Source: United Nations (video statements)
Sudan is facing one of the world’s most severe emergencies, with more than 30 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, including over 9.6 million who are internally displaced and nearly 15 million children. UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban explains how the United Nations is helping to address this complex emergency.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Media stakeout by Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, on Hostages Release and Peace Process.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
A UN-backed global transit system is streamlining border procedures, saving time and money for transport operators and Customs authorities.
The TIR (International Road Transport) Convention provides for a standard, internationally recognized Customs document, the TIR Carnet, which also serves as proof of existence of an internationally valid guarantee.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) administers the TIR Convention, which was established in 1959 and currently has 78 Contracting Parties – 77 Member States and the European Union.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Joint Press Briefing by Professor Ben Saul, UN Special Rapporteur counter terrorism and human rights, and Margaret Satterthwaite, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, following the presentation of their reports to the General Assembly’s Third Committee on human rights.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Briefing by Ramesh Rajasingham, Director, Coordination Division, Head and Representative of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva (OCHA), on the humanitarian situation in Syria.
Briefing from Geneva, the Director of Coordination Division at OCHA, Ramesh Rajasingham said, “Syria’s humanitarian crisis is longstanding, but it is not static,” and added that “developments on the ground continue to add to or exacerbate people’s needs.”
Rajasingham said, “clashes in parts of Aleppo earlier this month caused civilian casualties and temporarily displaced some families,” and while the ceasefire in As-Sweida has largely held, “the fragile and unpredictable security environment continues to affect the movement of people and goods,” which “has led to shortages and high prices for critical items like fuel and bread; hampered the restoration of critical services including healthcare and water; and prevented displaced people from returning to their homes.”
The humanitarian official said, “we need more funding for critical humanitarian aid. Our response plan for Syria remains only 19 percent funded, one of the lowest levels among our biggest appeals.”
He said, “this month, water trucking services for IDPs in parts of Ar-Raqqa were suspended, and trucking in Al-Hasakeh will be curtailed next month without more resources. The World Food Programme warns that without additional funding they will have to scale back their assistance by January. Over 340 health facilities have suspended services, reducing access to healthcare and medicine for more than 7 million people.”
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Press conference by Andrew Saberton, Deputy Executive Director for Management, on his recent visit to Gaza and the West Bank.
“In Gaza I was not fully prepared for what I saw, one can’t be,” a UN top official for population said, describing the destruction across the enclave as “the set of a dystopian film.”
Speaking to reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, Andrew Saberton, Deputy Executive Director for Management at UNFPA said, “There is no other way to put it, Gaza has been flattened mile upon mile with rubble and dust, with few buildings left intact. This is not collateral damage. And I cannot unsee what I have seen.”
He said many women in Gaza “lost everything, their family members, their homes, their colleges and their jobs,” adding that “women cannot even access the most basic personal hygiene supplies when they are menstruating.”
The UN official also said, “Across Gaza, as you well know, one in four people is starving. That includes 11,500 pregnant women for whom starvation is particularly catastrophic for both mother and the newborn. Premature and low birth weight babies now make up around 70 per cent of newborns, and one in three pregnancies is regarded as high risk.”
Maternal health services have collapsed under the strain of conflict. “Ninety-four per cent of hospitals in Gaza are damaged or destroyed,” Saberton said. “Maternal deaths are on the rise because the drugs that could save mothers are no longer available, and multiple newborns are often crammed into one incubator due to a lack of fuel and equipment.”
He noted that UNFPA recently managed to deliver some medical supplies into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. “We have been distributing medical supplies and equipment, including incubators, delivery beds and fetal-monitoring machines,” he said, “now that we have more freedom of movement.”
However, Saberton cautioned that “the trickle of aid being allowed to enter Gaza after the ceasefire is nowhere near enough.” He said UNFPA has “much more assistance on all the crossings ready to enter, including more incubators, more heart monitors, beds and other supplies for safe births, as well as much needed hygiene items.”
He urged the full opening of all crossings to ensure “safe and sustained humanitarian access to bring aid to all women and girls in Gaza, from the north to the south.”
Saberton also warned of the long-term psychological toll. “There will be this period of elation when you know, ‘the ceasefire, the ceasefire holds,’ and then it may come this overwhelming downside when people take a look at their lives and realize they’ve lost everything,” he said. “That may actually lead to a kind of a bigger issue psychologically that we’ll need to address.”
Saberton concluded with a call for action: “For the last two years many countries, nations, people have been saying, ‘what can I do? I want to do something.’ Now is the time.”
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Briefing by Najat Rochdi, Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, on the situation in Syria.
The Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, Najat Rochdi, told the Security Council that “Syrian women have the right to participate fully and meaningfully in determining the future of the country,” but said “the processes and initial outcomes of transition have not matched their expectations and the commitments made.”
Briefing virtually from Damascus on the situation in Syria, Rochdi said, “this month, six women were elected to the People’s Assembly out of 119 seats contested, reflecting a voting process where women were consistently underrepresented from the outset, which could have been avoided.”
Moreover, she said, “with one Christian, three Ismailis, three Alawites, four Kurds and no Druze among the 119 elected so far, the Supreme Electoral Commission has publicly acknowledged the need to improve representation of communities.”
In meetings with Syrian interlocutors, Rochdi said, some “have also criticized this and other aspects of what they see as underrepresentation.”
She emphasized that solutions must uphold Syria’s sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity, and address the Druze and Bedouin communities’ safety and rights. The UN, she underscored, stands ready to support authorities and civil society.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
The photo exhibit “Shared Lives, Shared Future” showcases over 200 powerful human stories from all 193 Member States, reflecting 80 years of global work of the United Nations. Organized by the UN’s Department of Global Communications together with Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland, this exhibit is on view at the UN Headquarters until January 2026 and also can be seen online at: https://www.un.org/en/exhibits/exhibit/un80
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
-Secretary-General/Travel
-Occupied Palestinian Territory
-Yemen
-Passing of the Former Prime Minister of Portugal
-Security Council/Syria
-Ukraine
-Tropical Storm Melissa/Haiti
-Central African Republic
-Senior Personnel Appointment – Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs
-Methane Report
-Guests Today/Tomorrow
——————————————
In Geneva today, the Secretary-General attended the annual conference of the World Meteorological Organization, which is marking its 75th anniversary. In his remarks, the Secretary-General saluted the work of the WMO, especially its rigorous modelling and forecasting. Without it, he said, we would not know what lies ahead or how to prepare for it.
The Secretary-General underscored the need to accelerate solutions for how communities can adapt to the rapidly evolving climate crisis. He focused on the Early Warning for All Initiative that he launched in 2022 and outlined three areas for urgent action.
First, he said that governments must embed early-warning systems across their policies, institutions and budgets. Second, Mr. Guterres said, reaching every community with an early warning system requires a surge of financing. Last, we need to address the problem of climate disasters at their source: a rapidly heating planet.
The Secretary-General said that countries must deliver bold new national climate action plans that align with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
In taking the floor after remarks by regional representatives, the Secretary-General said that it is clear that we will not be able to contain the rise in global warming below 1.5 degrees in the next few years. An overshoot is now inevitable, although he added that that doesn’t mean that we are condemned to live with 1.5 degrees rise. With the right policies, backed by science, it will be possible for temperatures to go down again, he said.
The Secretary-General later addressed the 16th conference of UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). He said that in the new world in which we live, some things remain the same, as developing countries continue to be short-changed.
Notably, he added, trade barriers are rising, with some least developed countries facing extortionate tariffs of 40 per cent, despite representing barely one per cent of global trade flows. Protectionism might be inevitable in some situations but at least it should be rational, Mr. Guterres added.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
The Secretary-General was asked in Geneva today about the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice concerning Israel’s responsibilities in the occupied Palestinian territory. He said that this is a very important decision and that he hopes that Israel will abide by it. He added that the decision comes at a moment in which we are doing everything we can to boost our humanitarian aid in Gaza, and so the advisory opinion is decisive in order for us to deal with the tragic situation in which the people of Gaza still live.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that, since the ceasefire entered into effect more than 10 days ago, the UN and its partners have made progress in scaling up our response efforts, especially in central and southern areas of the Strip. The continued closure of the Zikim and Erez crossings, which provide direct access to the north, makes it extremely challenging for the UN and partners to reach people there with vital support at the scale needed.
UN partners monitoring population flows across Gaza report that people continue to move towards areas that were off-limits before the ceasefire. More than 425,000 movements have been reported from southern to northern parts of the Strip since 10 October.
Yesterday, in North Gaza, UN partners visited a displacement site in Jabaliya and two schools where displaced people are sheltering in Beit Lahiya. Humanitarian workers had been unable to reach these areas prior to the ceasefire due to military operations. The more than 200 families sheltering at these sites urgently need food, water, latrines, bedding kits and hygiene items – and we and our partners are doing everything possible to scale up assistance.
Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that although the needs are immense, we will not be overwhelmed by the task ahead to rebuild and rehabilitate Gaza’s health system.
Yesterday, the UN teams were able to monitor goods coming through Kissufim crossing under the UN 2720 Mechanism. This was made possible after the Israeli authorities facilitated access to our teams, as we mentioned earlier this week.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-10-22
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Briefing by Milbert Dongjoon Shin, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), on Kosovo.
Briefing Council members, the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Officer-in-Charge of the Mission, Milbert Dongjoon Shin, commended and congratulated the people of Kosovo on the peaceful and inclusive atmosphere of the local elections held on 12 October.
He called on all parties to maintain the same calm and inclusive environment in the run-off elections set for 9 November.
He also noted, “Since the legislative elections in February, divisions between political parties had prevented the constitution of the Assembly of Kosovo and the formation of a government. This stalemate had constrained the functioning of central institutions. On October 10th, with the election of a Kosovo Serb Deputy President, the Assembly was declared to be constituted by its President. Subsequently, ten Assembly members, including the nine members from the Srpska Lista party, contested this election before the Constitutional Court.”
He continued, “Pending the Court’s decision, we reiterate that respect for the independence of the judiciary remains a cornerstone of democratic society. And we express hope that, in line with the Court’s ultimate decision, political divisions can soon be overcome, so that the people of Kosovo will be represented and served by their institutions.”
Shin reiterated the concerns regarding the potential impact of the closures of Serbia-run institutions, on access to health, education and culture.
He said, “Authorities in Kosovo recently announced that the full enforcement of the Law on Foreigners, and the Law on Vehicles, would begin on November 1st. This could introduce administrative challenges affecting access to essential rights and services, including healthcare, education and employment. This is concerning, for those habitual residents of Kosovo from non-majority communities, who continue to face difficulties in obtaining the necessary documentation.”
He stressed that it is important that Pristina authorities genuinely engage all concerned communities, prior to enforcing decisions that affect everyday lives, and that they seek viable alternatives in order to avoid or minimize negative impacts.
He said, “We are concerned by arrests relating to the display of cultural, national, or religious symbols. We underscore the need to respect the legal framework that exists in Kosovo and strike a proper balance between protecting the freedom of expression and preventing the incitement of hatred or violence.”
He reiterated UNMIK’s calls for the return of Kosovo Serbs to public institutions, “Kosovo’s vibrant multi-ethnic society should be reflected across its institutions, which can only strengthen democratic governance.”
“Recent pressures on civil society warrant close attention. Media freedom and the freedom of expression also remain under pressure. The Association of Journalists of Kosovo has reported personal attacks against journalists, and the public TV broadcaster has faced challenges to its independence.”
