The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres:

The Nakba of 1948 and today’s Nakba in Gaza are not two separate events, the Chair of the United Nations Palestinian Rights Committee told a special event at UN Headquarters in New York today, stressing the need for an immediate ceasefire in the Strip and to achieve Statehood for Palestinians.

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs is launching the Sci-fAI Futures Youth Challenge, calling on young people to share their vision of a fictional world in 2145 where countries around the world have integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into their militaries, exploring scenarios of both benefits and risks.

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ message for the opening of the 2024 Regional Seminar on Decolonization, in Caracas, 14 May:

In Haiti, the United Nations and its partners continue to support people affected and displaced by the ongoing violence. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), through its mobile clinics, and its partners have supported more than 20,000 displaced people in Port-au-Prince since the end of February.

Following are UN Secretary General António Guterres’ remarks at the Summit of the League of Arab States, in Manama today:

CARACAS, 14 May — “Our work is unfinished” declared Menissa Rambally of Saint Lucia, Chair of the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (also known as the Special Committee of 24 or as “C-24”), during the first day of the 2024 Caribbean regional seminar of the Special Committee on Decolonization. She noted that Venezuela’s hosting of the seminar “is indicative of its robust dedication to the decolonization agenda”.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the Multi-stakeholder Hearing on the 2024 United Nations High-level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance, in New York today:

The Economic and Social Council today continued its segment on operational activities for development for the third and final day.

Amid calls from Security Council members today to draw down the United Nations mission in Iraq, the senior United Nations official in that country briefed the 15-member organ on both progress and ongoing challenges at many State levels, while emphasizing it is time to “turn the page on the darker images of Iraq’s past”.