first time in Syria in 2022 but the camp escaped infection. “We vaccinated immediately (in 2022) as a precautionary measure, but this time it’s appeared and started in Al Hol camp,” UNICEF’s Mr. Hasan explained, citing funding shortfalls, poor nutrition, dirty water and bad sanitation as contributing factors in the current outbreak.

Agencies on site

Several UN agencies have a presence in Al Hol in addition to the UN Children’s Fund, including the UN sexual and reproductive agency, UNFPA, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the NES NGO Forum network operating in northeast Syria.

“Those [NGOs] are supported by the local authority, but the need is still very high, especially for secondary health care,” Mr. Hasan stressed. 

“There are three field hospitals in Al Hol camp and one field hospital in Roj camp, but still there is a huge need for medicines for non-communicable diseases, for secondary healthcare. And now, because of the security situation, it’s a big challenge to refer the people from those camps outside the camp to go to private hospitals, for example, in Al-Hasakeh, or Qamishli.”