This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.

‘End nuclear testing forever’: UN chief

Amid an “alarming” rise in global mistrust, States must urgently outlaw nuclear testing and end its “destructive” legacy.

That’s the message from UN chief António Guterres ahead of the International Day against Nuclear Tests observed on Tuesday.

Mr. Guterres recalled that since 1945, more than 2,000 nuclear tests have inflicted “terrifying suffering” on people and ravaged the environment. He expressed concern about large stockpiles of nuclear weapons around the world and their ever-improving accuracy and reach, at a time of significant divisions in the international community.

“This is a recipe for annihilation,” he warned.

Mr. Guterres stressed the importance of a legally binding prohibition on nuclear tests and called on all countries that have not yet done so, to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty “immediately, without conditions” and end nuclear testing forever.  

The Treaty was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996 and has been ratified by 178 countries to date, but it can only enter into force when ratified by States with significant nuclear capabilities.

States must protect children’s right to a clean and healthy environment

For the first time ever, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has explicitly affirmed the right of children to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

On Monday, the Committee published its guidance to States who are parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on what they must do to uphold and protect this right. 

Committee member Philip Jaffé said that the guidance “echoed and amplified” the voices of children worldwide, who have been leading the fight against climate change and calling on their governments and corporations to take action to protect the planet and their future.

During the consultation phase, the Committee received over 16,000 contributions from children in 121 countries.

The guidance specifies that States are responsible not only for protecting children’s rights from immediate harm, but also for foreseeable violations of their rights in the future due to States’ actions — or failure to act — today. 

 The Committee urged the 196 States parties to the child rights convention to phase out coal, oil and natural gas and shift to renewable energy sources, improve air quality and ensure access to clean water, transform industrial agriculture and fisheries to produce healthy and sustainable food, and protect biodiversity. 

Grandi hears ‘stories of fear and violence’ from those who fled Sudan

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, has reiterated his call for urgent support for people fleeing Sudan as well as their host communities. 

With the number of those who crossed Sudan’s borders in search of safety inching towards one million, Mr. Grandi travelled to South Sudan to highlight the desperate need for assistance to neighbouring countries hit hard by the ripple effects of the conflict.

In the South Sudanese town of Aweil near the border on Sunday, Mr. Grandi said that refugees told “stories of fear, violence and deprivation caused by armed groups”. 

More than 200,000 South Sudanese refugees living in Sudan have been forced to return home, in what Mr. Grandi called “a big challenge for a fragile country”. 

“Shamefully, this is an almost forgotten crisis,” the UN refugee chief said. 

Funding for the response plan to support Sudan’s neighbouring countries remains at just over 30 percent. 

Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer, UN News.