At least 36,000 people killed in wars in 2024: UN

The UN relief chief raised alarm on Thursday over soaring civilian casualties in global conflicts, and revealed that more than 36,000 civilians were killed in 14 war zones in 2024.

"The real number is likely far higher," Tom Fletcher told a Security Council meeting on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict.

He warned of a dangerous global trend. "We are witnessing an unraveling of the protection of civilians and respect for international humanitarian law," he said.

Fletcher said that the number of forcibly displaced people reached a new high of over 122 million, with most displaced within their own countries.

Conflict-driven hunger reach 'alarming levels'

"Reports of enforced disappearance, torture, inhumane treatment, and other trauma were widespread," he noted.

"Sexual violence was rampant," Fletcher said. "The UN verified some 4,500 cases last year, 93% of victims were women and girls."

He added that conflict-driven hunger had reached "alarming levels," and "2024 was also the deadliest year on record for humanitarians," with more than 360 aid workers killed, including at least 200 in Gaza and 54 in Sudan.

Urging the Council to uphold legal protections and accountability, he said: "Some States tend to consider the law selectively, depending on the parties concerned or the interests at stake. All this undermines the very purpose of the rules of war: to limit human suffering in armed conflict."

More than 612 women and girls live in conflict zones

UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous warned that "over 612 million women and girls are living in conflict zones," calling it a "call to action for all of us."

"In Gaza, over 28,000 women and girls have been killed since October 2023, an average of one woman and one girl killed every hour," she said. "These are not natural consequences of war. They constitute a pattern of reproductive violence.”

She emphasised the urgent need for justice. "With few welcome exceptions, perpetrators face no consequences. Sanctions regimes remain underutilised,” said Bahous.

She warned that funding cuts threaten the very women leading recovery in fragile contexts.

'Tides turn, new conflicts erupt'

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric called for the defence of international humanitarian law, saying: "Your state may not be at war today. Your family may be far from frontlines, but tides turn, new conflicts erupt, and if you do not defend the rules of war today, you are accepting a world where wars are fought with increasing barbarity and disregard for our shared humanity."

Spoljaric reminded the Council that forced displacement from occupied territories remains illegal, even when conditions are made unbearable.

"We face not only a crisis of compliance with the rules of war, but one of our collective conscience. The precedent being set on battlefields today will haunt us for a long time," she warned.

Janti Soeripto, head of Save the Children US, noted the unique vulnerability of children in war, saying: "Children are not small adults."

"There can be no peace without justice and no protection without accountability," she said, and urged the Council to demand credible investigations and to support child survivors through independent accountability mechanisms.