Japan

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Yokohama, Japan, from France on the afternoon of Tuesday, 27 August.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

Across parts of Bangladesh, monsoon rains have led to flooding and landslides that has reportedly killed at 30 people affected 2 million.  The Government is providing food, shelter and emergency cash assistance, and the United Nations and aid partners are supporting water and health-related efforts.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres departed New York on Wednesday, 26 June, for Japan, where he arrived in Osaka, via Tokyo, on Thursday evening, 27 June.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Tokyo from New York in the evening of Tuesday, 7 August.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says it is gravely concerned about reports of Zambia’s forced return of a Zimbabwean asylum-seeker to his home country.  A senior Zimbabwean politician expressed his intention to seek asylum at the border yesterday, but Zambia reportedly handed him over to Zimbabwe authorities today despite a court order to the contrary.

Emergency fuel stocks at a number of critical health, water and sanitation facilities in the Gaza Strip have almost run out, creating enormous risks for the population, according to United Nations humanitarian personnel.  The immediate lack of fuel is due to Israeli restrictions on imports, which also apply to United Nations‑procured emergency fuel.

The United Nations refugee agency said today that more than 2,000 Somalis have returned home from Yemen since 2017, as part of an assistance programme carried out jointly with the International Organization for Migration and authorities in Yemen and Somalia.  Yemen currently hosts more than 270,000 refugees, the vast majority of them Somalis.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message, delivered by Izumi Nakamitsu, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Service, in Hiroshima today:

United Nations humanitarian officials say violent protests in Ethiopia’s Somali region have led to at least 29 deaths, and that houses of worship, homes and businesses have been attacked and destroyed.  The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that some 22,000 households were already provided with emergency supplies, but more than 150,000 still need assistance.