According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in 2023, the number of civilian casualties in conflicts jumped by 72%, and the number of children killed tripled.
The number of civilian deaths in conflict jumped by 72% in 2023. At the same time, the number of children killed in conflict tripled in one year.
This was stated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk at the opening of the 56th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, UNN reports.
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“Overall, the number of civilians killed in conflicts jumped by 72% in 2023,” said Volker Türk, who was alarmed by the sharp increase in the proportion of women and children, according to the UN.
“Unfortunately, the data shows that the proportion of women killed in 2023 doubled and the proportion of children tripled compared to the previous year,” Turk said.
Listing the armed conflicts affecting different regions of the world, the High Commissioner called on the international community to “find a path to peace in accordance with the UN Charter and international law.
The growing number of these conflicts, sometimes exacerbated by climate change, is increasingly placing a heavy burden on humanitarian organizations that depend on donor countries.
And, as Turk explained, at the end of May, the gap between humanitarian funding needs and available resources reached $40.8 billion (about 38 billion euros), specifying that requests for funds were funded by only 16.1% on average.
He said that by comparison, global military spending in 2023 was almost $2.5 trillion, “an increase of 6.8% in real terms compared to 2022.