This press conference will mark the closing of the thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) and highlight key outcomes and messages from the week.
Organizers: UN-Habitat and State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) takes place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 17 to 22 May 2026. The theme of WUF13 is: Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities.
At the thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, global leaders and housing experts reflect on the growing pressures shaping the global housing crisis and the urgent need to rethink housing as a foundation for dignity, opportunity, and sustainable development. Dr. Koldo Casla (Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing), Xenya Scanlon (UNCCD), Thembisile Simelane (Minister of Human Settlements, South Africa), and Jonathan Reckford (Habitat for Humanity International) discuss the structural inequalities, environmental pressures, rapid urbanization, and governance challenges affecting cities and communities around the world. They emphasize the importance of inclusive housing systems, stronger public leadership, and cross-sector partnerships that place communities at the center of efforts to build more equitable, resilient, and sustainable urban futures.
Video Producer Rosalie Boyle
Videographer Andres Felipe Carvajal Gomez
For more information about WUF13, please visit: https://enb.iisd.org/world-urban-forum-wuf13
Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
Briefing – Tomorrow
General Assembly resolution on the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on climate change
Bolivia
UNRWA
Security Council
Occupied Palestinian Territory
UNIFIL
Lebanon
Deputy Secretary-General
Democratic Republic of the Congo/Ebola
Sudan
International Days
Financial contribution
BRIEFING – TOMORROW
Tomorrow, 22 May, at 6:30 p.m., there will be a briefing by Ambassador Do Hung Viet, President of the Eleventh Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION ON THE ICJ’S ADVISORY OPINION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Yesterday, the Secretary-General issued a statement welcoming the adoption by the General Assembly of a resolution following up on the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on climate change.
The world’s highest body has spoken, he said and yesterday, the General Assembly has answered.
The Secretary-General said this is a powerful affirmation of international law, of climate justice, of climate science, and the responsibility of states to protect people from the escalating climate crisis.
He commended the leadership of Pacific Island countries and other Small Island Developing States — together with the young people whose moral clarity helped bring the world to this moment.
Those least responsible for climate change are paying the highest price, he said. That injustice must end, Mr. Guterres explained.
The science is clear: fossil fuels are the primary driver of the climate crisis. The path to climate justice runs through a rapid, a just, and an equitable transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy. Renewables have proved to be the cheapest and the most secure form of energy supply.
The task ahead is clear the Secretary-General concluded: keep 1.5°C within reach and build a safer, fairer, and more resilient future for all.
BOLIVIA
The Secretary-General is following developments in Bolivia with concern, including reports of violence and protests that have disrupted essential services.
The Secretary-General encourages all relevant actors to engage in inclusive and constructive dialogue to address grievances peacefully, with a view to de‑escalating tensions and safeguarding the country’s democracy and stability.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2026-05-21
Joint comments to the media by Frank Grütter, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations, on behalf of 86 Member States having endorsed the Joint Commitments to the Protection of Civilians amid Reforms and Constraints.
‘First symptoms of Ebola can appear suddenly’, tells Emergency Director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr Marie Roseline Belizaire, adding that they can deteriorate to extensive bleeding.
Speaking in an interview with UN News, Dr Belizaire stresses that WHO’s response relies on community-based approaches: ‘Every epidemic begins in a community and ends in a community’, she concludes.
#worldhealthorganisation #ebolavirus
A top UN humanitarian official said “Protecting civilians requires more than expressions of concern. It requires genuine commitment that translates into concrete action.”
Addressing the Security Council, Edem Wosornu, Director of the Crisis Response Division of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that one civilian was killed approximately every fourteen minutes in 2025. These are only the deaths the United Nations could document across twenty armed conflicts. We know the real toll is far higher, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Sudan, in Ukraine, in the occupied Palestinian territory, and beyond.
She said, “These patterns are the result of choices. The choice by parties to conflict to ignore their obligations to protect civilians, and too often, to target them. The choice by some to adopt increasingly permissive interpretations of international humanitarian law, hollowing out the very rules designed to protect civilians during war.”
She also said, “There is another path. Other choices are possible. They must be made. They must be made because protecting civilians, ensuring respect for the law, and ending impunity is not only a legal and moral obligation. It is also in Member States’ shared interest. In a world where conflicts are rising and rearmament is accelerating; unrestrained force and unapologetic brutality do not make anyone safer. They put everyone at risk. Those who believe war will never reach them, their families, or their people are living in a dangerous illusion.”
At the thirteenth session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, global leaders and urban development experts reflect on the urgent need to place housing at the center of sustainable development. Dr. Maimunah Mohd Sharif (Advisor on Sustainable Urban Development), Olivia Nielsen (Miyamoto International), Thembisile Simelane (Minister of Human Settlements, South Africa), and Dr. Renu Khosla (CURE) speak about the links between housing, resilience, inclusion, economic opportunity, and climate adaptation, while addressing the realities cities continue to face around rapid urbanization, land pressures, informal settlements, and unequal access to adequate housing. Ten years after the adoption of the New Urban Agenda, they emphasize the importance of moving beyond commitments toward more integrated, people-centered, and sustainable urban development.
Video Producer Rosalie Boyle
Videographer Andres Felipe Carvajal Gomez
For more information about WUF13, please visit: https://enb.iisd.org/world-urban-forum-wuf13
The UN Security Council meets for its annual open debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict amid mounting concern over rising civilian casualties, attacks on humanitarian workers and widespread destruction of homes and critical infrastructure in wars around the world. The UN’s top humanitarian for crisis response tells ambassadors one civilian was killed every 14 minutes last year.
Rising gang violence has torn through several areas of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killing dozens and displacing around 30,000 people.
Much of the violence has been concentrated in Cité Soleil, an impoverished neighbourhood in Haiti’s capital, where access routes to affected areas are blocked, hindering life-saving assistance.
The World Food Programme has already reached 8,500 newly displaced people from Cité Soleil with emergency food assistance.
Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
Secretary-General Travel
United States
Deputy Secretary-General
Security Council
Protection of Civilians
Iran
UNIFIL
Lebanon
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Ebola
Sudan
Ukraine
Haiti
Guest tomorrow
SECRETARY-GENERAL TRAVEL
The Secretary-General is on a plane, heading back to New York, and should be landing in a few hours. He concluded today his chairing of the biannual Chief Executives Board (CEB) meeting.
At the meeting of UN leaders in Japan, the heads of the UN system committed to building a stronger, more effective and more impactful United Nations in the face of greater challenges and fewer resources.
While in Tokyo, the Secretary-General also had an audience with His Majesty the Emperor of Japan.
I do need to apologize, because we issued a readout of that meeting that should not have been issued, and we withdrew it from our platforms. And we do apologize for having done so.
The Secretary-General also held a meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Motegi Toshimitsu. Discussions focused on the UN–Japan partnership, with the Secretary-General underscoring that the organization has benefited enormously from Japan’s generosity and commitment to the multilateral system.
At a press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Mr. Guterres said that he is determined to further strengthen that partnership for the future, noting that the true hallmark of a partnership is revealed in times of crisis.
In that context, he underscored the importance of international cooperation and solidarity in addressing today’s global challenges. The Secretary-General said that the world today is being rocked by conflicts, by climate chaos and by inequality. Inflation is rising and the cost-of-living crisis is deepening, made worse by the conflict in the Middle East, which is sending prices for energy and raw materials skyrocketing.
Stressing that it is essential to immediately reestablish freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz, end all ceasefire violations, and create the conditions for a political solution to the conflict.
UNITED STATES
In response to questions, the Spokesman confirmed the Secretary-General received on Tuesday a call from Marco Rubio, Secretary of State of the United States.
During the call, they discussed the situation in and around the Strait of Hormuz. The Secretary-General reaffirmed his call to reestablish full freedom of navigation in the Strait, as well as the importance of efforts to help address global humanitarian needs, including emerging challenges such as the outbreak of Ebola in the DRC and other areas.
They also discussed the important work of the World Food Programme, and the Secretary-General explained the process of selection for the next Executive Director of the World Food Programme.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL
Meanwhile, the Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, is on her way to Baku, in Azerbaijan, to attend the 13th session of the World Urban Forum.
During her visit, Ms. Mohammed will deliver remarks at the closing ceremony of the Forum and engage with governments and stakeholders to advance sustainable urban development and the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. In addition, the Deputy Secretary-General will meet with senior government officials in Azerbaijan to discuss the country’s partnership with the UN, especially on urban development, climate, and the environment.
On Friday, on her way back to New York, the Deputy Secretary-General will stop briefly in the United Arab Emirates. She will meet with senior government officials to discuss the socio-economic impacts of the conflict in the Middle East, as well as the preparations towards the 2026 United Nations Water Conference, which is scheduled later this year.
The Deputy Secretary-General will be back in New York on Monday.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2026-05-20
