Thailand/Cambodia, Amnesty International & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

Good afternoon, everyone. Some of you have been asking about the situation between Thailand and Cambodia, and I can tell you that the Secretary-General is following with concern reports of armed clashes at the border between Cambodia and Thailand. The Secretary-General urges both sides to exercise maximum restraint and address any issues through dialogue and in a spirit of good neighborliness, with a view to finding a lasting solution to the dispute. I want to flag that tomorrow morning, at about 10 AM, the Secretary-General is scheduled to deliver remarks at Amnesty International's 2025 Global Assembly. In his remarks, which he will deliver virtually, the Secretary-General will highlight concerns about human rights challenges around the world, and the importance of recognizing that human rights are the solution to those challenges. You will be able to watch those remarks on UN Web TV. And yesterday, in a message, the Secretary-General welcomed that the International Court of Justice has issued its historic advisory opinion. He noted that they made clear that all states are obligated under international law to protect the global climate system. The Secretary-General underscored that this is a victory for our planet, for climate justice and for the power of young people to make a difference. He pointed out that young Pacific Islanders initiated this call for humanity to the world, and the world must respond. The Secretary-General stressed that, as the ICJ has laid out, the 1.5-degree goal of the Paris Agreement must be the basis of all climate policies under the current climate change treaty regime. For his part, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, highlighted that the advisory opinion makes clear that human rights law and obligations apply in the context of climate change and must be taken into full account by States. He added that this includes the human right to life as well as to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, which the ICJ says is foundational for the effective enjoyment of all human rights. Turning to the situation in Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that UN teams were able to collect food aid mainly flour, from Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings yesterday. But our partners note that more than 1 million children are bearing the brunt of deepening starvation and malnutrition, with reports of death from malnutrition increasing by the day. According to our partners working in nutrition, in the first 2 weeks of July, nearly 5,000 of the 56,000 children under the age of 5 who were screened for malnutrition in the Gaza, Deir el-Balah, and Khan Younis governorates were found to be acutely malnourished. This is a staggering 9% rate, up from 6% in June and just 2.4% in February. Today, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that one in every five children in Gaza City is malnourished, according to the agency's latest findings. To give you some numbers on the facilitation of our movements inside Gaza: yesterday, out of 16 attempts to coordinate such humanitarian movements, Only 8 were facilitated, including the collection and transfer of limited fuel. 2 other movements were initially approved but then faced impediments on the ground. 3 were outright denied, including the retrieval of medical supplies, and the remaining 3 had to be cancelled by the organizers. OCHA and our partners emphasized that the aid that they have been able to bring into Gaza over the past 2 months is nowhere near sufficient to meet people's survival needs. The UN and our partners are unable to bring enough aid into Gaza due to a number of interdependent factors. Including bureaucratic, logistical, administrative, and other operational obstacles imposed by Israeli authorities, ongoing hostilities and access constraints within Gaza, and incidents of criminal looting and more shooting incidents that have killed and injured people gathering to offload aid supplies along convoy routes. Taken together, these factors have put people and humanitarian staff at grave risk and forced aid agencies on many occasions to pause the collection of cargo from crossings controlled by the Israeli authorities. OCHA stresses that the little assistance that has been able to reach warehouses, distribution points, and other humanitarian facilities inside Gaza is woefully insufficient to curb starvation or sustain life-saving operations, particularly as the Israeli military continues to issue new displacement orders. So many families have been squeezed into just 12% of Gaza area, while the remaining 88% of the Strip now either falls within Israeli militarized zones or has been placed under displacement orders. Meanwhile, the entry of critical items such as tents or any other shelter materials has been banned by the Israeli authorities for over 20 weeks, and the trickle of fuel now let in is also wholly insufficient. Our colleagues on the ground, who themselves are affected, displaced, and going hungry, insist on staying and providing life-saving assistance. They, like the rest of the UN, continue to call for a ceasefire and— an end to the devastation. And I'd like to make a clarification to something we said yesterday when we stated that 220 mothers died in Gaza from January to June 2025. It's now been clarified that the 220 pregnancy-related deaths before birth, which have been reported by the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in fact refers to stillbirths and not maternal deaths. Turning to Syria, our colleagues from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tell us that today They led an interagency visit to rural Damascus Governorate, where they assessed needs and provided assistance to more than 500 families displaced by the recent violence in As-Suwayda Governorate. They visited the Sayyedan Zainab community, and in the coming days, OCHA is also planning to visit Daraa Governorate, where humanitarians are working to support tens of thousands of displaced people. In As-Suwayda yesterday, the supplies brought in on the second convoy from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent are being distributed. They include food, wheat flour, fuel, medicines and health supplies, with UN agencies also providing support. Medical items were delivered to the As-Sueda National Hospital, and the wheat flour was distributed— was dispatched to bakeries. The UN continues to engage with the Syrian authorities and partners to facilitate direct access to As-Sueda. In rural Damascus and Daraa, our partners are scaling up protection services for displaced people. Including psychosocial, first aid, and case management support for children. Community centers and mobile teams are providing legal and medical referrals. In rural Damascus, Daraa, and As-Sweida governorates, more than 1,600 dignity kits have been distributed to displaced women and girls, with our partners also providing recreational activities, awareness sessions on gender-based violence, and support for women and children. The Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo strongly condemns the resurgence of violence in Ituri Province, which has resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians. The Mission is especially concerned by the repeated and deadly attacks carried out by the ADF, the Allied Democratic Forces, which have claimed the lives of 82 civilians in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu. MONUSCO also condemns the attacks on civilians that occurred earlier this week in Djugu Territory, as well as the looting and desecration of the Catholic parish of Lopa, attributed to the Codeco armed group. MONUSCO encourages provincial authorities to continue promoting dialogue among all communities in Ituri to reduce tensions. The Mission reaffirms its unwavering commitment to dialogue, social cohesion, and the search for sustainable solutions for peace in eastern DRC. Our peacekeeping colleagues remain fully engaged alongside Congolese authorities and local communities to de-escalate tensions, protect civilians, and support stabilization efforts in affected areas. Turning to Sudan, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is alarmed by the ongoing violence against civilians in the Kordofan region. In West Kordofan State, a professional association of Sudanese doctors reported yesterday that an attack on the Brima Rashid area, north of An Nahut town, killed some 30 people and seriously injured more than 40 others. Reports from the ground indicate that fighters entered the center of the village in combat vehicles and opened fire indiscriminately on homes and a market. Women, children, and older people are reportedly among the casualties. Medical sources say that many of the wounded need urgent surgical care. OCHA stresses that events in Bremarashid underscored the growing risks facing civilians in the Kurdufan region and the urgent need for a cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians, and safe, sustained access to humanitarian assistance and services. OCHA is also warning about the impact of growing gaps in humanitarian assistance in the Darfur region. In North Darfur State, needs are mounting in the locality of Dawila, which is hosting hundreds of thousands of people who fled fighting in and around al-Fasher. Our humanitarian partners report that just over half of water needs are currently being met, and latrine coverage has dropped to a critically low ratio of 1 latrine for every 150 people. Many emergency latrines are collapsing, with no funding available for desludging or replacement. Hygiene support is minimal, particularly in remote areas, and distribution of dignity kits has been inconsistent as funding constraints have led to supply shortages. A cholera outbreak in Tawilah is compounding this already dire situation. As you know, the UN and our partners launched an operational response plan focusing on Tawilah earlier this week, requesting $120 million to urgently scale up life-saving support in the area. Meanwhile, in Northern State, a recent nutrition campaign led by UNICEF and its partners reached more than 98% of the targeted 135,000 children and 28,000 pregnant women across 7 localities. Nearly 2,000 cases of acute malnutrition were identified, and mobile clinics have been dispatched to gathering sites in Adba and Delgo, which continue to receive people fleeing conflict in North Darfur. Turning to Ukraine, our colleagues from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tell us that attacks across the country have hit several regions today and yesterday. Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Odesa City, and the Kherson and Donetsk regions are among the impacted areas, with people killed and injured and damage to civilian infrastructure, as reported by the authorities and aid workers. Amid the ongoing hostilities, almost 600 people were evacuated from the Donetsk region. Another 2 dozen people were evacuated from the northeastern region of Sumy in the past day due to heavy fighting. After the overnight attacks in Cherkasy and Odessa, aid workers helped first responders by providing first aid, meals, shelter materials, hygiene kits, emotional support, and legal help to affected families. I've been asked about the crash of a passenger plane in Russia, and I can say that we send our condolences to to the families of the victims of the crash, as well as to the people and the government of Russia. This morning, Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Khalid Kihari, briefed the Security Council on the cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organizations. He said that at a time of growing geopolitical complexity, cooperation with organizations such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation remains indispensable. He underscored that in the Middle East, The UN and the OIC have long shared common objectives in seeking a lasting and comprehensive resolution to the question of Palestine. Cooperation with the OIC is also evident in Lebanon, Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, and other parts of the region. Mr. Kiari added that, guided by Chapter 8 of the Charter, such cooperation is a key priority for the Secretary-General and an important part of implementing the Pact for the Future. Today, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the UN Human Rights Office released a report documenting the cases of individuals involuntarily returned to Afghanistan who have experienced serious human rights violations on the basis of their specific profiles. According to the report, these violations have included torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and threats to personal security at the hands of the de facto authorities. The report found that Groups of people returning to the country who are at particular risk of reprisals and other human rights violations by the de facto authorities were women and girls, individuals affiliated with the former government and its security forces, media workers, and civil society. The report is available online. And the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, concluded his travels to Afghanistan and Iran yesterday. He discussed the Afghan emergency with authorities and the importance of safe, voluntary and dignified returns. Mr. Grandi highlighted the need for more international support for the Afghans at a time of multiple challenges in the country, as well as for host communities in countries of asylum. The World Health Organization today announced that it has certified Timor-Leste as malaria-free. WHO noted that this is a remarkable achievement for a country that has prioritized the disease and embarked on a concerted nationwide response, shortly after gaining independence in 2002. Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said that Timor-Leste's success proves that malaria can be stopped in its tracks when strong political will, smart interventions, sustained domestic and external investment, and dedicated health workers unite. With today's announcement, a total of 47 countries and 1 territory have been certified as malaria-free by WHO. Tomorrow at 12:45 there will be a press briefing here by Diego Pacheco, the Chair of the Landlocked Developing Countries and Chargé d'Affaires of the Bolivian Mission to the United Nations. He will brief on the adoption of the General Assembly resolution, International Day of Awareness of the Special Development Needs and Challenges of Landlocked Developing Countries. And that's it for me. Are there any questions? Yes, Amelie first.

Next week, the GA is holding the conference on the Palestine issue and the two-state solution. What is the message of the Secretary-General ahead of the conference?

Well, the Secretary-General has made clear that it's important that the prospects of a two-state solution be supported and energized. This is the only workable solution for the people of Israel and Palestine, and he welcomes efforts to reenergize that process. And of course, he will speak to you at that conference. Deshi, and then Gabriel.

Two things. First, Israeli Parliament approved a bill on the West Bank suggesting that it's the land of Jewish people. Any response from the Secretary-General on that Israeli Parliament's action?

As far as I'm aware, this is a declaration that does not have legal standing, but from our standpoint, of course, it's very clear that the West Bank and indeed the entire occupied Palestinian territory is something that needs to be respected as a territory, and its status has to be resolved through negotiations between Israel and Palestine. There can be no unilateral attempts to change or alter the status of those territories.

Secondly, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to strike down a landmark legal opinion called the Endangerment Finding, which determines that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare. How worried is the Secretary-General that this might give way to more actions that's disregarding the climate change and the current trend?

Well, we want all states to appreciate the severity of the climate change crisis. Yesterday's ruling by the International Court of Justice makes clear the responsibilities of states to actually deal with climate change, and we expect and trust that member states will understand the severity of the situation that we're facing. Sorry, Gabriel and then Edith.

Thank you, Farhan. Two questions. The first one is, Back to the two-state solution conference on Monday. On the preliminary agenda that we've received, it shows SG speaking, giving perhaps opening statements after 10, and then also speaking at the beginning of the plenary. Is that correct?

Yes, yes, he expects to speak twice.

Okay, I'm glad I asked. And the follow-up, if I can, on a follow-up on Israel's announcement on restricting visas for OSHA staff. I know there are a lot of questions about this yesterday, so I won't repeat them. I just wanted to follow up on one specific point. Does Israel have a sovereign right to deny visas to UN staff?

Well, on the one hand, Israel, like any other state, has the sovereign right to issue or not to issue visas. On the other hand, as is clear from the UN Charter itself, member states are supposed to allow for the work of UN officials in their countries. And we have, as you know, privileges and immunities in that regard. So we want all of our crucial work to be carried out.

You acknowledge that the ICJ has confirmed that Israel has no sovereign authority there and that its entire presence is unlawful and must end immediately. And the ICJ has ruled that it must— it being Israel— must allow unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid. That is the job of the UN. So if they're blocking visas for UN to do that job, isn't that in violation?

Well, that, that would be for the ICJ to to decide and to determine. But from our perspective, yes, all member states need to abide by the ICJ rulings. What I was talking about is Israel's own national authority over its visa issuances. Yes, Edith.

Thank you, Farhan. Four major news organizations, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, and the BBC, issued a joint statement today, um, saying that their journalists in Gaza are starving. And the statement, um, called on Israel to allow journalists in and out of Gaza and allow adequate food supplies into the territory. Does the Secretary-General have any comment on this joint statement?

Well, we certainly support that call, which is in line with what we've been calling for. We've consistently been calling for journalists to have access, free access into Gaza, and we have consistently been calling for all the population to have the food that they need, and we will continue to do that. It's not just journalists, all of the— everyone in Gaza, including, by the way, our own personnel are affected by hunger. Our people who are there, I heard from some of them who were reporting back just in the last hours, they're hungry, they themselves are displaced, many of them, you know, faint and find themselves unable to do their job, and yet they're staying on and doing the work that they need to do. But this cannot go on. Everyone, everyone in Gaza needs to be able to eat.

Thank you, Farhan. I want to go back to follow up on Gabriel's question on the sovereign right, because it's what actually Stefan said yesterday in the context of these visas, and the question whether that was misspeaking, because—

well, Stefan, to clarify, Stefan is talking about the right that all member states have in terms of issuing visas for their own territories. Yeah, so, so, so that he's not expanding that to talk about territories under occupation.

So that will— that the question, does Israel have a sovereign right to issue visas when it— because all these human rights organizations are actually not working in Israel, they are working in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem. So yes, Israel is the one who's issuing visa and controlling this territory, but they don't have a sovereign right to actually, uh, to— for this, uh, place, like, because it's under occupation according to your resolutions and according to international law.

And of course, UN resolutions concerning occupation need to be respected. I was, you know, the reference that Stefan made yesterday was to its national rights.

Uh, yes, uh, thank you, Farhan. The talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul on Wednesday— Ukraine, just like the UN Secretary-General, called for a full and unconditional ceasefire. In response, as you just mentioned, Russia launched strikes on Ukrainian cities including Kharkiv and Odessa. Would you care to comment on this kind of Russian diplomacy?

What we want is for both countries to faithfully go through the diplomatic process and to halt the fighting. Obviously, we want a solution that is in line with international law, the UN Charter, and the resolutions of the UN General Assembly and Security Council. Yes, please.

Thank you, Farhan. This is Ming Lu from China Daily. On the Trump administration The Obama administration just canceled a major loan guarantee for a wind energy project, Greenbelt Express, which was designed to transfer wind power across several states. And this Tuesday, the U.N. also released a report about renewable energies. Does the U.N. have any comment how this measure would influence the global energy development? Thank you.

The only real comment I have is that the Secretary-General has made clear that he believes that basic economic realities, basic technological realities mean that clean energy is the way to go in the future and therefore over time simply relying on the old system of fossil fuels will not be profitable for countries, will not be profitable for businesses, and he believes that they will ultimately have to shift towards clean energy. Yes, please, Alex.

Thanks, Farhan.

First of all, on the escalation between Thailand and Cambodia, do you have any UN personnel in that region?

We have different UN offices, including, I believe, a fairly extensive UN office in Bangkok.

Are they safe for now?

As far as I know, yes.

Secondly, I'm not sure whether you consider is that is like internal issue, but do you have any comments on the Ukrainian law tightening control over key anti-corruption agencies and also ongoing protests in that regard?

We're aware of these protests. Obviously, we don't comment on internal domestic issues, but, but certainly we want all governments to take steps to make sure that they can deal effectively with corruption. Yes, Deshi, and then Ibtisam.

Yes, just an hour ago, the Israeli Foreign Ministry posted something on X that they invited correspondents to Kerem Shalom crossing to see those piling up humanitarian aids. They said why there's piling up supplies because, quote, the UN refuses to distribute the aid. Hamas and the UN prevent the aid to reach the civilians in Gaza. The world deserves to know the truth. End of quote. Is that the truth?

We've been telling you over and over again what the facts were. In fact, I read some out at the top of the briefing about all the various impediments we face. And you can go back to what I just said at the start.

The—

the why— Hold on. The basic point here is that people are starving. More than 2 million people are starving, including, as Edie pointed out, journalists, including, as I just pointed out a few minutes ago, our own personnel. They're starving because food is not getting in. We are not trying to prevent all these people, including our own people, from getting food. They're being held up by different obstacles, including those placed by the Israeli authorities, and we have been calling For months, and you've seen over the, you know, over the last months, look at all the videos from March, from April, from May. We've been saying this over and over again. If this situation doesn't clear up, if this does not get better soon and more aid go through all the various checkpoints, people will die. We've been saying this for months, and now we're at the point where in fact people are dying.

Farhan, Uh, when I read this, the first impression to me is that the Israeli Foreign Ministry is trying to associate UN with Hamas. What's your response for that? Because they, they said this from time to time, like yesterday in the Security Council meeting, today on X. It seems like they, they try to associate you guys with Hamas.

Any such, any such, uh, allegation is deplorable. And as you know from what you're dealing with, you know we're not Hamas. And you should know how to evaluate these claims for yourself. Ibtisam.

I have first a question regarding the visa issues that you discussed lengthily yesterday, but the question whether we can have a— because this issue actually started before not only in the last 2 years, you, you have been having actually visa, especially the Human Rights Council. Um, but if we could have like a breakdown, how many people are actually, uh, foreign, um, nationals working in the occupied Palestinian territory, and how many were— had their visas, uh, refused, or only, um renewed for a month or very short period, that would be great.

Yeah, I mean, we've been, we've been giving you some of this information on a case-by-case basis. Obviously, many of our officials who are from outside the area have been getting visas for short-term periods, and, and they've been fairly tightly conditioned. And yes, it's very clear that that many people, including the current head of OCHA in the territory, are facing difficulties getting actual visa extensions. This has been a problem that we've been having for a while now. The numbers shift because people move in and out, but even when we replace one official with another one, the visa problems continue.

Yeah, but could we have like some numbers or statistics? That would be a little bit helpful to have this in perspective. And I'm— I have another question regarding next week's conference. You talked in general about the SG, uh, and what he would like to see from this conference. I, I'm wondering whether he wants countries to take specific steps, and if you could share that with us, like which— what exactly he wants countries to take.

I think he'll make remarks in which he makes clear what his expectations are, but I'll leave it for him to say that. I'm not going to steal his thunder at this stage. Pam.

Thanks, Farhan. Just to clarify some of the issues you've already addressed on humanitarian aid. There are several social media announcements, pictures, not just by the GHF and Israel, but by other aid groups that show pictures of 800 trucks waiting to go into Gaza that the GHF, the Gaza Humanitarian Fund, has gathered, asking— and they have said they have asked the UN to help get that in. What precisely is it that is the block for the UN to participate in helping get that aid in? The impartiality, all of that?

Tell me exactly. We've explained what our standards are. And we've explained why we will not participate in a militarized system of aid distribution. And you, in the last several months, have also asked us about those people who have been killed trying to access that aid. We do not want a system of aid that— distribution that endangers the people it is meant to to help. We will, we will participate with any group as long as they abide by the basic standards that we set.

And it's just one more bite of this apple, if you don't mind. There, there are trucks now at the border. Is there any impediment to the UN just bringing in that aid?

The impediments are not caused by us. If we If there are trucks and we have the clearance to bring them in, we'll bring them in. The procedures that we have of informing the Israeli authorities, of having them inspect, of us unloading and then reloading, we're prepared to do all that for all these things once we get permissions, but we haven't been getting them.

All right.

Thank you.

Benno.

Farhan, I'm not sure if Pam just asked this. Sorry, I was not here. But can you confirm that it was hundreds of trucks driving into Kerem Shalom in the last hours or days?

Well, what I said at the start of this is— at the start of this briefing is that we were— we did confirm that UN teams were able to collect food aid, mainly flour, from the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings yesterday. We're trying to get more and more aid in, but the quantity that's going in is not sufficient to deal with the situation on the ground.

And the claim from the Israelis now about you're not distributing it, what are the impediments you talk about in response specifically?

I've said this at length at the start of the briefing, but so, so go back and see. But the basic point, we've been telling you this for months now, is But we have to get aid in through a process, a fairly cumbersome process of clearances. We don't always get permissions to get aid in. Sometimes the delays in getting the clearances are such that we cannot then deliver aid safely because the daylight hours have ended. Sometimes we can just get it in, in through the checkpoint and then then we'd still require the further clearances to get them offloaded, put onto other trucks, and then distributed. So there's a series of different impediments. And this at a time when there's fighting in the territory means that an already risky process is hindered by further bureaucratic encumbrance.

Thank you.

So do you see the tweet from the Foreign Ministry of Israel as propaganda?

Deshi asked a similar question. I think the comparison between the UN and Hamas is particularly egregious. Yes, Gabriel.

Thank you for coming back to me, Farhan. All of this debate on how many trucks are there, where can they go, where can they not go, could all be solved if independent— international, excuse me— journalists could be allowed into Gaza. Israel controls that. Israel says they will not allow it. The Palestinian journalists that have been reporting from the scene, as you know, have either been killed by Israel or have been discredited by Israel. My question to you is, yesterday the Israeli ambassador was asked, why don't you allow international journalists into Gaza for the last 22 months? And his answer was very clear. He said, because we think it's too dangerous for them. Does the UN feel it's a member state that should decide the safety of international journalists in a war zone, or should that be left up to the news organization?

That's not how I would handle the question so much as saying that throughout history journalists have covered wars. They have the ability and the capacity and indeed the bravery to cover this war, but what they need is the access., and we are calling for access.

One of the officials, as you know, that was— has been— is being expelled by Israel is the head of office of OSHA, as you well know, Jonathan Whittle. Does the Secretary-General support him, and will he file a formal complaint with the State of Israel on his expulsion?

Certainly, certainly we support Mr. Whittle and his work wholeheartedly. We will do what we can to see how we can continue to maintain our various officials in these territories. Have a good afternoon, everyone.