Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Briefings

All right, good afternoon.

A couple of things. First, after you are done with me, we are going to be joined by two guests; the first is Stephen Rodriguez, from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) who is the Resident Representative of UNDP in Afghanistan - he just left Afghanistan and landed in the UAE (United Arab Emirates). He will brief us from there from Dubai. We will also be joined by Anatoly Balovnev, the UNDP Regional Area Manager in Afghanistan, who is briefing us from Jalalabad. They're obviously here to talk to you about the earthquake and the response.

At 2 p.m., there will be a briefing on the first meeting of the Independent Scientific Panel on the Effects of Nuclear War, pursuant to the establishment of the Panel of this year.

**Secretary-General's Travel

The Secretary-General is on his way back to New York from Papua New Guinea.

Earlier today, he spoke to your colleagues in Port Moresby before leaving the country telling them that he felt gratitude and solidarity for the role played by Papua New Guinea today, especially as it relates to its contribution to address climate change.

Papua New Guinea does not contribute to climate change, he said, adding that the country has a negative emissions record, due to its enormous carbon sink and that is the world's third largest rainforest, as well as the ocean.

The international community, which benefits from the country's forests and oceans, must pay back, Mr. [António] Guterres said. First, the international community needs to accept that there must be climate justice. Countries like Papua New Guinea must have all the support that was promised to address adaptation needs, to build resilience and to protect people and country against the devastating impact of climate change.

Adding that there must also be justice in the way international financial institutions address the problems of development, Mr. Guterres reiterated his call for reforms of the international financial systems.

The Secretary-General will be here in New York at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning and will be in the office on Monday.

**Cyprus

Travel to announce, but not the Secretary-General. Maria Angela Holguin, who as you know the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General, is set to travel to Cyprus next week. There she will meet the Greek Cypriot leader, Nikos Christodoulides, on 12 September, and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, on 15 September. She is also expected to engage with the representatives of the two leaders, among other Cypriot stakeholders.

**Occupied Palestinian Territory

Moving to Gaza. Our colleagues at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tell us that the ongoing offensive on Gaza City has further intensified today, increasing the damage to civilians and the facilities on which they depend to survive.

Earlier today, Israeli forces attacked a high-rise building that they say was used to execute attacks against them. Initial information collected by OCHA indicates that tents sheltering displaced people were damaged nearby. We are also concerned by the announcement that more high-rise buildings will be attacked soon.

These developments are forcing increasing numbers of people to flee, in a place where just about everyone has already been displaced, often many times, and where famine as you know has just been confirmed. Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that in the north, people are simply exhausted.

They can't afford to move south, not only because displacement sites are overcrowded, but also because transport can cost up to $1,000.

Between Wednesday and yesterday, our colleagues tracking population movements in Gaza recorded nearly 3,000 movements from the north to the south. That brings the total since 14 August to nearly 41,000.

Meanwhile, OCHA also reports that in more parts of the Strip, Israeli authorities require any movement of humanitarian personnel to be coordinated with them in advance. On Wednesday and yesterday, our teams attempted to coordinate 29 such movements, but 19 of them were either denied outright or initially approved but then significantly delayed or otherwise impeded on the ground. Only nine of these movements were facilitated, and one had to be cancelled by the organizers.

Despite the impediments, we were able to collect some fuel and supplies related to water, hygiene and sanitation from the Karim Abu Salem/Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings and transfer some other items within the Gaza Strip. Our teams were also repairing a road in Rafah that's needed to improve cargo flow in the south. And as we mentioned yesterday, they were able to assess the conditions and needs of displaced people in the North, which was vast.

Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) distributed critical nutritional supplies to support hospitalized infants and patients at Al Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis. These included 4,900 units of infant and high-protein formula and 2,000 feeding components.

To respond to famine and malnutrition adequately, humanitarians working in Gaza continue to call for scaled-up, sustained and safe access - so that enough food and medicines can enter the Strip and reach those who need them. And we need sustained and unimpeded access directly to the north, and that of course includes Gaza City.

Turning to the West Bank, where OCHA paints a pretty dire picture telling us that since January, more than 2,780 Palestinians there have been injured by Israeli forces or settlers - that's a 39 per cent increase compared with the same period last year. This includes nearly 500 people injured by Israeli settlers - that's a twofold rise over this same time frame in 2024.

As of Monday, OCHA has also documented the demolition of more than 1,150 structures across the West Bank this year for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, which are almost impossible for any Palestinian to obtain.

That's a 44 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024.

**Afghanistan

Turning to Afghanistan, our Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, said in a statement today that the devasting earthquake is the latest crisis to expose the cost of shrinking resources on vital humanitarian work. He noted that within hours of the earthquake, OCHA's pooled funds released $10 million to kickstart the response. The de facto authorities have quickly responded, and countries are generously providing relief supplies and critical initial funding.

But this isn't enough, Mr. Fletcher warned, stressing that failing to rally resources now will mean deeper suffering and more lives lost.

For its part, our colleagues at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, dispatched $4.5 million worth of emergency relief items to Kunar and Jalalabad, including family tents, thermal blankets and jerrycans, gas cookers, solar lamps and tarpaulins, to assist some 5,600 households.

At the moment though, UNHCR says that its stock in Afghanistan is quite low as the Agency have been assisting Afghans returning or forced to return from neighbouring countries, mostly Pakistan and Iran. Pending findings from the inter-agency assessment, UNHCR is assessing availability in its emergency stockpiles in the region, including in Uzbekistan, to meet further needs.

You will hear a lot more about Afghanistan in just a few minutes from our guests.

**Haiti

I also want to flag one more horrific situation in Haiti that we have been talking to you quite a bit. I have a rather very distressing note on the unimaginable situation that many women and girls live in, as gender-based violence in the country is reaching alarming levels.

Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that between January and July of this year, more than 6,200 incidents were reported by service providers. Nearly half of them were rapes, with [75] per cent reportedly committed by [members of] armed groups. Adult women are the most impacted, but one in seven survivors is a child, a girl under 18.

Furthermore, just over half of the incidents involved internally displaced people. Yet only a quarter of rape survivors were able to access medical care within the critical 72-hour window.

Reasons for that vary between insecurity in the country, the stigma associated with gender-based violence, as well as weak referral systems and the lack of health facilities in many areas.

In response, between January and July of this year, UN agencies and our humanitarian partners provided assistance as much as they could, such as medical care, psychosocial support, legal aid, dignity kits and emergency shelter. However, services remained heavily concentrated in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and in the Artibonite Department, where most of our partners are based, with other regions, including Centre and the Grand Sud, receiving unfortunately very limited support.

To make things even more complicated, chronic underfunding, combined with severe access constraints, is leaving the vast majority of survivors without the care they need or the care they deserve.

To give you an example of the funding gap, out of the $19 million required for prevention and response to gender-based violence in Haiti has been received to date - I think you can buy a number of apartments in New York for $19 million - we've only received 18 per cent, and that's just over $3 million.

We can't stress enough that urgent support is needed to expand services to underserved areas and protect women and girls from these heinous crimes.

**Ukraine

Turning to Ukraine, our Humanitarian and Resident Coordinator there, Mattias Schmale, strongly condemned in a statement an attack in the Chernihiv region that killed and injured humanitarian workers. Yesterday's missile strike on a humanitarian demining site in the Chernihiv Region killed two and injured eight deminers of the Danish Refugee Council. At the time of the attack, its teams were clearing landmines and explosive remnants of war in an area heavily contaminated since the start of the full-scale invasion by Russia into Ukraine. According to our partners, at least four other aid workers have been killed and 34 injured in Ukraine so far this year. Meanwhile, hostilities and attacks continue across the country, with several civilians killed and injured, according to authorities. The regions of Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson were most impacted, with significant damage to homes and civilian infrastructure.

We, along with our humanitarian partners, mobilized emergency assistance across affected regions.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo

Turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where I can tell you that we, along with our humanitarian partners, are supporting the Government-led response following the declaration yesterday of a new Ebola outbreak in Kasai Province, in the country's centre-west. As of 4 September, preliminary figures from national authorities indicate 28 suspected cases; that includes 15 fatalities, including four frontline health workers. The numbers are provisional and expected to change as surveillance activities are scaled up.

The impacted areas, particularly Bulape and Mweka health zones, previously experienced outbreaks in 2007, 2008 and 2011.

A joint national rapid response team, supported by World Health Organization experts, has been deployed to Kasai Province to strengthen disease surveillance and response capacity.

WHO is delivering more than two metric tons of essential supplies, including personal protective equipment, mobile laboratory equipment and medical items to support the immediate response.

Also in the DRC and also a bleak picture, our colleagues at the UN Human Rights Office published a report today showing that all parties to the conflict in the Congolese provinces of North and South Kivu have committed serious violations of international humanitarian law that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The report, produced by the UN Human Rights Office's Fact-Finding Mission, says that since late 2024, gross human rights violations have been committed by the M23, supported by the Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF), as well as the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) and affiliated armed groups.

It documents the failure by all parties to adequately protect civilians in the conduct of hostilities, particularly during the takeover of Goma by M23 and RDF in late January, as well as attacks on schools and hospitals.

The report further finds that both DRC and Rwanda bear responsibility for their support to armed groups with known track records of serious abuses.

The report is online.

**India

A quick update for you from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on the impact of severe flooding in northern India, which, if you will recall, the Secretary-General has expressed his deep sorrow, with Punjab State being one of the areas that is hardest hit.

Dozens of people have reportedly been killed, with nearly 1,900 villages and more than 380,000 people said to be affected hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland have also been drowned.

The Government of India is leading response efforts, but our country team stands ready to assist.

**Food Price Index

Food Price Index, first Friday of the month, our friends in Rome at the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) tells us that the new report indicates that the benchmark of world food commodity prices remained largely unchanged in August. Increases in meat, sugar and vegetable oil prices offset declines in cereal and dairy quotations.

The FAO Food Price Index averaged 130.1 points in August, marginally up from the revised July level of 130.0 points and 6.9 per cent higher than a year earlier.

**International Day of Air Quality

International days to flag: Sunday will be the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. Nearly every person on Earth breathes air that is unsafe and causes health problems. In his message, the Secretary-General calls on citizens of this planet to take all the necessary steps today for clean, breathable air for all.

And pegged to that, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released a report today tracing the complex interplay between air quality and climate, highlighting the role of tiny particles called aerosols in wildfires, winter fog, shipping emissions and urban pollution. The report notes that the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities that contribute to climate change are also sourcing pollution, like black carbon, nitrous oxide and ground-level ozone, which in turn aggravate climate change.

Air quality and climate change must not be addressed in isolation; they must be addressed hand in hand.

**International Days

Other international days. Today is the International Day of Charity (be nice to me). Observed every 5 September, the date was chosen to honour the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa. It's a global reminder of the importance of compassion and generosity.

Also Sunday is the International Day of Police Cooperation.

The Secretary-General reaffirms that if technology is used responsibly, it can strengthen the effectiveness, transparency, and accountability of police institutions around the world.

And lastly, Sunday is World Duchenne Awareness Day. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a rare progressive disorder where muscles become weaker over time. This year's theme is "Family: the heart of care", and it highlights the role of family members for people living with this disorder.

**Financial Contributions

Money today, which means questions.

Two countries have paid their dues to the Regular Budget.

This first country's capital city is the second-largest French speaking city in the world after Paris. [response from the crowd: "Kinshasa"]

Who said Kinshasa? Good job. We thank our friends in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This second country is landlocked and is home to the world's largest artificial lake by volume, it's considered the world's largest artificial lake by volume in its water that it holds. It's in Africa. [responses from the crowd]

It is Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba holds 185 cubic kilometres of water. We thank our friends in Harare as well for paying their dues. I will pay my dues now.

**Questions and Answers

Spokesman: Dezhi?

Question: You might already have said this in the beginning. I missed that part. Yesterday, US State Department listed three humanitarian group of Palestine on the sanction list. I know that the human rights chief, Volker Türk, has already expressed his opinion, said it's not acceptable. What is the opinion from the Secretary-General?

Spokesman: We support, obviously, Mr. Türk and his position, and I think it is quite concerning that we see the increased use of these types of sanctions against NGOs (non-governmental organizations). Pam?

Question: On the Haiti numbers, there was a report that came out just in February that there was a thousand per cent increase. What you're talking about is increase even since in the past… [cross talk]

Spokesman: I mean, the numbers, I think, are pretty… this is just… [cross talk]

Question: And any progress toward a multinational force or any kind of…?

Spokesman: Well, I mean, the progress, you know, is the multinational security support forces on the ground - what it needs is more support. And obviously, we're moving following the adoption by the Security Council of the resolution… [cross talk]

Question: And is there any, I'm sorry. Identification of which gangs?

Spokesman: No. I think it is all gangs.

Correspondent: Thank you.

Spokesman: Yep. Jordan?

Question: Yes. Do you have any update on the communication between the UN and the host country on Palestinian visas?

Spokesman: No. As I mentioned earlier this week, we're in touch with the State Department to try to get some clarification and obviously hopefully, a reversal of the decision based on their obligations under the [Headquarters] Agreement.

Question: How many UN international staff in Gaza? And if you have number, can you compare the current number with the number was two years ago?

Spokesman: The number is less. We've reduced our footprint, but we remain very present in Gaza. I'll try to get you a number. The footprint is constantly being adjusted based on the operational needs but also obviously taking into consideration the security of staff. I mean, yesterday we had our colleague, Tess Ingram, from UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), who is an international who's been in Gaza, and we've had quite a few international staff who remain in Gaza.

Question: Allow me. It's a legal question, I think. I'm not sure if it's legal question or not. But you mentioned something about settlers' violence in West Bank against Palestinians. You gave very huge number of injured and deaths. Does the United Nation consider the action, violent action by settlers, as a terror act or what?

Spokesman: All of this violence, all of the settlers involved in attacks on Palestinian civilians need to be held to account by the Israeli authorities, right? Those are crimes, and they need you to be held to account for committing those crimes. Alex, and then we'll come up here.

Question: Thanks so much. I have a question on Yemen. There have been some reports that Yemeni Houthis are attempting to develop chemical weapons. Do you guys have any evidence of that?

Spokesman: I'm not able to answer that question now. It doesn't mean others in the UN are not or may be able. I will check. We will check for you.

Correspondent: Thank you.

Spokesman: Yep. And then we'll go to Yvonne.

Question: Min Lu from China Daily. The General Assembly today is considering multiple resolutions regarding the UN's cooperation with regional groups such as Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Can you tell us, what is the view of Secretary-General about the value of the United Nations working with regional groups like the SCO?

Spokesman: Right. The Secretary-General, I think, since the beginning of his tenure has highlighted the need for increased cooperation between the United Nations and regional groups and subregional groups as a way of what he refers to, I think, as layered multilateralism. Often regional groups are very effective in dealing with regional issues within the framework of the UN Charter and international law. And I think that has been his message, whether it is regarding Asia, Africa, Latin America or Europe. Yvonne Murray?

Question: Thank you, Steph. On his most recent trip to China this last week, Secretary-General said, he told the Chinese leader, Chairman Xi Jinping, that the support of China is an extremely important element to preserve for the UN. So, does that mean… does preserving China's support make it hard for the Secretary-General and other UN officials to speak out on China's human rights record?

Spokesman: No. I think whether it's the Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, other entities, the Secretary-General has spoken out on what he sees as human rights violations in many countries.

Question: Okay. And yesterday, I asked you about specifically the Jimmy Lai case. Do you have any further comments?

Spokesman: I would refer… I saw our colleagues in the Office for Human Rights, Mr. Türk's office commented, and we fully back and support his comments.

Question: So, the Secretary-General supports the comments made by Volker Türk?

Spokesman: That's correct.

Correspondent: Okay. Thanks.

Spokesman: Dennis, and then we'll go to Lenka. Sorry.

Question: Thank you, Steph. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, there has been an exchange of letters between the Secretariat and the Russian Mission to the UN on Bucha. So, I have two questions on that.

Spokesman: Recent letters? Or I mean, they've been exchanged in the past. I don't know, if they're…?

Correspondent: I believe in the past.

Spokesman: Okay.

Question: So, my first question is, how does the SG respond to Russia's letter criticizing the UN's delayed and inadequate reply to the 2024 inquiry on the alleged Bucha staging?

Spokesman: Look. I think the issue of Bucha has come up often, notably in bilateral meetings between the Secretary-General and Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov. I think the Secretary-General has answered and given our position, and I don't think it has changed in any way.

Question: And sorry. The second one, will the Secretary-General publish Russia's appeal as official documents in the General Assembly and Security Council, as requested by the Russian Foreign Ministry?

Spokesman: Any Member State that writes to the Secretary-General asking for a document to be circulated, that document is circulated. Lenka?

Question: Thank you. Any new phone calls on Ukraine?

Spokesman: None that I'm aware of. But if I become aware, I will let you know.

Correspondent: Thank you.

Spokesman: Ms. Saloomey.

Question: Steph, I apologize. You may have touched on this earlier. So, if I missed it, I'm sorry. But can you comment on the targeting of buildings in Gaza and the… [cross talk]

Spokesman: Yeah. I did. That was one of the first things I talked about.

Correspondent: Okay. All right. I'll check. Thank you.

Spokesman: Yes, sir. Please.

Question: Given the US visa restrictions, is there a possibility that the high-level week of the General Assembly be held somewhere outside of US?

Spokesman: No. I've not seen any credible movement on that.

Question: Is there a process for this for…?

Spokesman: I mean, Member States can decide to hold a meeting wherever they decide to hold it. That would be a decision of the General Assembly. But frankly, I have not seen any serious traction on that. All right. Jordan, then we need to go to our guests, who've been patiently waiting. Go ahead.

Question: I have to follow up with him and on my first question because you said in the beginning of the week, you start communicating with the State Department on the visa issue.

Spokesman: Correct.

Question: And did you have any answer? Did you like, is there is a hope that they will allow at least the… [cross talk]

Spokesman: I think that's a question you need to ask the US authorities.

Question: No. But you communicating. You said, you… [cross talk]

Spokesman: I understand.

Question: Did you receive an answer?

Spokesman: I understand what you're saying. I'm saying, I'm not going to communicate on whatever they may have told us. I think, if you want to find out the latest US position, you should speak to them. All right. I would ask you to stay for our guests.