Cabo Delgado: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calls for urgent measures

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Cabo Delgado: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calls for urgent measures

3:58 CAT | 13 Nov 2020

Photo: Twitter / @ONUGeneve

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on Friday called for urgent measures to protect civilians in northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province from increasingly alarming reports of human rights violations.

“The situation is desperate, both for those trapped in areas affected by the conflict, with no means of survival and for the displaced,” she said in a statement reporting on the appeal.

Those who remain “risk being killed, kidnapped, sexually abused or forcibly recruited by armed groups,” while “those who flee may die trying.

Bachelet considered it “essential” that “state authorities ensure the protection of civilians inside and outside the areas affected by the conflict and that humanitarian agencies have safe and unhindered access to provide assistance and protection.

“This is particularly important given the risk of cholera and the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic,” she added.

The communiqué notes that in the last two weeks there have been a series of attacks in several villages and witness reports indicate that several houses and public facilities have been burned and dozens killed, “including reports of beheadings of women, children and men, as well as kidnappings.

“The difficulty of access to affected areas makes it extremely difficult to verify these reports,” she stressed.

Bachelet also reiterated an appeal from several national and international organisations: “all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law committed by armed groups and security forces should be fully, independently and transparently investigated by the relevant authorities. Those responsible must be held accountable”.

The appeal comes after a Mozambican parliamentary committee presented on Thursday a report in line with the government’s position that there were no violations committed by its troops.

The UN High Commissioner stressed the issue, concluding that “all parties to the conflict must strictly abide by their obligations under international law and the state must ensure that any forces under its control, including private contractors, respect these obligations”.

.#Mozambique : @mbachelet consternée par l’escalade du conflit dans la province de Cabo Delgado
Elle appelle tous les acteurs à prendre des mesures urgentes pour protéger les civils alors que des rapports dénoncent une situation alarmante @UNHumanRights

➡https://t.co/J9lmKeWMMG pic.twitter.com/FtWiRP33oY

— ONU Genève (@ONUGeneve) November 13, 2020

The armed violence is causing a humanitarian crisis with some 2,000 deaths and 435,000 people displaced to neighbouring provinces, without housing or sufficient food – mainly concentrated in the provincial capital, Pemba.

Source: Lusa