Atrocity Alert No. 412: Lebanon, Haiti and Venezuela – Lebanon

Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication from the Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect that highlights situations where populations are at risk of or experiencing mass atrocities.

CITIZENS AT IMMEDIATE RISK AS TENSIONS ESCALATE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Since September 23, Israel has intensified and expanded its indiscriminate and large-scale airstrikes on Lebanon, killing at least 1,030 people and wounding 6,000 so far, in an alleged attack on Hezbollah’s leadership. Several UN officials and experts have called for an immediate ceasefire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants, warning that the escalation of cross-border violence between Israel and Lebanon risks plunging the wider region into a humanitarian, human rights and geopolitical catastrophe. In recent days, both Iran and the Houthis in Yemen have launched rocket attacks on Israel. These attacks have prompted retaliatory attacks by Israel.

On October 1, Israel began “limited ground incursions” in southern Lebanon, as heavy artillery shelling and airstrikes pounded towns near the border. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon, which patrols the Lebanon-Israel dividing line, stressed that any Israeli crossing into Lebanon would be “contrary to Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a violation of Resolution 1701,” which was unanimously adopted by the UN security council was adopted. Council (UN Security Council) in 2006 with the aim of stopping the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah’s leadership and infrastructure; However, UN experts have reported that the airstrikes, many of which have landed in areas of Beirut, are being carried out in densely populated areas “where residential buildings are being razed and people are being given unrealistically short evacuation orders before homes are bombed. .” According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than a million people have been displaced across Lebanon, 90 percent of them in one week alone. On October 2, the Israeli army warned people to evacuate another 24 villages in southern Lebanon, located in the UN-declared buffer zone.

A UN Special Procedures Group stressed: “We strongly condemn Israel’s use of the same destructive force used in Gaza in its attacks on Lebanon, suggesting that attacks on civilians are justified because Hezbollah members are reportedly hiding among them and using civilians as human shields. … The escalation and expansion of attacks on civilians that we are now seeing in Lebanon comes on top of a genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza.” Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip reportedly killed at least 60 Palestinians on October 2, including at a school housing displaced families.

The increasingly intense gun battles mark the most significant escalation in the nearly year-long cross-border violence. Hezbollah has fired rockets indiscriminately into northern Israel since October 8, uprooting some 60,000 people and killing and wounding dozens. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of homes across Lebanon have reportedly been damaged or destroyed by Israeli bombing. Twenty-five water supplies have been damaged, leaving nearly 300,000 people in Lebanon without the guarantee of basic services such as clean water and sanitation.

All parties must immediately cease hostilities and the UN Security Council must intervene quickly to prevent further regional escalation. International actors with influence should pressure all parties to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, precaution and necessity, to prevent further suffering and civilian harm. All governments that arm the parties must immediately suspend military aid and arms sales.

UN RENEWS SECURITY MISSION AS HAITIANS FACE GROWING PROTECTION CRISIS

On September 30, the UN Security Council extended the mandate of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) to Haiti for another twelve months. The MSS was first authorized to provide operational support to the Haitian National Police in October 2023 to counter gangs and restore basic security and state control, but faced numerous challenges that delayed the deployment of the Kenyan police June was postponed. Haitian leaders warned last week that they are “a long way from winning” the battle against the gangs.

While Haitians have struggled for years with the prevalence and spread of gang violence, the human rights and humanitarian situation has deteriorated significantly since late February. Since then, gangs have consolidated their control over the capital Port-au-Prince. By mid-September, rampant insecurity had forced more than 700,000 people to flee – 22 percent more than in March. A new report from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) describes serious patterns of human rights violations and abuses in Port-au-Prince and in the Artibonite Department – ​​as well as in the southern part of the West department. which until recently had generally been unaffected by violence.

At least 3,661 people have been killed since January, including in targeted executions and indiscriminate shootings. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stressed: “No more lives should be lost to this senseless crime.” OHCHR also documented mass kidnappings, forced recruitment, gang exploitation and trafficking of children, and the burning and looting of civilian infrastructure. Gangs increasingly use sexual violence, including rape and collective rape, “to punish, instill fear and subjugate populations.” The latest estimates from the UN Population Fund show that 94 percent of women and girls are at risk of sexual and gender-based violence. In addition, the OHCHR documented abuses during police operations and patrols that could involve the use of unnecessary and disproportionate force.

Meanwhile, in Artibonite, the country’s main agricultural region, gang violence and extortion have forced farmers to abandon more than 3,000 hectares of land, further endangering people’s livelihoods and exacerbating an already critical humanitarian emergency. The October 1 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis shows that 5.4 million Haitians are facing crisis, emergency and famine levels, representing one of the highest rates of acutely food insecure people in any crisis in the world .

The international community should provide additional resources and support, including through direct contributions to the MSS and adequate funding for the UN humanitarian appeal to Haiti. The international community must also urgently strengthen efforts to curb the flow of illegal weapons and ammunition to gangs in Haiti.

UN INVESTIGATIONS WARN CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY CONTINUING IN VENEZUELA

On September 17, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC)-mandated Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela (FFM) released its latest report, highlighting the intensification of state-led repression over the past year. According to the FFM, “Venezuela’s government has dramatically intensified efforts to crush all peaceful opposition to its rule, plunging the country into one of the most acute human rights crises in recent history.”

While systematic attacks on democratic and civil space have intensified over the past year, the July 28 presidential elections have marked “a new milestone in the deterioration of the rule of law.” In response to growing concerns about electoral fraud, authorities resorted to a brutal crackdown of a “massive and indiscriminate nature,” targeting demonstrators, opposition members, human rights defenders, journalists and other actual or perceived opponents, as well as individuals involved at the elections. election process. This is what the Venezuelan human rights organization says Foro criminal lawmore than 1,700 people were arrested between July 29 and September 23 alone. Venezuelan authorities have also used various telecommunications channels to spread hate speech and inflammatory rhetoric. The passing of a so-called “Anti-NGO Law” in mid-August, as well as increasing threats and attacks against civil society organizations, have further been used to silence dissent and prevent activists from engaging with UN mechanisms.

The FFM confirmed that the policies of torture, arbitrary detentions, sexual violence and other violations and abuses “remain part of the same widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population as documented since 2019.” It also warned that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Venezuelan authorities have committed the crime against humanity of politically motivated persecution as part of a “continuous and coordinated plan to silence opposition to the government of President Nicolás Maduro to lay down, to discourage and to put down.”

While the FFM remains the only independent international body specifically mandated to investigate serious human rights violations and abuses and promote accountability for victims and survivors throughout Venezuela, its mandate expires in early October. At the time of writing, the governments of Argentina, Canada, Chile, Guatemala, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay have submitted a draft resolution to the HRC aimed at renewing the FFM – as well as the monitoring and reporting mandate of the Office of the Human Rights Council. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – for an additional period of two years. Elisabeth Pramendorfer, Latin America expert at the Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect, said: “In light of worsening repression in Venezuela, it is imperative that all HRC member states vote in favor of the resolution, which calls for critical investigation into recurrence will guarantee. of crimes against humanity and can help inform the international community of necessary prevention and mitigation strategies to address the looming atrocities in Venezuela.”