The number of civilians killed in armed conflicts and their humanitarian aftershocks has skyrocketed, with the United Nations calculating nearly 17,000 recorded deaths last year in war zones – including almost 8,000 people killed in Ukraine alone – marking a steep 53 percent increase in civilian killings compared with 2021.
Citing the number of people killed in the war in Ukraine and Sudan, schools destroyed in Ethiopia and damage to water infrastructure in Syria, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday that “the world is failing” to protect civilians.
