Marking World Water Day, UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday stressed that access to safe water and sanitation is essential for protecting the rights and health of women and girls, urging governments to take stronger action.

In his message, the Secretary-General warned that women and girls bear the greatest burden where water and sanitation services are inadequate. Many are forced to use unsafe facilities, care for relatives affected by waterborne diseases and spend hours each day collecting water—often missing out on education and opportunities.

Highlighting this year’s theme, “Where water flows, equality grows,” Guterres said improving water access can play a key role in advancing gender equality.

He called on governments to boost investment in water and sanitation systems by improving service delivery, strengthening workforce capacity and ensuring sustainable financing. He also urged developed nations to support these efforts by sharing technology, expertise and funding to build resilient infrastructure.

The UN chief emphasized the importance of including women in decision-making processes to ensure water systems effectively meet community needs.

While noting that water scarcity can contribute to conflict, Guterres said it can also foster cooperation and peace. He pointed to the upcoming UN Water Conference as an opportunity for countries to accelerate progress toward universal access to water and sanitation.

“Together, let’s make water a force for gender equality,” he said, calling for global efforts to ensure no community is left behind.

North Korean leader ​Kim Jong Un was reappointed as president of state affairs, ‌state media KCNA reported on Monday, after the isolated nation convened the first session of its Supreme People’s Assembly a day earlier.

The meeting in Pyongyang will discuss amendments ​and supplements to the socialist constitution, as well as the ​election of the chairman of the State Affairs Commission and ⁠other state leadership bodies, Reuters reported.

The assembly, North Korea’s rubber-stamp legislature that formally approves ​state policy, typically meets following a ruling Workers’ Party Congress to turn ​party decisions into law.

The meeting will also review the country’s economic five-year plan announced at the ninth party congress held in February, KCNA said.

Attention has been focused on whether ​Pyongyang will revise its constitution to formalise leader Kim Jong Un’s “two ​hostile states” policy toward South Korea.

In recent years, Kim has abandoned Pyongyang’s long-standing goal ‌of peaceful ⁠reunification and redefined the South as a hostile state.

Kim’s powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, was notably absent from KCNA’s list of members of the State Affairs Commission, the country’s highest leadership body, on which she ​had served since ​2021.

South Korea’s ⁠Unification Ministry said it was looking into why she was no longer listed, but analysts said the move ​did not necessarily signal a loss of influence.

“Her absence ​suggests not ⁠a decline in status but a strategic division of roles,” said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, adding that the younger Kim continues to ⁠wield ​real power as a department director in ​the ruling Workers’ Party, where she may play a higher-level, party-centred role coordinating policy.