Source: Republic of South Africa (video statements)
President Cyril Ramaphosa participates in panel discussion moderated by Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Mr. Dean Macpherson, during the 5th SIDSSA at the Century City Convention Centre in Cape Town.
Source: Republic of South Africa (video statements)
President Cyril Ramaphosa participates in panel discussion moderated by Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Mr. Dean Macpherson, during the 5th SIDSSA at the Century City Convention Centre in Cape Town.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Remarks by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on Food under fire: the Security Council’s role in mitigating global and local food crises.
Critical food systems — and the lives and livelihoods they sustain — are under attack,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council, warning that conflict remains the primary driver of global hunger.
Speaking at a Council meeting on conflict and food security, Guterres said, “It is no coincidence that 2025 saw not only the highest number of armed conflicts since World War II — but also among the highest levels of global acute hunger on record, with at least 266 million people facing acute food insecurity.”
He noted that 2025 “also marked the first time this century that two famines were confirmed simultaneously, in Sudan and Gaza,” calling it “a shameful milestone,” and cited the UN’s latest Hunger Hotspots report, which “shows that conflict and violence are the primary drivers in 12 out of 13 hunger hotspots of greatest concern.”
The Secretary-General called on the Council to consider three measures to strengthen Resolution 2417, which recognizes the need to “break the vicious cycle between armed conflict and food insecurity.”
“First — Resolution 2417 must be implemented consistently and in full,” he said, adding that for parties to conflict this means “not depriving civilians of objects indispensable to their survival — including food, crops, livestock, and drinking water supplies.”
“Second — food systems must be protected in their entirety,” Guterres continued, urging the Council to “renew its support for protections for infrastructure essential to food security.”
“And thirdly, humanitarian personnel must be protected,” he said, stressing that all parties to a conflict must allow “the practical arrangements necessary for the delivery of aid.”
Source: United Nations (video statements)
If the Rangelands Could Speak
What would they tell us?
Across the Silk Road Caravan, pastoralists were asked one simple question: If the rangelands could speak, what would they tell humanity?
We hear answers from different countries, cultures and experiences — brought together through powerful portraits captured along the journey across Eurasia.
This four-minute film is part of the *UNCCD Silk Road Caravan*, an 8,000-kilometre journey across seven countries that brought together participants from around 30 countries to exchange knowledge, experiences and ideas about the future of rangelands and pastoralism.
The Caravan connects COP16 in Riyadh with COP17 in Ulaanbaatar and supports the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists 2026.
#UNCCD #COP17 #SilkRoadCaravan #IYRP2026 #Rangelands #Pastoralists
Source: United Nations (video statements)
As the deadliest Ebola outbreak in DR Congo’s history continued spreading, UN responders renewed their urgent appeal for immediate international support, with existing funding for lifesaving work critically low.
Since the outbreak was declared on 15 May, 5,290 people have been infected 2,516 have died, according to latest health authority data published on Friday.
Of the total confirmed number of cases, 1,152 people have recovered and nearly 840 people remain in isolation or hospitalized.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Amid unconfirmed reports that fully autonomous and AI-guided drones are now being used on the battlefield, UN chief António Guterres renewed his call for stricter global controls, before it is too late.
The timing of the appeal reflects growing concerns that increasingly sophisticated weapons are being made and deployed at ever greater speed, boosted by increasingly powerful AI technology.
The Head of Disarmament Affairs at UN Geneva, Mélanie Régimbal, stressed that the UN chief’s long-held position that systems that select or engage targets and take human lives without human control and judgement ‘are politically unacceptable, morally repugnant and should be prohibited under international law.’
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Informal comments to the media by Carl Skau, WFP Acting Executive Director, following his remarks during the open debate on conflict and hunger/Resolution 2417.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting Carl Skau said, “A family who don’t have food on the table only have three choices. It’s starve, it’s move, or it’s rebel. And that goes down far beyond, of course, the humanitarian consequences of this increased food insecurity.”
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2026-08-25
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Hasan Oswald, documentary filmmaker, shares in the UN Goals Lounge how meeting Mediha changed the documentary, as she took the camera into her own hands to document her life, healing and resilience.
Source: United Nations (video statements)
Briefing by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine.
