[JURIST] A UN rights expert said Monday that the civilian refugees from Palestine and Syria trapped inside the Yarmouk refugee camp [JURIST report] have suffered “untold indignities” [UN News Centre report]. There are approximately 18,000 people within the Yarmouk refugee camp including 3,500 children. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) [advocacy website] has been providing humanitarian aid to those trapped inside the camp, but disturbances due to intense fighting between militant groups in some regions have caused thousands to be deprived of aid for months. Pierre Krähenbühl [official profile ], Commissioner-General for the UNRWA called for “all sides to respect the beleaguered civilians trapped inside Yarmouk” adding that “the Syria conflict has a human face. These are individuals with a dignity and destiny that must be at the centre of our responses as we grapple with the complexities of protecting civilians, in Yarmouk and beyond.”

The Islamic State (IS) [JURIST backgrounder] has caused increasing international alarm over its human rights abuses [JURIST report] since its insurgence into Syria and Iraq in 2013. Earlier this month IS asserted control over the refugee camp in Yarmouk. Last month the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] reported that the actions of IS in Iraq may amount to genocide [JURIST report], crimes against humanity and war crimes. Also in March the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the OHCHR jointly released [JURIST report] a report detailing violations against Iraqi civilians under the spread of IS. International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda stated in November that the her office was contemplating bringing war crimes charges against IS jihadist fighters, but said last week that her office lacks jurisdiction [JURIST report] to open a formal investigation into the group. UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported in December that the IS executed [JURIST report] 1,878 people in Syria between June and December 2014.