Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Informal interactive dialogue with H.E. Maria Fernanda Espinosa, candidate for the for the position of Secretary General of the United Nations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEKdrVYJYRg

Source: United Nations (video statements)

A “perilous moment” for the response to HIV, warned UNAIDS.

Angeli Achrekar, the Assistant Secretary-General of UNAIDS addressed the press about a new UNAIDS report, release with latest data on HIV from 2025.

The report shows that external funding cuts, a strong push back on human rights and under investment and under prioritization of HIV prevention and community services are threatening to reverse years of gains in the AIDS response.

Dramatic cuts in aid that highly burdened, low-income countries depend on for their HIV response have had a devastating impact. Global development assistance from multiple countries fell by 23 percent in 2025 – the sharpest drop on record – and HIV programmes have been hit hard.

HIV testing programmes fell by 22 percent in high-burden settings between 2024 and 2025. Meaning people are unable to access treatment and the virus continuing to spread. Funding for condoms has been cut by more than 90 percent in some cases.

PrEP (daily medicine to prevent HIV) uptake dropped sharply falling by 38 percent between 2024 and 2025 in 62 countries reporting to UNAIDS.

HIV prevention is being dismantled at the very moment the world needs to take it to scale, especially with new, revolutionary, long-acting prevention innovations coming to market.

Prevention was already underfunded at just 11 percent of total HIV spending in 2024—and that limited investment is now shrinking further with no signs that domestic funding will fill the gap.

The HIV response has been the most successful story in global health over the last 25 years, AIDS-related deaths have been reduced by 56 percent from 1.3 million in 2010 to 570 000 in 2025.

New infections have been reduced by 43 percent since 2010 to 1.2 million, and 78 percent of the 40.9 million people living with HIV are now on treatment (32.1 million).

But this success is fragile—nearly 9 million people are not on treatment. At a time when external funding is reducing, treatment gains are extremely fragile. Western and central Africa, for example, is around 90 percent dependent on external funding for its HIV treatment programmes.

Without sustained external financing and increased domestic resources, there is a serious risk of treatment interruptions—which will mean rising deaths and rising new infections.

Progress remains highly uneven—some regions are improving, while others are seeing rising infections (eastern Europe and central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa and Latin America have seen rising new HIV infections since 2010).

And every week, 3000 adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa acquire HIV—this is one of the clearest signs the world is failing to reach some of the most vulnerable populations.

Community-led organizations, civil society, organizations led by people living with HIV, young people, sex worker organizations for example, are the most effective in delivering services to people living with and affected by HIV, yet they are not prioritized and are being pushed to the brink.

They are on the front line to deliver HIV prevention, treatment and support services to up to 60 percent of their own communities including, men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who inject drugs and their sexual partners, yet funding has been drastically cut and there are no apparent increases from domestic resources.

A recent community-led study of 79 community-led organizations across 47 countries and three continents (Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa) showed a 50 percent drop in community support services for people living with HIV, an 82 percent reduction in services for sex workers and service reductions of 85 percent for men who have sex with men.

Support services for survivors of gender-based violence are also declining. When communities lose funding, the entire response loses reach, trust and effectiveness.

The report also shows a dangerous rollback of rights.

Criminalization of marginalized populations is increasing for the first time since UNAIDS began tracking these trends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq_CPDqX7g8

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Inspector Stephanie Königs of Germany is the 2025 United Nations Woman Police Officer of the Year.

Serving as a Patrol Team Leader with the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan’s police component, Inspector Königs plays a key role in protecting civilians and supporting vulnerable communities in a complex and unstable environment. Through her calm leadership, professionalism and determination, Inspector Königs helped maintain peacekeepers’ access to communities in need of protection and assistance, even during periods of heightened tensions. She also strengthened field operations by improving coordination between UN Police and military peacekeepers, contributing to more effective crisis response and civilian protection efforts.

Committed to gender equality in policing, Inspector Königs demonstrates every day that leadership is built through resilience, impact and a strong sense of duty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSSVDNtGsEY

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:
– Deputy Secretary-General
– Ukraine
– UN Interim Force in Lebanon
– Lebanon
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Democratic Republic of the Congo
– Democratic Republic of the Congo/Humanitarian
– Decent Work in the Platform Economy Convention
– Human Rights
– International Days
– Financial Contribution

UKRAINE

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine today said that conflict-related violence in Ukraine last May killed at least 274 civilians and injured 1,763 by their account. This is more than in any other month in the last four years. The mission said that the use of powerful weapons in urban areas by the Russian Federation was the main reason for the high casualty count in May.

UN INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON

Turning to Lebanon. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) continues to observe extensive Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military activity across its areas of operations. Those activities are characterized by high-density armoured movements, large-scale engineering and demolition works, and sustained logistical traffic.

Yesterday, UNIFIL reported intensive air activities, involving fighter aircraft and various unmanned aerial systems across the area of operations. UNIFIL recorded 72 violations of Lebanese airspace by the IDF, amounting to over 110 hours of overflight. A total of eight airstrikes were carried out by IDF fighter aircraft in UNIFIL’s area of operations yesterday.

Peacekeepers reported 531 trajectories yesterday: 526 originating from IDF positions south of the Blue Line and within UNIFIL’s area of operations, and five trajectories presumably launched by Hizbullah, with one actually crossing the Blue Line.

On the humanitarian front, UNIFIL facilitated nine humanitarian missions, in coordination with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and in liaison with the IDF: eight of them in Sector West, mainly to Tyre, and one in Sector East.

Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2026-06-12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxtEfmWIcEc

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Women and girls are devastated by conflict in Lebanon, which now faces among the highest rates of displacement in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-4Q2Iv2Mhk0

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Angeli Achrekar, the Deputy Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme against HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), briefs the press on the latest UNAIDS report and warns that funding cuts and converging crises may reverse years of hard-won progress in the AIDS response.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fjQOvzVbmEg