UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

12 September 2025

DPRK: UN Report Reveals Decade of Heightened Suffering, Repression and Fear

Liz Throssell for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that a report published by the UN Human Rights Office today had found that the overall human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) had not improved over the past decade and, in many instances, had degraded, bringing even more suffering to the population.

The latest findings pointed to the introduction of more laws, policies and practices that were subjecting citizens to increased surveillance and control in all parts of life.

The report said political prison camps continued to operate. The fate of the hundreds of thousands of disappeared people, including abducted foreign nationals of the Republic of Korea, Japan and elsewhere, remained unknown. Citizens continued to be subjected to unremitting propaganda by the State for their entire lives. The right to food continued to be violated, with some State policies exacerbating hunger.

Today, the death penalty was more widely allowed by law and implemented in practice. Enjoyment of freedom of expression and access to information had significantly regressed, with the implementation of severe new punishments, including the death penalty, for a range of acts, including the sharing of foreign media such as television dramas. The surveillance of the population had become even more pervasive, aided by advances in technology.

The report, which was based on hundreds of interviews by the Office along with supporting materials, pointed to the increased use of forced labour in many forms, particularly so-called “shock brigades”, usually deployed to take on physically demanding and hazardous sectors such as mining and construction. People in these brigades often came from poorer families, and in recent years, the Government had used thousands of orphans and street children in coal mines and at other hazardous sites and for extensive hours.

If the State continued on this current trajectory, the population would be subjected to more of the suffering, brutal repression and fear that they had endured for so long. The UN Human Rights Office continued to document human rights violations, some of which could amount to international crimes, while the State had no independent institutions or processes to ensure accountability and provide victims with effective remedies.

The Office did receive reports of some limited improvements. Escapees reported nominal improvements in the treatment of people in detention facilities, including a slight decrease in violence by guards, with law enforcement officials reportedly showing more awareness of the standards for the treatment of persons deprived of liberty and their conditions of detention. Several laws have been enacted or amended, reportedly strengthening fair trial guarantees and protection against ill-treatment of persons deprived of liberty.

The country was engaging to a degree with the international human rights system, ratifying two more human rights treaties and complying with some treaty bodies’ reporting obligations. However, the disconnect between the State’s international obligations and ultimately the reality of the lives of its citizens remained stark, the report concluded.

The report lays out some immediate steps to foster credibility of the Government’s commitment to human rights and provide momentum for a new path. These included ending the system of political prison camps and guilt by association; ending the use of the death penalty; restarting family connections, including through meetings; ending torture and ill-treatment in places of detention; providing information on those abducted or forcibly disappeared by the State; distributing information about human rights to the population; inviting the High Commissioner and other human rights mechanisms to visit the country; and accepting UN Human Rights technical assistance on rights in detention.

In response to questions, James Heenan, Head of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Office, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the use of the death penalty had increased in the country since 2020. People were being executed for crimes such as drug possession and pornography, as well as for anti-State crimes. The Office had received several eye-witness reports of executions. There were worrying new laws that prescribed the death penalty for distributing foreign media and information such as “K-dramas”, and some persons had been executed for this.

Funding issues had not affected the Office’s ability to gather information – it had conducted over 300 interviews in its investigations. However, it was important that funding of these activities continued.

School children were being used to collect harvest from fields and to do manual work along roads. The Government said that this helped children to develop life skills, but this work met the Office’s definition of forced labour, as the children involved were not participating voluntarily. Another form of child labour was the “shock brigades”, which involved children in dangerous manual tasks such as mining. This work reportedly led to child deaths, which the Government reportedly painted in a positive light as the “ultimate sacrifice for the leader and the State”.

The deployment of Democratic People's Republic of Korea soldiers to the war in Ukraine was addressed in the report. These people were not detainees; they were conscripts being deployed for long periods. The UN Human Rights Office had raised concerns related to forced labour for military recruits, as well as regarding sexual and gender-based violence in the military and soldiers’ access to medical care. The Office did not have figures on the number of casualties for Democratic People's Republic of Korea soldiers in Ukraine.

To watch a video interview with James Heenan, click here: Https://media.un.org/unifeed/en/asset/d344/d3446146

Urgent Support Needed for Afghanistan Earthquake Response

Tajudeen Oyewale, Afghanistan Country Representative, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), said he was at the earthquake zone in Afghanistan earlier this week, where he saw the devastation on the ground. It was important that the international community responded with urgency and commitment to the crisis.

Children were bearing the heaviest burden after the earthquake struck. At least 1,172 children had died, making up half of the overall death toll. In addition, 45 children had been separated from their families, and 271 were newly orphaned.

Mr. Oyewale said that what he had seen was extreme devastation. The crisis had claimed more than 2,000 lives, with more than 3,000 people injured and at least 6,700 homes either destroyed or badly damaged. Behind these numbers were children left standing alone in the rubble and families torn apart in the blink of an eye.

More than half a million people had been impacted by the earthquake - among them, 263,000 were children who now faced heightened risks. For children, this disaster came on top of multiple conflicts and recurrent emergencies that had already robbed them of their childhood.

In a heavily destroyed village called Machkandol in Nangahar Province, Mr. Oyewale said he had met, amid rubble, stones and broken straws, three girls and one boy. The boy had broken his fingers in the rescue and the girls were completely disorientated and unaware of what had happened. The children had lost their families, their homes and their livestock. It was truly heartbreaking.

In Khas Kunar in Kunar Province, he met a five-year-old girl carrying her two-year-old sister, who had stitches all over her head. Both were praying that their hospitalised mother with severe fractures would survive.

Across the hardest-hit areas in Kunar and Nangarhar, children were in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Many are now without shelter, grieving loved ones, and struggling to cope with trauma. The affected districts were extremely difficult to access, with steep terrain, limited road access, and fragile infrastructure. It took UNICEF more than 3.5 hours to reach Machkandol.

UNICEF was going the extra mile to ensure that it reached affected children and families. It was mindful of the social norms on the ground and was deploying female frontline workers to ensure that women and girls could access support safely and equitably.

Girls in particular faced unique risks. When homes were destroyed, girls were often the first to drop out of school, in a country where their right to education faced enormous barriers. When families lost livelihoods, girls were at greater risk of child marriage.

Mr. Oyewale commended the efforts of humanitarian workers on the ground. Even in the most remote villages, UNICEF and partners were providing emergency healthcare through mobile health and nutrition teams delivering trauma care. It was also offering maternal and newborn services and essential medicines and screening children for malnutrition, as the impacted areas also had high rates of malnutrition.

UNICEF was also working to rehabilitate sustainable water systems, establish emergency water points and construct toilets to protect the communities from outbreaks and infection. Mental health support was critical for those affected, and counselling support was being provided in health facilities and internal displacement camps. Cash assistance was also being provided to support displaced families.

To meet the needs, UNICEF had launched a 22 million United States dollar (USD) appeal to reach 400,000 people—including more than 212,000 children—over the next six months. With sufficient support, and through close coordination with national and local partners, it could save lives, protect children, and help families begin to recover with dignity.

UNICEF urged donors and the international community to stand with Afghanistan’s children at this critical moment. They must not face this crisis alone.

Read the full press release here.

Arafat Jamal, Representative to Afghanistan, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said that in spring, Mr. Jamal had reported on movements of people out of Pakistan; and in summer, on movement out of Iran and deportations from Tajikistan to Afghanistan. There was now another large number of people leaving Pakistan and returning to Afghanistan under adverse circumstances, returning to a country that was poorly equipped to receive them.

Afghanistan was suffering from crisis upon crisis, with 70 per cent of the population suffering from poverty, and the State impacted by drought, human rights abuses and now yet another earthquake.

Since the start of this year, some 2.6 million Afghans, equivalent to six per cent of the population, had returned to the country. Some had never set foot in Afghanistan, while others had not been there for decades.

As Pakistan resumed implementation of its “Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan,” more than 554,000 Afghans had returned since April – including 143,000 in August alone. In recent weeks, the pace had surged further: in the first week of September alone, nearly 100,000 people crossed back from Pakistan, stretching capacities to the limit.

Together with partners, UNHCR was providing returnees with immediate assistance – cash support, protection and other essential services – both at border points and in their areas of return, to help families begin rebuilding their lives. The earthquake had seriously complicated matters because it struck in an area of high return.

Families had been devastated in the worst way possible by the earthquake. Some had shared stories of having just rebuilt and resettled, only to find their homes destroyed, and tragically, often several members of their families killed. Not surprisingly, some of these people said they never wanted to go back to Kunar again.

The United Nations was suffering from the reinforcement of the ban of females working in Afghanistan. UNHCR was currently considering its response and had taken various systematic measures.

However, at UNHCR cash distribution centres at the border and in the main cities, biometric registration of recipients was impossible without female Afghan workers. Without female workers, UNHCR would need to force female Afghans to have their biometrics taken by male Afghans. For this reason, the agency decided on 9 September to close its cash and support centres. This decision would have consequences for many returnees. UNHCR was negotiating with authorities on this issue. This was an operational decision that was not intended to punish people or make a statement, but it demonstrated that the agency could not work without female workers in certain circumstances.

UNHCR urged Pakistan and other neighbouring countries to uphold their long-standing humanitarian approaches to Afghan refugees and extend legal aid to those in need of international protection, such as groups who faced heightened risks on return.

UNHCR stood ready to support governments in the region in developing practical mechanisms to identify individuals with ongoing protection needs, and to expand regulated migration pathways for Afghans. It also urged countries across the region to ensure returns were voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable – and that no one in need of protection was forced back to a place where their rights and freedoms were at risk, or to a country already stretched to the limit in absorbing new arrivals.

UNHCR remained grateful to governments, companies and individuals who had already stepped up to support UNHCR’s work in Afghanistan and across the region, but its resources were running out quickly. Without additional funding, it would not be able to sustain life-saving assistance for Afghan families facing these overlapping crises. It had updated its regional appeal for returns in light of recent events and was calling for 258.6 million USD.

Read the full press release here.

In response to questions, Mr. Jamal said a joint statement had been issued yesterday that called for the lifting of restrictions on female staff accessing United Nations premises. The reasons for the current reinforcement of the ban on female workers were unclear, but the ban had been implemented in a dramatic fashion, with military observers placed outside all United Nations compounds, to prevent female staff from working.

The United Nations had taken some measures in response to the ban on female workers and was considering additional steps. UNHCR’s decision to close its cash grant centres was a drastic one and was causing a huge amount of suffering for the people. The agency was in a constant dialogue with the de facto authorities and hoped for a resolution to the issue. If one could not be reached, UNHCR would consider an alternative solution.

Mr. Oyewale, in response to questions, said UNICEF was in a grey zone in terms of its ability to deploy female frontline workers on the ground. Where it had the ability to deploy these workers, it was doing so. UNICEF was working at both national and local levels.

Deadly Floods Displace Over 100,000 in South Sudan

Marie-Helene Verney, Representative in South Sudan, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said South Sudan was experiencing very severe flooding, mostly in parts of the country that had been affected by renewed fighting in the past six months. So far this year, 273,000 people had been affected; among them, around 100,000 people had been displaced. If this trend continued, one million people would be affected during the next few months, of which 400,000 would be displaced. The rains were heavier than last year and numbers of affect people were already much higher than they were last year.

In the past four to six weeks, large areas of Jonglei and Unity provinces had been submerged by water. Not only were these parts of the country where fighting had resumed, they had also been impacted by food insecurity and a cholera outbreak since the start of the year. Around 90,000 people had contracted cholera in South Sudan since the start of the year, of which about 12,000 were internally displaced persons and more than 3,000 were refuges. The outbreak was now under control in most parts of the country, except for areas affected by conflict and flooding.

The consequences of the flooding were dire. Farmers were seeing their land submerged under water, and schools, homes, cattle and health facilities had been destroyed. Conflict was also preventing UNHCR and partners from access affected regions, particularly near the Upper Nile-Jonglei border.

This year, in coordination with the Government of South Sudan and partners, UNHCR was providing life-saving assistance to up to 150,000 people who were the most affected by the conflict. It was providing cash assistance, emergency shelter, and protective interventions to prevent displacement, as well as providing water pumps and building dikes where possible to help contain and drain the floodwaters.

UNHCR was still tackling arrivals from Sudan, and its response had been reduced due to funding cuts. Some 70 per cent of Unity state was underwater. This was a state where UNHCR had had to reduce its presence due to funding cuts, limiting its response.

The agency was focused not only on the emergency response but also on adaption and prevention. For the past five years, UNHCR had been working with communities to strengthen resilience to climate shocks. It was aiding with construction of dikes in sites hosting displaced communities and refugee camps, establishing maintenance committees and trying to adapt livelihoods, for example by providing canoes and fishing nets to farmers who relied on crops or cattle. These efforts had had an impact, with some communities being better prepared for disasters than they were in previous years. However, the effects of the combination of extreme weather events and funding cuts remained a big concern.

Floods were expected to peak in the next four to six weeks. Without additional funding, UNHCR’s ability to provide shelter, protection, and clean water would remain very limited. Its operations were stretched in the country as it dealt with one of the biggest displacement crises in Africa. There were 900 people arriving from Sudan each day, and the country hosted 600,000 refugees and just under two million internally displaced persons. UNHCR had a requirement of around 300 million United States dollars for its operations in South Sudan this year and had received just a third of this.

In response to questions, Ms. Verney said UNHCR had had discussions with authorities regarding the deportation of eight persons from the United States to South Sudan. The Mexican citizen in that group had returned to Mexico last week. Similar discussions were going on with other States. These people had been placed in hotels in Juba; UNHCR had not accessed them. This was the only group that UNHCR was aware of that had arrived from the United States, and it was not aware of other planned arrivals.

Update on Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Dr Patrick Otim, Programme Area Manager for Emergency Responses, World Health Organization (WHO), said that as of yesterday, there had been one next confirmed case of Ebola, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 25. There had been 14 deaths amongst the confirmed cases, making the case fatality rate around 56 per cent. There were also an additional 10 deaths being investigated that were suspected to be linked to Ebola. WHO was trying to ramp up case management to reduce the mortality rate and spread.

There were 13 villages that had been affected, mainly in Kasaï Province, with adults aged 20 to 40 representing around 40 per cent of cases. Some 55 per cent of cases were women and 67 per cent of deaths had been women. This was typical in such outbreaks, as it was mainly women who provided care. Over 560 contacts had been listed and WHO was working to record 100 per cent of contacts. Yesterday, 91 per cent of contacts were visited.

WHO was working with the Government and had ramped up efforts to achieve a full-scale response on the ground as soon as possible. It had deployed 42 experts, some of whom had arrived already, with the remainder arriving this morning. Some 87 per cent of deployments were nationals. WHO had also moved 12 tonnes of essential supplies and medicines for managing cases, including the therapeutic monoclonal antibody.

This morning, the first 400 doses of the vaccine were being delivered. The vaccination process would be fast-tracked, with an additional 1,500 doses of the vaccine ready to be moved in once the ultra-cold chain was in place. It was requesting additional vaccines from the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision and had released two million USD from its contingency fund for emergencies to help with this work. WHO had collaborated with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) to secure an air route deliveries.

This was the first outbreak in Kasaï in the last 18 years, so case management capacity in the region was limited and support needed to be ramped up. Access to the region was also problematic, almost unreachable without air support, and insecurity further hampered efforts.

WHO was finalising its Regional Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan, which would be launched over the weekend. It carried a cost of 20 million USD to support the response over the next three months.

This was a resource intensive response. WHO only had funds to use a helicopter for two more weeks, after which its response time would decrease. The new case confirmed yesterday was 70 kilometres from the current epicentre. WHO was worried about the potential expansion of the disease, and about the risk for neighbouring countries.

WHO had the expertise to respond to the outbreak, but it needed to be able to pay for its operations, and it needed boots and supplies on the ground. It was possible to contain the outbreak if responses were scaled up massively in the next two weeks, but it would be challenging if this window of opportunity was missed.

In response to questions, Dr Otim said 2,000 vaccines had been prepositioned in Kinshasa. WHO could not move these until it had identified the exact strain of the virus. It was now moving the first 400 doses of the required vaccine to reach contacts and contacts of contacts. It could only move 400 at a time due to limitations in ultra cold storage delivery, but was working to scale up this delivery system. Vaccines had moved from Kinshasa to Kananga, and from Kananga to Bulape. This was the first time that the vaccine had been used in Kasaï.

WHO would request an additional 40 to 50,000 doses to be brought into Kinshasa and would engage with local manufacturers to increase production, in case massive scaling up was needed.

Aid Deliveries in Gaza

In response to a question on aid deliveries in Gaza, Jens Laerke for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said aid was entering, but far from enough. OCHA published daily updates on humanitarian supply deliveries in Gaza.

Announcements

Edward Harris for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said WIPO would hold an embargoed press conference for the launch of WIPO Global Innovation Index (GII) 2025 at 11 a.m. on Monday, with Director General Daren Tang and Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, GII co-editor. The annually released GII ranked 139 economies around the world using 79 indicators ranging from research and development spending, venture capital deals, high-tech exports and intellectual property filings. WIPO would send embargoed material on the GII this afternoon, which would be lifted at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, 16 September, and a launch event would also be held on Tuesday from 1:30 - 3:30 p.m. Details are on the WIPO website.

Clare Nullis for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said next week, WMO would release two reports, including one on World Ozone Day on 16 September, the Ozone Bulletin. This technical report showed that the world was making good progress on restoring the ozone layer, thanks to action to phase out harmful chemicals.

WMO was also releasing its State of Global Water Resources Report 2024 next week and would hold a press conference with WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo and other WMO experts at the Palais des Nations on Thursday, 18 September at 11:30 a.m to launch the report.

Michele Zaccheo, Chief, UNTV, Radio and Webcast Section, United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said today, 12 September, was the International Day for South-South Cooperation. At United Nations headquarters in New York, the Secretary-General would be ringing the Japanese peace bell at 8:55 a.m. local time, 2:55 p.m. Geneva time.

A ceremony would be held to mark the entry into force of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on Monday, 15 September at 9 a.m. A press briefing on the WTO's embargoed 2025 World Trade Report focusing on artificial intelligence would also be held on Tuesday, 16 September at 9:30 a.m., followed by the opening of the two-day WTO Public Forum on Wednesday, 17 September.

On Monday, 15 September at 9:30 a.m., the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) would hold a press conference to launch the Cluster Munition Monitor 2025 report. Five experts from UNIDIR and its Cluster Munition Monitor Impact Team would participate.

Also on Monday at 2:00 p.m., United Nations Human Rights Council Special Procedures mandate holders would hold a press conference on the Human rights situation in Gaza and across the occupied Palestinian territory. Speaking would be Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967; Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression; and George Katrougalos, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order (joining online).

On Tuesday, 16 September at 1 p.m., the Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, would hold a press conference to launch of the Commission of Inquiry’s latest report. Speaking would be Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission, and Commissioner Chris Sidoti.

On Wednesday, 17 September at 2 p.m., Alena Douhan, UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, would also hold a press conference on her latest work.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (78th session, 8-26 September) was concluding this morning the review of the report of Colombia. Next week, it would review Chile, Netherlands, Zimbabwe and Lao People's Democratic Republic.

***

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• WIPO,Edward Harris: Calendar announcement with so more details about the embargoed press materials, press conference and launch of the WIPO Global Innovation Index
• WMO, Clare Nullis: Ozone Bulletin and State of Global Water Resources for release next week

UNIS on behalf of WTO: Ceremony to mark the entry into force of the WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies on Monday, 15 Sept at 9 a.m..
Embargoed press briefing on the WTO's 2025 World Trade Report focusing on artificial intelligence Tuesday, 16 Sept at 9:30 a.m.
Opening of the 2-day WTO Public Forum on Wednesday, 17 Sept

TOPICS

• - OHCHR, UNICEF, UNHCR, Liz Throssell with James Heenan, Heads of OHCHR for North Korea team: DPRK, A decade after COI report on DPRK, a new report shows more suffering, repression and fear
  
  - Ricardo Pires with Tajudeen Oyewale, UNICEF’s Country Representative: Afghanistan earthquake - report on the dire situation for families as well as UNICEF’s planned response and urgently required funding
  
  - Olga Sarrado with Arafat Jamal, UNHCR Representative to Afghanistan connecting: Thousands of Afghans return under adverse circumstances from Pakistan to Afghanistan’s earthquake-affected areas; funds to respond running dry

- Marie-Helene Verney, UNHCR Representative in South Sudan; New, deadly floods displace over 100,000 in South Sudan; conflict and funding cuts impede

- WHO, Christian Lindmeier (Zoom) with Dr Patrick Otim, Programme Area Manager, WHO: Ebola outbreak DRC update