Category: MIL-OSI

Source: United Nations (video statements)

“In this fragile environment, withdrawal of resources and capacity is imprudent at best, catastrophic at worst,” UN Women chief Sima Sami Bahous told the Security Council, stressing that South Sudan’s gender-based violence crisis – threatening 2.7 million people -makes continued peacekeeping support essential.

Bahous said UN Mission in South Sudan documented 260 cases of conflict-related sexual violence in 2024, including “rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, forced abortion and forced marriage, with the highest number recorded in Western Equatoria State.”

She described a recent incident in Warrap State in which armed youth surrounded a girls’ boarding school seeking revenge for a cattle raid. “100 schoolgirls were trapped inside. They feared abduction or worse,” she said. “Fortunately, UN peacekeepers intervened. They de-escalated the situation. They freed the girls.”

“For those 100 girls, those peacekeepers could not have been more essential, nor their courage and skill more life changing,” she added, cautioning that any reduction of mandates or resources would be “imprudent at best, catastrophic at worst.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OualQ3VRHQ

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Remarks by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the Belém Climate Summit – 10 years of the Paris Agreement NDCs and financing.

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Marking the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, Secretary-General António Guterres said, “we need an acceleration plan to close the gaps” in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) ambition and implementation, “and that acceleration must start here in Belém.”

Addressing the event, on the sidelines of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit in Belém, Brazil, the Secretary-General said, “since the Paris Agreement was adopted ten years ago, Nationally Determined Contributions have been a barometer of countries’ climate ambitions. The latest NDCs represent some progress. But we must be honest in the Summit of truth. The plans and policies on the table are still far from enough.”

He said, “at COP30, let’s renew the great promise the world made a decade ago in Paris – by kickstarting a new decade of implementation and acceleration.”

NDCs are commitments made by countries under the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change impacts.

The Belém Climate Summit took place 6 and 7 November, and brought together heads of state and government, ministers, and leaders of international organizations to discuss pressing climate change challenges and commitments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su2iNmfoTm0

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said the security situation has deteriorated sharply. “Over the past three months, the developments in South Sudan continued to move in a negative and possibly dangerous direction. Ceasefire violations are on the increase — including widespread aerial bombardments and clashes between the signatories of the peace agreement.”

Lacroix stressed that “the Revitalized Peace Agreement remains the only viable framework for long term peace and stability in South Sudan,” but warned that preparations for the December 2026 elections lack urgency. “With time running out for credible planning, key electoral decisions must be made now, not later,” he said.

He also described a worsening humanitarian emergency. “More than 7.5 million people face acute food insecurity; 28,000 are at risk of famine,” he said. “Flooding has displaced over a million. Over 1.2 million returnees and refugees from Sudan have crossed into a country already struggling to feed its own.”

“Human suffering during this volatile situation continues to mount,” he added. “Conflict-related sexual violence, arbitrary detentions, and extrajudicial killings persist, with limited accountability. I urge all parties to immediately cease hostilities and recommit to the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnio6RJ2Cg0

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Remarks by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the thematic session on climate and nature forests and oceans.

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Secretary-General António Guterres said, “protecting forests and oceans is not charity. It is a legal and moral responsibility and smart economics” and called for “safeguarding these foundations of life; investing in nature’s recovery; And ensuring that people and planet thrive together, now and for generations to come.”

Addressing a thematic session on “climate and nature: forests and oceans” on the sidelines of the World Leaders Climate Action Summit ahead of COP30 in Belem, Brazil, Guterres said, “vital forests stretch beyond the tropics – across boreal and temperate regions. They store carbon and regulate rainfall – shielding us from floods, droughts, and deadly heat.”

He said, “we must halt deforestation by 2030 to keep 1.5-degrees within reach – protecting intact tropical and boreal forests, conserving peatlands, ending illegal logging, and eliminating deforestation from supply chains. We must also restore degraded land, with nature-based solutions that protect watersheds, reduce disaster risk, and create green jobs.”

Oceans, the Secretary-General continued, “absorb a quarter of human CO2 emissions and most of the excess heat trapped in our atmosphere. They cool the planet, underpin food security, livelihoods, and coastal protection. Yet they are warming, acidifying, and rising – threatening lives, economies, and the very existence of entire communities.”

He said, “we must enhance coastal protection and early warning systems; Restore coral reefs, seagrass and mangroves; Tackle plastic and nutrient pollution; Expand effectively managed marine protected areas – including by rapidly implementing the Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction; And deliver “30 by 30” – protecting 30 percent of land and ocean by 2030.”

The World Leaders Climate Action Summit, taking place 6 and 7 November, brings together heads of state and government, ministers, and leaders of international organizations to discuss pressing climate change challenges and commitments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzDuzhm1ti4