Hate Speech, Peacekeeping & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

So nice to see so many of you here today. I thought after yesterday you had enough. Sorry? Never mind. All right, where do we start? All right, good afternoon. In a short while, we will be joined by our guests, Sara Hendriks, Director of Policy of Program and Intergovernmental Division at UN Women, and Shantanu Mukherjee, the Acting Director of the Statistics Division in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. They will be here to brief you on the launch of the Gender Snapshot Report 2026. And tomorrow, one of the highlights of our pre-GA session, the head of the Treaty Section of the Office of Legal Affairs, our friend David Nanopoulos, will be here. He will brief you on the annual treaty event. And this year's event is entitled Promoting Multilateral Treaties, Safeguarding Humanity. And that will be here during the high-level week, 22nd to 25th. This morning, the Secretary-General spoke at an event at the Global Conference on Countering Hate Speech, saying that the toxic message of hate speech is spreading fast and striking deep. It is taking on new forms, finding new pathways, and weaponizing new technologies. And this is from digital platforms to algorithms to artificial intelligence. The Secretary-General said we must raise our collective voice and reject hatred, and we must redouble our efforts to tackle hate speech online and offline. Reining in hate speech does not mean extinguishing freedom of expression, he said, but freedom of expression must never be an excuse for causing and compounding harm. The Secretary-General noted that the UN strategy and plan of action on hate speech is grounded in international human rights, including the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the principles of equality and non-discrimination. 30 p.m., the Secretary-General will speak at the launch of the UN System Data Commons, which creates a one-stop shop enabling easier public access to data and statistics from throughout the UN system. It's going to be quite a handy tool. 26 UN entities are joining forces to create a single gateway to their public data and statistics. Almost 44 million data points are to be made available on the new platform today. That's a lot of data points. Just to do a quick, okay. Just to note that our colleague Jean-Pierre Lacroix has concluded his latest travel, which included visits to Kyrgyz Republic and China. In the Kyrgyz Republic, he discussed peacekeeping issues with governmental authorities ahead of the country's upcoming membership in the Security Council. The Kyrgyz Republic has long been a longstanding contributor to peacekeeping, dating back shortly after its independence, which was 35 years ago. Then he traveled to Beijing, where he participated in the 13th Beijing-Shanghai forum focused on international security and security governance. As you'll recall, China is the second largest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping and supports the UN Peace and Development Trust Fund, and currently deploys more than 1,600 peacekeepers throughout our missions. Mr. Laquerre is now safely back in New York. A short while ago in the Security Council, members heard from our colleague, Claudio Cordone, the Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, and they also heard from Tom Fletcher, our Emergency Relief Coordinator. Mr. Cordone spoke about the progress being made in Syria, notably the preparations for holding future parliamentary and presidential elections. in line with the new constitution, underscoring the developing cooperation with the Syrian authorities and the potential opportunities for UN electoral assistance. For his part, Mr. Fletcher focused, obviously, on the humanitarian situation in Syria. He said that since December 2024, more than 2 million internally displaced Syrians and 1.8 million refugees have gone home voluntarily. He called this a historic wave of return and the highest to Syria in over decades. In the pursuit of the efforts to help Syrians return, rebuild, and move beyond crisis, Mr. Fletcher called on the Security Council and the international community to invest in the transition out of the humanitarian need and towards reconstruction and growth, to remove the obstacles standing between recovery and development, and to redouble diplomatic efforts in support of Syria's territorial integrity. And next to Syria, we have Lebanon, where our colleagues at the Office to the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, tell us that hostilities are taking a heavy toll on children as the new school year gets underway. Nearly 100,000 children have been unable to return to school because of damage, because of destruction, because of insecurity and displacement. That's what national authorities are telling us. Damage to education facilities has been significant since the escalation began on March 2. According to Lebanese authorities, some 40% of more than 400 schools have been attacked, including 37 that were totally destroyed and 101 severely damaged. Displacement is also disrupting education. Around 20% of school age children were displaced during the escalation. Hundreds of schools have been used as collective shelters. Today, 16,000 displaced people, including 2,500 children, remain in 164 shelters. OCHA reiterates that children must be protected from the impact of hostilities and that schools must remain safe. They must, they also, also that children must be able to return to school safely. and without any fear. On the ground, meanwhile, our peacekeeping colleagues in Lebanon at UNIFIL continue to observe daily IDF activities across in, excuse me, activities in the Lebanese territory in the air, and land, and sea. Peacekeepers recorded 152 violations of Lebanese airspace by the IDF over the past three days, with 309 IDF trajectories, 24 airstrikes, and incursions into Lebanese territorial waters by eight Israeli defense patrol boats. Israeli drones continue to drop explosive-filled jerricans within UNIFIL's area of operations, particularly near Al-Mansouri in Sector West, where at least 11 explosions were recorded on Monday and Wednesday. Yesterday, an unarmed drone originating from an IDF position south of the Blue Line crashed near a UNIFIL position in Hula. Additional IDF drones subsequently monitored both the recovery efforts and UNIFIL's of the crash site. Despite all of this, between Monday and Wednesday, the peacekeeping mission facilitated 17 humanitarian missions in coordination with our humanitarian colleagues. Separately, in a preparatory meeting that is taking place today in Paris, co-hosted by France and Jordan, ahead of the international conference in support of the Lebanese Armed Forces and internal security forces, the officer in charge of the UN Special Coordinator's Office for Lebanon, Jean Arnoux, is in Paris, where he's taking part of the meeting. We welcome this timely initiative and underscore the importance of sustained international support to strengthen Lebanon's security institutions. And in Yemen, the situation-- or excuse me, on our humanitarian colleagues on the ground tell us that the situation continues to deteriorate for people as hostilities spread to more areas in the country, taking a devastating toll on families who are already struggling. The toll on civilians is rising, and the need for access to those who need assistance becomes ever more acute. Since the start of September and as of yesterday, our colleagues at the UN Human Rights Office verified 55 civilian casualties in 19 incidents in Taiz, Al-Hodeidah, Marib, and Lahj. 16 people were killed, including 10 children, and dozens of others were wounded. Overall, women and children account for 84 percent of the casualties, 84 percent. But I want to stress that these are only verified figure. Tragically, the actual toll is likely to be much, much higher. We, of course, condemn in the strongest possible terms the killing and maiming of civilians. Access to funding -- access and funding constraints continue to hamper our efforts at a humanitarian response. Security incidents impacting humanitarian premises, supplies, and movements are, of course, hindering our operations. The scale of these constraints is clear. Our partners have 15,000 emergency kits ready to be distributed, but road closures mean most of them cannot get to those who need them in time. The Mokas seaport remains closed after sustaining heavy damage, and the World Food Program has reported disruptions at 17 frontline distribution points. Despite these extremely difficult conditions, we and our humanitarian partners have reached so far more than 70,000 displaced people with assistance, including rapid response kits, and other very needed items. Following the release of $9 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund, OCHA is now working to transform these funds into urgent assistance for displaced families in the communities hosting them. But more funding is needed. The 2026 Humanitarian Response Plan needs and response plan for Yemen is barely 20 percent funded, meaning partners are being forced to reduce lifesaving assistance at a moment when communities need it more than ever. The current escalation is putting even more strain on already limited resources. And once again, we call on the parties to protect civilians, to respect international humanitarian law, and facilitate the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid wherever and whenever it is needed. And on a related note, on the other side of the Red Sea from Yemen, there is Djibouti, where the government and our teams are seeking approximately $10 million to assist up to 10,000 people or 2,000 families over the next six months following a sharp increase of arrivals from Yemen. As of today, more than 2,800 men, women, and children have reached the Hobok region after crossing the Bab el-Mandeb strait, and you can imagine how perilous that crossing can be. We, together with the Djibouti authorities and our humanitarian partners, are providing reception, registration, food, shelter, water, and health care and protection services. WFP, for example, distributed 12,000 rations of high-energy biscuits, while the UN Refugee Agency is supporting registration and logistics. UNICEF has also deployed personnel to be on site. The UN Resident Coordinator, Jose Barahona, called for rapid and flexible international support during this critical period, stressing that additional resources are urgently needed to meet the growing humanitarian needs of new arrivals. And turning to the occupied Palestinian territory, Tom Fletcher, as you know, our emergency relief coordinator, as we tell you every day, had a call yesterday with the Prime Minister of the State of Palestine, Mohammed Mustafa. He said that through the 81st session of the General Assembly, he will push for -- push a global access initiative to reach 11 million people with lifesaving aid, including aid to support some 2 million people in Gaza through the winter. On the ground, the humanitarian coordinator, Ramiz Alabkarov, today allocated $2 million from the OPT Humanitarian Fund to our health partners so they can continue supporting Gaza's health system. Through this allocation, our partners will provide half a million dollars worth of fuel every month for four months to sustain dozens of critical health services with backup generators while the electricity grid continues to be non-functioning. The allocation comes at a critical point as funding shortages undermine efforts to sustain health care in Gaza. This stopgap measure will keep lifesaving services from being interrupted. Our humanitarian partners stress that more sustainable solutions are urgently needed, including Israeli approvals to import solar energy equipment and restart operations at the Gaza power plant. More funding is also required as the need for fuel and other supply services beyond the health sector, these supplies must be replenished on a sustainable, predictable, and regular basis. Meanwhile, we and our partners continue to provide shelter and other critical assistance to families affected by the collapse of the war-damaged building in Gaza that took place yesterday. UNICEF reiterated the call for urgent approval of heavy machinery, specialized equipment, engine oil, spare parts, and fuel. Last week, our humanitarian partners mobilized rapid local local support for more than 200 households who had lost their shelters or were displaced yet again due to airstrikes, domestic fires, or other incidents. And a quick note from Ukraine, where our humanitarian colleagues tell us that the last 24 hours, several civilians were killed and injured across the country. That includes children. This is according to our local authorities who are telling our colleagues on the ground. Overnight attacks impacted Kyiv, Odessa, and Zaporizhzhia, with further casualties reported in Sumy. Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipro, and Donetsk region. Humanitarians continue to be impacted. On the 14th of September, according to a partner, an attack damaged an aid vehicle in Sloviansk in the Donetsk region. Our humanitarian colleagues tell us that nearly 140 incidents affecting humanitarian personnel and assets and facilities were recorded between January and July this year. According to the UN Human Rights Office, August had the second highest number of civil casualties this year after July. More than 370 civilians were killed and over 2,300 were injured. Overall, the number of civilian casualties in the first eight months of the year was 55 percent than during the same period last year. And a quick note from our colleagues at the peacekeeping Operation in Abyei, who strongly condemned the outbreak of violence in the Amiat Common Market on Tuesday, which left 26 people dead and 82 injured. Following the deadly violence, the mission immediately reinforced its security presence in and around the market, deploying an additional force to try to de-escalate the situation. It is also actively engaged with local authorities and community leaders to restore calm. Lieutenant General Ganesh Kumar Shresta, the head of the mission, says the The peacekeepers are taking all measures to protect civilians and prevent retaliation, so that the priority is to prevent further loss of life. The mission calls on relevant authorities to work closely to conduct a swift investigation, hold the perpetrators to account. And from South Africa, the UN team there, led by the Resident Coordinator, Nelson Mufu, is sounding the alarm following the killing of several women within a short period of time in the East Rand region of Gauteng Province, which is in the northeast of South Africa. We condemn the violence against women and girls in all its forms and manifestations. Our team said they are not isolated tragedies, but reflect the persistent and deadly violence faced by women and girls across South Africa. The country has declared gender-based violence and femicide a national disaster. and our UN team on the ground is calling for action equal with the scale and gravity of the crisis. In line with South Africa's National Strategy Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide and the UN Cooperation Framework, the UN on the ground says commitments and collaborative action must translate into tangible results, including greater accountability, access to justice, economic empowerment, backed by sustained financing and robust monitoring. We remain committed We remain committed in supporting South Africa, meeting its international human rights obligations and national efforts to uphold human rights, safety and well-being. The team, of course, and we join them, extend our condolences to the families of the victims, and we stand in solidarity with the women and girls across South Africa. want to flag that the Secretary-General's report on reprisals issued yesterday shows that people around the world continue to pay a steep price for cooperating or just seeking to cooperate with the United Nations on human rights, facing persistent intimidation and reprisals amid disturbing trends in transnational repression and digital surveillance targeting civil society actors. Continued misuse of legislation, including counterterrorism, cybercrime, and national security laws and regulation is also a concern. The report urges states to refrain from any acts of intimidation and reprisals, ensure accountability for violations and abuses, and protect those who engage with us in human rights investigations. Also today, a report released by the World Meteorological Organization notes that rivers across the globe in last year had one of the driest years in more than three decades. The report shows a continuation of the long-term decline of the Earth's freshwater storage and in glacier retreats trends with serious implications for people and economies of the future. The report points out that Asia and Africa together counted for at least half of the world's recorded water-related extreme events and more than 80 percent of reported associated deaths over the past five years. Today is World Patient Safety Day. On this day, we bring together patients, families, caregivers, communities, health workers, and healthcare leaders and policymakers to show their commitments to a safer care. 30 a.m. tomorrow, colleagues from the Peacekeeping Department and the Political Affairs Department have organized a memorial event to honor the memory of Nicholas Hassem, better known to us as Fink. As you know, Fink was most recently head of the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. Many of you in the press knew him and appreciated him. He was a dear colleague to many of us and left his mark in the many places where he was posted, as well as his native South Africa. You're welcome to attend or follow it on UN Web TV. And finally, we have a quiz for you today. Yes, now you're paying attention, looking up from your phones or your games you're playing. This country is one of the only three enclave countries in the world, meaning that their borders are fully surrounded by just one other country. There are three countries in that category. Yes, Nathan, congratulations. It is Lesotho, which is surrounded by South Africa. As you know, the other two are the Holy See and San Marino. Bravo. So we thank our friends in Maseru for their full payment to the regular budget. We now have 140 member states who've paid up in full. And thank you for paying just before the General Assembly. They sent us a check for $31,790. There we go. I've said all I've had to say, and I've said a lot, so I'm happy to answer your questions. Mr. Uchiardo.

Yes, Mr. Pardo, I wonder if the Secretary General has seen the report by the International between gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by their own government. Also, the same report said the mission found reasonable grounds to believe that the U.S. has committed war crimes during the Paris airstrikes, which killed at least 178 civilians.

Yes, we're of course fully aware of this report, which was published by an independent commission. I think the findings of it are striking, to say the least. From our end, I think it underscores the fact that there needs to be accountability for people who have been killed by the hands of their own government or as a result of attacks on their own country. There needs to be accountability. And I think this is also just another example of the importance of these reports and the need for people to cooperate with the reports. Pam and then Sinan.

Steph, first of all, I'm sorry, my phone has a mind of its own for before when it started up.

I'm always happy to have Ambassador Dunoon coming to the briefing.

Sorry about that. Okay, the WMO report on world water is fairly dramatic. You mentioned it. Is there any side event that you know about? Has the SG made any additional comments about it?

No, I mean, this just goes in the framework of everything the Secretary General has been saying about natural resources and climate. There is an important side event on sea level rise, which will be held during the GA. And of course, there'll be a climate event also on the sidelines of the GA. Thank you. Sinan.

Thank you, Steph. The Turkish authorities have reportedly launched a nationwide crackdown targeting LGBTQ+ individuals, activists under the government's "My Family is Safe" campaign. Has the Secretary General raised these concerns with the Turkish authorities? And what is the SG's assessment of the reported measures?

Well, we have seen the comments by Volker Turk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who expressed his deep concern about the report of mass arrest and detention of LGBTQ+ individuals and human rights defenders. So I would refer you to what Volker Turcas said. As a matter of principle, I think you know the Secretary General has been a very strong voice in the defense of human rights for the LGBTQI+ community. And for him, any assault on the rights of this community is an assault on all of our human rights. Yes, Eric.

Thank you. So the Security Council today viewed a resolution which would have extended the 1929 panel of experts. First, what's the reaction of the SG? And then also, did the Secretariat nominate candidates to the panel?

We have no, I mean, we're not going to comment on the decisions taken by the Security Council. We will, of course, follow whatever instructions are given to us by the Security Council.

But the candidates were transmitted to the Security Council.

That I will check for you, Eric.

Okay.

Okay. No questions online. I will get our guests. If you could stay in your seats. Noreen, did you have a question or you were just Trying to stop me. Grab a seat. The water is fresh and safe. Well, it's fresh. I don't know if it's safe. I don't know. But it is fresh New York City water. All right. As promised, we're delighted to be joined by Sarah Hendrix, who, as you know, is the Director of Policy Program and Intergovernmental Division at UN Women, and also our dear friend Shantanu Mukherjee, the Acting Director of the Statistics Division in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. They are here to brief you on the launch of the Gender Snapshot Report 2026. So, Sarah, please, you have the floor. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Stefan. And indeed, I do want to start by acknowledging Stefan's statement on the recent killings of women in South Africa and express alarm about that as well. UN Women, alongside the entire UN system, condemns all forms of violence against women and girls in all forms and indeed everywhere. Every woman and girl including in South Africa, has a right to live free from violence, to live free from fear. Turning now to our report that we're launching today, I'm really pleased to be here alongside Mr. Mukherjee from DESA for the launch of the 2026 SDG Gender Snapshot Report. And this year's report, colleagues, is all about power. Who holds it? who hoards it, and what happens when half of the world's population don't have access to it. And the findings tell us unequivocally that when women lead and when that power is shared, that important things happen. Children thrive, economies grow, peace lasts, and indeed, justice endures. Countries, in fact, with more than 20% of women in parliamentary seats have shown that their immunization rates go up by about 12 percentage points. And in fact, this is alongside better child survival outcomes. When women lead, children can survive. Across contexts as diverse as Colombia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, and Yemen, women have been central to successful and lasting peace agreements. And they negotiate access to essential services and they strengthen the implementation of those peace agreements so that when women lead, peace can indeed last. And finally, we also want to look at the United Nations itself, ourselves. At last year's UN General Assembly, just in 2025, during the general debate, there were 24 speakers of 192 that were women. But those women, those 24 women who stood up in the General Assembly, they spoke differentially about gender equality three times more than their male counterparts. and about international justice and accountability about twice as often as their male counterparts. As I said, when women lead, accountability and justice can indeed endure. And yet, this report presents something critical. Political power today rests overwhelmingly, it also rests systematically concentrated in the hands of men. Six in seven countries right now, today, are led by men. Women hold about 22% of cabinet positions across the world. This is actually a data point that has seen a decrease just in the past two years, where it was sitting over 23%. And when women do actually get in through that door, when they actually access those places of power, they are steered away from the very rooms where that real power exists, where economic and security power exists. In fact, right now, nine out of every 10 defense minister positions are held by a man. And eight out of every 10 finance ministers are indeed also men. And when we look here, the very halls of the United Nations have never seen a woman at the highest ranks of power in 80 years. And colleagues, it is not just that women are excluded from power, they're actually, what we see in the data is that they are paying a price for seeking that power. The cost of running for office, for example, can exceed 100 times the country's average per capita income. And for the women who run anyway, who get past that threshold, who get past that barrier, the cost actually climbs higher still. Our data shows that as many as eight in 10 women who are candidates for parliament around the world and six in 10 women who are candidates for local office have faced violence disproportionately during their electoral campaigns. Colleagues, every gain for women's rights, for women's power, has been hard-fought. It has been won through years, I would even say through decades upon decades of sustained investment of political will. of the relentless and brave work of women's rights organizations and movements that have organized, that have litigated, that have lifted up women in power, and that have really fundamentally demanded better. And it is no coincidence that we are seeing this stalling, this reversal of power of women's leadership at the very same time that we are seeing a political retreat on gender equality. The political retreat on gender equality. What we are seeing in that political retreat is that it's taking hold, dismantling the very institutions, the very financing, the very movements that were actually built to advance women's rights. And the gender snapshot this year has some new data here. It finds that one in three national gender equality mechanisms, these are the institutions within countries, the very bodies that have been advanced to advance domestic violence legislation, to ensure that women have economic power, to protect and catalyze the realization of women's rights. One in three of these institutions or ministries have seen their institutional power eroded just in the past two years. This is what has stopped me in my tracks. What we see happening in national spaces is also being mirrored here at the UN itself. 42% of UN entities report that they have seen and witnessed weakening of their gender equality efforts amidst a significant crisis of funding cuts. And this has translated also to women's rights organizations. where 1 million women and girls have lost access to support as aid cuts have dismantled women's rights organizations working in the context of crises and conflict. I think, colleagues, the world has gotten a lot better at giving women seats, but continues to fail at ensuring women have power. When women and the institutions and the movements that they uphold and that uphold their rights are actually kept from power and potential, what we see is that everyone pays the price. And that data too is in this report. I'll share some of it now. Not one single SDG 5 indicator is on track for being realized. By 2030, around 1.1 billion women and girls will still be and will remain food insecure. 2.9 billion women and girls currently live in highly or very highly contexts that are exposed to climate and geophysical hazards. And 273 million adolescents and children and youth were out of school just over the past year with rural girls and those from the poorest households actually at highest risk. These are not just data points, they are in fact predictable outcomes. outcomes really of a system that excludes half the world's population from the very decisions that shape their lives and then here dismantles the systems that are designed to correct that. This is, I think, not a crisis of data or just of representation. This is a crisis of governance. It cannot be addressed by representation alone. It requires fundamentally the redistribution of power. And so the findings of the Gender Snapshot, of course, come at a consequential moment here in the UN system, where the UN moves towards selecting its 10th ever Secretary General, a position, as I said, no woman has held in the last 80 years. As governments gather next week to discuss and to debate the future of multilateralism, this report and its main focus should shape that, that no vision for the future of the world is credible without women, without women and girls having an equal share of power in shaping that. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Sarah. Shantanu, please.

Thank you, Stefan. Thank you, Sarah. And ladies and gentlemen, I'm delighted to join you and women here for the launch of the Gender Snapshot 2026. This publication confirms a fundamental truth. Gender equality is not just one issue among many others. It is woven and it underpins the entire sustainable development agenda. When women and girls have equal access to health, education, decent work, financial services and technology, entire societies are better positioned to advance across the SDGs. When they are left behind, so is everyone else. Colleagues, we've seen important gains across many areas. Women's health outcomes have improved over the past two decades. Between 2019 and 2024, 99 legal reforms were adopted to remove discriminatory laws and strengthen gender equality frameworks, particularly in employment and economic rights. Women's financial account ownership in low and middle income countries increased from 50% in 2014 to 73% in 2024. And their labor force participation improved in 128 of 186 countries between 2015 and '26, and the corresponding gender gap narrowed in 135 countries. These data are telling us that change is possible, but overall, the picture is deeply sobering. As Sarah said, not a single SDG 5 target is currently on track to be met by 2030. Women remain more likely than men to live in extreme poverty and experience higher levels of food insecurity. And although I spoke about the narrowing of the labor force participation rate in many countries, globally, just 64% of women participated in the labor force compared with 92% for men. Women and girls bear a disproportionate burden of climate change and conflict. Conflict-related sexual violence doubled between '24 and '25. And with just four years to 2030, at current rates of progress, we remain 171 years from full gender parity. So the real question is, how can we accelerate progress towards parity to reach those who are still being left behind? Here, the report indicates a way forward. And I also want to point out that behind each of the compelling stories in this great report is evidence resting on a solid foundation of quality data and statistics. Behind every figure are statistical officers and data producers working to collect, check, compile, and interpret these numbers. These reliable numbers allow us to identify where inequalities are persistent, understand who exactly is being left behind, track whether policies are making a difference, and overall hold ourselves accountable. Simply put, we can't accelerate what we can't see. And so we need data that are timely, reliable, and sufficiently disaggregated. And we also need to look at the numbers not in isolation, but as part of a connected system. Lives are not lived in silos, and neither should our data. A woman's access to work, for example, may be shaped by unpaid care responsibilities, legal rights, financial services, digital connectivity, where she lives, or how far away the nearest water sources. Painting this complete narrative is part of what the UN system data commons, set to be unveiled by the Secretary-General later today, seeks to achieve. And I'm delighted, and it's no surprise, that UN Women is a partner in that initiative as well. Ladies and gentlemen, as we approach the final years of the 2030 Agenda, we need to protect the gains that have been made, ramp up efforts where progress has stalled or reversed. With that determination, this 171 years I cited earlier is not just a distant number, it's actually a measure of how rapidly we need to move. And by investing in gender equality, strong institutions, representation and power to women in the right places, as well as the statistical systems that underpin accountability, we can turn all of the evidence we've seen here into action, and action into progress for women and girls ultimately means action for all of us. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Mukherjee, we'll take some questions. Yes, Eric, please. And then, and then, Namu.

Thank you. It's Eric Peters with Kyoto News Agency. So we are a Japanese news agency, so I'm curious if you could zoom in on Japan, how you assess the situation for the SDGs, women's equality and gender equality in Japan, has there been progress? And then secondly, the World Population Prospects report did not release a revision this year, 2026. And as you said, the UN is launching its new data platform today. So when do you think we'll be able to get the newest data on the world population? Thank you.

Please go ahead. Yeah.

Thank you so much to Eric for your question about Japan. And indeed, I do want to say that the purpose of this report is indeed to identify systemic global trends across country rather than to produce a ranking or to hone in on any specific country. I think here the report is focused on what the scale of the trends are, rather than acknowledging or identifying, I think, what specific experiences are within countries. I think the important finding is that one in three mechanisms across countries on average, are finding that their institutions are being dismantled, that their very institutions set up to support gender equality are being eroded. And so we would encourage scrutiny at the national level of why is that? Is that indeed happening? How are these institutions funded? Where do they sit within government? Are they supported with strong political backing? And do they indeed have the mandate to advance women's leadership and women's power? Thank you.

Shantanu, did you want to add something?

Yes, I just wanted to talk about the world population prospects is due to be released early next year.

Thank you. Sinan. No, sorry, I'm sorry.

No problem. Thank you. Thank you so much for this very important briefing. I have two questions. My first question is about Afghanistan. It's been more than five years and women and girls cannot study past sixth grade in Afghanistan. I just want to know if you believe that the world has failed Afghanistan. There's not they should have done a lot more because of what's happening there. And my second question is about your report. You've drawn a strong link between women's political representation and child survival. You said when women lead, children can survive. I wonder how you explain cases that seem to break that pattern. For example, in Mozambique, women hold more than 40% of parliament seats and it has one of the highest child mortality rates in the world. It's more than 60 per 1,000 live birth. And Japan, of course, as my colleague talked about, has one of the lowest women representation, and it's one of the lowest child mortality rate as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Namo. Sarah, and then.

Sure. Thank you so much for your question. And indeed, Afghanistan. I think represents one of the most severe crisis for women, particularly for girls in the entire world. The systematic and I would say systemic exclusion and erasure of women and girls from education, from employment, from public life, I think demonstrate exactly why this report is so critical, that representation in public life matters, that Political power for women matters, and it can change and does change the trajectory of women and girls' lives. For UN Women, we continue to support Afghan women, to document their experiences, their grievous, egregious experiences of human rights violations, and insist that their rights and their participation cannot be erased, they cannot be negotiated away. I think the report also puts a spotlight on the imperative of voices to actually shape the responses of what's happening in countries. And that can and must be true for Afghan women and girls themselves. On your question around Mozambique, indeed, you've, I think, drawn a very clear linkage, Sir, between the connection of political power and outcomes. overall development outcomes. And what we do see when we look at this on aggregate is that there is a correlative association between women's political power and the variables, the indicators right across the SDG agenda. Women's representation, for example, in Mozambique is critical. And the data that we have on average shows that when women are in at least 20% of parliamentary seats that we do see those immunization rates climb and those child survival, those child mortality rates decline. We have seen, however, huge declines in ODA, and that too makes a difference. Where there is insufficient both external investment as well as domestic financing going to critical issues such as child survival, health, education, social protection, then we don't necessarily see the concomitant changes that we need. Nevertheless, we remain steadfast that women's power and representation matters, and it matters a lot.

Thank you. Please, Shantel.

I just want to follow up on what Sarah said, is that what our reports, what our report is showing is that When women are in power in different institutions, the nature of the decisions that are made, the nature of the allocations that are made change. But it also depends on what you're starting with. So if you are working with countries or in countries where the overall size of the pie is very small, no matter how many women you put into power, that's all they're playing with. So there is a need to actually expand simultaneously with women in power, the size of the pie, the size of the revenues that they have to actually direct to where the evidence shows they're most effective. Thank you.

Thank you. Nathan, then Pam.

Thank you so much. My name is Nathan and I'm a DERC, I'm a short fellow. So my question is on South Africa, yeah, 'cause it's a, is something of interest to me. So whilst nine people have been killed so far, data says that hundreds of people have been killed, hundreds of women have been killed since January up to now. So my question now is from your perception or from your point of view, where exactly does the problem lie? Is it in policy implementation or there is need for behavioral change in terms of Yeah, community or something like that. Because it's also spilling where I'm coming from. I'm from Zimbabwe. And recently, there have been issues of people being killed by exes over the past days. I think three people or four people have been killed so far. So where exactly do you think their problem lies? Thank you so much.

Please, go ahead, Sarah. Sorry.

Thank you so much, Nathan, for your important question and indeed for your reflections. And here, what you're pointing to in South Africa and in Zimbabwe, I think reflects grievously the status of data and trends on the persistence of violence against women and the persistence of femicide across the world. in your country that you refer to Zimbabwe, in South Africa, but also universally. We do show in this report that one in three women across the world will at some point state that she too has been a victim of violence, of intimate partner and/or sexual violence. Here, we see that the drivers of the continuity of violence are multifaceted. and yet can be parsed out with some consistent basis. And you've pointed to them to those yourself, Nathan. One is certainly the consistency of social norms and the normalization of violence against women and girls. The second is the increasing utilization of technology and digital violence that is being wielded as an online weapon against women and girls. And thirdly, is the lack of political commitment and direct investment into violence prevention, not just into its response for survivors. What is happening in South Africa is extremely concerning. And we see a pattern everywhere where one in 10 women and girls are killed every 10 minutes. And that should stop us all in our tracks and force us to change direction to end violence against women and girls once and for all.

Pam.

Thank you, The UN Women, a few days ago, put out a comment about AI disproportionately targeting women and that the image-based abuse is increasing. I say three days because it may have been prior to your report, but can you tell us if there's more on this? And have you contacted anyone to meet during High-Level Week of from the tech companies? Thank you.

Please, Sarah. Or at any other time.

Thank you, Pam, for this really astute question. And here, indeed, I'm sorry to say that the gender inequalities that we see rampant across the world and the evidence that's in this report is rampant in the context of digital technology and particularly artificial intelligence. Our current evidence shows that AI mirrors the gender biases and the very inequalities that are manifested the world over. And I'll frame a few data points just so that you have them, Pam. A study of 133 AI systems found that 44% of those demonstrated gender bias and 26% demonstrated both gender and racial bias. Almost one in four, and this is data that UN Women launched a bit earlier this year, one in four surveyed women human rights defenders, activists, and journalists have experienced AI-assisted online violence. Important to note, including journalists. 12% having reported experiencing non-consensual sharing of personal images, including intimate or sexual content, and 6% saying they've been targeted directly through deepfakes. Correct. Correct. That is global. I can get the exact number of countries in that study. I think here we also know that design matters and who designs AI matters. And so it brings us back to leadership and to power and to representation once again. And AI, when designed with safety and when used with intention, can actually help detect stereotypes. It can be a source of broadening representation, of actually increasing accessibility at scale. And so I think the choice here isn't necessarily to condemn AI or to stand on a binary position here, but it does lie with the people making decisions. And it does lie, as you said, Pam, with tech companies, so with governments, with companies, with experts researching and developing AI itself. And it depends on whether we incorporate the voices, the expertise, the intelligence, the ingenuity of women designers, of women tech leaders. Right now, for example, in the cybersecurity space, only 24% of the entire employment industry in cybersecurity is female. That, too, needs to change. And so once women from diverse contexts are there, we hope that we will see a shift in the power and potential of AI for good.

Thank you very much, Shantanu.

Unfortunately, AI reflects what is prevalent in terms of knowledge and information, particularly on the internet. And that's what AI is trained on primarily. So part of this issue, the part of the problem is to get AI to be trained on accurate and correct data. And this is something which the statistics division working with UN Women and others is trying hard to achieve. The UN Statistical Commission launched a special group to study how AI can be better informed by the correct data that's available. But these are initiatives that require people to come together and argue legislation, guardrails. And you're doubtless aware of the Secretary General's initiatives on AI governance as well. This is basically not just a whole of society effort, but a whole of global effort. And unless we do that, the inequalities that AI has taught itself on will be perpetuated further.

Yes, Sarah, please go ahead.

I just wanted to ensure, Pam, that I'm providing you not just with the cybersecurity data on women's leadership, but with the AI data specifically, because I think it's important. Globally, women account for only 22% of artificial intelligence professionals. They hold fewer than 14% of senior leadership positions in the artificial intelligence sector across the world.

Thank you. One last question. Go ahead.

Yeah, my name is Andrea. I work for an Italian American outlet. And in Italy, we have Giorgia Meloni, which runs the longest lasting government of our history. And during his government of four years, the femicide ratio has not, didn't have any kind of stop or didn't go lower than before. And there are even politicians from the far right that wants to deny the crime of femicide. What do you think about that?

Thank you so much for your question and indeed for, I think, raising the grievous nature of femicide into today's conversation. As I mentioned earlier, that our statistics are quite egregious also here, that one woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes around the world, and it shows the magnitude of this crisis itself. Here, I think it is imperative that femicide is named. And we have seen in different countries when it is named and when there is data that is applied to count specifically the differentiated experience of women who are killed by a intimate partner or by someone in their family, that this gets differentiated from homicide. We now have a statistical methodology that UN Women has advanced with UN OCT. in order to advance clear global data statistics on the preponderance of femicide across the world. Nearly 50,000 women and girls were killed by an intimate partner or another family member in 2024, equivalent to an average of 137 women and girls every day in the former statistic that I already raised. We do know that this extreme form of violence against women and girls, which affects every part of the world, every region of the world, every country of the world, that this needs to be addressed and stopped. And making women and girls visible through data is indeed a first step.

Thank you. Shantaru.

Thank you. I just want to get back here to one of the main messages, which is about women's leadership and power across the board. Because some of the evidence we have here is about local leadership by women. And we see, for example, that in the United States, if you elect a woman mayor, there's a 6% increased likelihood of police arresting perpetrators of violence against women and actually a 13 percentage point increase in crime reporting. So it is really important to make sure that leadership is present closest to the action as well as for the survey. Great.

Sarah, should I get a question in there?

Can you hear me? Yeah, Evelyn, a short question because we need to go. Go ahead.

Yeah, I just want to know the URL because I had to follow up on Nathan's excellent question. I, too, am very interested in South Africa, having been there many years ago, many times. Where can I find your report? And thank you very much for your briefing.

It's on the UN Women website. web page on the front page of UN Women.

Www.unwomen.org. Thank you.

On that critical piece of information. Shantel, Sarah, thank you so much as well. I'll be in the photo, come on. Well, it's set the gender balance, but I'll.