By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – According to new data released by the UN human rights office in Geneva on Wednesday showed that civilian deaths in conflict surged by 40 per cent last year with already marginalized groups facing disproportionate levels of discrimination.
Some 48,384 individuals mostly civilians were killed in 2024, based on casualties recorded by OHCHR.
UN rights chief Volker Türk said “Behind every statistic is a story. Behind every data point, a person”
He said that this alarming rise in civilian deaths exposes major failures to protect some of the most vulnerable in both peace time and conflict situations, “painting a picture of a global human rights landscape in need of urgent action.”
Over 500 of those killed in 2024 were human rights defenders, with the number of journalists killed also rising by 10 per cent, comparing 2023 to 2024, OHCHR data said.
The agency noted that the level of targeting of human rights defenders and journalists remained alarmingly high: at least one human rights defender, journalist, or trade unionist was killed or forcibly disappeared every 14 days.
The detention of rights defenders was most widespread in northern Africa, central, southern and western Asia. Killings were most prevalent in Latin America and the Caribbean, OHCHR stated.
The violence against children and women in armed conflicts has been devastating over the past two years, it added.
OHCHR stressed that between 2023 and 2024, approx four times more children and women were killed in armed conflicts than during 2021–2022.
Women experienced gender-based discrimination at more than twice the rate of men, and the poorest households were hardest hit, perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequality.
Mr. Turk said that “Discrimination does not exist in isolation,” as OHCHR’s findings revealed widespread and compounding discrimination, with one in three persons with disabilities reporting having experienced discrimination, compared to fewer than one in five without disabilities.
