5 September 2017 – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today &#8220unequivocally&#8221 condemned the latest nuclear and missile tests by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), denouncing them as &#8220profoundly destabilizing for regional and international security.&#8221

&#8220Yet again, the DPRK has broken the global norm against nuclear test explosions,&#8221 Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters today at UN Headquarters in New York.

&#8220Yet again, the country has defied the Security Council and the international community.

“Yet again, the DPRK has needlessly and recklessly put millions of people at risk &#8211 including its own citizens already suffering drought, hunger and serious violations of their human rights,&#8221 he added.

Mr. Guterres reiterated his call on DPRK authorities to comply fully with its international obligations, including Security Council Resolution 2371, which was adopted last month.

He welcomed yesterday’s meeting of the Security Council,&#8221 saying: &#8220The unity of the Council is crucial in addressing this crisis. That unity also creates an opportunity to engage diplomatically to decrease tensions, increase confidence and prevent any escalation &#8211 all aimed at the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.&#8221

The Secretary-General stressed dialogue and communication as necessary to avoid miscalculation or misunderstanding.

&#8220Confrontational rhetoric may lead to unintended consequences,&#8221 he elaborated. &#8220The solution must be political. The potential consequences of military action are too horrific.&#8221

&#8220As Secretary-General, I am ready to support any efforts towards a peaceful solution of this alarming situation, and as I said, to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,&#8221 underscored Mr. Guterres.

In response to a journalist who asked which of the global challenges he thought would be most focussed upon at the forthcoming General Assembly’s High-Level Week, Mr. Guterres answered &#8220The most dangerous crisis we face today, [is] the crisis related to the nuclear risk in relation to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.&#8221

The ‘gathering force’ of climate change

Turning to another topic of vital importance, Mr. Guterres said the world continues to witness climate change gather force., and he expressed solidarity with all those suffering the devastating impacts of the unprecedented events seen in recent weeks &#8211from Texas to Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sierra Leone.

&#8220The United Nations stands ready to support relief efforts in any way possible,&#8221 he said, noting that the number of natural disasters has nearly quadrupled since 1970, with the US, followed by China and India experiencing the most since 1995.

Last year alone, 24.2 million people were displaced by sudden-onset disasters &#8211 three times as many as by conflict and violence. Even before the current floods, preliminary reports for this year show that there have been 2,087 deaths from natural disasters.

It is true that scientists caution us about linking any single weather event with climate change.

But they are equally clear that such extreme weather is precisely what their models predict will be the new normal of a warming world.

&#8220With science forecasting a dramatic rise in both the frequency and severity of disasters, it is time to get serious about keeping ambition high on climate action &#8211 and on building resilience and reducing disaster risk,&#8221 he said.

Grievances of Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine have ‘festered far too long’

Also today, the Secretary-General called for the Muslims of Rakhine state to be given either nationality or legal status, and voiced concern about violence that has since late August forced nearly 125,000 people to flee and risk destabilizing the region.

&#8220I have condemned the recent attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. But now we are receiving constant reports of violence by Myanmar’s security forces, including indiscriminate attacks,&#8221 he told journalists, expressing concern about the security, humanitarian and human rights situation in Rakhine. &#8220This will only further increase radicalization.&#8221

Mr. Guterres said that he has officially written to the Security Council to express his concern and to propose various steps to end the violence, adding that the grievances of Rohingya &#8211 the Muslims in the Rakhine state &#8211 &#8220have festered for far too long and are becoming an undeniable factor in regional destabilization.&#8221

Mr. Guterres called on the international community to prevent further escalation and to seek a holistic solution, and urged the authorities in Myanmar to provide security and aid to those in need and safe access to life-saving aid.

5 September 2017 – More investment is needed in long-term projects to protect people in developing countries from droughts, the heads of the United Nations food agencies today said after a visit to Ethiopia where 9.5 million people are hungry.

The death of many livestock in Ethiopia, as well as in Somalia where 3.3 million people are in need of food after three years with too little rain, has caused a breakdown in pastoral livelihoods, contributing to soaring hunger levels and alarming increases in malnutrition rates, according to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

&#8220A drought does not need to become an emergency,&#8221 said Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), traveling as part of a four-day visit that also included FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and David Beasley, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

&#8220We know what works,&#8221 added Mr. Houngbo, pointing to irrigation systems, rural financial institutions and other long-term development projects. &#8220This is what we need to build on.&#8221

During the four-day visit, the three senior UN officials toured the Tigray region, where agency heads saw irrigation schemes, fruit nurseries and health centres. According to a press release, these measures are boosting productivity, increasing incomes and improving nutrition so that rural people can better withstand external shocks like droughts.

&#8220We have seen clearly here that working together the three UN food agencies can achieve much more than alone,&#8221 said Mr. Beasley.

The three agency heads met with high-level officials in Ethiopia and Somalia to discuss aid efforts, as well as with local residents.

&#8220This drought has been going on for a long time and we have lost much of our livestock,&#8221 Hajiji Abdi, a community elder told them. &#8220If we didn’t get food assistance, we would be in big trouble &#8211 but this is still not enough to feed us all.&#8221

5 September 2017 – More than 123,000 people from Myanmar’s Rokhine state have fled to Bangladesh since the latest outbreak of violence, the United Nations migration agency today announced seeking $18 million to urgently help the refugees.

&#8220Clear signs that more will cross into Bangladesh from Myanmar before situation stabilizes,&#8221 said the Director of Operations and Emergencies at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Mohammed Abdiker, on Twitter. &#8220Without more int[ernational] support, suffering will continue.&#8221

Thousands of people are arriving daily in south-eastern Bangladesh, living in makeshift sites and seeking any space for shelter.

&#8220We are running out of space in the existing settlements and new arrivals are pitching camp wherever they can erect some plastic sheeting to protect themselves from the elements,&#8221 said Sarat Dash, IOM Bangladesh Chief of Mission.

&#8220The new arrivals are putting immense strain on the existing support structures. These need to be immediately scaled up to ensure lives are not put at risk,&#8221 he cautioned.

With reports of ongoing violence, UN agencies today expressed grave concern about the situation, including reports that some civilians are dying enroute to safety.

&#8220Those who have made it to Bangladesh are in poor condition. Most have walked for days from their villages &#8211 hiding in jungles, crossing mountains and rivers with what they could salvage from their homes. They are hungry, weak and sick,&#8221 a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Duniya Aslam Khan, told journalists in Geneva.

Two of the shelter sites &#8211 Kutupalong and Nayapara camps &#8211 are at &#8220breaking point,&#8221 Ms. Khan said. New arrivals are hosted by refugee families and in refugee schools, community centres, madrassas and covered structures.

&#8220We are running out of available space,&#8221 she stressed.

‘I just knew to run to save my life’

IOM and partners today appealed for $18 million to aid the fleeing civilians over the next three months. The support would go for people like Rohingya Dilara, who reached Bangladesh barefoot, clutching her 18-month son.

&#8220My husband was shot in the village. I escaped with my son and in-laws,&#8221 she told UNHCR. &#8220We walked for three days, hiding when we had to. The mountain was wet and slippery and I kept falling.&#8221

Dilara followed other villagers into the Kutupalong camp, which was established in the 1990s along with neighbouring Nayapara camp, and already had a population of some 30,000 people. UNHCR estimates that 20,000 civilians arrived since 25 August, when the fighting in Myanmar flared up.

&#8220I don’t know where I am … I just knew to run to save my life,&#8221 Dilara said.

5 September 2017 – The United Nations human rights chief has called for an independent, international investigation into the allegations of serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Yemen, in a new report published today.

&#8220An international investigation would go a long way in putting on notice the parties to the conflict that the international community is watching and determined to hold to account perpetrators of violations and abuses,&#8221 said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in a news release on the report.

&#8220I appeal to all the parties to the conflict, those supporting them and those with influence over them to have mercy on the people of Yemen, and to take immediate measures to ensure humanitarian relief for civilians and justice for the victims of violations,&#8221 he added.

According to the report, which records violations and abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law since September 2014, such acts continue unabated in Yemen, with civilians suffering deeply the consequences of an &#8220entirely man-made catastrophe.&#8221

Between March 2015, when the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) began reporting on civilian casualties, and 30 August, at least 5,144 civilians have been documented as killed and more than 8,749 injured.

Children accounted for 1,184 of those who were killed and 1,592 of those injured. Coalition airstrikes continued to be the leading cause of child casualties as well as overall civilian casualties. Some 3,233 of the civilians killed were reportedly killed by Coalition forces.

The report states that the past year witnessed airstrikes against funeral gatherings and small civilian boats, in addition to markets, hospitals, schools, residential areas, and other public and private infrastructure.

The Popular Committees affiliated with the Houthis and the army units loyal to former President Abdullah Saleh (the Houthi/Saleh forces) were responsible for some 67 per cent of the 1,702 cases of recruitment of children for use in hostilities.

The report stresses that &#8220the minimal efforts towards accountability in the past year are wholly insufficient to respond to the gravity of violations and abuses continuing every day in Yemen,&#8221 adding that the National Commission established to investigate human rights violations in Yemen is not perceived to be impartial.

The report also found that the governorates most affected by the conflict were Aden, Al-Hudaydah, Sana’a and Taizz.

The humanitarian crisis &#8211 with nearly 18.8 million people in need of humanitarian aid and 7.3 million on the brink of famine &#8211 is a direct result of the behaviour of parties to the conflict, including indiscriminate attacks, attacks against civilians and protected objects, sieges, blockades and restrictions on movement, the report states.

&#8220In many cases, information obtained…suggested that civilians may have been directly targeted, or that operations were conducted heedless of their impact on civilians without regard to the principles of distinction, proportionality and precautions in attack. In some cases, information suggested that no actions were taken to mitigate the impact of operations on civilians,&#8221 the report states.

4 September 2017 – The top United Nations political official today urged the Security Council to remain united and take appropriate action against Sunday’s nuclear explosive test conducted by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

&#8220The latest serious developments require a comprehensive response in order to break the cycle of provocations from the DPRK,&#8221 said Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, in an emergency Council meeting, noting that &#8220such a response must include wise and bold diplomacy to be effective.&#8221

Mr. Feltman, however, stressed the importance of responding to humanitarian needs regardless of the political situation as the people of the DPRK rely on the international community to provide humanitarian assistance.

Today’s meeting was the Council’s second emergency meeting on the DPRK in less than a week and the tenth time the body has met to discuss the DPRK this year.

The latest serious developments require a comprehensive response in order to break the cycle of provocations from the DPRK

On the details of Sunday’s event, Mr. Feltman said that the DPRK characterized it as a &#8220perfect success in the test of a hydrogen bomb for intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)&#8221 and as marking &#8220a very significant occasion in attaining the final goal of completing the state nuclear force.&#8221

He said that it is evident the yield of the device was larger than any of the DPRK’s previous nuclear tests and experts have estimated a yield of between 50 and 100 kilotons, or on average more than five times more powerful than the weapon detonated over Hiroshima and at the low end of the yield of a modern thermonuclear weapon.

Citing a DPRK article that stated the hydrogen bomb was &#8220a multi-functional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated even at high altitudes for super-powerful EMP [electromagnetic pulse] attack,&#8221 Mr. Feltman said that &#8220this was a rare reference by the DPRK to the use of EMP,&#8221 which, triggered by a nuclear weapon, would aim for widespread damage and disruption to electricity grids and sensitive electronics, including on satellites.

He also drew attention to reports today indicating that the DPRK may be preparing new ballistic missile tests.

&#8220We are alarmed by this dangerous provocation,&#8221 he said, noting that Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his call on the DPRK leadership to cease such acts and to comply fully with its international obligations under relevant Security Council resolutions.

&#8220We will continue to carefully follow the developments and remain in close coordination with the concerned international organizations, Members of the Council and other governments concerned,&#8221 he concluded.