UN Data Shows Surge In Civilian Deaths In Conflict Globally, Highlights Pervasive Discrimination

Scoop

5 hours ago

Geneva, 18 June 2025
Civilian deaths in conflict surged 40% globally in 2024, according to new data released by the UN Human Rights Office. The findings also reveal widespread and compounding discrimination and continued deadly targeting of human rights defenders.
At least 48,384 individuals, mostly civilians, were killed in 2024 according to casualties recorded by UN Human Rights. Among those killed last year were 502 human rights defenders. In addition, one in five people worldwide said they had experienced discrimination.
'Behind every statistic is a story. Behind every data point, a person,' said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. 'These numbers represent countless aggregated individual stories and lives combined.
'At the same time, they reveal sobering failures to protect some of the most vulnerable people in peacetime and conflict situations and paint a picture of a global human rights landscape in need of urgent action.'
The data shows that discrimination disproportionately affects members of already marginalised groups.
'What we see in the statistics is that discrimination doesn't exist in isolation. People with disabilities, for instance, not only face discrimination based on their disability but are also more likely to experience discrimination based on other grounds,' Türk said.
Nearly one in three people with disabilities (28%) reported experiencing discrimination, compared to fewer than one in five without disabilities (17%). Women reported suffering gender-based discrimination at more than double the rate of men. Discrimination also hits hardest in the poorest households, perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequality.
Age influences the types of discrimination people experience. Younger people (aged 15-29) more commonly report discrimination based on migration status, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation, while older people (aged 60+) face discrimination primarily based on age, disability, and health status.
The level of targeting of human rights defenders and journalists remained alarmingly high in 2024. At least one human rights defender, journalist, or trade unionist was killed or disappeared every 14 hours.
The number of journalists and media workers killed increased by more than 10%, from 74 in 2023 to 82 in 2024. Over 60% of these killings of journalists occurred in conflict zones – the highest proportion in over a decade.
At least 625 human rights defenders were killed (502) or disappeared (123) in 2024. The regions of Western Asia and Northern Africa, and Central Asia and Southern Asia had the highest proportion of countries with recorded cases of detentions of human rights defenders.
Meanwhile, Latin America and the Caribbean was the region with the highest proportion of countries (80%) where killings of human rights defenders were recorded. Firearms were the primary weapon used in most killings globally.
Women defenders faced different risks depending on their location. Although women made up only 10% of human rights defenders killed, they accounted for 20% of those who disappeared – and up to 50% in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as Europe and what is termed Northern America for statistical purposes.
Violence against children and women in armed conflicts was devastating over the last two years. Between 2023 and 2024, approximately four times more children and women were killed in armed conflicts compared with 2021-2022. The Office recorded 21,480 women and 16,690 children killed in conflicts during the 2023-2024 period, with 80% of child deaths and 70% of women's deaths recorded in Gaza alone.
Despite the grim statistics, stronger institutions and improved data collection from them provide needed insights and strengthen accountability mechanisms, with more than half the world's population is now covered by independent National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs). The number of countries with such institutions almost tripled over the last three decades, from 32 in 2000 to 89 in 2024.
Discrimination is now measured in 119 countries, up from about 15 in 2015. Similarly, 32% of internationally accredited national human rights institutions now collect data on attacks against human rights defenders.
The UN Human Rights Office data was collected using an internationally agreed methodology, with verification from independent sources, and represents the most comprehensive global snapshot of human rights conditions measured under Sustainable Development Goal indicators (mainly SDG16 and 10) in over 190 countries.