Source: United Nations (video statements)
Next week, world leaders will gather at UNHQ in New York for the 81st General Assembly session. Together, they will seek solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing humanity.
Learn about the high-level events set to take place: https://www.un.org/en/high-level-week-2026
Source: United Nations (video statements)
A new report on remittances from the International Fund for Agricultural Development’s Financing Facility (IFAD), shows that “approximately 220 million people, migrants and diaspora members, send money home supporting over 1.1 billion people.”
Presenting the Sending Money Home Report today (14 Sep) in New York, IFAD’s Remittances Manager Pedro De Vasconcelos, said the report “is about financial flows of extraordinary scale, but more importantly it is about families,” and added that “remittances are an expression of family responsibility, sacrifice, solidarity across borders.”
De Vasconcelos said, “migrants around the globe have sent 728 billion or 729 billion dollars in remittances to their families. And they’ve done that 300, 400 dollars at a time, 9 to 10 times a year.”
He said this was “definitely one of the world’s largest and most resilient source of household income,” and it “dwarfs many others like ODA and FDI many times combined.”
The IFAD official said, “savings, credit, Insurance, and investment “can turn remittances and family much more resilient,” and added that “the objective is to expand the choices available to families.”
The report calls for expanding financial access for migrants and their families and leveraging remittances as a driver of long-term economic opportunity rather than just a lifeline.
The report provides detailed data and analysis on remittances and migration trends over the past decade.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
South Sudan’s hunger crisis is becoming increasingly catastrophic as violence, extreme weather and dwindling aid leave millions without enough food, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday. The impact of the ‘super El Niño’ is already immediately clear in South Sudan and the regional impact of extreme weather is also being felt in neighbouring Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, causing a bigger effect on food security in the entire area, WFP’s Assistant Executive Director for Programme Operations Matthew Hollingworth told reporters in Geneva.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
“Sudan is still the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis,” Carl Skau, Acting Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), said.
Today (14 Sep), following his mission to Sudan, Skau addressed the press and said that in the country “20 million people in acute hunger, 14 million people displaced, some 5 million of those acutely hunger in emergency level (IPC4), and you know still 200,000 in IPC5 levels of starvation.”
He added, “Given that Sudan does, in my view, not get by far the attention it deserves. You know, humanitarians are attacked. We had a hit two weeks ago only on one of our convoys, trying to get to dealing in in the Kordofan, access is difficult, as I explained, partly due to security, partly due to not getting the clearances necessary. But it’s also possible to work there. WFP reaches, you know, between 4 and 5 million people every month. 2 million or 2.5 million of those are in the hardest to reach areas, so it is possible to make a difference.”
He highlighted, “Now, what is really our main challenge is funding. Our operations are completely underfunded, and there is a risk that we will have to scale back quite significantly in the next few weeks unless more funding is being provided.”
He also said, “Darfur hasn’t been this dry since 1984, and right now it’s a rainy season, and so you know everyone is frightened that this will have a serious hit on agriculture and the agriculture outcome, and then of course also for livestock further down the road. And like some told me, you know, we rely on that agriculture, and we rely on the WFP food. And if you know the agriculture is now hit by the drought, and WFP’s food is hit by funding cuts, how will we survive?’ And I think that is, you know, really the concern in Darfur for the next few months.”
Talking about El Obeid, he stressed, “Our challenge there is also funding. So, we are providing less and less, but we’re also having to cut off assistance to those who arrived three years ago. So, we are prioritizing those who are newly arrived, but of course to the detriment of those who have been there longer – which, frankly, people who have nothing to turn to either. It’s not possible for them to get any jobs. They have been through terrible atrocities. They cannot return home. So, it’s a very tense and difficult place where we now have to so tightly prioritize.”
He concluded, “What we see playing out in Sudan is really, you know, what we also see at the global level, and it’s all hitting at once. So, it’s the conflict that is, you know, driving displacement, disrupting markets and trade; it is the maritime disruptions in Bab El Mandeb and Hormuz that is really hitting Sudan as well, with its ports on the Red Sea; and thirdly, it’s El Niño and the climate shocks with the drought we now see in the Darfur, and all this is coming together, really putting pressure on the already suffering people in in Sudan.”
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Remarks by Courtenay Rattray, Chef de Cabinet, on behalf of António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on the Memory of his Majesty King Harald V of Norway.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Around 2,300 people fleeing the latest escalation of conflict in Yemen have arrived in northern Djibouti, with further arrivals expected. The UN and its partners are providing food, water, shelter and other essential assistance, but warned that local capacity is under growing pressure and additional resources are urgently needed.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Introducing the Preliminary Report of the Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, Secretary-General António Guterres (1 Jul) said, “the science is here. We can no longer say we did not know. What we do with it is now up to all of us.”
Guterres told reporters in New York that the report “is honest about the extraordinary promise of this technology.”
Used well, he said, “AI could be the most powerful engine for development, speeding the world’s progress on everything from health and hunger to learning and climate,” but warned that the Panel was “just as clear eyed about the harm artificial intelligence can cause.”
The Secretary-General said, “the more AI advances without shared rules, the less say governments and people will have in the outcome.”
He stressed that “this is a preliminary report” and the Panel “will keep working as the technology evolves.”
Source: United Nations (video statements)
[There was an audio issue in the beginning, we apologize for any inconvenience.]
Noon briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
– Secretary-General / BRICS Summit
– Deputy Secretary-General / Nigeria
– Yemen
– Djibouti
– Occupied Palestinian Territory
– Lebanon
– Sudan
– Ukraine
– International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
– Third Review Conference Of The States Parties To The Convention On Cluster Munitions
– Artificial Intelligence / Human Rights
– Financial Contribution
– Briefing And Guests
SECRETARY-GENERAL / BRICS SUMMIT
The Secretary-General will be arriving today in New York, after leaving the BRICS summit in New Delhi late Sunday.
The Secretary-General told the 18th BRICS Summit yesterday that global institutions must be reshaped to reflect today’s economic, demographic and geopolitical realities, as the world moves irreversibly towards multipolarity.
He called for reform of the United Nations Security Council, the Bretton Woods system and the international financial architecture, and he urged greater influence for developing countries, stronger multilateral development banks, expanded concessional financing and effective debt relief. “Our institutional structures must reflect” the realities of today, he said, stressing that a more representative multilateral system is essential to inclusive global growth.
The Secretary-General also called for equitable access to artificial intelligence, accelerated climate action and renewed respect for international law amid conflicts from Gaza and the wider Middle East to Ukraine and Sudan.
On climate, he pressed countries to speed the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, scale up finance for developing nations and protect communities from worsening impacts, adding that critical minerals must generate value and jobs in producing countries, and saying, “Enough plundering.”
On Friday evening, upon his arrival in India, the Secretary-General had a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which they discussed the priorities of India’s presidency of the BRICS, including the need for multilateral institutions that clearly reflect the realities of the world in the 21st century.
On Saturday, the Secretary-General met with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt.
The Secretary-General and President Sisi discussed global developments, including the situation in the broader Middle East and Ukraine, and their global impact. The Secretary-General and the President discussed in detail the situation in Gaza and in the West Bank and reaffirmed the right of self-determination of the Palestinian people.
At the summit, the Secretary-General also spoke with President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia and the President of the International Solar Alliance, Ashish Khanna.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL / NIGERIA
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J. Mohammed, concluded a trip to Nigeria which included visits to Ogun and Imo States, where she commended both governments for advancing inclusive development, women’s empowerment, healthcare, youth innovation and digital transformation aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Accompanied by some Country Team members, she met former President Olusegun Obasanjo, as well as the Governors of both states.
In Ogun State, she engaged with beneficiaries of the World Bank-supported Nigeria for Women Programme, while in Imo State she met young innovators developing technology solutions such as AI applications, drones, e-commerce platforms and e-governance tools.
On Sunday, she travelled to Lagos for an Africa-Diaspora Leadership Programme, before heading to South Africa for a meeting of the Africa Expert Panel, focused on advancing Africa’s development priorities and strengthening the continent’s voice in the global economic system.
She will return to New York tomorrow.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2026-09-14
