Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
**Briefings — Monday
All right, good afternoon.
Just some programming notes for you. On Monday, our guests will be Bob Rae, the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and our friend Navid Hanif, the Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). They will be here to brief you on the ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development (FFD), that will take place next week on 28-29 April 2025.
This year’s FFD Forum, the tenth since their establishment to follow up on financing for development under the 2015 Addis Ababa Agenda for Action, will look ahead to the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) in Sevilla, Spain, from 30 June to 3 July of this year.
FFD4 aims to galvanize commitments and cooperation among all countries for concrete measures and solutions to close a $4 trillion annual funding gap and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Forum will be a last chance for inputs from multiple stakeholders into the FFD4 draft outcome document.
That meeting, the Forum meeting will take place in the Trusteeship Council and will be broadcast live by our friends at UN Web TV. You can contact DESA for more information.
Then at 1:45 p.m., there will be a briefing by the Chair for the upcoming third session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons — that will take place from 28 April to [9] May.
Following the Security Council meeting in the morning on Monday, our friend Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, will be at the Security Council stakeout to speak to you, but we will remind you of that on Monday.
**Secretary-General’s Travel
Our Secretary-General, António Guterres, arrived in Rome a short while ago where tomorrow he will attend the funeral of Pope Francis at Saint Peter’s Square. He will be back in the office on Monday.
There will be a plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly to pay tribute to the memory of Pope Francis on Tuesday next week, in the General Assembly Hall at 3 p.m. The Secretary-General will speak at that meeting.
And as a reminder, the UN flag will fly at half-staff on Tuesday in honour of the late pontiff.
**Deputy Secretary-General
Our Deputy Secretary-General [Amina Mohammed] will be travelling to Montevideo, Uruguay, later today to chair the annual regional retreat with UN Resident Coordinators from across the Latin America and the Caribbean region. Ms. Mohammed will also meet with senior government officials to strengthen the UN-Uruguay partnership and discuss priority actions to support the Sustainable Development Goals. She will be back in New York on 29 April.
**Syria
This morning, and still ongoing, the Security Council met to discuss Syria. Briefing was Geir Pedersen, our Special Envoy for Syria. He told Council members that the political transition in Syria is now at a truly critical juncture. He added that in his recent discussions with the interim authorities, including Ahmad Al-Sharaa, he stressed the need for future constitutional process that involves all of Syria’s societal and political components.
For her part, Ms. Joyce Msuya, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, also spoke to Council members. She told them that nearly three quarters of the population in Syria are in need and 7 million of them are displaced.
Since the start of the year, 960 trucks have delivered aid through the cross-border operation from Türkiye — that’s more trucks than during the whole of 2024. However, we need more funding to sustain this work, let alone scale it further, she said.
**Occupied Palestinian Territories
Turning to the situation in the occupied Palestinian Territory. Our friends at the World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that they have run out of food stocks in Gaza. That is due to the Israeli ban on the entry of supplies of any kind, regardless of how critical those supplies may be. And this ban is now nearing two months.
Today, WFP delivered its last remaining food stocks to kitchens serving hot meals, so these are now expected to fully run out of food very soon. For weeks, these kitchens have been the only consistent source of food assistance for people in Gaza. Despite reaching just half the population with only 25 per cent of daily food needs, they have also so far provided a critical lifeline.
As a reminder, all 25 bakeries in Gaza supported by WFP already had to close last month, when wheat flour and cooking fuel ran out.
WFP says more than 116,000 metric tons of food assistance — enough to feed 1 million people for up to four months — is positioned at aid corridors and is ready to be brought into Gaza by WFP and food security partners as soon as the crossings reopen.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reminds us that the rapid depletion of essentials is also affecting other parts of the humanitarian response, including the health sector, shelter, water and sanitation. As a result, hunger is spreading in Gaza, malnutrition is deepening in Gaza, injured people and other patients remain untreated in Gaza, and — as we have said before — people are dying.
OCHA reiterates that Israel, as the occupying Power, has clear obligations under international law, which include ensuring food, medical supplies and public health services are available, and facilitating humanitarian relief when these are not otherwise supplied.
Meanwhile, looting of remaining supplies continues, with our partners on the ground reporting that this practice is now less organized and more opportunistic than before the ceasefire — seemingly driven by desperation.
Our health colleagues tell us that medical facilities continue to come under attack, including the Al Durrah hospital for children, near Gaza City, which was hit on Tuesday. No one was injured, but the intensive care unit, solar panel and water tanks on the rooftop were all damaged.
Displacement remains a major concern. OCHA has completed an initial analysis of the displacement order issued yesterday by Israeli forces for areas of North Gaza. The order covers 7.5 square kilometres, which is roughly 2 per cent of the Gaza Strip. And overall, about 70 per cent of the Gaza Strip is now under displacement orders or in “no-go” zones, where Israeli authorities require aid personnel to coordinate any movements.
Moving on to the West Bank, OCHA warns that the already unprecedented levels of displacement — with tens of thousands of people displaced this year already — continue to rise.
In an update released yesterday, OCHA notes that in just one week — that’s between 15 and 21 April — Israeli forces ordered 14 families to leave their homes in Tulkarm. Seven additional families were displaced in Ramallah governorate due to settler violence or home demolitions for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain.
At the same time, Israeli forces continued preventing about 40,000 previously displaced people from returning to their homes in refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarm. Aid groups also lack access to camps, preventing them from properly assessing the structural damage or the needs of the humans who remain behind.
**Sudan
Moving to Sudan, the World Food Programme’s Country Office Emergency Coordinator for Sudan, Ms. Samantha Chattaraj, is now back in Port Sudan — having just returned from Khartoum, where she met with local authorities to scale up emergency food and nutrition assistance to 1 million people across the greater Khartoum area in the coming month.
Meanwhile, aid deliveries are on their way to greater Khartoum over the coming weeks, as WFP has pushed to establish a stronger operational footprint that would allow regular deliveries to the capital area.
WFP says that additional trucks carrying 1,600 metric tons of food and nutrition supplies for 220,000 people have started to arrive in Tawila, in North Darfur. Another WFP convoy from Port Sudan is currently on its way to El Fasher, carrying 1,000 metric tons of assistance for about [100,000] people who remained in the besieged city.
And just to note that all this still represented just a drop in the bucket of what is actually needed. Across the country, nearly 25 million men, women and children — that’s half the population — face acute hunger. Nearly 5 million children and breastfeeding mothers are acutely malnourished. Sudan is the only place in the world where famine is currently confirmed.
Reports from the ground remain shocking. Around 450,000 people who were already facing famine and enduring horrific levels of violence have been forced to flee from El Fasher and Zamzam camp in just a matter of weeks.
Our WFP colleagues say that the Agency was mobilizing assistance to reach people wherever they have fled to — across different parts of Darfur and Northern State.
The food agency also tells us they are setting up mobile warehouses in Tawila to increase storage capacity and pre-stock food ahead of the rainy season, when many roads across the Darfur region have become impassable because of flash floods and water.
**Democratic Republic of the Congo
Turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, our humanitarian colleagues report that hostilities persist in North and South Kivu provinces.
In North Kivu, clashes erupted today along the road between Nyabiondo and Kashebere, displacing civilians. Fighting has also been intermittent in the area since 13 April.
Meanwhile in South Kivu, fighting in Kalehe territory this week wounded dozens of civilians and forced more than 15,000 people to flee, with many seeking shelter with host communities. Local health centres face severe shortages of medicines and staff to treat the injured.
Humanitarian operations also remain restricted. Yesterday, a humanitarian convoy travelling south from Bukavu to the city of Uvira was blocked by armed people, forcing the convoy to stop overnight to negotiate access.
**South Sudan
And in South Sudan, our peacekeeping mission there (UNMISS) says they are deeply concerned by reports of clashes between the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces and Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in Opposition in Morobo and Yei counties, Central Equatoria State, which have led to civilian displacement and casualties.
The Mission calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and restoration of calm, given already fragile political and security conditions in the country.
**Haiti
Moving to Haiti, where our humanitarian colleagues tell us that armed violence continues to displace families and disrupt the humanitarian response across multiple departments.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), nearly 1,000 people had been displaced in the commune of Kenscoff — in the Ouest Department — as of Wednesday; that’s following armed attacks there last week. Half sought shelter with family, while others settled in three displacement sites, where IOM reports that food is urgently needed. Meanwhile, two other sites in Kenscoff that had been hosting 430 displaced people have been forced to close due to ongoing violence.
In Centre Department, UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and its partners have been supporting people who fled attacks by armed groups in Mirebalais and Saut-d’Eau over three weeks ago. More than 5,000 people in the town of Hinche and the commune of Boucan Carré have received critical assistance, including water and hygiene kits.
**Funding Cuts
And we’ve often been telling you about the funding cuts that our humanitarian colleagues are facing. I just want to flag a few examples. In Nigeria, our humanitarian colleagues are telling us that funding shortfalls are forcing aid workers to cut back on critical support, including health and nutrition services.
Some organizations had to lay off staff and scale back services — including for primary healthcare and the treatment of severe acute malnutrition. Overall, funding cuts have impacted nearly 70 per cent of health services and 50 per cent of nutrition services in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
OCHA said that as we approach the lean season, it is critical that the international community steps up funding to address escalating food insecurity. At the start of the year, we and our partners appealed for $910 million to reach 3.6 million people in Nigeria with critical aid and protection. However, given the brutal funding cuts, OCHA has been forced to reprioritize its response, focusing on the most life-saving interventions for the most vulnerable people.
To do this, we need $298 million. Yet to date, we’ve received only over $70 million — less than a quarter of what’s needed.
And in Burundi, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) tell us that due to significant funding shortfalls, they and their partners are facing critical limitations in providing protection services. UNHCR is no longer able to distribute dignity kits, leaving nearly 11,000 women and girls without access to basic hygiene items. Support for family tracing has also been severely reduced. UNHCR said it urgently needs $76.5 million to respond to the current crisis there.
And in Colombia, refugees there are also being impacted by the cuts. As funding dries up, UNHCR is being forced to suspend essential services, threatening to undo years of progress.
In the conflict-ridden Catatumbo region along the border with Venezuela, UNHCR has had to halt the distribution of basic relief items such as mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits, solar lamps and mosquito nets even though violence continuing in the area. UNHCR needs $118.3 million to continue its vital work this year.
**Economic and Social Council
And just to let you know that Bob Rae, the President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), issued today a “Call to Action” following the Special Meeting on Forced Displacement and Refugee Protection, which took place yesterday. He called on mobilizing the international community to continue to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to people who are forcibly displaced, while addressing the root causes and advancing durable solutions.
**International Days
Finally, no money, no quiz, but a couple of international days.
Today is World Malaria Day. This disease claims one life every minute, mostly in the WHO (World Health Organization) African Region. It is time to recommit to ending malaria — we have the knowledge, and we have the methods to do that.
Also today, when you see a delegate go and hug one of your delegates, because today is International Delegate’s Day. The Day emphasizes multilateralism in our world.
[Tomorrow] is International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance Day. It will be the thirty-ninth anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986. Since then, the UN has helped to address the needs of people in the areas surrounding Chernobyl through emergency and humanitarian aid, and by supporting recovery and social and economic development.
And tomorrow is World Intellectual Property Day — that celebrates the contributions made by inventors and creators all over our big blue world.
Sir?
**Questions and Answers
Question: Thank you, Steph. With regard to the visit of Syria’s Foreign Minister, Mr. [Asaad al] Shaibani, to the UN and raising the flag and the ceremonies around it: At what level is the UN still engaging with the caretaker Syrian Government with regard to the atrocities committed at the coastal centres, where the Alawites and ushering a phase of ethnic cleansing and killing over identity? And since the proof of those who committed those atrocities widely was available online, so we haven’t heard other than the statement from the caretaker Government in Syria that they’re going to investigate and punish when needed. We haven’t heard. What about UN engagement at this point? Thank you.
Spokesman: There are different mechanisms that are at play, notably the Human Rights Commission that looks at human rights situations in Syria, missing persons. There are a number of mechanisms that are at play. We continue… the relevant people on the UN side continue to interact with the Syrian authorities, the interim authorities, because in Syria, as in any place else in the world, people who have suffered deserve accountability. Sinan?
Question: Thank you, Steph. I just have a really quick follow-up. Yesterday, you said that after the strike in Ukraine, 175 civilians were killed. So, I couldn’t find this number anywhere else. I just needed to double check. You said 175 civilians were killed in Ukraine overnight, day before yesterday.
Spokesman: We’ll check. Those are the numbers that we got from our humanitarian colleagues, but we’ll double check where those came from. [He later said the number came from local authorities.]
Correspondent: Thank you.
Spokesman: Okay. Any questions online?
Question: Right here, Steph. Can you hear me?
Spokesman: Go ahead, Mike.
Question: Stripping of immunity that was announced today or, I guess, last night in a court filing, by the US attorney in the Southern District of New York, stripping UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency) of its immunity. I saw the statement that the UN put out earlier. It’s like, I’m assuming you’re going to read into the record at some point, but I wanted to ask beyond that, what are the immediate ramifications of that for the UN, for its operations, for personnel? Are there any changes that are going to be made in the near term, I don’t know, protect yourselves or otherwise insulate yourselves from potential immunity issues?
Spokesman: It’s not a decision by the court; this was a submission by the US Department of Justice to the court. We’ve seen that submission. We’re going to review it very carefully. But I think it’s important for me to restate our very clear position, which has been very long standing and should be very clear to all, that UNRWA is a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly and as such is entitled to the immunity from legal processes under the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations. The issue is currently before the federal district court in New York, and through our counsel, we’ll continue to set out the basis for our position before the court, and we will consider whether any other action is appropriate with respect to the letter.
Correspondent: Thank you, Steph.
Spokesman: Iftikhar?
Question: Can you hear me?
Spokesman: Go ahead.
Question: Yeah. Steph, thank you very much. Any update on the situation between India and Pakistan, where the situation is escalating? And does the Secretary-General plan to speak to the leaders of India and Pakistan when he returns to New York?
Spokesman: I hope to have something to share with you on the latter part. Obviously, we continue to follow the situation with very deep concern. And we, of course, reiterate our condemnation of the attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, which, as you know, killed about 26 civilians. And we again urge both the Government of India and the Government of Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint to ensure the situation does not deteriorate further.
Correspondent: Thank you very much.
Spokesman: Benny?
Question: You know, two nuclear countries going to war, might go to war may merit such little attention. Anyway, to the question of UNRWA, specifically, the filing of the US Government says that UNRWA acts differently than other UN agencies. It has different financing. It has different rules for workers and so on. Anything about that?
Spokesman: Let me just say, I don’t agree with your comment on your first part, but that’s… we are paying very close attention to the situation between India and Pakistan.
Our position, and I think it’s a very clear position, is that UNRWA is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly. It’s not a half body. It’s not a partial body. It is a full subsidiary body of the General Assembly, and therefore, we believe that it is entitled to the protection under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities [of] the United Nations.
Geir Pedersen will be at the stakeout shortly, and we will confirm that, and anybody else who comes. And I wish you all a wonderful… it is Friday? Sorry. Did you have a question, sir? I’m sorry. One more question. Go ahead.
Question: This is the eightieth anniversary of Russia’s war against Nazi Germany in World War II, and the…
Spokesman: Of the war from Russia?
Question: Yeah. I mean, World War II. Russia’s victory in World War II, and that there’s going to be a celebration in Moscow. I wonder if the Secretary-General has any plan to attend the celebration?
Spokesman: No. the Secretary-General will not be able to attend those commemorations.
Question: Okay, and this is also the eightieth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. But in recent years, there’s a greater trend to unilateralism and protectionism. You know, that has weakened the UN-centred international system. So, what the developing countries, and especially the global South, should learn from the past eight years to respond to this trend?
Spokesman: Far be it for me to tell countries, whether in the North or in the South, what they should have learned. But I would tell you that I think in this time of crisis where we live, this time of great inequality, this time of great unpredictability that we live, and a time where we all face problems and challenges that do not recognize borders, there’s never been a more important time for multilateralism and for global solutions. Thank you all. Now you can have a good weekend.