Briefing by Hannan Sulieman, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, on reports of the Secretary-General on the Sudan and South Sudan.
“The violence children face in Sudan extends far beyond the battlefield. Since the conflict began, the United Nations has verified more than 5,700 grave violations against children. More than 5,000 children have been killed or maimed, but the real figure is undoubtedly much higher,” she said.
“Children are being killed in their homes. They are being injured while fleeing violence. They are being caught in crossfire, shelling, drone strikes, and attacks using explosive weapons in populated areas. During the first four months of this year alone, nearly 80 per cent of reported child casualties were linked to drone attacks,” Sulieman said.
She also flagged the war’s impact on education. “Nearly half of Sudan’s school buildings can no longer function as classrooms. Today, at least eight million children are out of school. For girls, the consequences are particularly severe, increasing the risks of child marriage, sexual violence, and other forms of exploitation,” Sulieman said.
Press Conference by Pekka Haavisto, Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Sudan, on the situation in the country.
Haavisto expressed alarm about ongoing hostilities around the city of El-Obeid, in North Kordofan State, and warned “a further escalation of the situation would place thousands of people at the risk.”
Haavisto told reporters in New York that hostilities, including frequent drone strikes, “are already affecting the civilians and affecting too humanitarian aid to the city.”
He said, “unfortunately, the situation reminds a little bit of the earlier developments in Darfur and around El-Fasher and reminds that there are immediate risks for the civilian population.”
The using of the drones, the Special Envoy said, “has been increasing and the drone attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure has been increasing,” adding that these drones “are not Sudan made. They come from the international market.”
He expressed hope that the so-called Quad (United States, Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt) “could advance with the humanitarian truce, which would help a lot the civilian situation on the ground, but also, help a lot our other goals to have a peaceful solution to the conflict.”
Haavisto said both the head of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo (Hemedti) and the Commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, “still think that something can be achieved militarily in this conflict.”
To conclude, he said, “there should be one Sudan. Its border should be respected. Its sovereignty should be respected. This would be a Sudanese owned, Sudanese led process in the end of the day. And what we are trying to do as United Nations and as a quintet, of course, is helping Sudanese to find a path towards that kind of future. And that’s our starting point.”
Briefing by Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, on reports of the Secretary-General on the Sudan and South Sudan.
"The window to avert a wider escalation in El Obeid is rapidly narrowing," said Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs.
DiCarlo said, “Last week, the Secretary-General warned of the catastrophic consequences for civilians should the fighting in El Obeid intensify further. Over the past two weeks, drone attacks by both parties in the area have increased significantly, while the Rapid Support Forces have expanded their presence around the city.”
DiCarlo said the fighting was not confined to one city. “Beyond El Obeid, fighting in Sudan continues on multiple fronts. The wider Kordofan region remains the epicentre of the conflict, with intensified fighting taking place around Dilling, Kadugli and Babanusa as both parties continue to contest key strategic areas,” she said.
She also said, “The parties could not sustain this pace of fighting without the sophisticated weaponry they obtain through external support. We renew our urgent call on all external actors to use their influence to help end this war, rather than be complicit in it.”
DiCarlo warned, “There are clear warning signs of worse things to come if we don’t act. Sudan’s escalating conflict is unfolding amid rising tensions between Sudan and neighbouring states.”
DiCarlo added that a political settlement hinges on clarity over what comes next. “At the same time, it has become clear that knowing what Sudan’s political future looks like is key for the parties and their allies to agree to stop fighting. They want a road map for what happens the day after they agree to lay down their weapons,” she said.
She stressed the role of regional and international mediators. “Central to progress on the political front is the strong partnership among the Quintet members – the African Union, the European Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the League of Arab States and the United Nations,” DiCarlo said, before turning to the Council itself: “We welcome the recent Council press statement on El Obeid. Your words and your actions matter. We call on you to do more.”
Eighty-one years after the signing of the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, Guterres said the Charter “was a promise to the world that humanity can choose cooperation over chaos, law over lawlessness, dignity over domination, and hope over fear.”
He said, “for 81 years, we have strived to keep that promise alive.”
The Secretary-General said, “no border can hold back a warming planet. No country can govern artificial intelligence alone, and the pandemic alone, or shield its people from global shocks alone. In a world of shared dangers, cooperation is not naivete. It is the clearest idealism there is. But cooperation only works when it’s grounded in rules. Rules that apply to all. Rules that protect all, rules set out in the Charter.”
Since 1945 the Charter has been a cornerstone of the international order and guiding framework for multilateralism. The vision set out in the Charter, to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, remains one of the most consequential collective commitments made.
New street drugs are now hundreds of times stronger than heroin, with traffickers seeking alternatives that can evade detection and regulations. The World Drug Report 2026 breaks down the profound implications that the shift from plant-based opioids to synthethics carries for the illicit drug supply and the harm it does to human health.
Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
Venezuela
UN Charter Day
Senior Personnel Appointments
Sudan/Security Council
Sudan
Lebanon
Special Coordinator for Lebanon
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Haiti
Deputy Secretary-General/Trip Announcement
Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations/Travel
Counter-Terrorism Week
International Days
VENEZUELA
The Secretary-General last night spoke to the Acting President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez. In a call, he expressed his solidarity with the people and Government of Venezuela following the devastating earthquakes.
The Secretary-General pledged the full cooperation of the UN system in support of the government led-relief efforts.
On the ground, the UN and its humanitarian partners, are rapidly scaling-up our response, conducting assessments and mobilizing assistance. The Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, allocated yesterday $15 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support urgent, life-saving assistance, including health care, shelter, food and water.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today said that the Government is leading the response efforts focused on search and rescue, emergency medical care and damage assessment, while international assistance is scaling-up rapidly, with Urban Search and Rescue teams deploying from multiple countries.
OCHA is supporting coordination efforts on the ground, facilitating information-sharing and working with partners to help ensure the effective deployment of international search-and-rescue teams. A total of 30 of these teams are deploying to Venezuela, with more than 1,600 personnel and more than 100 dogs, coming from a wide array of countries.
The UN Disaster and Assessment teams have also been mobilized, along with a four-member operational support team. Several OCHA staff are also being deployed to Venezuela.
Our colleagues at the World Food Programme (WFP) tell us that the first 72 hours are obviously crucial for search and rescue, but they are also critical for positioning food and other relief supplies that people will need in the coming days.
WFP says that it has enough to feed more than 10,000 families for two months in Venezuela. Teams are also looking for the fastest way to mobilise further food assistance and are establishing response priorities across the affected areas.
WFP added that there are also over 1,400 Metric tonnes in relief items from partners that are ready to be deployed at the WFP-managed UN Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD), which is in Panama.
For its part, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that an estimated 3.9 million children live in the areas affected by the earthquakes, putting thousands of children and their families at even further risk. UNICEF is on the ground and coordinating closely with national authorities, the broader system and local partners and international partners to assess needs and support a rapid, effective response. To enable immediate action, UNICEF has allocated $1.5 million from its internal resources and $1 million from the Global Humanitarian Thematic Funding.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) for its part is scaling core relief item distributions in coordination with the government and partners. Regional Core Relief Items stocks, such as tents and housing units, mosquito nets and solar lamps in Panama will be quickly mobilized. UNHCR teams on the ground continue coordinating the protection response and scaling-up emergency shelter, relief, and support services.
The UN and its humanitarian partners remain fully mobilized, working closely with national authorities to ensure assistance reaches those most in need as quickly as possible.
On Monday, the noon briefing guest will be Gianluca Rampolla Del Tindaro, who is the Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Venezuela.
He will brief virtually from Caracas about the earthquakes that hit Venezuela.
UN CHARTER DAY
This morning, the Secretary-General marked that 81st UN Charter Day, which commemorates the signing of the UN Charter, which took place in 1945 in San Francisco. At the ceremony today in the General Assembly, he said that the Charter was a promise to the world: that humanity can choose cooperation over chaos; law over lawlessness; dignity over domination; and hope over fear. Mr. Guterres said that the UN has never been perfect, but it is irreplaceable.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2026-06-26
UN representatives across agencies brief the press on the earthquake response in Venezuela. UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs Jens Laerke’s remarks that ‘the international humanitarian system is moving fast and at scale, supporting the Government-led response to the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela.’
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) launched an evacuation framework this week to assist the 11,000 seafarers still stranded in around 600 vessels inside the Strait of Hormuz, in line with the decision of the IMO Council and in close coordination with Member States and industry.
Executive Director of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, also briefed the Council members. She highlighted three more alarming trends in the report.
“First, children continue to be killed and maimed at staggering levels by explosive weapons in populated areas. In 2025, almost 70 per cent of child casualties were caused by explosive weapons. The highest numbers were verified in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Israel and the State of Palestine, and Lebanon,” she said.
The second trend she underscored is the growing number of children subjected to multiple grave violations. She said, “In 2025, this number increased again, to more than 3,100 children. This means that a child has had several terrible things happen to them. They are abducted or recruited, and in many cases, also subjected to rape or other forms of sexual violence.”
Moreover, the third major source of concern that Russell pointed out was the alarming rise in the denial of humanitarian access. “In 2025, the United Nations verified more than 8,000 incidents involving restrictions on humanitarian operations, attacks on humanitarian personnel and assets, and interference with the delivery of assistance. The highest numbers were verified in Israel and the State of Palestine, Libya, and Ukraine,” she stated.
