This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

UN human rights close office in Uganda

The UN human rights office in Uganda will close on Saturday the UN rights chief has said, calling the decision deeply regrettable.

Volker Türk’s comments follow the Government of Uganda’s decision to end the agreement that allows the UN human rights body to operate in the country. 

According to Mr. Türk, the office in Kampala will officially cease operations after 18 years of work, following the closure of sub-offices in Gulu and Moroto.

The closure comes amid concern over human rights violations including extrajudicial killings and the recent Anti-Homosexuality law - which UN-appointed independent experts have urged Uganda to repeal.

Mr. Türk urged the Ugandan Government to ensure the effective and independent functioning of the national human rights body, the Uganda Human Rights Commission, in light of this decision. 

Wheat and rice see price rise hikes in July, warn UN food economists

Global food prices rose for the first time in months in July, driven by market uncertainty after Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Initiative.

Restrictions on rice exports also pushed international food commodity prices up – the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Friday.

In its latest monthly update, the UN agency reported that average food commodity prices rose by 1.3 per cent in July, with “notable jumps” in the price of wheat and vegetable oil.

Falling international maize and sugar prices partly offset this price rise, which FAO put into context by saying that overall prices are still almost 12 per cent lower than they were a year ago.

FAO data also indicated that rice prices rose by 2.8 per cent in July and by almost 20 per cent over the last year after India prohibited exports. 

This “raises substantial food security concerns for a large swathe of the world population” and particularly Africa – the world’s largest rice importer, warned FAO chief economist Maximo Torero.

In July 2022 the UN, together with Türkiye, brokered the Black Sea Initiative with Russia and Ukraine to enable essential food commodities to reach countries in need - including Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Yemen – and reverse spiking global food prices.

OCHA: Spike in settler violence against Palestinian communities

 An urgent needs assessment is under way for dozens of Palestinian herding communities across the Occupied Palestinian Territory after an increase in Israeli settler violence, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Friday.

In the first six months of 2023, OCHA recorded nearly 600 incidents of settler-related violence.

This resulted in casualties to Palestinians and their property, with an average of 99 attacks every month - nearly 40 per cent more than last year's record figure.

Sixty Palestinian herding communities are the focus of the OCHA needs assessment.

Mainly of Bedouin descent, these communities use their land to graze animals and sustain their livelihoods. In 2022 and 2023, OCHA documented the settler-violence-related displacement of nearly 400 people from seven Palestinian herding communities - three of which are now completely empty.

Here is OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke, speaking in Geneva:

“The reason for the herders leaving what they cite most often is settler activities, including violence and settlement expansion, of their access to grazing lands.”
                                                                                                                          According to the UN, the illegal settlements are deepening already dire humanitarian needs, due to the impact on livelihoods, food security and access to essential services such as water.

Caitlin Kelly, UN News.