World News in Brief: Ukraine alert over new attacks, more Nicaragua NGO closures, disinformation in DRC

This article is published in association with United Nations.

The UN’s top humanitarian official in Ukraine on Tuesday condemned “yet another attack” carried out by Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region.

UN Resident Coordinator Matthias Schmale said that the attack damaged a transit centre in Pokrovsk town “where people already fleeing for safety had sought shelter”.

In a statement, he insisted that civilians and civilian infrastructure – including humanitarian facilities – were protected under international humanitarian law, “which must be adhered to”.

Humanitarian partners on the ground say that deadly strikes over the past week in Pokrovsk and the towns of Myrnohrad and Toretsk caused damage to homes and schools, said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, briefing reporters in New York.                        

“Aid workers in Myrnohrad responded by delivering emergency materials and providing psychosocial support to impacted people”, he said at the regular daily briefing. “Our humanitarian colleagues note that civilians – including humanitarian workers – are facing daily threats to their safety and hostilities in Ukraine.”

Support for pensioners

In a related development, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced that nearly half a million pensioners living near Ukraine’s frontline have received vital cash assistance.

The WFP programme runs in partnership with the Ukrainian authorities, with funding from several European Union countries and private donors. Nearly $50 million has been distributed in the last 12 months for pensioners who receive less than $81 per month from the Government.

The UN agency also distributes food boxes in areas closest to the front line, “where food is hard to find or very expensive”, and it provides daily hot meals for 90,000 schoolchildren across the country, among other assistance.

News of the WFP assistance comes as the UN migration agency IOM warned that active hostilities in Ukraine continue “to harm civilians, damage homes and disrupt critical services”, some two and a half years since the full-scale Russian invasion.

Nicaragua ban of 1,500 more NGOs ‘deeply alarming’

The decision by the Nicaraguan authorities to ban a further 1,500 civil society organisations – half of them religious associations – is “deeply alarming”, UN human rights office spokesperson Liz Throssell said on Tuesday.

This is especially true considering that civic space in the Central American nation has been “fundamentally eroded in recent years”, amid undue restrictions on religious freedom.

The latest closure orders announced on Monday means that over 5,000 organisations, including NGOs, media outlets and private universities, have now had their legal status cancelled by the Government of Daniel Ortega – most of them since the end of June 2022.

Government takeover

“All of their assets are under Government control”, Ms. Throssell continued noting that the “severe impact of these measures…makes the defence of human rights increasingly difficult in Nicaragua.”

It has also led some civil society groups which are still functioning, censor their own activities due to fear of closure.

“We once again call on the Nicaraguan authorities to stop imposing severe restrictions on civic and democratic spaces in the country, and to ensure that human rights are respected, in line with Nicaragua’s international human rights obligations”, she concluded.

Disinformation still rampant in DR Congo’s North Kivu, stoking violence

The UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) MONUSCO said on Tuesday that disinformation, misinformation and hate speech continue to foment violence and social breakdown in the restive North Kivu area.

The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUSCO, held a discussion forum with a hundred media actors, including 23 women. They are radio journalists, print journalists, administrators of WhatsApp groups, and social media influencers active in the region as part of curbing misinformation and disinformation in the region.

Peacekeepers are tasked with protection of civilians across the eastern DRC, where multiple armed groups continue to battle Government troops, and carry out attacks on civilians.

Peacekeepers were deployed to Gina in North Kivu in response to alerts that the Zaire armed group had surrounded the Congolese National Police office in the area, UN Spokesperson Dujarric told reporters on Tuesday.

Peacekeepers provide deterrence

“UN peacekeepers deterred the Zaire armed group fighters in close collaboration with the Congolese Armed Forces, prompting the Zaire fighters to withdraw”, he added.

MONUSCO also deployed a patrol to the Kwe mining site, near Bunia in Ituri province, after members of the CODECO armed group attempted to launch an attack.  

“Meanwhile, the Mission informs about the continued use of disinformation, misinformation and hate speech, especially in the context of the M23 rebellion in North Kivu, which is threatening the social cohesion and security in the area”, Mr. Dujarric continued.

In response, MONUSCO organized a discussion forum for around100 local journalists and influencers in the regional capital Goma “to promote responsible reporting that supports peace and stability in the region.”