Source: United Nations (video statements)
The 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) opened Monday 10 November in Brazil with leaders urging faster action to keep 1.5°C within reach. UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell said global emissions are bending downward and set priorities: a just, orderly transition away from fossil fuels; tripling renewable energy; doubling energy efficiency; and mobilizing US$1.3 trillion annually for developing countries.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
At COP30, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) called on negotiators to make climate mobility a central pillar of global adaptation efforts. Deputy Director General Ugochi Daniels stressed that communities must have the means to stay safely or move with dignity as climate impacts intensify.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
-Secretary-General/Trip Announcement
-Jesuit Refugee Service
-Ukraine
-Ukraine/Humanitarian
-Occupied Palestinian Territory
-Lebanon/Israel
-Syria
-Sudan
-Democratic Republic of the Congo
-Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security
-Department of Safety and Security
-International Days
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SECRETARY-GENERAL/TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT
On Sunday, the Secretary-General will return to COP30 in Belém, Brazil. During his visit, he will meet with negotiating parties, including various regional groups and ministers. He will also engage with civil society representatives, indigenous peoples and youth.
The Secretary-General has called for COP30 to ignite a decade of acceleration and implementation, given the serious gaps in meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. While in Belém, he will reiterate his call for parties to provide a clear plan for doing so. The Secretary-General is also expected to speak to journalists.
JESUIT REFUGEE SERVICE
Yesterday evening, the Secretary-General delivered remarks at an event marking the 45th Anniversary of the creation of the Jesuit Refugee Service. He said that since its creation, the Jesuit Refugee Service has been coming to the aid of people uprooted by conflict and persecution, accompanying them in their suffering and providing them with vital services.
The Secretary-General said that our world keeps turning its back on those in distress but he added that giving refuge to people in peril is more than a tradition, it’s a moral and practical necessity. He called on all to work together to uphold the right to seek asylum, a pillar of international law, insist on the shared responsibility to provide international protection, and summon the political will to resolve conflicts. His full remarks have been shared with you.
UKRAINE
The Secretary-General strongly condemns today’s large-scale missile and drone strikes by the Russian Federation on several Ukrainian regions, reportedly killing at least six people in the capital Kyiv and two people in the city of Chornomorsk. The attack is also reported to have caused many injuries among civilians and damage to residential and energy infrastructure, as well as damage to the embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Kyiv.
Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law. They are unacceptable, wherever they occur, and must end immediately. The Secretary-General recalls the principle of the inviolability of diplomatic premises.
The Secretary-General reiterates his call for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire, as a first step towards a just, comprehensive, and sustainable peace in Ukraine, one that fully upholds Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, in line with the UN Charter, international law and relevant UN resolutions.
UKRAINE/HUMANITARIAN
From Ukraine, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that a large-scale overnight attack on the capital and hostilities across the country has resulted in several civilians killed and injured. Multiple residential buildings and several health facilities were damaged, while parts of the city of Kyiv were left without heating. This is what local authorities are telling us.
The Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, condemned the attack, noting the ongoing pattern of massive civilian harm caused by such strikes during the cold winter months. The attacks reflect an alarming increase in civilian casualties.
According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, civilian casualties between January to October were nearly 30 per cent higher than during the same period last year, and the toll of casualties for the first ten months of 2025 has already exceeded the total for all of 2024.
Following the latest attacks, humanitarian organizations, including UN agencies and national and international NGOs, swiftly mobilized to assist people impacted in Kyiv and across the country. They are providing hot meals, emergency shelter materials, blankets and hygiene items, as well as psychosocial support. Humanitarians are also registering impacted families for cash assistance.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-11-14
Source: United Nations (video statements)
At COP30, ministers and stakeholders launched the Belém Health Action Plan, the first international climate adaptation framework dedicated entirely to the health sector. The plan sets out concrete actions to help countries prepare their health systems for the growing impacts of climate change, with a focus on protecting the most vulnerable communities.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
UNRWA Commissioner-General briefed the press on UNRWA’s services and ongoing operations and said that his agency is “extraordinarily operational.”
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said, “There is a perception that the agency is not operational in Gaza or in the West Bank, and we even heard today at the 4th Committee, the representative of Israel saying that UNRWA has been fully replaced and other agencies have stepped in. And I think it’s important that we correct this perception.”
He continued, “It is true that there is today, 2 bills adopted by the Knesset – you are all very well aware -which started to be implemented as from the end of January. The impact was on the operational presence in East Jerusalem, primary our schools, and the second impact has been that we had to withdraw our international staff, both from the West Bank and Gaza.”
“But in reality,” he stressed, “we are extraordinarily operational. In Gaza, we still have 12,000 staff. They are primarily involved in providing, focusing in public health and in education. They have never ever stopped providing lifesaving assistance to the population, and since the ceasefire is in place, they have scaled up their activities across the Gaza Strip.”
He added, “Just to give you few examples, I shared, also examples this morning at the 4th committee. But we have currently, about 75,000 people were sheltered in hundreds of our premises across the Gaza Strip. We have, over the last two years, provided more than 15 million primary health consultations. Today, the average is about 14,000 a day.”
He said, “We have just started with UNICEF and WHO again, a vaccination campaign and I keep saying, you know that these are good examples of partnership on the ground. We have UNICEF bringing the supply to vaccine. We have WHO in charge of the cold chain, but the nurses, the staff providing to the children the vaccine, the health staff from UNRWA.”
He also said, “In the West Bank we are also very active. Our schools are open. We have about 50,000 children in our schools. By the way, the number of children has increased. We registered an increase of more than 3-4,000 kids coming from the PA schools back to UNRWA schools. And when it comes to primary health, we have also provided into 2025, more than 700,000 health consultations.”
He highlighted, “With 12,000 staff in Gaza, 4 to 5 into West Bank, – in West Bank, we are the second biggest employer of civil servant, and in Gaza, we are the main employer. So, we remain, despite, contrary to what it’s been conveyed, the main agency.”
He stated, “If you get rid of such expertise, such workforce, with an organization having very strong trust from the community, you can only weaken, in fact, any effort trying to promote stabilization.”
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
– Deputy Secretary-General
– Health/COP30
– Refugees/COP30
– Food Waste/COP30
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Sudan
– Somalia
– AU-UN Annual Conference
– Event to Mark 20 Years of UNDSS
——————————————————–
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, is traveling to Kigali, Rwanda to participate in the Second Edition of the African Renaissance Retreat. This retreat will bring together some of Africa’s most prominent leaders from business, government and development to help shape and accelerate the continent’s transformation.
During her visit, the Deputy Secretary-General will be meeting with senior government officials to discuss advancing the implementation of Agenda 2030 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. The Deputy Secretary-General will also speak at the African School of Governance – a pan-African institution shaping the next generation of policymakers. She is expected to return back to New York on Monday.
HEALTH/COP30
At COP30 today, it is Health Day. In his remarks at the Health and Climate Ministerial Meeting, Simon Stiell, the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, noted that in a big city like Belém, in the Amazon, we are reminded of the deep connection between human health and the health of our planet, and of our shared responsibility to take care of both. Mr. Stiell underscored that today’s launch of the Belém Health Action Plan is a vital step forward. Led by the Government of Brazil and the World Health Organization, it integrates adaptation, equity, and climate justice, the three pillars of a resilient society.
As the world faces record-breaking temperatures, an Extreme Heat Risk Governance Framework and Toolkit was launched today at COP30, and that toolkit was launched to help countries strengthen governance, coordination, and investment in response to escalating heat risks. The new Framework and Toolkit were developed by an international collaboration of national and global experts, led jointly by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN), and Duke University in the United States. It responds to the Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat.
WMO points out that extreme heat claims more than half a million lives every year and has resulted in a record 639 billion potential work hours lost in 2024.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Turning to the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Since the latest ceasefire, our colleagues at OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) have been leading a number of assessments across Gaza to areas where people are living or have moved, including those who are in close proximity to the so-called “Yellow Line,” where as you know Israeli ground forces remain present.
Our teams note that communities in these areas urgently need aid, and it is essential that services are restored quickly. These assessments will inform a rapid response by ourselves and our partners to the most critical needs, which include water, food, shelter, hygiene supplies, and healthcare. As winter takes hold, our partners working on shelter distributed thousands of tarpaulins, blankets, mattresses and clothing kits to vulnerable people across Gaza. That was done on Monday.
Our partners are reporting important progress in improving healthcare, with 27 health service points reopened or newly established across Gaza since the latest ceasefire came into effect. However, as we’ve warned many times, multiple impediments are still restricting our ability to scale up the response as quickly and efficiently as we have the capacity to do. Once again, we underscore the need to open additional crossings, to resolve bottlenecks, fully facilitate the operations of humanitarian agencies, and provide safety guarantees for our convoys.
Our partners working to support water, sanitation, and hygiene note that various equipment needed to improve critical infrastructure and address the public health risks remain blocked by Israeli authorities from entering Gaza. Such equipment includes machines that are urgently needed to contain and properly dispose of medical waste.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-11-13
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
– Deputy Secretary-General
– Health/COP30
– Refugees/COP30
– Food Waste/COP30
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Sudan
– Somalia
– AU-UN Annual Conference
– Event to Mark 20 Years of UNDSS
——————————————————–
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, is traveling to Kigali, Rwanda to participate in the Second Edition of the African Renaissance Retreat. This retreat will bring together some of Africa’s most prominent leaders from business, government and development to help shape and accelerate the continent’s transformation.
During her visit, the Deputy Secretary-General will be meeting with senior government officials to discuss advancing the implementation of Agenda 2030 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. The Deputy Secretary-General will also speak at the African School of Governance – a pan-African institution shaping the next generation of policymakers. She is expected to return back to New York on Monday.
HEALTH/COP30
At COP30 today, it is Health Day. In his remarks at the Health and Climate Ministerial Meeting, Simon Stiell, the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, noted that in a big city like Belém, in the Amazon, we are reminded of the deep connection between human health and the health of our planet, and of our shared responsibility to take care of both. Mr. Stiell underscored that today’s launch of the Belém Health Action Plan is a vital step forward. Led by the Government of Brazil and the World Health Organization, it integrates adaptation, equity, and climate justice, the three pillars of a resilient society.
As the world faces record-breaking temperatures, an Extreme Heat Risk Governance Framework and Toolkit was launched today at COP30, and that toolkit was launched to help countries strengthen governance, coordination, and investment in response to escalating heat risks. The new Framework and Toolkit were developed by an international collaboration of national and global experts, led jointly by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN), and Duke University in the United States. It responds to the Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Extreme Heat.
WMO points out that extreme heat claims more than half a million lives every year and has resulted in a record 639 billion potential work hours lost in 2024.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Turning to the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Since the latest ceasefire, our colleagues at OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) have been leading a number of assessments across Gaza to areas where people are living or have moved, including those who are in close proximity to the so-called “Yellow Line,” where as you know Israeli ground forces remain present.
Our teams note that communities in these areas urgently need aid, and it is essential that services are restored quickly. These assessments will inform a rapid response by ourselves and our partners to the most critical needs, which include water, food, shelter, hygiene supplies, and healthcare. As winter takes hold, our partners working on shelter distributed thousands of tarpaulins, blankets, mattresses and clothing kits to vulnerable people across Gaza. That was done on Monday.
Our partners are reporting important progress in improving healthcare, with 27 health service points reopened or newly established across Gaza since the latest ceasefire came into effect. However, as we’ve warned many times, multiple impediments are still restricting our ability to scale up the response as quickly and efficiently as we have the capacity to do. Once again, we underscore the need to open additional crossings, to resolve bottlenecks, fully facilitate the operations of humanitarian agencies, and provide safety guarantees for our convoys.
Our partners working to support water, sanitation, and hygiene note that various equipment needed to improve critical infrastructure and address the public health risks remain blocked by Israeli authorities from entering Gaza. Such equipment includes machines that are urgently needed to contain and properly dispose of medical waste.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-11-13
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
-AU-UN Annual Conference
-Sudan
-Occupied Palestinian Territory
-Yemen
-Cambodia / Thailand
-Iraq
-Afghanistan
-Democratic Republic of the Congo
-Hunger
-Briefing / Tomorrow
AU-UN ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The 9th African Union–UN annual conference is taking place at the UN Headquarters.
The high-level discussions started earlier this morning and are co-chaired by the Secretary-General and Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission.
The annual meeting is focusing on progress in the implementation of the cooperation frameworks between the two organizations, but also on the joint action and challenges linked to peace, security, development and human rights.
Discussions include topics such as financing for development, climate action, as well as the implementation of the African strategy for women, peace and security agenda.
SUDAN
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, is in Sudan, to see firsthand the immense suffering and to help identify solutions to this deepening humanitarian crisis. Mr. Fletcher is currently traveling towards Darfur, where he is expected to meet families who fled the recent violence in El Fasher, a city he described as “already the scene of catastrophic levels of human suffering” that has now “descended into an even darker hell.’ Mr. Fletcher is expected to also meet with aid workers who are trying to help all those in need despite insecurity they are facing, access constraints and, as you heard, severe funding shortages. Mr. Fletcher, as you will recall, recently allocated $20 million from the OCHA-managed Central Emergency Response Fund to scale up life-saving aid in Tawila, Darfur and Kordofan.
And as I mentioned, we hope to have Mr. Fletcher brief you after he’s visited Darfur.
Yesterday, Mr. Fletcher was in Port Sudan where he met with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan. Their discussions focused on improving humanitarian access across Sudan. Mr. Fletcher conveyed out appreciation for the Government’s stated commitment to facilitate the delivery of essential aid wherever it is needed.
While in Port Sudan, he also met with the Sudanese Foreign Minister, Mohieldin Salim Ahmed Ibrahim, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, who was also in Sudan. They discussed urgent steps to reach people in need across Sudan, from Darfur to the Kordofan. Mr. Fletcher expressed his gratitude for their partnership and commitment to facilitate neutral and impartial humanitarian access.
Mr. Fletcher, while in Port Sudan, also met with our UN and country team staff.
Full highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-11-12
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Hybrid briefing from Sudan, by Amy Pope, Director General for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), on the situation in the country.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Secretary-General António Guterres said, “The world must not turn its back on Africa, home to nearly one-fifth of humanity. The stakes are too high. And the potential is too great.”
The Secretary-General and Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, the African Union Commission Chairperson, spoke to reporters following the annual African Union United Nations Conference.
Guterres reiterated that the cooperation between the two organizations has never been stronger — or more necessary.
The UN chief highlighted that Africa’s history is as old as humanity. Its resources are vast – and have driven the growth of many economies. However, its progress is held back by an outdated and unfair global financial system.
Guterres said, “The time has come to reform this financial architecture – so it reflects the world of today and better serves the needs of developing countries, particularly in Africa.”
The Secretary-General reiterated, “It must become more inclusive, representative, equitable and effective,” explaining that it means “giving developing countries more meaningful participation in global financial institutions. Tripling the lending capacity of multilateral development banks. And easing debt burdens with new instruments that reduce the cost of capital, lower borrowing costs, extend maturity, align debt service to the ability to pay, and speed up sovereign debt resolution for countries facing debt distress.”
The UN chief also reaffirmed his full support for the AU’s Silencing the Guns initiative.
In Sudan, Guterres is “gravely” concern by recent reports of mass atrocities and gross human rights violations in El Fasher and worsening violence in the Kordofans.
He said, “The flow of weapons and fighters from external parties must be cut off. The flow of humanitarian aid must be able to quickly reach civilians in need. The hostilities must stop.”
The Secretary-General called on the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to engage with his Personal Envoy for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, and “take swift, tangible steps toward a negotiated settlement.”
In the eastern reaches of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Guterres noted that decades of conflict have created a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions – with 5.7 million people displaced and 21 million in need of lifesaving aid. Services are collapsing. Cholera on the rise. Hope is on the run.
The UN chief said, “Donors must step up – with meaningful support for the vastly underfunded Humanitarian Response Plan. Combatants must stand down – so peace agreements can be implemented without delay. Parties must honour their commitments under the Washington Peace Agreement and Doha Declaration of Principles, and comply fully with Security Council resolution 2773.”
“The DRC’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected. And the root causes of the instability and violence in eastern DRC must be addressed,” Guterres added.
For his part, African Union Commission Chairperson Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, said that the AU is committed to work with all parties and stakeholders at the United Nations to “achieve a transparent, equitable, unjust reform of the UN Security Council.”
“These reforms are indeed of paramount importance and would ultimately consolidate the multilateral system,” Youssouf said.
He also highlighted that the two organizations are faced with financial strains.
“We need to adapt our actions and programs to the new realities,” the Chairperson said, adding that “it is critical to continue to support peace operations, the fight against terrorism, conflict prevention and resolution, and also focus most of our efforts on humanitarian affairs.”
Asked about the decision from the United States to not attend the upcoming G20 in South Africa, the AU chairperson said, “It is indeed unfortunate that the United States boycott this G20 summit.”
He continued, “let me reassure you. I think the African continent has decided to take its destiny on its hands. And we are definitely working to increase the self-reliance. We are working to mobilize domestic resources for our development programs and the whole rhetorics and narratives is changing.”
