Artificial Intelligence, Finances & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

corrupted, right? So the strongest directional claim in our report is in the human rights and democracy section. And we have some incredible scientist women who have done this. By the way, the panel is almost 50/50 men and women, right? And also Global South represented. The most urgent governance shift is from content moderation to system architecture. That's the main part. You regulate the persuasion and manipulation machinery itself. We don't police individual pieces of content. The report is actually very firm here because governance that only chases outputs will always fall behind systems that are engineered to generate content at scale. That's the stuff I know really well, but there's a lot more in the report. If you look at it, it will give you the— it'll give you the facts to actually jump to your own conclusions.

Thank you. We'll go online to Suraksha from the Economic Times of India. Go ahead.

Hi, am I audible?

Yes, go ahead.

My question is to Mr. Yoshua Bengio. The report says that countries without their own AI infrastructure or AI testing capacities risk losing opportunities to co-develop key technologies, shape governance frameworks, influence emerging global standards, and retain talent. So he was in India just 4 months back. I'm sure he gathered some insights. Sam Altman was there. Dario Amodi was there. Where does India fare in these parameters? Can the co-chairs elaborate, please?

Well, the report is global and is not like looking at a particular country, but I could comment on the pieces that you mentioned from the report. Again, we're not making particular recommendation, but we are seeing that there's an issue that— and India, you know, among the Global South countries is kind of privileged because it's so large and it has a large pool of talent actually. But, you know, think about the vast number of other countries in the Global South. In fact, even in developed countries, the question is, can they even be part of the development of the most advanced AI systems in a way that they can shape the future that's aligned with their values and their interests. And so what the report talks about, for example, is the scale of investment and talent pool that has become required to build the most advanced models.. And if those models are going to dominate economically and potentially in other ways, what happens to the countries that don't own these models? Well, individually, it's clear that they can't do anything. I mean, they can try, but there is no chance that they can really manage this challenge. So I'll let you jump to your own conclusions about you know, what are the other options? But it seems very clear from the data that this is a real issue. And when Maria and I were in New York with the General Assembly on the 19th of June, clearly it was something very, very central in the minds of the member states who've been asking a lot of questions about this, about the AI divide or the concentration of power or sovereignty issues for which it doesn't look like there's a trivial, simple solution that each country individually can, you know, implement.

Thank you very much. We'll go to Andrea from Reuters and then we'll go to Victor.

Andrea.

Yeah, hey, thanks so much for doing this. I'm, I guess, digging in on these same very questions. So, I've been a little surprised by the lack of concern being expressed by the IMF and the World Bank and others about these— the— about the gap, the AI gap that you're describing. And I'm— I wonder, um, if you think that, like, you know, there's just not enough attention to this economic fallout of what this means. We're already seeing that the Sustainable Development Goals are not going to be reached, um, but but partly because of drawbacks, you know, fa— put, you know, because of COVID Now, you know, with this grave imbalance in terms of power and concentration of power, I just wonder if, you know, what your thoughts are on that. But, and then also, I, I mean, I realize you're not making policy decisions, but your point, Joshua, is important, is that no individual country in the Global South is going to be able to address this. So it's going to require some kind of broader initiative, if I'm correct, right? Thanks.

I didn't say it, but yeah. I just want to make a comment about organizations like the World Bank and the IMF and economists in general. They have a very rigorous tradition of allowing enough time to pass for data to be collected and having, you know, strong evidence about a conclusion. So in the report, for example, we look at the studies that exist about labor, the effect of AI on jobs, right? And first, these studies tend to be old because it takes 1 or 2 years for any of these studies to happen. In the meantime, AI has continued its rise in capabilities. There are also some studies which are more recent and we can see some effect, for example, on young people, it's more pronounced, but it's still a small effect which doesn't seem to make a big difference on the overall labor market. And it's happening in some countries and not others. So yeah, the only way that governments can take that is deal with this evidence dilemma and consider the possibility that the early signs that we're seeing could be showing a real, in the case of Labour, danger for the global economy, but at the same time, not necessarily bet all their choices that this is going to be the future. The institutions you named, they're very conservative. And that has given them a good reputation for taking, making solid recommendations. But it might not be appropriate now with the speed of deployment and capability advance of AI that we're seeing. And by the way, The Economist among themselves don't necessarily agree on these things. And when you ask them to try to figure out why they come to different conclusions, it's typically because they have a different mental picture of where AI will go in the coming years. So it boils down to the thing I was talking about at the beginning. What's going to be the capability of AI in 2 years from now, 5 years from now, even 6 months from now? Nobody knows, but the important scientific point is there are plausible scenarios, and we should all be prepared for, you know, those scenarios.

Joshua, do you have, like, is there someone that you, or some institution that you think is doing a good job from the economic standpoint?

I'm not going to select organizations and people, but yes, there are.

Maria, go ahead.

I was just going to echo this. I don't think that economists are silent. Our report actually, quote, you know, draws on the work of the IMF, the ILO, and the World Bank. They are studying it. But I think what's true is something that's a little bit more uncomfortable than silence, right? The economics can actually, as Yasha pointed out, can go in many millions directions. The forecasts of AI's effect They span an order of magnitude. I feel like we're living in a science fiction world. But we do flag macroeconomics and labor markets as areas where the science can't draw confident conclusions. Leslie Cho, who is in my part of the world— he's in Singapore, he's an economist, right? He's actually gone through a lot of the things with us. I learned a lot in that time period. I don't think it's the institution failing to sound an alarm. It's honest uncertainty about this fast-moving system. I think what the report says clearly, though, is that the gains may not happen. It's not automatic. And the distribution—who captures the surplus? That's the open question. And that's the alarm of the report. And it's an evidence-based one. I think the other thing that goes with that is that—this happened in my own field—the problem often isn't that no one sounds the alarm. Again, I told you I feel like Cassandra and Sisyphus combined. In the last decade, we've been sounding the alarm in terms of our public information ecosystem. Part of the other reason is that in a polluted information environment, these alarms don't travel the way facts should. So this is where we can— we need your help, right? Careful, hedged, evidence-based warnings are quiet by nature. And they're quiet— that quiet loses to loud in the system we now live in. That's part of why this report is so important. This court exists to put that shared evidence in front of every government at once, so hopefully— and in front of you, so the signal doesn't get drowned.

Okay, thank you. We have time for one more question. We'll go to Victor Barrero from Rappler. I'm not sure if it's ethical for him to ask his boss a question, but we'll let you ask a question, Victor. Go ahead.

Thank you. So the report mentions gaps in the evidence base that would allow for the panel to make confident scientific conclusions in areas like macroeconomics, labor market effects, and the effects on AI on the environment. What would be needed researcher process-wise to help increase the evidence base and maybe steer policymakers towards making better AI policies where they are?

Well, you're asking for a recommendation, but I can tell you the report very clearly highlights that if there were more investments in the question of the impact of AI in society, the safety considerations, the security considerations happening outside of the leading corporations building the AIs because you need independent studies and often you need different kinds of scientists, social scientists in particular. If you think about how it is affecting our information ecosystem as Mira has been talking about, but also psychologists. We've seen the effects on children, on emotional attachment, of emotional attachment and all sorts or things like this. So it is something that requires a lot more societal attention, but not just in the media, also investing in the academic research and other independent organizations that can help us quickly figure out what is going on and provide the evidence that governments need. So, yeah. You can draw your conclusions. But right now, most of the money in AI is in private hands. And the interest, you know, what is necessary, what is the information that society needs to take better decisions, you know, that may be a different goal. And it's something that public organizations like universities have a long tradition of investigating?

Great question. Okay. Sorry. Of course he's a reporter, but I would say 3 things. The gaps aren't mostly about— well, we pointed out what the gaps are. They're about access and standards. And 3 things that would move the needle on that. The first is independent measurement access. Right now, the people who can see— Joshua said this— right now, the people who can see the systems behave in the real world are the developers and everyone else gets what they choose to share. Right. Give official statisticians and independent evaluators privacy-preserving access and you can finally measure the economic and labor effects instead of forecasting across an order of magnitude. I think second is your standardized reporting on the environment. We can't even compare energy and water footprints because there's no common standard across the lifecycle. And then the third is capacity, the ability to do this measurement. And again, we go back to that, right? It has to exist outside the handful of countries where AI is built or the evidence base stays as concentrated as the technology. I think, I hope we're closing gaps through these. We're coming up with thematic briefs and engagement with a wider scientific community. That's what we're going to be doing in Geneva. This report, a month and a half, right? That's what we— it's a baseline.

It isn't the last word. Maria, Joshua, thank you both very much for taking the time for an eye-opening briefing. We wish you safe travels to Geneva, a productive meeting in Geneva, and we hope to welcome you back here whenever you want. Thank you both and take care.

Thank you.

For those of you who still want to report on a lot of events today, we'll start the briefing at 12:20 to give you a mental health break of 20 minutes, and then you have the President's Security Council at 1. You can start now, Paul. Okay, all right, give me 5 minutes.

I mean, you know, I was saving this.

You saw it. That's my cheese away.

So, all right, you. I'm not the first one.

Ukrainian troops killed with the jet.

It's really disgraceful.

I mean, it's really horrifying. This is coming from— New York Times.

Yeah. Oh, red pants, black top. That's it. I like a little coordination in the briefing room. If only I tell me it would take— first of all, it would start on time, it would be factual, and it would be short. But it probably would be humorless. Yes, exactly. We all have to have a shtick, right? All right, David.

What?

No, never. Okay. All right, good afternoon. There's still a bit more work for you to do after this briefing, as you will have a briefing at 1 o'clock from Ambassador Zenon Mukungo N'Gai, the Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who will be here in his capacity as President of the Security Council for the month of July. He will talk to you about the program of work. There will be interpretation French to English, English French, but the briefing will be in person only. Obviously, you can still follow on UN Web TV if you just want to watch and listen. As you heard from the Secretary-General a few minutes ago when he introduced the preliminary report on the independent scientific panel on AI, he reminded us that the panel, which is made up of 40 experts from around the world, is the first global, fully independent scientific body dedicated to helping close the AI knowledge gap and assess the real impacts of artificial intelligence across economies and societies. The report will inform the discussions taking place next week at the first Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance, which is, uh, taking place in Geneva, as I mentioned. As he announced himself, the Secretary-General will be in Geneva on Monday to take part in the dialogue and deliver a keynote address. Um, he's also scheduled to hold a number of bilateral meetings with leaders who will be attending the AI Summit. Um, the Secretary-General, in a statement we issued last night, welcomed the decision by the General Assembly to reform the financial rules that were putting the organization's stability at risk. By its actions, the Assembly has agreed to introduce on a 4-year trial period new methodology to ensure that unspent funds are returned to Member States only when they are backed by cash. The Secretary-General said, "This decision will allow us to manage resources, especially for regular peacekeeping budgets, in a more predictable and responsible way, and to better deliver on the mandates given to us by those very member states. The Secretary-General added that the call for— he had been calling for this change since very early in his mandate. And as he just said to you an hour ago, he is grateful to member states for taking the important action, which will greatly benefit the incoming administration and contribute to the financial stability of the organization for a number of years. We also shared the statements by the President of the General Assembly yesterday that also welcomed the action, and I think you had a pretty interesting briefing from our Controller, Mr. Chendru, a while ago. And on peacekeeping, colleagues add that without the change approved by the General Assembly, the UN would have been forced to return $224 million now and another nearly $900 million by June of next year. The change, together with payments in full and on time by member states, will allow peacekeeping missions to to continue implementing their mandates and reverse some of the negative impact of the contingency plans implemented during the recently concluded budget cycle. Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix thanked Member States for their efforts and the time they devoted to reaching these agreements. He said that we will continue working to improve performance and efficiency so that we can deliver the greatest possible impact for— the people and communities we serve, including by helping to protect civilians, monitor and maintain ceasefires, and advance solutions for lasting peace. Our Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed is in Geneva today, where on the margins of the 58th meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board, she participated in discussions with various stakeholders, including Member States and civil society. While there, she also met with senior UN officials from across the system as part of the broader UNAID consultation process. The Deputy Secretary-General is heading back to New York tonight. I don't— sorry, turning to Lebanon, our colleagues from the Humanitarian Affairs Department tell us that according to authorities and the International Organization for Migration, approximately 40% of over 1 million people displaced by conflict have returned to their home areas. While this marks an important step towards recovery, thousands of people remain displaced and continue to rely on humanitarian assistance. We reiterate that returns must be safe, they must be voluntary, they must be dignified, and people who return must have the access they need to humanitarian goods. Meanwhile, the World Food Programme and its partners yesterday delivered much-needed assistance to hard-to-reach areas across southern Lebanon. We continue to stress that humanitarian access must be granted to all those who need it. A quick update for you on Sudan, where our human rights colleagues continue to document drone strikes in El-Obeid, resulting in further civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure, including schools, a site hosting internally displaced people, and fuel stations and fuel tankers. Damage to fuel and other critical infrastructure is affecting the provision of essential services, including electricity, water supplies, and further— all further constraining access to healthcare. Human Rights Office, uh, again calls on all parties to the conflict to comply with their obligations Under international humanitarian law, including the principles of distinction, proportionality, and precaution, civilians and civilian objects must not be targeted. These are not new laws. They have been in place for a long time. And just to flag that Human Rights Council will hold an urgent meeting on Friday to address the human rights situation in Al-Obaid, and High Commissioner Volker Türk is scheduled to deliver a statement. Turning to the occupied Palestinian territory, our OCHA colleagues tell us that humanitarian partners today called for the protection of civilians in Gaza, including along the so-called yellow line. In a statement issued today, the humanitarian country team, which brings together the heads of UN agencies and NGOs working in the OPT, warned that continued expansion of areas under Israeli control since the— ceasefire of October of last year is intensifying risk to civilians and further constraining humanitarian efforts. Our human rights colleagues have verified the killing of 196 people, including 18 women and 43 children, between October 10th and April of this year in Israeli attacks reported near areas where Israeli forces are deployed. The statement noted that many people were reportedly killed while moving through areas lacking "clear demarcation on the ground and that Palestinian civilians are now concentrated in increasingly limited areas, living amid insecurity and violence, with limited access to services." The statement also called for safe, unimpeded humanitarian access into and throughout the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, on water and sanitation, UNICEF says yesterday that this week— said yesterday that this week partners temporarily restored wastewater infrastructure serving Gaza city, enabling the pumping to resume after being non-operational for the past 2 years. So that is good news. This reduces public health risks, as humanitarians and partners tell us that more than 80% of families struggle to access safe and clean sanitation facilities. And in the West Bank, yesterday Deputy Special Coordinator Ramiz Al-Aghbaroff led a field visit to more than 20— with more than 20 diplomats who met communities impacted by demolitions, evictions, and threat of forcible transfer, movement restrictions, and other longstanding humanitarian concerns, all of that in the Jerusalem governorate. Speaking from Augusta Victoria Hospital, Dr. Alik Barof underscored the importance of sustained international attention to East Jerusalem, highlighting the vital role that hospital plays in providing specialized healthcare for Palestinians. Also, he noted that so far in 2026, about 360 people have been displaced and over 150 structures demolished in East Jerusalem. And turning to Venezuela, our humanitarian partners are scaling up assistance for search and rescue operations. As, um, our colleagues at OCHA tell us that in La Guaira, the support includes management of temporary shelter sites, installation of tents and of beds, primary healthcare, mental health, psychosocial support, child-friendly spaces, and water and sanitation services as well. The World Food Programme has provided ready-to-eat food rations that is supporting community kitchens, while UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration, UNHCR, UN Population Fund, the Pan American World Health Organization, and others are assisting with shelter services, healthcare, hygiene support, and other basic necessities. OCHA is also coordinating the rapid needs assessment with humanitarian partners to identify priority needs to help inform the next phase of the response to these earthquakes. Our humanitarian colleagues note that international support remains significant, with 53 urban search and rescue teams from 29 countries already supporting national authorities. As rescue efforts continue, humanitarian organizations are preparing for the transition to broader relief and, and recovery activities. Um, and from Ukraine, our colleagues at the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tell us that between June 26th and this morning, hostilities and strikes killed and injured several civilians, including children in Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv regions were among the hardest hit, and civilians across Sumy, Kherson, Donetsk, and Chernihiv also continued to be impacted by attacks. That's what local authorities are telling our colleagues. Our social— excuse me, our humanitarian organizations supported by UN agencies alongside first responders and municipal authorities have provided first aid and psychological support. They've also distributed materials and water and food. A new— two new resident coordinators to share with you. One is Dmitry Shlapachenko of Ukraine, who the Secretary-General has appointed as Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan, and Xiaojun Grace Wang of China as Resident Coordinator in Turkmenistan. Both started today. We welcome them and congratulate them, and forgot to flag a note from Central African Republic. Where the head of our peacekeeping mission there, Valentine Rugwabiza, strongly condemned an attack carried out yesterday by members of an armed group in Amdafok, on the border with Sudan, as well as gunfire targeting a peacekeeping temporary operating base there. Three of our Zambian peacekeeping colleagues were injured, including one seriously, as they were conducting a patrol to protect civilians. The injured peacekeepers were airlifted to appropriate medical facilities. They are in stable condition and we wish them a quick recovery. As you are aware, attacks against peacekeepers may constitute war crimes under international law. Chris, you better stand up. We have two quizzes for you today. Besides being the last day of the month, what is August 31st? It is the deadline to get your colleagues to register for media passes for UNGA. Uh, if you are currently holding a valid press pass, you do not need to apply, but all of your colleagues, camera people, producers, anchors with big egos who want to show up the day before and don't have a pass, accredit them before the 31st. The other one is we have a payment, and this country is an archipelago consisting of 33 natural islands and an additional 50 artificial islands created from land reclamation projects. It is in the Middle East. Sorry? UAE? No, ma'am. No, it is the smallest country by area in the Middle East. Its word means two seas— its name means two seas, I'm told, in Arabic. Very good. Finally. All right. So we thank our friends in Manama for a regular payment, 119, and they will— they've sent us $1,599,795 United States dollars, which we accept.

All right. Gabriel. Thanks, Steph. In the SG's remarks about the AI report that came out, he said that soon he will set out proposals to help countries build the capacity to adequately deal with this technology. When he said soon, what is— what's the timeline on that? What's the thinking on what— when he's going to give some proposals?

I think you'll hear a bit more of that in his remarks in Geneva on Monday.

Okay. And that's it for now. Thanks.

That's it for now. Okay. Noreen.

Following up on Gabriel's question about the Secretary General's remarks, um, you know, about the AI panel and the report that's come out and what he has said about setting up proposals to help countries build capacity to deal with AI technology, will he also use, um, that time to also advocate for putting in proper, like, proper regulations or governance over the use of AI in the military domain? Because that is not something that is covered in the panel itself.

This is something he's spoken about already a while ago about unmanned autonomous weapons that are powered by AI without any human control. And he has called for the banning of such weapons and will continue to do so.

But is that enough? Because we can see just in the context of current conflict conflicts today that parties to conflicts, whether they are non-state actors or non-state actors, are using AI not just in, um, like in weapons use but in, um, in other domains, in other like sectors as well, through cyber— in cyber attacks or even in the creation of propaganda. So is that something that the Secretary-General will, uh, you know, bring forward in his discussions to member states?

I mean, this is something he has He has raised, I mean, as you know, the Secretary-General doesn't have the authority to implement such regulation, but he will continue to call for the banning of such weapons and for member states to agree on an international level on the proper regulation.

Yes, Ahmed, then we'll go there.

Thank you, Steph.

We now know that the Lebanon-Israel framework agreement does not immediately call for the withdrawal of Israeli authorities from southern Lebanon, but instead outlines a, quote, sequenced process contingent on the disarmament of Hezbollah. This sounds, of course, a lot like the ceasefire agreement in Gaza. We know the Secretary-General has expressed concern about southern Lebanon facing the same fate as Gaza.

Does he believe this agreement risks creating those same conditions that he's warned about?

Look, I think You know, in Lebanon, we already have Security Council frameworks, Security Council resolutions that call for the government of Lebanon to have the sole monopoly on the use of weapons, to have the sole monopoly on its— on the authority of its own country. This is what UNIFIL was, has been, and will continue to work with the Lebanese Armed Forces processes in that regard, our Special Coordinator's Office continuing to work with the Lebanese on that regard, more on the political track. We will continue to push that. People, you know, every member state and every group needs to respect the sovereignty of Lebanon and needs to respect the authority of its government.

Yes, ma'am, and then we'll go. Thank you.

This is Tao Shi with China Central Television. I have I have two questions about AI. So, UNICEF has called for children's safety and rights to be placed at the center of the issue. And how does the Secretary-General view this call?

Yeah, I mean, the Secretary-General fully supports UNICEF in that regard and the report, and I think this is an issue that was also mentioned by both Joshua and Maria during the briefing.

And my second question is about China will host the 2026 World AI Conference and a high-level meeting on the global governance in Shanghai later this month. So does the Secretary-General see this as an important opportunity to advance international cooperation on the governance?

The Secretary-General and his staff will seize any and every opportunity to enhance the global dialogue. Will he attend? We don't have any travel to announce at this point. Efrat, then Pam, then Namo.

Thank you, Steph. The US—

Hold on, your microphone.

There we go. Is it working? Okay, thank you. US Ambassador Jeff Bartos yesterday at UNRWA's pledging conference essentially argued that continuing to fund UNRWA means continuing to fund a system that has been infiltrated by Hamas. Subsidizing terrorism. My question is, why is the Secretary-General asking countries to put more money into that system rather than investing in the Board of Peace alternative, which has been endorsed by the Security Council?

Sure. I mean, a couple of points. One, I think if you look back at the actions taken by Christian Saunders, by Philippe Lezzerini, in taking strong action when they were presented with facts about a potential infiltration of people aligned with terror within UNRWA. UNRWA doesn't operate sort of immaculate conception. It is there because there is a mandate given to it by the General Assembly, so we continue to fulfill that mandate. It has a very important role to play on the humanitarian front. And, you know, you mentioned the Board of Peace, the resolution adopted by the Security Council supporting the Board of Peace very clearly in black and white calls on the UN to deliver on humanitarian goods and to take the lead on humanitarian activities in Gaza. And UNRWA is part of that system.

You may also— the UN Watch has asked the Security General to waive Felipe Lazzarini's immunity so national authorities can investigate those allegations you were talking about of infiltration of Hamas. Um, will the Secretary-General consider that request?

Look, uh, as far as I know, uh, UN Watch is not a judicial, uh, authority. Uh, we have always, as a matter of principle, cooperated with investigations and national— by national authorities. Pam, then Namo.

Yes, I wanted to make sure you noted that I was using my arm. Oh, congratulations. Thank you. One on AI and one on the Iran whatever agreement. AI, there's been a lot of talk, I didn't get to see the report fully yet, but about using AI for all the translations that would save the UN a lot of money. It seems to have started in certain areas. We all know that it has a long way to go in terms of needing a person to look, especially with foreign languages. What, what's your sense of how AI is being used here or can be used here on translation?

Well, I'll tell you, our, our Department of Conference, General Assembly Conference Services, the GACOM, has been really the forefront of using new technologies such as artificial intelligence for translation of texts, always done under the supervision of humans, of UN staffers who understand the issue and and understand the politics of the issue, but I can tell you they have been very active in leveraging the technology to make the system more efficient and to be able to produce more and to enhance multilingualism.

Thank you. And on a totally different topic, Iran, the agreements. I understand the UN is not playing a role in this— in the negotiations thus far, but the IAEA has been called in. There are different versions of whether the IAEA is now returning for inspections or not. I understand it comes from Grossi and IAEA, but can you clarify it at all?

No. I cannot. I think those are questions to be asked of our IAEA colleagues in Vienna.

But the UN isn't being consulted at all about what role—

Well, that is— I mean, it is the UN. The IAEA is a specialized independent agency. They have a very clear technical mandate when it comes to nuclear issues. When you ask if the UN is being consulted, yes, but it is through the IAEA.

And you don't have a sense of whether they are actually going in.

I would love to speak for everybody and everyone, but I cannot speak for them. Namah.

Thank you, Stephen. In recent days, Iraq has been carrying out what many describe as the largest anti-corruption sweep in years, arresting dozens of government officials, including sitting lawmakers. Does the Secretary-General have any message for Iraqi authorities?

Look, I think— Thank you. We have no specific insight on those investigations. But I tell you that you're seeing the pictures that I've seen of monies found in walls and very strange places, I think, can't— is very moving in a sense. It is clear that globally, and our colleagues at UNODC have been very— published many reports that corruption is prevalent in so many parts of of the world, north, south, east, and west, and it is incumbent on a government to take strong action against corruption for the benefit of its own people. Yes, ma'am, Zina.

Thank you so much. I'm looking to answer for the UNIFIL in Lebanon. Do you know, or do you have any information if the mission will be Renew their work there?

That is a perfect question to ask the President of the General Assembly— President of Security Council in 14 minutes, and he can give you an update of what his colleagues are saying. Let's see if there's another question I can't answer.

Go ahead, Gabriel. Thanks, Steph. I preface this question by acknowledging that there are lots of meetings that take place in this building, And the Secretary-General doesn't necessarily control who attends all of these meetings, right? With that said, next week there's an international conference for police chiefs and interior, uh, uh, secretary officials here at the UN headquarters in New York. Uh, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gavir is reportedly planning to attend. Does the Secretary-General agree with him attending? This conference in UN headquarters in New York?

Look, ministers from, I think, all member states having to do with police and national security were invited to attend. Israel is a member state, and as of 100 other— 192 other member states. I think if you look back over the years, you've seen representatives that are being sent by various governments You will know that the Secretary-General is not there to express an opinion on those representatives. These are sovereign decisions taken by sovereign member states. Yes, Linda, and then we will give you another 12-minute hydration break, and then Evelyn as well, before the next half. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll be quick. Just regarding another issue. Houthis and the detention of UN staff, diplomats, NGOs, etc.? I mean, I know everyone's condemned them, the Secretary-General, Security Council, etc., but what kind of negotiation— are there any negotiations going on regionally or in other ways?

I mean, there are discussions. Or is this like a forever thing? It is sadly a forever thing, especially for those colleagues remain in jail for no good reason, right? Being held by the Houthis, by the Ansar Allah. We have a point person on behalf of the UN system who puts in great effort to regularly engage with Ansar Allah, with the Houthis and others. We continue. I mean, the results are what they are. I mean, I tell you, we would be the first one to announce a deliberation of all of our colleagues or some of our colleagues, but we are continuing to push and we very much hope that all member states who have inroads can help us as well.

And just one question regarding the UN staff, are those primarily Yemenis? Yes, they're all national staff. They're all national?

Yes, yes, yes. Evelyn, and then we'll call it a day.

Thank you, Steph. Totally different. Central African Republic. Does the SG know if the unrest is carried out by this—

the Wagner Group? I mean, what we've seen, like, just in the attacks against our Zambian colleagues, these were by local armed groups. Okay, enjoy the rest of the day and more briefings.