14 September 2017 – The security situation north-western South Sudan has improved with displaced people returning home, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the African country has said, holding he situation in Wau as a &#8220model&#8221 for other parts of the country where displacement rose so far this year.

&#8220I am pleased to see that the local authorities, the police and National Security have worked to improve the security environment,&#8221 the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to South Sudan, David Shearer, said while visiting Wau.

&#8220This collaboration could represent a new model for the return of displaced people,&#8221 he said.

&#8220It is important that people return to their homes voluntarily,&#8221 Mr. Shearer added, &#8220and for that to happen they need to feel safe and confident about their future.&#8221

The number of displaced people living in the UNMISS Protection of Civilians (POC) site has fallen from 38,000 to 32,500 over the last two months, he noted, adding that &#8220many of those people have returned home to cultivate their land.&#8221

Tens of thousands of people fled violence in April amid revenge attacks between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the SPLA-In Opposition fighters.

Speaking to reporters earlier today in Juba, Mr. Shearer credited more active patrolling by National Security and the police in Wau for helping to stabilize the area.

&#8220The POC sites were originally created because there was a need, and I’m convinced that we have saved thousands, if not tens of thousands of lives, by providing that sanctuary,&#8221 said Mr. Shearer.

About 213,000 of people are still sheltering at UNMISS Protection of Civilians sites across the country.

&#8220We know that the vast majority of those people want to return home,&#8221 Mr. Shearer said, &#8220so UNMISS and our humanitarian partners are always looking at opportunities to support their voluntary return.&#8221

Mr. Shearer said that the number of people displaced in South Sudan rose to nearly four million during the first half of this year.

&#8220That figure includes 1.9 million who have been internally displaced and two million who fled to neighbouring countries &#8211 one million in Uganda alone,&#8221 he told journalists, noting insecurity in Jonglei and Upper Nile, and the Equatorias.

The UN and its humanitarian partners have appealed for $1.64 billion to provide food, health care and education to help many of the 7.6 million estimated people in need in the country. So far, some 66 per cent of the budget is funded.

14 September 2017 – Amid an acute shortage of humanitarian supplies for the thousands of Rohingya arriving every day in Bangladesh, having fled violence in Myanmar, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is undertaking a &#8220massive&#8221 scale-up of its emergency operations to ensure that those most vulnerable are not endangered further.

Up to 400,000 Rohingyas have been sheltering in Bangladesh since violence erupted across the border in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state in end-August and, according to preliminary estimates, about 60 per cent of them are children.

&#8220There are acute shortages of everything, most critically shelter, food and clean water,&#8221 said Edouard Beigbeder, the head of UNICEF in Bangladesh.

&#8220Conditions on the ground place children at high risk of water-borne disease. We have a monumental task ahead of us to protect these extremely vulnerable children.&#8221

In its response, the UN agency has been dispatching trucks filled with emergency water, sanitation and hygiene supplies to Cox’s Bazar (located near the Bangladesh-Myanmar border), with a steady stream of supplies in the pipeline for the coming days and weeks.

Supplies include detergent powder, soap, and pitchers and jugs for storing water, along with nappies, sanitary napkins, towels and sandals.

UNICEF is also supporting the Department of Public Health Engineering with water treatment plants and carriers, and is working with partners on the ground to install and rehabilitate tube wells.

&#8220These items are part of a first wave of supplies that will massively scale-up our emergency response to the growing number of Rohingya children in Bangladesh,&#8221 Mr. Beigbeder added, noting that UNICEF has appealed for $7.3 million to provide emergency support to Rohingya children over the next four months.

Yesterday, speaking at a press conference, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his call on Myanmar authorities to suspend military action, end the violence and recognize the right of return of all those who had to leave the country.

He also underscored his call for &#8220an effective action plan&#8221 to address the root causes of the situation, which he said had been left to fester for decades and has now escalated beyond Myanmar’s borders, destabilizing the region.

14 September 2017 – Impacts of climate change and the global economic crisis are compounding the threats faced by people living in poverty around the world, a United Nations rights expert warned, calling on the international development community to put human rights at the centre of their work.

&#8220People in developing countries are paying a heavy price for global actions beyond their control,&#8221 said Saad Alfarargi, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development, delivering his maiden report to the Human Rights Council &#8211 the highest intergovernmental forum in the UN system on rights issues.

&#8220We are witnessing some of the greatest challenges the world has ever seen, without the global commitment to deliver change,&#8221 he added.

In a news release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the UN expert stressed that even more than 30 years after the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development, many around the planet are still unaware of the existence of right to development, and it remains far from being universally recognized and even further from full implementation.

Mr. Alfarargi also noted increasing politicization of issues related to the right to development that has resulted in little promotion, protection and fulfillment of the right.

Adding to this, the multitude of challenges &#8211 ranging from new global pandemics, corruption, privatization of public services to austerity &#8211 on top of global financial and economic crisis, energy and climate crisis and an increasing number of natural disasters are further complicating the situation.

The worst impact is felt among the world’s poor and those living in Africa, in the world’s least developed countries, and in developing countries that either landlocked or small islands.

A means to remedy the plight, noted the Special Rapporteur is raising the low level of awareness, from grassroots organizations to governments, and to make sure they are all fully engaged in implementing the right.

The building blocks for change are already available, he highlighted.

Any group working for development &#8211 should put the right to development at the centre of their work

&#8220Global agreements are in place to deliver global solutions,&#8221 he said, noting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on financing for development and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

&#8220All UN agencies, development agencies, financial and trade institutions &#8211 in short any group working for development &#8211 should put the right to development at the centre of their work,&#8221 he stressed.

&#8220There is an urgent need to make the right to development a reality for everyone.&#8221

Mr. Alfarargi is the first UN Special Rapporteur on the right to development. He was appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council at its 34th session in February-March 2017.

Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

13 September 2017 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is today focusing the international community on developments in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Myanmar, as well as the importance of gender parity, and the need for mediation in diplomacy.

In his first press conference since the opening of the 72nd General Assembly Session, the Secretary-General is also discussing his priorities for next week’s high-level debate.

More to come…

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13 September 2017 – Noting important progress in delivering life-saving aid to millions in north-east Nigeria, the top United Nations humanitarian official underscored that international assistance to people suffering amid the crisis must not dwindle.

&#8220We have averted famine, but millions of people are still at risk if more international help is not forthcoming,&#8221 said Mark Lowcock, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, at the end of a two-day mission to the country.

&#8220At next week’s General Assembly in New York, I will urge world leaders to maintain their financial and political support for the Lake Chad Basin crisis, and to work with the Nigerian authorities to bring stability to the north-east,&#8221 he added.

In particular, Mr. Lowcock, also the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, noted the Nigerian Government’s leadership and coordination of relief efforts and welcomed the Vice President’s assurance to extend the Government’s own food aid programme.

He also highlighted that the international system has also rapidly scaled up and saved millions of lives, reaching two million people with food assistance every month as well as providing life-saving nutritional support to hundreds of thousands of children.

However, the humanitarian situation remains precarious.

Since the beginning of the Boko Haram conflict, more than 20,000 people have been killed, thousands of women and children abducted, many forced into displacement, and subjected to violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. In north-east Nigeria, at least 8.5 million people are dependent on humanitarian assistance.

Recalling his visit to Gwoza &#8211 a town which the Boko Haram declared capital of its territory in 2015 before Government forces took it back the same year &#8211 and meeting Fatima, a nine-year-old girl who fled with her family to the town four years ago, Mr. Lowcock said that though many towns in the region are relatively safe, more needed to be done to bring safety to the rural areas.

&#8220In the meantime, Fatima and millions of others like her will rely on humanitarian assistance,&#8221 he noted.

Mr. Lowcock travelled to Niger and Nigeria from 9-12 September, shortly after beginning his roles as the top UN relief official on 1 September.

While in the two countries, he also held meetings senior government officials, UN humanitarian agencies, international non-governmental organizations and the diplomatic community.