MIL NGO Engine

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Jayapura, 5 March 2026. Marind Indigenous people from the south of West Papua today filed a legal challenge against a 135-kilometre access road planned to facilitate a government National Strategic Project (PSN) to convert their tropical forest, savannah and wetlands into rice paddies and commodity plantations in Merauke district.

The five plaintiffs, Simon Petrus Balagaize, Sinta Gebze, Liborius Kodai Moiwend, Kanisius Dagil, and Andreas Mahuse, arrived at the at the Jayapura State Administrative Court in traditional Marind dress, accompanied by West Papuan youth and student groups carrying banners reading “Save Indigenous Papuans’ Forests” and others in Indonesian, including one translating to “Customary Land is not Terra Nullius — Resist Colonialism.” Before entering, the plaintiffs performed a traditional prayer ceremony, smearing white mud on their bodies in mourning for the ongoing destruction carried out in the name of the PSN.

“We are filing this lawsuit because we are grieving. We have lost our land, our mother, the place where we find our food. We were born on this land, but now it is hard to find food because the forest is being torn apart. Investors entered without permission, like thieves, and tore the forest apart with excavators. We erected traditional blockades but they ignored them. We spoke out against them but we are afraid, because the military worked there and brought their firearms,” said Marind woman Sinta Gebze, one of the five plaintiffs.

Indonesia’s Prabowo-Gibran administration says the 135km road is designed to support its food and energy estate plans (PSN) for South Papua province. The road runs alongside a rice paddy project in Wanam, Ilwayab District, led by the Ministry of Defence in partnership with PT Jhonlin Group owned by South Kalimantan mining businessman Andi Syamsudin Arsyad.

The road cuts through Indigenous customary forest from Wanam village to Muting, and construction has proceeded in violation of the law from the outset. The first 56 kilometres have already been cleared, and phase two is now being overseen by the Ministry of Public Works and Housing through several state-linked construction companies.

“This 135-kilometre road project reflects the chaos of the PSN regime that began under Joko Widodo and has continued under Prabowo Subianto. Land clearing began illegally in September 2024, before any environmental feasibility documents existed. The Merauke Regent’s environmental permit was only issued in September 2025, and we believe it was issued to retroactively justify violations that had already taken place,” said Tigor Hutapea, a member of the Merauke Solidarity Advocacy Team at Pusaka Bentala Rakyat Foundation.

Not only is it procedurally flawed, the permit is also invalid in that it ignores the rights of affected Indigenous communities who have actively opposed the project. “On the international stage the Indonesian government declares its commitment to peace, but its PSN project is generating conflict within West Papuan communities on the ground. A PSN backed by the military only entrenches the threat of violence and trauma for the Papuan people,” said advocacy team member Emanuel Gobay of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI).

Sekar Banjaran Aji, also a member of the legal team and Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Indonesia, added: “While roads destroyed by the disastrous floods in Sumatra are still in urgent need of repair, the government is instead clearing forest in Merauke for a road that will primarily serve to accelerate the seizure of Papuan lands. Destroying forests during a climate crisis is not a shortcut to food and energy self-sufficiency. Instead it drives us toward the loss of those forests and the Indigenous knowledge they contain.”

This lawsuit at the Jayapura State Administrative Court is one part of a wider struggle. West Papua’s Indigenous communities are simultaneously challenging PSN-enabling provisions of the Job Creation Law at the Constitutional Court, while in their villages they continue to erect traditional blockades in protest. 

Notes to Editor:
Photos and videos from the court case lodgement are available for use.

Contacts:
Sekar Banjaran Aji, Greenpeace Indonesia, +62 812-8776-9880
Tigor Hutapea, Pusaka Bentala Rakyat, +62 812-8729-6684
Igor O’Neill, Greenpeace Indonesia, +61 414-288-424

Source: Oxfam –

Source: Oxfam –

We, the Regional Directors of 14 INGOs, express our profound concern at the accelerating military escalation across the Middle East and the wider region. What we are witnessing is a dangerous expansion of violence with devastating consequences for civilians. 

There must be an immediate end to this spiral of military violence, to the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, and a return to the pursuit of diplomatic solutions. The continued exchange of attacks across borders is deepening instability, heightening tensions, and placing entire populations at unacceptable risks. Every new strike increases the broader regional crisis that will be borne primarily by civilians, especially children and women who have already been disproportionately impacted. 

We are gravely concerned by the ongoing and repeated possible violations of international humanitarian law, which demand independent and impartial review. In situations of international armed conflict, the full body of international humanitarian law applies. These rules exist to limit suffering and to protect those who are not, or are no longer, participating in hostilities. 

This violence is the foreseeable consequence of years in which violations of international law have gone insufficiently checked. At a time when international humanitarian law is already undermined, all parties should fully return to and uphold their obligations under it. 

Our humanitarian workers across the region are responding to urgent humanitarian needs wherever access is possible and until funds are available, in close coordination with our partners. However, humanitarian assistance alone cannot keep pace with the scale and speed of suffering generated by ongoing hostilities. Aid cannot substitute for political solutions. 

What is urgently required is decisive political will to de-escalate tensions, uphold international law, protect civilians, and commit to meaningful pathways toward peace. Without immediate action, the human cost will continue to rise, and the consequences of inaction will reverberate across generations. 

We call on all parties to prioritize the protection of civilians, humanitarian workers, and civilian infrastructures, in particular health facilities, schools and water infrastructure, adhere strictly to international humanitarian law, and take immediate steps to end the violence across the Middle East.

 Signed: 

1. Caroline Bedos Esteban, MENA Unit Manager, Médecins du Monde / Doctors of the World 

2. Laure Baudin,MENA Regional Director, Terre des hommes Foundation 

3. Myriam Abord-Hugon, Mashreq Regional Director, Humanity&Inclusion-Handicap International 

4. Lilu Thapa, MEAE Executive Director, DRC 

5. Flutra Gorana, Middle East Regional Director, War Child Alliance Foundation 

6. Angelita Caredda, MENA Regional Director NRC 

7. Carlo Gherardi, EurAsia Regional Director NRC 

8. Ahmad Alhendawi, Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, Save the Children 

9. Arnaud Quemin, Vice-President for MENA, Europe, and Asia, Mercy Corps 

10. Sally Abi Khalil, Regional Director MENA, Oxfam 

11. Fiona Gannon, Regional Director – Middle East, Concern Worldwide 

12. Stephanie Yousef, Senior Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, CIVIC 

13. Benjamin Thiberge, Emergencies and oPt Coordinator, Médicos del Mundo/Doctors of the World 

14. Eleanor Monbiot, Regional Leader at World Vision Middle East and Eastern Europe

/Ends

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

There are a lot of things about the wild west-style expansion of AI that are unbelievable. One of the worst is the resurgence of coal to power new data centers. Coal power has been on the decline in the US since the mid-2000s, and despite the historically low price of renewables, data center developers, tech companies, and the Trump administration are so eager to get data centers online and operating that they are pulling coal plants out of retirement.

In the last year, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ordered five coal plants that were scheduled for retirement to keep running. These five coal plants have been estimated to cause 124 deaths per year as of 2019. Resurrecting coal plants is meant to help meet the rising demand for electricity driven primarily by data centers, but also part of Trump’s stated goal of bailing out the dying coal industry. In February, the DOE approved $175 million to upgrade seven more coal plants to keep them polluting for longer as part of public-private partnerships with the utility companies operating the coal plants. 

Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Reuters in September 2025, fueling AI data centers is a major driver for keeping existing coal capacity running. As the New York Times reported, DOE officials claim this is “just the beginning”. DOE has been ordering plants to stay open using authority from the Federal Power Act Section 202(c), which is reserved for “emergency” conditions.

The phasing out of U.S. coal power has had tremendous benefits for health, environmental justice, and the climate. Coal power comes with devastating air pollution, groundwater contamination, and health risks for children, workers, and local communities. Fine particulate air pollution from coal is responsible for an estimated 460,000 deaths between 1999 and 2020 in the U.S. alone. One study estimated that closing coal power plants between 2005-2016 saved over 22,000 lives as coal-related pollution dropped. 

Research shows that closing a significant emissions source like coal plants have immediate and long-term benefits in the region. After the Shenango coal coking plant closed in 2016, researchers saw a 20.5% decrease in weekly respiratory emergency visits and 41.2% decrease in emergency visits for pediatric asthma immediately after the shutdown, and respiratory emergency visits continued to drop for months. In 2023, coal accounted for just 16% of U.S. power supply, down from 53% in 2000, and retirement rates were accelerating. Although many existing coal plants are nearing their retirement age, the current administration has recklessly decided to attempt to revive the industry.

Most of these plants are also more than 50 years old and in need of expensive repairs to stay open, on top of the major health and climate impacts they bring with them. In case the world has forgotten, let’s tour twelve of the major coal power plants in the U.S. that are being reanimated or upgraded to service the reckless dash to build more AI.

The Coal Plants

Affordability

A major driver of coal plant closures is simple economics. Many of the coal plants across the country have become too expensive to operate, as the revenue they generate doesn’t make up for their repairs and maintenance costs.

Consider the case of the J.H. Campbell coal plant in western Michigan and its operator, Consumers Energy. Consumers Energy had planned to retire all coal generation by 2025 – 15 years faster than it had previously projected – because phasing out coal would be easier on the pocketbooks of consumers without sacrificing reliable power. The original plan claimed it would “save customers an estimated $600 million through 2040” on top of the environmental and health benefits.

But who pays when coal plants stay open? Utilities fund coal upgrades and repairs, and these costs get passed on to ratepayers. Consumers Energy, for example, has recently stated that they expect the cost to operate the J.H. Campbell plant be spread among ratepayers across the Midwestern regional grid, even outside of Michigan. Tri-State, the operator of Colorado’s Craig station, made it clear that reopening the plant will force ratepayers to “unnecessarily bear the full cost of complying”.

According to a report from Grid Strategies, preventing the nation’s aging coal and fossil-fired power plants from retiring over the next three years could cost consumers at least $3 billion per year. And the healthcare costs for people suffering the pollution of coal plants is far worse. Health-related costs from coal cost billions of dollars per year – 13 times more than the amount ratepayers pay for electricity alone. The Rocky Mountain Institute estimates that between 2015 and 2023, coal power racked up a staggering $236 billion in health costs for families and communities. The EPA just announced they will weaken even more regulations on limits for hazardous pollutants from coal plants, including mercury, which will further ramp up the health toll.

A genuine commitment to affordability would mean embracing the phase-out of costly coal and fossil fuels. Luckily, today renewables are best for consumer affordability, health, and the climate. For example, by co-locating renewable energy infrastructure with data centers, ratepayers would be spared the burden of expensive utility upgrades, prevent thousands of air pollution-related deaths and illnesses, and save millions of dollars spent each year, per plant, on direct health impacts.

It’s unclear how successful the Trump administration will be at prolonging coal’s lifespan. But what is desperately clear is what’s at stake: lifelines for coal pose serious threats to human health, the climate, and our wallets. Coal is an expensive, dirty fuel that has become an economic burden and an environmental harm. It’s time to say goodbye to coal.

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

Kenya’s Ngong Road Forest won a historic victory yesterday. A protected public forest that was being carved up behind closed doors; its trees cleared, its soil broken, its licences signed in secrecy; has been given back to the people it belongs to. The Environment and Land Court has ruled that every approval granted for the private golf range, luxury restaurant, and mini-golf park inside the Miotoni Block was unlawful from the moment it was issued.

In a judgment delivered on 26 February 2026, in a case brought by the Law Society of Kenya against Karura Golf Range Limited and seven co-respondents – including the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) – the court declared all approvals invalid, null, and void ab initio. Both the Special Use Licence issued by KFS and the Environmental Impact Assessment clearance issued by NEMA were quashed in their entirety. Regulators were explicitly barred from reinstating or fast-tracking the revoked licences.

Greenpeace Africa welcomes this ruling without reservation. We also note, for the record, that we warned about precisely this situation – by name, in detail – twelve months ago.

What the court found

The judgment was unsparing in its assessment of how the licences were procured. The court found that the EIA process was fatally flawed: it failed entirely to meet statutory requirements on meaningful public participation. As the presiding judge observed, the EIA report did not specify any dates for public meetings or for the distribution of questionnaires. The limited public engagement that did occur did not meet the legal threshold of purposive and meaningful participation.

This was not a technical oversight. Public participation is a constitutional requirement in Kenya – it is the mechanism through which communities most affected by environmental decisions exercise their rights. To bypass it is not to cut a corner; it is to violate the law. The court found exactly that.

The project had already attracted fierce public criticism when it emerged in late 2024 that a private developer had secured access to operate commercially within a protected public forest. Regulators had subsequently suspended the licences pending further ecological and risk assessments, in part due to the project’s alarming proximity to critical pipeline infrastructure. The court’s judgment now permanently settles the matter: the licences were unlawful from inception.

What we documented – and what KFS denied

In our March 2025 press release responding to KFS’s dismissal of mounting forest threats, Greenpeace Africa specifically identified the Sanctuary block of Ngong Road Forest as one of the most acutely endangered forest zones in Kenya. We documented the private tented camp and lodge being developed inside it. We documented the approximately 50 acres already consumed by the Talanta Stadium. We documented illegal dumping of construction waste. We documented a shooting range and restaurants being constructed inside a gazetted forest. We named the early entry permits and private leases. We did so because these were real, verifiable, and ongoing.

KFS responded by characterising these concerns as “misleading information” and insisting Kenya’s forests were safe. Parliament summoned the Environment Cabinet Secretary and Principal Secretary to account for the Ngong Forest licences – and they dodged those summons three times.

Today, a court of law has confirmed that what we documented was accurate, that the process was irregular, that the public was bypassed, and that the law was broken. The ruling establishes a formidable legal precedent, as one account of the judgment noted: Kenya’s ecological reserves are not available for arbitrary commercial exploitation.

A court victory is not enough

We celebrate this ruling. But we are honest about what it reveals: Kenya’s forests should not have to depend on costly, protracted litigation every time a well-connected developer and a complicit regulator decide to carve them up. The legal system is a last resort, not a first line of defence. By the time a court delivers judgment, trees have already been felled, construction waste has already been dumped, and ecosystems have already been disrupted. A court order does not restore a cleared forest overnight.

The government cannot simultaneously pledge to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 and preside over the systematic commercial allocation of the forests that already exist. That contradiction is not merely embarrassing – it is a betrayal of Kenya’s people, Kenya’s climate commitments, and the constitutional right of every Kenyan to a clean and healthy environment.

What must now follow

1.  Full ecological restoration: All land within Ngong Road Forest disturbed by this unlawful development must be restored to its natural state, at the developer’s cost, with independent monitoring.

2.  Accountability: KFS and NEMA officials who approved unlawful licences, permitted construction before regulatory clearance, and dismissed legitimate public concerns must face disciplinary and legal consequences. Institutional failure with no personal consequences is institutional permission.

3.  A comprehensive audit: An independent, publicly published audit of all Special Use Licences and Early Entry Permits issued for commercial activity within Kenya’s gazetted forests – not just Ngong Road Forest – must be conducted without delay.

4.  Mandatory enforcement of public participation: The Forest Conservation and Management Act and Kenya’s Constitution already require it. The government must enforce these provisions rigorously before any licence is issued, not as an afterthought conducted under public pressure.

5.  Transparent parliamentary accountability: The Environment Cabinet Secretary and Principal Secretary must appear before Parliament to account for the Ngong Forest licences – having already evaded those summons three times. Forest governance cannot be above democratic oversight.

The wider battle: Ngong Road Forest is not alone

This ruling matters beyond Ngong Road Forest. The same pattern of bypass-and-build is playing out across Kenya’s protected green spaces, and the stakes could not be higher.

Karura Forest: 51.64 acres face excision for the Kiambu Road expansion, with Friends of Karura Forest separately petitioning President Ruto this week to halt the alleged construction of National Youth Service housing units inside the same forest – again without public consultation or the knowledge of forest managers.

Aberdare Forest: A 25-kilometre road is planned through a critical water catchment ecosystem, threatening the biodiversity and water security that millions of Kenyans depend upon.

Suam and Mau Forests: Commercial and infrastructural encroachments continue, displacing communities and destroying ecosystems that took generations to build.

The Ngong ruling is a template. These forests need the same community vigilance, civil society pressure, and legal tenacity that won the day in Nairobi’s court on 26 February. The government’s pledge to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 is hollow if it continues to preside over the destruction of the forests already standing.

Our forests are not for sale

You can be part of what comes next. Thousands of Kenyans have already signed our petition demanding an end to reckless forest destruction. If you have not added your voice, do so now at pages.greenpeaceafrica.org/stop-the-attack-on-kenyas-forests-now. Share it. Talk about it. Because the forests that absorb our carbon, hold our water, and cool our cities cannot defend themselves – that is our job.

This ruling is a victory for Kenyans who believe their forests are a public inheritance – not a private opportunity. It is a victory for the Law Society of Kenya, for the Green Belt Movement, for the Ngong Road Forest Community Forest Association, for every environmental defender who was dismissed as an alarmist, and for the thousands of Kenyans who have signed our petition demanding an end to reckless forest destruction.

As we stated when this crisis first broke: “Development should never cost us our natural heritage.” The court agrees. Now Kenya’s government must govern as though it does too.

Greenpeace Africa will continue to monitor, document, and challenge every attempt to sacrifice Kenya’s forests on the altar of private gain. We were right about Ngong Road Forest. We are right about what must come next.

— ENDS —

For media inquiries:

Sherie Gakii, Communications and Storytelling Manager, Greenpeace Africa, [email protected]  |  +254702776749

Source: Amnesty International –

Responding to the killing of prominent Iraqi women’s rights activist Yanar Mohammed, who was shot by unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle outside her home in northern Baghdad, Razaw Salihy, Amnesty International’s Iraq Researcher, said 

“The brutal killing of Yanar Mohammed, who dedicated her life to defending women’s rights, is a calculated assault to stifle human rights defenders, especially those defending women’s rights. The Iraqi authorities must stop this pattern of targeted attacks in their tracks, and take seriously the sustained smear campaigns designed to discredit and endanger activists.

Human rights defenders, including women’s rights defenders in Iraq must be protected — not silenced and killed.  

Razaw Salihy, Amnesty International

“The assassination of Yanar Mohammed fits a chilling pattern of targeted killings and attempted killings of activists that Amnesty International has documented during and in the aftermath of the Tishreen protests since 2019. The persistent failure of the Iraqi authorities to hold perpetrators accountable for past assassinations has entrenched a climate of impunity that continues to place activists at grave and fatal risk. Human rights defenders, including women’s rights defenders in Iraq must be protected — not silenced and killed. 

“Iraqi authorities must ensure the investigation they have ordered is prompt, effective, thorough, independent and impartial, in line with international standards. They must bring all those responsible to justice in fair trials that preclude the death penalty.” 

Source: Amnesty International –

Responding to today’s conviction of a woman who had an abortion later in pregnancy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks said:

“Abortion is essential healthcare and a human right under international human rights law and standards – it is not a crime. Today’s ruling highlights the impossible position pregnant people and medical providers are placed in due to the ongoing legal vacuum surrounding abortion in South Korea.

“The National Assembly has failed to reform abortion laws in line with the Constitutional Court’s orders in 2019, which has deprived pregnant people of access to vital healthcare. Due to this lack of regulation, pregnant people might be pushed towards exploitative and unregulated medical practices, experience undue delays or lack access to essential healthcare altogether.

“The dignity of women and girls, and of everyone who can become pregnant, must be respected and placed at the core of any legal framework on abortion. The South Korean government must immediately amend the Mother and Child Health Act, dismantling all barriers that deny women and girls their sexual and reproductive health and rights.”

Source: Greenpeace Statement –

SYDNEY, Wednesday 4 March 2026 — As the Middle East crisis sends global gas and oil prices surging, Greenpeace Australia Pacific warns that peace and security will remain at the mercy of geopolitics as long as we remain hooked on fossil fuels.

Experts have warned the outbreak of war in the Middle East, and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, risks a repeat of the 2022 energy shock driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that forced Australian power bills up by more than 40%.

While households brace for a new wave of price hikes, the conflict could prove a goldmine for gas corporations, with share prices for Woodside and Santos surging this week as they look to cash in on windfall war profits.

Solaye Snider, Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace Australia Pacific said: “The escalating violence and suffering in the Middle East is deeply distressing. 

“The resulting energy shock being felt around the world shows why we need to unhook from volatile sources of energy. It is disturbing to see that here in Australia, power bills are set to skyrocket because of yet another war, while gas corporations like Woodside and Santos stand to line their pockets from windfall war profits. 

“As long as we are dependent on fossil fuels, we will be at the mercy of geopolitics and impulsive decisions made by foreign leaders.  

“We need to urgently move away from these inherently volatile sources of energy. Transitioning to local renewables is the way to protect Australian households and businesses from international energy price volatility, and ensure a safe, clean and peaceful future for all.”

-ENDS-

Media contact: Lucy Keller on 0491 135 308 or [email protected]

Source: Amnesty International –

Amid escalating regional hostilities in the Middle East – following ongoing joint United States‑Israel attacks on Iran and a subsequent wave of Iranian retaliatory strikes – Amnesty International is issuing an urgent call for all parties to protect civilians and fully adhere to international humanitarian law. This includes ending unlawful attacks, such as deliberate, indiscriminate, or disproportionate strikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said:

“Civilians should not pay the price for the unlawful and reckless acts by parties to the conflict, ravaging the principles of humanity and distinction at the heart of international humanitarian law and threatening the very foundations of international peace and security. The stakes could not be higher. Across the region, civilians have already endured successive cycles of conflict and mass violations under international law. Their protection should now be the top priority. Instead, they are facing more senseless killings and repression.

“Parties to the conflict must immediately refrain from unlawful attacks, whether direct attacks on civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, or the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas. They must take all feasible precautions to prevent civilian harm.

“As the threat of a protracted international conflict grows, compliance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law is more urgent than ever. Any failure to uphold these obligations will intensify an already devastating human toll and push the region further towards another humanitarian and human rights catastrophe.

“The escalating crisis in the Middle East poses a grave threat to multilateralism and to the integrity of the international legal order. Unlawful acts by parties to the conflict, particularly by influential states, endanger civilians across multiple countries and accelerate the erosion of the global norms essential for the protection of human rights and global peace and security.

“We call on the international community to intensify diplomatic efforts to prevent further military escalation, avert additional civilian harm, and halt further crimes under international law against populations who have already endured decades of repression. In line with international law, states must exercise the utmost restraint, refrain from any conduct that could fuel further violations, and uphold their obligations not to aid or assist internationally wrongful acts, as well as to cooperate to bring such breaches to an end.”

Military operations have spread across the region and now involve more than 10 countries. They have already resulted in significant loss of civilian life and destruction of civilian infrastructure. Israel has escalated its attacks on Lebanon in the past 24 hours in response to Hezbollah’s attacks. The US has said that “the hardest hits are yet to come”. Iran has warned of further intensification and insecurity across the whole region following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader and commander-in-chief Ali Khamenei.

Attacks on Iran and Iran’s response

On 3 March the Iranian Red Crescent Society, reported that 787 people have been killed in Iran since the attacks began. On 28 February, according to the Iranian authorities around 150 school children were among 165 people killed when a school in the southern city of Minab, Hormozgan province, was struck. The UN has described the bombing of this school as a ‘grave violation of humanitarian law’, with UNESCO warning that attacks on educational institutions endanger students and teachers and undermine the protections guaranteed under international humanitarian law. The UN Human Rights Office has called for a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation into the “horrific” incident.

Amnesty verified six videos from the aftermath of the strike that impacted the school, which show black smoke rising from the partially collapsed building and rescuers and excavators searching through the rubble for victims. Footage filmed from the school entrance shows walls marking the parameter of the school yard and building, with smoke visible in the background from the direction of a nearby Iranian Revolutionary Guards Compound.

According to the head of the Medical Council of Iran, 10 medical centres have been damaged by the Israeli and US attacks. Hospitals in Iran have already been subjected to militarised raids by Iran’s security forces who committed widespread human rights violations against injured protesters and medical workers during and in the aftermath of the protest massacres in January.

The Iranian authorities shut down access to the internet again on 28 February, preventing millions of people from accessing essential information about armed hostilities and communicating with loved ones inside and outside the country, and suppressing the flow of information about violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

The armed conflict has intensified concerns about the fate and safety of prisoners across Iran, including the thousands of protesters and dissidents arrested in connection with the January 2026 uprising. These concerns stem from reports by human rights defenders of explosions near prisons and other facilities where prisoners are held as well as Israel’s previous attack on Tehran’s Evin prison during the 12-day war.

Human rights defenders are also expressing fears that the Iranian authorities have often used armed conflict as pretext to subject dissidents to intensified patterns of torture and other ill-treatment as well as summary, arbitrary or extrajudicial executions. Amnesty calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained and take effective measures to secure the safety of all other prisoners, including through temporary release on humanitarian grounds. Concerns for the rights of people in Iran are compounded by the Iranian authorities’ well-documented record to repeated crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations, including during successive lethal crackdowns to eradicate dissent. On 8-9 January, Iranian authorities carried out unprecedented massacres of thousands of protesters and bystanders during anti-establishment protests calling for an end to the Islamic Republic.

Iranian authorities responded to US and Israeli attacks with missile and unmanned aerial vehicle attack in Israel and across the Gulf region, including in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Media reports and official government statements indicate that some of the attacks, including as a result of falling debris from intercepted missiles or drones, led to some deaths, injuries or damage to civilian infrastructure. According to the authorities in Abu Dhabi, an Iranian drone targeting Zayed International Airport (AUH) was intercepted, leading to “falling debris” killing one person and injuring seven. On 2 March, both the Qatari and Saudi authorities claimed their oil facilities were targeted by the Iranians, and a Gulf Cooperation Council statement condemned “indiscriminate and reckless missile and drone attacks.”

In Israel, according to media and rescue agencies, at least 10 people have been killed and tens injured as a result of Iranian attacks. This includes nine people killed and more than 20 injured in Beit Shemesh after an Iranian ballistic missile strike, as well as the death of a woman in the Tel Aviv area from falling shrapnel. Iranian strikes also damaged at least 40 buildings in Tel Aviv, according to local authorities.

In Iraq, a faction [Saraya Awliya Al-Dam] of the Iran‑aligned militia groups, calling itself the Islamic Resistance, has claimed responsibility for multiple drone attacks on Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and later in the capital Baghdad, primarily targeting US military facilities. According to Kurdish Iranian opposition groups, drone strikes have targeted their positions in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq following warnings from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Severe restrictions across the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Israel has escalated severe restrictions on movement across the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), effectively blocking movement between villages and towns in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem. The authorities have also closed all external crossings into and out of the OPT including Kerem Shalom/ Karem Abu Salem and Rafah crossings blocking lifesaving aid and effectively placing the entire Gaza Strip under siege. Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem was reopened on 3 March.

These arbitrary measures are gravely exacerbating the suffering of Palestinians living under Israel’s unlawful occupation and apartheid and are further compounding the multi-layered humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Palestinians are still living through Israel’s ongoing genocide.

Escalation between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon

Following Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel, which the group said was retaliation for Khamenei’s killing, the Israeli military significantly escalated its attacks on Lebanon, including the suburbs of Beirut, overnight on 2 March. Israeli air strikes in Lebanon had killed at least 40 people and injured 246, according to the Lebanese authorities, by 3 March. Before the recent escalation and since the November 2024 ceasefire agreement, Israel had been carrying out near daily attacks in the south of Lebanon, killing more than 380 people, including 127 civilians.

A new, mass “evacuation” warning, issued by the Israeli authorities after midnight on 2 March, has again displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians across Lebanon. The vague and broad warning covered more than 50 villages across the country’s south and east, and led to panic, clogged roads and another round of displacement for many. Additional broad mass evacuation warnings were issued early on 3 March ordering people in dozens of additional villages in southern Lebanon to leave their homes and expanding the area under threat.

On 2 March, the Israeli military said it would strike Hezbollah-affiliated financial institutions in multiple locations across Lebanon, then did. Israel previously targeted branches of the Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution in October 2024, which Amnesty described as a likely violation of international humanitarian law, calling for such attacks to be investigated as a war crime.

International humanitarian law strictly prohibits direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, as well as indiscriminate strikes that fail to distinguish between civilians and civilian object and combatants and military objectives, and disproportionate attacks. Aerial attacks impacting schools, medical facilities or residential buildings, as well as the firing of ballistic missiles and other explosive weapons with wide area effects into densely populated areas, raise grave concerns of possible violations of international humanitarian law.

Amnesty is closely monitoring the situation and call on all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law. In instances of civilian death, injury and infrastructure harm, parties should initiate immediate investigations and hold anyone responsible for violations of international law to account.

Source: Amnesty International –

Amid rapid expansion of regional hostilities across the Middle East following the ongoing joint United States-Israel attacks on Iran and the subsequent wave of Iranian retaliatory attacks across the region, Amnesty International is issuing an urgent call on all parties to protect civilians, adhere to international humanitarian law, in particular by ending unlawful attacks, such as deliberate, indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks on civilians and civilians infrastructures.

Military operations have spread across the region and now involve more than 10 countries. They have already resulted in significant loss of civilian life and destruction of civilian infrastructure. Israel has escalated its attacks on Lebanon in the past 24 hours in response to Hezbollah’s attacks. The US has said that “the hardest hits are yet to come”. Iran has warned of further intensification and insecurity across the whole region following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader and commander-in-chief Ali Khamenei.

“Civilians should not pay the price for the unlawful and reckless acts by parties to the conflict, ravaging the principles of humanity and distinction at the heart of international humanitarian law and threatening the very foundations of international peace and security.  The stakes could not be higher. Across the region, civilians have already endured successive cycles of conflict and mass violations and crimes under international law. Their protection should now be the top priority. Instead, they are facing more senseless killings and repression,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“Parties to the conflict must immediately refrain from and cease unlawful attacks, whether direct attacks on civilians, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, or the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas. They must take all feasible precautions to prevent civilian harm.  

“As the threat of a protracted international conflict grows, compliance with international human rights law and international humanitarian law is more urgent than ever. Any failure to uphold these obligations will intensify an already devastating human toll and push the region even further towards another humanitarian and human rights catastrophe.”

Attacks on Iran and Iran’s response

On 3 March the Iranian Red Crescent Society, reported that 787 people have been killed in Iran since the attacks began. On 28 February 2026, according to the Iranian authorities around 150 school children were among 165 people killed when a school in the southern city of Minab, Hormozgan province, was struck. The UN has described the bombing of this school as a ‘grave violation of humanitarian law’, with UNESCO warning that attacks on educational institutions endanger students and teachers and undermine the protections guaranteed under international humanitarian law. The UN Human Rights Office has called for a prompt, impartial and thorough investigation into the “horrific” incident.

Amnesty International verified six videos from the aftermath of the strike that impacted the school, which show black smoke rising from the partially collapsed building and rescuers and excavators searching through the rubble for victims. Footage filmed from the school entrance shows walls marking the parameter of the school yard and building, with smoke visible in the background from the direction of a nearby Iranian Revolutionary Guards Compound.

According to the head of the Medical Council of Iran, 10 medical centres have been damaged by the Israeli and US attacks. Hospitals in Iran have already been subjected to militarized raids by Iran’s security forces who committed widespread human rights violations against injured protesters and medical workers during and in the aftermath of the protest massacres in January 2026.

The Iranian authorities shut down access to the internet again on 28 February, preventing millions of people from accessing essential information about armed hostilities and communicating with loved ones inside and outside the country, and suppressing the flow of information about violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

The armed conflict has intensified concerns about the fate and safety of prisoners across Iran, including the thousands of protesters and dissidents arrested in connection with the January 2026 uprising. These concerns stem from reports by human rights defenders of explosions near prisons and other facilities where prisoners are held as well as Israel’s previous attack on Tehran’s Evin prison during the 12-day war.

Human rights defenders are also expressing fears that the Iranian authorities have often used armed conflict as pretext to subject dissidents to intensified patterns of torture and other ill-treatment as well as summary, arbitrary or extrajudicial executions. Amnesty International calls on the Iranian authorities to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained and take effective measures to secure the safety of all other prisoners, including through temporary release on humanitarian grounds. Concerns for the rights of people in Iran are compounded by the Iranian authorities’ well-documented record to repeated crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations, including during successive lethal crackdowns to eradicate dissent.  On 8-9 January, Iranian authorities carried out unprecedented massacres of thousands of protesters and bystanders during anti-establishment protests calling for an end to the Islamic Republic.

Iranian authorities responded to US and Israeli attacks with missile and unmanned aerial vehicle attack in Israel and across the Gulf region, including in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia.

Media reports and official government statements indicate that some of the attacks, including as a result of falling debris from intercepted missiles or drones, led to some deaths, injuries or damage to civilian infrastructure. According to the authorities in Abu Dhabi, an Iranian drone targeting Zayed International Airport (AUH) was intercepted, leading to “falling debris” killing one person and injuring seven.On 2 March, both the Qatari and Saudi authorities claimed their oil facilities were targeted by the Iranians, and a Gulf Cooperation Council statement condemned “indiscriminate and reckless missile and drone attacks.”

In Israel, according to media and rescue agencies, at least 10 people have been killed and tens injured as a result of Iranian attacks. This includes nine people killed and more than 20 injured in Beit Shemesh after an Iranian ballistic missile strike, as well as the death of a woman in the Tel Aviv area from falling shrapnel. Iranian strikes also damaged at least 40 buildings in Tel Aviv, according to local authorities.

Israel has escalated severe restrictions on movement across the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), effectively blocking movement between villages and towns in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem. The authorities have also closed all external crossings into and out of the OPT including Kerem Shalom/ Karem Abu Salem and Rafah crossings blocking lifesaving aid and effectively placing the entire Gaza Strip under siege.  Kerem Shalom/Karem Abu Salem was reopened on 3 March.

These arbitrary measures are gravely exacerbating the suffering of Palestinians living under Israel’s unlawful occupation and apartheid and are further compounding the multi-layered humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Palestinians are still living through Israel’s ongoing genocide.

In Iraq, a faction [Saraya Awliya Al-Dam] of the Iran‑aligned militia groups, calling itself the Islamic Resistance, has claimed responsibility for multiple drone attacks on Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and later in the capital Baghdad, primarily targeting US military facilities. According to Kurdish Iranian opposition groups, drone strikes have targeted their positions in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq following warnings from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

Escalation between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon

Following Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel, which the group said was retaliation for Khamenei’s killing, the Israeli military significantly escalated its attacks on Lebanon, including the suburbs of Beirut, overnight on 2 March. Israeli air strikes in Lebanon had killed at least 40 people and injured 246, according to the Lebanese authorities, by 3 March.  Before the recent escalation and since  the November 2024 ceasefire agreement, Israel had been carrying out near daily attacks in the south of Lebanon, killing more than 380 people, including 127 civilians.

A new, mass “evacuation” warning, issued by the Israeli authorities after midnight on 2 March, has again displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians across Lebanon. The vague and broad warning covered more than 50 villages across the country’s south and east, and led to panic, clogged roads and another round of displacement for many. Additional broad mass evacuation warnings were issued early on 3 March ordering people in dozens of additional villages in southern Lebanon to leave their homes and expanding the area under threat.

On 2 March, the Israeli military said it would strike Hezbollah-affiliated financial institutions in multiple locations across Lebanon, then did. Israel previously targeted branches of the Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution in October 2024, which Amnesty International described as a likely violation of international humanitarian law, calleing for such attacks to be investigated as a war crime.

International humanitarian law strictly prohibits direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, as well as indiscriminate strikes that fail to distinguish between civilians and civilian object and combatants and military objectives, and disproportionate attacks. Aerial attacks impacting schools, medical facilities or residential buildings, as well as the firing of ballistic missiles and other explosive weapons with wide area effects into densely populated areas, raise grave concerns of possible violations of international humanitarian law.

Amnesty International is closely monitoring the situation and call on all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law. In instances of civilian death, injury and infrastructure harm, parties should initiate immediate investigations and hold anyone responsible for violations of international law to account.

“The escalating crisis in the Middle East poses a grave threat to multilateralism and to the integrity of the international legal order. Unlawful acts by parties to the conflict, particularly those committed by influential states, not only endanger civilians across multiple countries, but also accelerate the erosion of the global norms that are essential for the protection of human rights and global peace and security,” said Agnès Callamard.

“It is imperative that all parties take urgent measures to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including airports, hospitals, residential buildings, schools and prisons. They must also ensure safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all affected areas and enable independent international monitoring.

“We call on the international community to intensify diplomatic efforts to prevent further military escalation to avert additional civilian harm, and halt any further crimes under international law against populations who have already endured decades of repression. In line with international law, states must exercise the utmost restraint, refrain from any conduct that could fuel further violations, and remember that they have clear obligations not to aid or assist internationally wrongful acts, as well as a duty to cooperate to bring such breaches to an end.”