General Assembly's updates & other topics – PGA Spokesperson Briefing

Think so. Okay, I think we'll get going. There are lots of elements today. Okay, hi, everyone. Thanks for coming. We have a few updates to share from the General Assembly. Last Thursday, the Assembly held its annual plenary meeting on the revitalization of its work. Delivering opening remarks, the President of the General Assembly said he'd chosen to take this topic up early in the session because revitalization is so closely linked to restoring public trust in the UN and, quote, "restoring that trust cannot wait." He said we must close the gap between mandate implementation and delivery, improve the Assembly's working methods, and ensure that revitalization does not become reform for its own sake. The Assembly also held a plenary meeting yesterday, Monday 12th October, where it adopted three resolutions emerging from the mandated events that took place during High-Level Week. Those were a draft resolution on the UN Declaration on Sea Level Rise, one on the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, and another on the political declaration of the high-level meeting to mark the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. The Assembly also held its annual joint debate on the New Partnership for Africa's Development. The President delivered remarks calling for stronger institutions, greater local value addition, and partnerships that reinforce African agency. And today, as you'll, I think, just have seen, the Assembly has elected Burundi, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Nepal, the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, Germany, and Ireland as the newest members of the Human Rights Council. Turning to the coming days, tomorrow on the 14th of October, the President will address the Third Committee on Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Affairs, where he will deliver a warning that racism, xenophobia, and hate speech are on the rise, often exacerbated by new technologies. He'll ask the committee to keep people and not processes at the center of its work and ensure that technology advances rights rather than eroding them. And on Thursday, he'll deliver remarks to the sixth committee, the Legal Committee, where he will emphasize three priorities: revitalizing the committee's working methods for more efficient and meaningful outcomes, ensuring consistent application of international law, especially in times of conflict, and strengthening the international legal framework to address emerging challenges. Finally, I'd like to flag that the President will convene a pre-COP special event this Friday on climate. This is 16th October in the ECOSOC chamber. I hope you all received the media advisory about this. The event is called A Planet Fit for the Future, Restoring Trust Through Climate Action. This will be a wide-ranging discussion focused specifically on the role of science, technology, and local knowledge in developing early warning systems. Also, how finance, technology, and capacity building can support these crucial early warning systems. Speakers will include the PGA, the permanent representatives of Turkey, Australia, Brazil, and Ethiopia, and senior officials from across the UN system. There will be an afternoon interactive panel moderated by Columbia University professor Marco Tedesco. This will feature representatives of WMO, the Loss and Damage Fund, UNEP, and Nepal's ambassador to the UN. 00 to 1:00 and from 3:00 to 5:00 PM. You can also watch online on Web TV, so we hope you'll join us. And sorry, one more thing. We have to flag some upcoming travel for the PGA. This weekend, he will travel to Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to attend the World Summit on Investing in Children's Wellbeing. He'll meet with various senior officials and we'll have more details and a travel note in the coming days. So let me stop there and answer any questions you might have. Yes, please.

Thank you so much. This is Nam Abdullah about the Human Rights Council, the new members elected today. So I noticed all five regional groups put forward exactly as many seats. as there were as many candidates for as the number of the seats available. 15 seats were available, 15 candidates were put forward. And then, of course, the resolution 6251, which established the Council, asks member states to consider the human rights record, human rights contributions of these countries when voting. I wonder what the President thinks and whether he believes this is possible when there is no competition. Should there be more competition?

Yes, I understand. I mean, your question is well taken. I think this is a matter for member states. It is up to the groups who they put forward. This is a matter to bring to the member states and ask them why they chose these candidates and if you're interested, why they voted as such. But the president oversees the process. You know, he's very happy with how it played out.

Did he urge them to present more candidates next year, for example?

He has not, to my knowledge, but he's letting the process play out as it's mandated. Anyone else in the room before we, oh, yes.

Thank you, Melissa. You sent a press release about the COP31, and you mentioned a little bit about also today. And what is the president's expectation from that event on Friday? And what is the so far the attention, the interest to the event? Thank you.

Sure. So You know, we're aware that it's tight. It's tight timing before the COP, but I think the President felt it was very important to get a really honest, open discussion with, you know, the ability for Member States to really speak freely to each other before COP, just a true exchange of views. And he wanted to do this certainly before the COP started to take shape in earnest. So this was the timing that we picked. And we really are hoping that despite the short notice, we'll have good attendance and some really introspective, really truthful remarks from member states and agencies. Yeah.

Balix Ladina, ITUN for news. You're seeing, of course, the escalation between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia. The President did condemn the attacks by the Houthis that killed 13 people. But the question is, as the U.N. and the President are involved in talking with the Houthis and the envoy to Yemen specifically, and does the U.N. and the President acknowledge the fact that the U.N.-brokered ceasefire was not effective enough, and after all, that led to escalation a few years later.

Okay, so generally, this is a matter that falls outside the purview, but the President, of course, is deeply concerned about the escalating situation, including the recent attacks and tragedies you've mentioned. He stresses that civilians and civilian infrastructure must never be targeted by any party. And you know, the President is a diplomat. He's a career civil servant. He believes in the power of dialogue and diplomacy, so -- and, of course, the U.N.'s impartiality. So he hopes that the sides will de-escalate any tensions, avoid further militarization. He has not met with any party specifically on this, but his door is always open, he has said.

And, by the way, does the Houthi still hold U.N. workers hostage in Yemen.

This is something to ask Stefan, but I believe they do. Yes.

Melissa, could you please share more details on the President of General Assembly's agenda of the visit in Uzbekistan? As we also expect the C5+ summit in Uzbekistan with the participation of current U.S. administration, so would it be also something that President of General Assembly will attend or will look at it?

I can't confirm any of the actual bilateral or multilateral meetings that he's going to attend. He will meet with senior officials, but we'll have more information in the trip note, and I'll get it to you as soon as I can. All right, anyone from the online community? I don't see any hands. All right, going once, going twice. Thank you, everyone.

All right. Good afternoon. Before I brief, I want to turn to our guest who is staying up late from Bangkok to brief you. And I want to welcome the Administrator of the UN Development Program, Alexander de Kruijff, who is in Bangkok for the IMF-World Bank meeting. So, Administrator, please, over to you, and then we'll take some questions. Thank you.

Yes, thank you. Good afternoon, good evening to all of you. Indeed, as you said, this week, the governing bodies of the World Bank and the IMF are holding their meetings in Bangkok. There will be on Thursday a development committee and there will be an IMFC meeting later this week. A few elements, maybe first of all on the global economic outlook. The global economy is more resilient than expected. But, and to quote managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, and she quoted Game of Thrones, "Winter is coming." And winter is coming, but I would say winter is coming in a different way, depending on which situation you are. For some countries, winter is coming But the home is well insulated and there is enough money on the bank. For other countries, winter is coming, there is no roof on the house, and the bank account is completely empty. A lot of developing countries have a very difficult time, and they really are being squeezed between two different elements. First of all, almost all of them are experiencing what you would call a triple shock. First of all, very high energy costs and high energy bills. Secondly, an El Nino that is one of the most pronounced since 1950. And third, very high borrowing costs. And UNDP has published on Sunday a report, No Time to Recover. You can find that on our website and you can find all the data in the report that we just published this Sunday. But maybe mentioning a few a few elements. One, for example, is that today, if you look at developing countries, today, developing countries, the median developing country is spending 9.5% of their total government income only on interest payments. That is three times higher than what developing countries are spending. On top of that, those countries have, in a quite successful way, been able to shield their populations from the impact of the price hikes in fuel, but also in other elements such as food. In doing so, they have been able to shield 112 million people from falling back into poverty, but at which cost? At a very high fiscal cost. And that situation today is unsustainable. And you see more and more countries are actually forced to pivot and to let the prices go high again. That is one element. The second element, and this is data that just came out, is that for the first time since 2010, the multidimensional poverty index has gone up. The number of countries, the number of people in multidimensional poverty have gone up. As I said, first time since 2010, that multidimensional poverty looks at income poverty, but also access to utilities such as electricity and water, access to healthcare and to education. Those numbers should absolutely be a wake-up call to all of us. And our response as UNDP, we are a development organization, is to see how we can assist countries in growing more economic resilience. UNDP is an organization that delivers solutions, and in the long run, Countries are better off when they have strengthened their economy, when they are better at attracting investment, and when they create more and better jobs. And that is why here at this World Bank and IMF meeting, we have launched two worldwide initiatives. One focusing on fueling investments, and the second one on creating jobs. So the first one is called our Investment Accelerator, the Investment Accelerator works together with governments to improve the legal framework to attract more investment, rule of law reforms, financial infrastructure. Second element is building together with governments pipelines of investable projects. And third element is structuring those projects and making sure that they are implemented. That is the first response that we launched. The second response that we launched is the Jobs for Prosperity Facility. And there really the challenge is an enormous one. If you look at the next 15 years, there will be 1.2 billion young people graduating from school, going into the labor market the next 15 years. These are young people to whom we said, you know, if you study hard and go to school, you will have a job. Well, unfortunately, for only 400 million of these, will be jobs. For 800 million of these, there will not be jobs. So there is a gap of 800 million jobs to be created in the next 15 years. That is is not going to go by itself. This is the result of policy, policy that we want to develop together with countries, analyzing which are the industries which have the most potential for job creation, looking how financing, and especially domestic financing, can be arranged, and doing policy reforms to make sure that you have a thriving labor market. Now, to do that, UNDP cannot do this on its own, and that is why we emphasize partnerships so much. We have, over the last weeks, signed a framework agreement with the World Bank and a list of pilot countries where we will be working together with them. And we have also an MOU that was signed with European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where an MOU has been signed as well. So maybe to conclude this briefing, I think we have seen that the global economy has shown remarkable resilience. But what we see is that resilience is not shared equally. Some countries have still quite strong economic fundamentals. Others do not have the fundamentals to withstand further shocks. And so at UNDP, We do not just want to do the analysis. You will see the analysis in our report, but at the same time, we also want to come with resolutions, and that is why we have launched two products. One, investment accelerator, to see how we can make countries investable, how we can attract various sources of financing to countries. The second one, Jobs for Prosperity Facility, because we know that job creation is actually the only real sustainable way for people to grow out of poverty. That means stronger economies, more investments, more and better jobs. And this is really the program with which we of the NDP are here present in Bangkok and participating in the fall meeting of the World Bank and of the IMF. Thank you.

Alexander, thank you.

There might be a few questions.

Yes, let's hope so. Alexander, thank you. We'll go to Edith Lederer.

Thank you very much, Mr. de Ceuw, on behalf of the United Nations Correspondents Association for doing this briefing. As Steph said, my name is Edith Lederer from the Associated Press. I have Two questions. First, can you tell us what the impact of the major wars in the Middle East and Ukraine are having on the projection and basically the winter coming? And secondly, on the I must say I was astounded about the figure of 1.3 billion young people needing jobs in the next 15 years and only 400 million. Can you tell us whether the impact of artificial intelligence played into those figures and how the IMF and the World Bank are trying to address particularly the issue of jobs. Thank you. Thank you, Yee.

Yes. Thank you. Great question. Let me maybe start with the last element. So the projection is that 1.2 billion young people will graduate into the labor market in the next 15 years. The projections of job creation are based on the current state of technology. And we know that today we already live in many places in a highly technological labor market. Now, What is important is that the economy is not a static thing. The economy is a dynamic thing. And, and, um, yes, today 400 million jobs, uh, projected. But that can be changed. And that is mostly changed by an active labor policy, by identifying what are the industries where, despite technological progress, jobs will be created. And to give you a few examples, for example, the World Bank has shown that in the domain of care and health care, in the domain of agriculture, and the domain of tourism, even with an accelerated impact of AI, these are still industries where there is a lot job creation that will take place. It's also important to notice that we want jobs to be created, but we also want these to be jobs that create a decent income. To have a decent income, and that's crucial because we have today millions of people who actually work, but who are working poor, so who are working but still living in poverty. To have a higher income, the only way of doing that is increasing productivity. Now, increasing productivity Technology is one of the ways to increase productivity. So we see a potential impact of AI, but from our perspective, AI is actually a great accelerator of development and could be something that supports the creation of jobs. On your first question, on the impact of the war, yes, obviously, food prices are high. That is linked to the fact that we have had problems with the supply of fertilizers to get them through the Strait of Hormuz. That is linked to the war, of course. We also know that in Ukraine today, there is thousands of tons of grains that today are blocked. And the energy prices are high. It is quite clear that what is happening in the Gulf region plays an important role to that. So it's the general instability But it's the compounding effects of the three compounding effect of high energy bills and the impact of El Nino and the fact that the borrowing costs are very high. And we see that the the US Treasury bill yields are extremely high in the United States, 5.3% today. Those three elements together, they compound and they put developing countries in an extremely difficult position. A lot of the fiscal space has been used to try to compensate for the high energy bills and the impact on food prices. On top of that, El Nino between November and February could have a very big impact with a lot of droughts we have seen in the past. And if as a country you need to finance yourself, it's actually more expensive than ever to finance yourself. So the compounding effect of those three is putting many developing countries in a very tough spot.

Thank you very much. Islam Anadolu.

Thank you very much, Mr. de Kroon. Islam from Anadolu. I have two questions. One is you said the global economy is very resistant, but you also said that after 1020, the poverty index raised, went up. Can you put more color on that, why there is this contradiction? And second question is, that you prediction 400 million will have a job, but 800 million will not have a job. Is this ratio is normal or may create some global crisis in the future? Thank you.

Okay, well, again, let me start to the last question. No, this is not the regular ratio, but this is the impact of demographics. And what we are seeing is just a very numerous generation that, you know, in many countries, the median age, many of the developing countries, the median age is somewhere between 18 and 25. So there is a big part of the population that we know Now, this is just clear demographics is going to graduate between the next 10 and 15 years, and so there's a big chunk of young people to whom we've told, you know, if you study well, you might, you will get a job. And we know that with the current projections, job creation is not keeping up. But as I said, I mean, that's not a fatality. Good policy, economic growth, functioning institutions, all these things can help to increase the job creation. And we know that that is going to be gradual in the next year. But we should know that 800 million in the next 10 to 15 years, I mean, that's approximately every year The number of young people. equal to the inhabitants of Germany, that each year will be added to the labor market. So it's quite a challenge. On your first question, yes, so the economy, the worldwide economy in aggregate is more resilient than expected. But underlying, you see that there is a group of countries, and you could broadly say these are the developed countries. that they're seeing the positive effects of investments in AI and productivity growth thanks to AI. On the other hand, you have another group, and that is a larger group of developing countries that do not see the benefits of AI so much and that feel the compound impact of the three things that I just mentioned. And so there is an average thing, but there is two movements. There is one movement where The impact of productivity growth and investment is there. But on the other hand, you start seeing the impact related to multidimensional poverty for people who were just lifted out of poverty in the past decades and now are being pushed back into poverty. And if this continues in the months to come, we expect that effect to be further accelerated.

Thank you, Mouna.

Thank you very much, Mr. de Kruif, for your time. My name is Muna Awtul. I'm with Al Quds Al Arabi. You know, as a former head of state, how difficult it is to turn financial commitments into real projects. You mentioned in your opening remarks that an agreement was signed with the World Bank. So if you could please give us a concrete example on how UNDP is going to use this framework, this agreement that was signed to mobilize investments specifically to, as you mentioned, create jobs and also to grant access to reliable energy for schools. And thank you again so much.

Okay, so the framework agreement between the World Bank and UNDP really is one where both of us bring to the table what we are strong at. I mean, what the World Bank is strong at, obviously, is their financing and their lending capacity. the macroeconomic analysis that they do. What UNDP is strong at is policy reform and making sure that those policy reform in the end are implemented and really make a difference. And that often is the obstacle before the World Bank can start disbursing their funding. So we're going to be working on three domains. One is upstream policy work. Very often reforms are necessarily related to rule of law, financial infrastructure, financial legal framework. That's one element. The second element is that UNDP is putting its network, we have a network in 170 countries with long-standing, long-lasting relationship with local governments to open that up to make sure that those reforms can get implemented. And then the third domain in which we will be working together is in sovereign bond operations, where we bring both our skills together. What we see today is that the opportunities for investment, and you mentioned renewable energy, definitely the opportunities for investment in renewable energy, they're there, because renewable energy is today very attractive from an economics point of view and from a geopolitical point of view also very attractive. Financing is there. We know that multilateral development banks and international financial institutions have funding available. That funding today is not flowing at the speed that it could. That's very often because countries are what we would call not investable. The level of trust is not there. the legal framework is not there, but that is not a fatality. Those things can change, and we at UNDP have the tools to make those reforms happen and to support the World Bank in doing what it is best at, which is financing projects to reduce poverty throughout the world.

Thank you, Steph. My question is Apropos of previous question, what it is is how prevalent is corruption these days in parts of the developing world, and how much of an impediment is it to creating new jobs? You mentioned that certain -- I believe you mentioned that there are certain countries that are not investable. Can you just elaborate on that a little bit, please? Thank you.

Look, I can't really go in detail because that situation is different from country to country. Corruption is sometimes one of the factors, but I wouldn't say that this is the dominant factor. Very often, the dominant factor is, for example, institutions that are not functioning, for example, because the country is coming out of a crisis. And very often when you come out of a crisis, institutions are not functioning or sometimes a legal framework, which is not up to date to the current needs for investors. And of course, making sure that in a country when you have an issue, that you have legal instances that can work in full impartiality. This is one of the elements. But if today we look at what are the major impediments, I wouldn't on average, put corruption as the number one element. There is, unfortunately, many other elements that are making investment difficult. But all of these things can be solved, and they can be solved through reforms and through local leadership. And we see that more and more countries are contacting us and understand that public funding for development is decreasing, but they also see that there is more investable capital than ever with international financial institution, but also domestic capital. For example, raising domestic capital, for example, through an efficient tax collection is one of the best ways of financing your own development.

Thank you very much. I don't see any questions online. Alexander, thank you very much. Thank you for staying up late. We wish you some successful meetings in Bangkok and please come back soon. Thank you.

Thank you.

Great. Good afternoon again. We will be joined, just a programming note, tomorrow we'll be joined virtually by Jose Barahona, who is the resident coordinator in Djibouti, who will brief you on the current humanitarian situation in Djibouti, having to do with the issues surrounding migrants. We were just in Bangkok, so let's stay in that area. The Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, is also in Bangkok, where she arrived to participate in the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, just like the Administrator. As part of her engagements, Ms. Mohammed met with senior officials from governments, the World Bank, and World Bank Group, and the UN system, and members of the Secretary General's the members of the Secretary-General's Expert Group on Debt. At a ministerial event on food security, maritime choke points and crisis solutions, the Deputy Secretary-General warned that the war in the Middle East risks triggering far-reaching economic and development crisis. She stressed the importance of cooperation between the UN, the World Bank and member states to sustain essential civilian trade and strengthen food security, underscoring that today's conflict must not become tomorrow's crisis. On Thursday morning, the Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will arrive in the Armenian capital Yerevan, and he is there to attend the Leaders Summit ahead of the 17th meeting of the Conference of Parties on the Convention on Biological Diversity. That will be COP17. During his stay in the country, the Secretary-General will have bilateral meetings with the President of the Republic of Armenia, Vagan Kachaturian, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan. Later in the day, the Secretary-General will attend the official opening ceremony of the Leaders' Summit, and he will also participate in the media launch of the State of Biodiversity Action Report. The Secretary-General will be joined by the Minister of Environment of Armenia and the President of COP17, Humbardzum Metezvoryan, the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, Inger Andersen, and the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Astrid Schumacher. On Friday, he will deliver remarks at the opening and plenary session of the Leaders' Summit. In his remarks, he's expected to warn that right now our world is being rocked by conflict, shocked by climate change, and famished by food insecurity. He also will say that biodiversity is not a separate challenge. He's expected to underscore that progress on all these crises depends on progress on the others, and the window to act is closing. Calling on governments and financial leadership, he will urge all to act with the urgency this moment demands for our future, for our children, and for all life on Earth. The Secretary-General will also meet and engage in discussions with civil society groups, including groups of young people. Also traveling is Jean-Pierre Lacroix, our Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations. He arrived in Beirut, in Lebanon, today for meetings with Lebanese authorities, including President Aoun, Speaker Berri, Prime Minister Salam, as well as the Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Rodolph Heikel. He will also be meeting members of the diplomatic community in Beirut. Discussions are focusing on the implementation of Resolution 1701, the work of the Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, as it prepares for its drawdown at the end of the year, as well as the perspectives for Lebanon after December 31st, once the UNIFIL mandate ends. On Thursday, Mr. Lacroix will go to Nakhoura to meet with the leadership of the peacekeeping mission, as well as its staff. And from -- oops, sorry. And from there, he will travel to -- from Lebanon, he will travel to Syria, where he will meet with the authorities of -- and as well as representatives and the leadership of the U.N. Disengagement Force, UNDOF, which is based, as you know, in the Golan. He will then visit the headquarters of the U.N. Truth Supervision Organization, UNSO, which is in Jerusalem, where he will also meet with the mission leadership and staff before concluding his regional visit by traveling to Iraq. There, he will meet with colleagues from the UN Mine Action Service and partners to see firsthand the impact of their work in addressing explosive ordnance threats and supporting the recovery and safety of impacted communities. He will also meet with Iraqi leadership in Baghdad. And just to know, yesterday, he was in Jordan, where he met in Amman with representative of the Kingdom's security institutions. They discussed Jordan's continued support for UN peacekeeping, as well as the situation in region. Throughout his visit, Mr. Lacroix will have opportunities to express solidarity and support for UN peacekeepers, troop contributing countries, mission partners, and of course, the communities they serve. The visit comes as peacekeeping operations face a significant financial and operational challenge while carrying out their mandates in an increasingly complex environment. We will share additional details of his travel as they become available. This morning, the Secretary-General was in the Fifth Committee, where he presented the proposed 2027 programme budget. Presenting his proposal, the Secretary-General described it as part of his broader reform agenda that he has pursued since his first day in office almost 10 years ago. And he has pursued that with urgency and with purpose. The challenges before us are profound, he said. Geopolitical divisions continue to deepen, conflicts persist across regions, and humanitarian are soaring, international law is being trampled, climate change disruption is hitting every continent, artificial intelligence is reshaping economies and societies, and the Sustainable Development Goals are slipping further from reach. In this year of uncertainty and fragmentation, the need for the UN has never been greater. Mr. Guterres reiterated that member states must fulfill their financial obligations in full and on time, as required by the Charter of this organization, to which every member the member state has signed on to. The Secretary General also stressed that the organization also needs predictable financing and timely payments of these contributions to implement the mandates the member states themselves have approved. Those remarks were shared with you. Turning to the occupied Palestinian territory, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that we and our partners continue to bring supplies into Gaza, despite the ongoing restrictions, the ongoing insecurity, and the ongoing funding shortfalls. Yesterday, our humanitarian colleagues reported airstrikes in the vicinity of the Israeli holding point at Rafah, where humanitarian convoys, alongside commercial traffic, often wait for extended periods of time for Israeli security clearance to actually proceed to their destination. Planned movements and teams en route to the Karim Shalom/Abu Salem crossing had to hold their positions before they could continue to the crossing. Such incidents highlight the risks associated with prolonged waiting at the holding point. Fortunately, no casualties were reported. But this, as we said, underscores the clear and present danger that our colleagues who face every single day as they go about their work in Also, yesterday, UNICEF collected 450 pallets of tarpaulins and more than 450 pallets of winter clothing kits from the crossing. UNICEF says it's scaling up its response in order to reach about half a million children in Gaza and their families, helping them stay warm, safe, and protected during the harsh winter months. On food production, our friends at FAO said over the past year it's distributed the equivalent of more than 430 metric tons of animal feed every month. This is four times the rate before the ceasefire agreement. We continue to call for the full and unrestricted entry of agricultural inputs and equipment to allow for full recovery. of the agricultural sector in Gaza. Turning to the West Bank, our humanitarian colleagues and their partners are supporting Palestinian farmers and olive pickers ahead of the olive harvest season. Our partners have identified areas that require working to protect farmers from attacks by Israeli settlers so they can harvest their crops safely and on time. Partners have called for flexible funding for interventions to help respond to the needs of the affected Palestinian communities. Turning to Yemen, I can tell you that we continue to remain deeply concerned about the ongoing military escalation in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. We're also alarmed by the intense hostilities across multiple front lines, particularly in Taiz, which is having a devastating humanitarian consequences for civilians, as we've been telling you. We call upon the parties to exercise restraint and prevent any further escalation. We continue to urge them to also uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and to refrain from direct attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure and take constant care to spare both civilians and the infrastructure they use. There is no military solution to this conflict, as we've been saying repeatedly, and we're not the only ones saying it. We urge all parties to find a pathway to inclusive dialogue to reach a negotiated political settlement, and I can tell you that our Special Envoy for Yemen, Mr. Hans Groenberg, continues his work actively. Also, just a bit more on the humanitarian situation, especially around Taiz, which is leading to large-scale displacement and growing shortages of supplies. Despite the challenges, our colleagues on the ground report that we and our humanitarian partners have reached nearly 148,000 men, women, and children with emergency assistance since the start of August. Our partners say that basic supplies in Tizi city are becoming increasingly scarce and, as a result, increasingly expensive. They warn that current wheat and flour supplies could out in less than three weeks. Petrol prices have tripled and cooking gas is largely unavailable to the population in Tizi city. Food prices have reportedly risen about 50%. Fuel shortages are also affecting the water supply, putting water services at risk. And, of course, that creates some very dangerous conditions for public health. Also, overcrowded displacement sites, inadequate access to clean water, and minimal health services. Today, WHO warns that suspected cholera cases in Yemen have surged, not unsurprisingly. Of the more than 8,000 cases reported this year, a quarter were reported in the last four weeks alone. Children are also facing a growing risk for measles, while vaccination coverage remains Once again, we reiterate our call on the parties to allow for the safe, unhindered, and rapid distribution of humanitarian aid wherever it is needed and for whomever it is needed. Just to mention that yesterday, Claudio Cordone, our Deputy Special Envoy for Syria briefed the Council. He said that his office continues to engage with Syrian authorities on plans for future electoral events and possible U.N. support. The U.N. is also exploring with the government the possibility of supporting an international recovery and reconstruction conference grounded in Syria's own priorities. For his part, Mohamed Yaya, our Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that Syria presents a real opportunity for recovery, but without investment, it risks being missed. He noted that the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan is currently 32% funded, highlighting the gap between the growing humanitarian needs and what is actually available for us to use. And earlier this morning, the Security Council heard a briefing from the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, Huang Xia. He said that diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict in eastern DRC have continued to make progress, including on the disarmament of the FDLR and the work of the expanded Joint Verification Mechanism Plus. At the same time, Mr. Shaw warned that the security and humanitarian situation in the eastern DRC continues to deteriorate with ongoing hostilities, growing regional tensions, and the continued spread of Ebola. He stressed the need to sustain efforts to build confidence, strengthen regional cooperation, and ensure that peace processes are more inclusive, including through the meaningful participation of women and youth groups. And on the ground, I can tell you that our humanitarian colleagues are also concerned about the growing insecurity, especially in Ituri Province, which is putting displaced families at greater risk and disrupting both humanitarian operations and the response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak. According to civil society organizations, fighting around the Rwe displacement camp in Jugu territory killed at least four civilians and forced additional displacement that took place yesterday. A health facility serving more than 5,000 people was just burnt down. The road sites host more than 50,000 displaced people. Since last September, at least five humanitarian organizations have relocated staff and temporarily suspended operations because of insecurity, which has an obvious knock-on effects on services available to the people in the camp. OCHA warns that the deteriorating security situation could further the Ebola surveillance, contact tracing, and referral of suspected cases. This comes as the national authorities report more than 9,000 reported Ebola cases and over 4,300 deaths. Meanwhile, the peacekeepers tell us that MONUSCO remains vigilant and continues to deploy robust patrols in response to heightened insecurity in Ituri. Once again, all parties must protect civilians, they must respect international humanitarian law, and they must ensure safe and unhindered access for humanitarian goods and services. Staying in Africa, yesterday in Addis Ababa, the quintet, focusing on Sudan, excuse me, in Addis Ababa, the quintet on Sudan, which brings together the UN, the European Union, the League of Arab States, IGAD, and the African Union, continued its consultations with Sudanese civilian and political stakeholders, meeting with a broad platform of anti-war civilians and political forces, including entities such as the group known as Somoud. The consultations form part of the quintet's ongoing engagement with a broad political spectrum of Sudanese political and civilian stakeholders aimed at supporting preparations for an inclusive Sudanese-owned and Sudanese-led political dialogue and future political process. Further consultations with policy stakeholders are planned for the coming weeks. Building on these discussions, Peika Havisto, the personal envoy of the Secretary-General, looks forward to the sixth consultative meeting on enhancing coordination of peace initiatives and efforts in Sudan, which he will co-host with the Swiss Confederation in Geneva. The meeting will bring together Member States sponsoring major initiatives, members of the so-called Quad, neighboring regional countries, and the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Staying in the Horn of Africa, our humanitarian colleagues tell us that humanitarian access is gradually starting to improve in some areas in the north of Ethiopia that had been impacted by recent fightings. Aid organizations are now reaching North Wollo and Wagh Anra zones in the Amhara region, as well as some of the areas in Afar and Tigray regions. Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that incidents of looting are continuing in Tigray. Humanitarian partners tell us that a hospital in the town of Adwa was looted on Monday. They also received reports of looting impacting other public infrastructure and institutions. Our partners also report that displacement continues across northwest Tigray, although reliable and verified figures are not yet available to us. We reiterate our call there as well for safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all impacted areas and the full protection of civilians and resources that we need to help them. A quick note from Panama, where UNICEF colleagues tell us that estimate that more than 8,000 children are in need of humanitarian assistance following the earthquake. Authorities tell us that 656 educational facilities were damaged and classes were continued to be suspended yesterday. In coordination with the government, UNICEF and its partners have scaled up emergency response, deploying additional personnel and relief supplies, installing emergency tents next to hospitals, assessing water, sanitation, and education needs. UNICEF is appealing for $2.5 million to help with this critical work. I want to read into the record that yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General welcomed the decision by the General Assembly to approve his nomination of Isabelle Mercier of Canada as the new Under-Secretary-General for Internal Oversight Services, OIOS, for a five-year non-renewable term, as the tradition -- as the As the resolution requires, she succeeds our friend Fatouma Taindial of Senegal, to whom the Secretary-General expresses his gratitude for her dedicated service to the Organization. Ms. Mercier serves as the director of the Independent Evaluation Office at UNDP. She's done that since 2023, as well as chair of the UN Evaluation Groups. She brings over 20 years of leadership in multilateral organizations in government, and we congratulate her on her announced promotion and new job. We wish her luck. It's a tough job. Before I go to questions, we have a little quiz for you today. Not a money quiz. It's an international day quiz. If you already know what the day is, don't shout it. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earliest known reference to unusual animal behavior before a significant natural event comes from Greece in 373 B.C. Which animals reportedly left their homes and headed for safety several days before the earth shook before an earthquake. What kind of animals do you think?

I think cats.

Uh no. I mean the the no. Try again. Nope.

Rats.

Yes, rats. Okay, very good, Edie. Rats, weasel, snakes, and centipedes. So, what day do we think this is? No. It is the International Day for Disaster risk reduction. Listen, watch your animal's behavior. This year's theme is marked under the theme resilience starts at home, I guess with pets. In his message, this is actually a very serious subject. In his message, the Secretary General says millions of homes are damaged or destroyed every year, displacing families, deepening poverty, and he calls on all of us to commit to making every single home a resilient one. I don't want to say speaking of rats, but Edie, you got the animal, so you go first.

Those furry critters are pretty sneaky.

Yes, exactly. Tell me.

A question about the drone sinking of ships in the Black Sea. Two more were hit today. One sank. Sailors are missing. This has been going on off Bulgaria for recently. Does the Secretary General have any comment about these attacks?

Sure. We, of course, condemn attacks on these civilian ships, especially the most recent one that took place off the coast of Bulgaria. You know, it's very worrisome because these attacks on ships carrying grain, food, and other products destined for the global market have multiplied and have expanded recently. And it's also, it has a terrible knock-on effect on the price of commodities worldwide when you're also seeing the situation around the Strait of Hormuz in the Red Sea, not to mention the risks and often the fatal risks faced by seafarers operating not only in the Black Sea, but in the Strait of Hormuz and in other parts of the world. And I think in a sense, we all owe a debt of gratitude for all of these seafarers who continue to operate in extremely dangerous circumstances, just so that all the goods that we rely on for our daily lives keep moving. Nnamdi.

Thank you, Stefan. Earlier today, the General Assembly voted to elect 15 members of the Human Rights Council. There were exactly as many candidates as there were open seats. In other words, zero competition. Does the Secretary General think uncontested elections help or hurt the Council's credibility? Thank you.

Look, obviously, how the member states organize their elections is up to them. But what we've always said is that member states who are elected to this organization's highest human rights body have an added responsibility to protect human rights, not only in their own home country, but also to be strong advocates for the human rights globally. Islam, nice to see you in person.

Thank you, Stephan. I have a couple of questions. One is on Gaza. The U.S. State Department just released today a press release calling the ceasefire remarkable achievements and quote, "making real progress toward the demilitarized Gaza, where the Palestinians can live without Hamas rule, and Israel can have genuine and lasting security." Looking at the past year, and almost 1,500 civilians died in Gaza, two questions. How hopeful Secretary-General about the, he called, lesser fire, especially the further step, further phase on that ceasefire, while Israel keep pushing the yellow line? And second, what is the Secretary-General take about the big gap between how United Nations described the success of ceasefire while the one of the hegemon power describes it.

Well, I don't think we're using any adjective to describe the ceasefire, which frankly, sometimes the Secretary General has described as a lesser fire. I think two things are true at the same time. We continue to see Palestinian civilians suffer. We continue to see them being killed. We continue to see the expansion of the so-called yellow line. At the same time, what is also true is that we've been able to expand the volume of humanitarian aid that we bring in from what is being allowed by the Israelis for us to bring in. I mean, I just noted about the FAO. I think they brought in four times more animal feed since the ceasefire as they had done before. So I think two things are true at the same time, and we will continue to talk about both of them. The Gaza peace plan was approved by the Security Council. We strongly believe that all of the parties involved in the peace plan have a responsibility to ensure that it moves forward for the sake of the Palestinian civilians, for the sake of Israelis, civilians as well, for the sake of people living in this, on that land. Our part of the, our mention in that peace plan talks about the humanitarian distribution, which is what we've been doing at risk. I mean, I talk today, I mean, about an airstrike near a holding point for humanitarian workers. I mean, our colleagues, day in and day out, continue to put their lives on the line to try to get that humanitarian aid in. It's incumbent on Israel to allow us to bring in more aid and more types of aid, as we've been talking about.

And if I may ask on West Bank, recently a video is cycling in the social media and also local media, including Israeli media, one of the Israeli settlers poisoning his own livestock, apparently to frame the Palestinians in the region while the soldiers walk nearby. Does the Secretary-General share concerns that the settler violence in occupied West Bank is merely the work of what Netanyahu called juvenile delinquents But may you reflect more about the broader pattern of the state enabled violence?

Well, I mean, I think if you look at the briefings by Dr. Lakbarov and others talking about the situation in the West Bank, we've been very clear in condemning the Israeli settler violence, in calling on the Israeli government and the security forces to do what they are obliged to do, which is to protect the civilian population, the Palestinian civilian population as well, and to ensure that all those who are involved in violence are held to account. As for the video you mentioned, I haven't seen it. Yes, sir.

Regarding Lebanon, you mentioned UN officials meeting with Lebanese officials tomorrow, and the mandate for the UNIFIL ends this year by December 31st. How does the Secretary-General sees the way forward security-wise, and does the European initiative is being considered positively also by the Secretary-General?

The situation Currently, we've not been told of a post-December 31st plan. The Secretary General brought forth a number of options for a kind of a continued international presence under a UN mandate. Security Council has not acted on that. Until it acts on it, we can't move forward. Come January 1st, unless there's some change, the mission will move into the drawdown and liquidation phase. The situation on the ground is not going to get magically better on January 1st. It will continue to be extremely dangerous, extremely worrying, and we very much hope that the international community comes up with a plan that will serve the populations of southern Lebanon and will also enable the population of northern Israel to go home.

Just one more thing, excuse me. Regarding Yemen, you mentioned the involvement of the special envoy to Yemen. Does he speak to the Houthis? How is the communication going?

Yes, he speaks. He's, I mean, he speaks regularly. He has regular interaction with Houthi interlocutors.

Could there be diplomatic solution to this?

Well, there has to be a diplomatic solution. If you're asking me, like, what do we, Are we optimistic or are we pessimistic? We continue to be determined to find one. Alex.

Thanks, Staff. I have a quick follow-up on the Secretary-General's trip to Armenia.

What will be on the agenda for the meeting between the SG and Armenian Prime Minister, besides the COP17?

I would expect, obviously, the work of the UN in Armenia to be on the agenda, and of course, the regional security situation. Linda.

Thank you, Staff. Regarding The payment of UN dues for peacekeeping.

Apropos the payment of UN dues.

Yes, excuse me. Apropos the payment of UN dues, both for peacekeeping and regular budget. Again, how many of the 193 members are paid in full as of October 13th?

I will need to get you, every time we announce a payment, we tell you how many have paid. I should know that in my head. But I think it's about, anyway, I'll get you, we'll get you the number as soon as the briefing is over. All right. No more questions online, in person, in the air. See you guys. No, you'll have Farhan tomorrow. I'm leaving with the boss.