United Nations published this video item, entitled “Climate, Myanmar, Afghanistan & other topics – Daily Press Briefing (9 August 2021)” – below is their description.
Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
– Climate
– South Sudan
– Maritime Security
– Afghanistan
– Mali
– Ethiopia
– Myanmar
– Secretary-General/Nagasaki
– China/COVID-19
– International Day Of The World’s Indigenous Peoples
Climate
Early this morning, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its latest climate report. The Secretary-General said that this report is a “code red for humanity” with irrefutable evidence that emissions from fossil fuels are choking our planet and putting billions of people at risk.
He warned that we are at imminent risk of hitting 1.5 degrees in the near future and he underscored that the only way to prevent exceeding this threshold is by urgently stepping up our efforts and pursuing the most ambitious path.
“We owe this to the entire human family, especially the poorest and most vulnerable communities and nations that are the hardest hit despite being least responsible for today’s climate emergency,” he said.
The Secretary-General added that the report must sound a death knell for coal and fossil fuels before they destroy our planet. He added that if governments, the private sector and civil society combine forces now, we can still avert climate catastrophe, but noted there is no time for delay and no room for excuses.
Myanmar
On Myanmar, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, will speak to you on the record tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.
Also on Myanmar, our colleagues there tell us that forced labour remains a new challenge, according to a recent new study by the UN Office for Project Services.
In the first major study on the prevalence of forced labour in Myanmar since 2015, it found that one in six workers in low-skilled employment are in a situation of forced labour.
The study found that, despite progress having been made in increasing workers’ rights, 91 per cent of workers interviewed had no formal contract and 93 per cent had no access to social security.
Afghanistan
Turning to Afghanistan, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, today expressed his extreme concern at the deteriorating situation in the country. More than 1,000 people have been killed or injured due to indiscriminate attacks against civilians in Helmand, Kandahar and Herat provinces in the last month alone.
In a statement, Mr. Griffiths echoed calls by the Secretary-General and members of the Security Council strongly condemning attacks against civilians and he called for a ceasefire. He reminded all parties to the conflict of their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, including their responsibility to protect civilians and ensure access for humanitarian organizations to reach people in need.
Mr. Griffiths underscored that fighting across the country, which has claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people since 2009 when UN reporting began, needs to stop. People have suffered enough, he said.
As an example of the brutal nature and scale of violence in Afghanistan, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today said that, in the last 72 hours, 20 children have been killed and 130 injured in Kandahar province alone.
UNICEF said that it is shocked by the rapid escalation of grave violations against children in Afghanistan, and that the atrocities are growing higher by the day.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=09%20August%202021
United Nations YouTube Channel
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