Secretary-General/Travel, Hantavirus, UNIFIL & other topics - Daily Press Briefing

Okay.
Good afternoon, everyone.
In a short while, I will be joined here by our colleagues from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
Bjørg Sandkjær, as Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Interagency Affairs, and Juliette Biao, Director of the Forum on Forests Secretariat, will brief you on the launch of the Global Forest Goals Report 2026.
Then tomorrow, my guest will be Andrew Saberton, UNFPA's Deputy Executive Director for Management.
He will be here to speak to you about his recent mission to Chad and the situation for women and girls in the country.
Today, in Nairobi, the Secretary-General, along with President William Ruto of Kenya, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, and UNON Director General Zainab Bangura, participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for a new conference hall and the inauguration of a new office complex on the grounds of the UN offices in Nairobi.
In his remarks, the Secretary-General said that this was a reaffirmation of the central role that Africa and Kenya play in the life and future of the United Nations.
The UN presence in Nairobi is where the future of multilateralism is being shaped every day, Mr.
Guterres said.
The new offices buildings are the UN Nigeria Office's first net zero building, featuring year round on site solar power.
The expanded conference facilities will add further solar installations, bringing the complex to energy neutrality by 2030.
In a press conference after the groundbreaking at Dunan, the Secretary-General said that the United Nations must be closer to the people it serves, connected to their realities and equipped to support the solutions they are building.
He added that too often African countries are expected to live with decisions made in institutions where they do not have equal voice.
This is why reform of the Security Council cannot wait, along with reform of the international financial institutions, where Africa is clearly underrepresented.
The Secretary-General outlined to the journalists how so many countries in Africa are being heavily and negatively impacted by the continuing situation in the Strait of Hormus, notably due to the severe spike in energy and fertilizer prices.
Once again, he called for the full restoration of freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormus.
While at the UN complex, the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-General held a series of bilateral meetings, notably with President Ruto.
During the meeting, the Secretary-General thanked the President and the Kenyan government for its continued active support to the United Nations, noting its role as host of the organization's headquarters in Africa.
The Secretary-General pledged that the United Nations was committed to making its home in Nairobi a global center for multilateralism.
The two leaders discussed the much needed reforms of the international financial architecture in order to make the system fairer and more effective.
Later in the afternoon, the Secretary-General traveled to the Kenyan International Conference Center, the site of the Africa Forward Summit, where he met with Julius Mahabilo President of Sierra Leone, and later with a group representing the elders.
This morning, the World Health Organization said that there are nine cases of anntivirus infection, seven of which are confirmed, including the latest case reported by France.
Three deaths have also been reported among the cases.
WHO announced that the last remaining passengers on the Hantivirs hit cruise ship will have disembarked the MV Hondas by the end of today.
Passengers are departing the Canary Islands by specially arranged flights.
WHO said that more than 30 crew members will remain on the ship and will sail it onward to Rotterdam, a journey expected to take several days.
Over the weekend, the Secretary-General expressed his support for the government of Spain and others as they managed the Hantavirus in close coordination with WHO.
While the current public health risk from the virus remains low, the Secretary-General stressed that it's important that international health efforts ensure the safety of all, including passengers and crew of the MV Hondas.
Today, WHO had a team of eight staff in Tenerife and the Canary Islands coordinating with the Spanish authorities and other partners on site.
A quick update from the United Nations interim force in Lebanon.
Between Friday and today, UNIFIL continued to record extensive military activity across this area of operations.
During this period, peacekeepers observed more than 1,296 trajectories of projectiles attributed to the Israeli defense forces and 64 trajectories of projectiles attributed to Hezbollah.
Incidents involving the denial of freedom of movement to UNIFIL peacekeepers continue to occur daily.
On Saturday, an IDF tank blocked a UNIFIL movement near Al aza in Sector West and an IDF bulldozer restricted peacekeepers movement near Al Bayada also in Sector West, forcing the UNIFIL personnel to turn back in both instances.
We reiterate the responsibility of all actors to ensure a UNIFIL has unrestricted freedom of movement in the discharge of its mandated functions.
Also from Lebanon, OTR reports that the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate despite the cease fire that was announced on April 17th.
More than 100 strikes reported in the past 24 hours alone, while 87 people were killed over the weekend.
Today, the Ministry of Public Health reported that two paramedics affiliated with the Islamic Health Committee were killed and several others were wounded in airstrikes targeting health related sites in the towns of Kali and Tibnin in southern Lebanon.
The paramedics were responding to earlier incidents when they were killed.
Since the start of the escalation on March 2nd, the World Health Organization has recorded 158 attacks on healthcare, resulting in 108 deaths and 249 injuries.
Attacks on humanitarian and medical personnel are unacceptable and further undermine an overstretched health system and access to emergency health care for civilians.
Three hospitals and 41 primary health care centers remain closed, while several others operate only partially.
In Southern governates, six hospitals have yet to resume maternity services suspended during de escalation.
Over the weekend, renewed displacement orders were also issued for multiple towns and villages in southern Lebanon and Nabate.
This has contributed to new displacement and placed additional pressures on collective shelters and host communities.
Our health partners know that displaced people, including the most vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, often face limited access to adequate and diverse food, which increases health risks.
Despite these challenges, humanitarian partners continue to deliver critical assistance and services in close coordination with the government.
To date, our health partners have supported more than 585 hospital admissions, administered over 18,000 vaccine doses through primary health care centers, and provided more than 4,300 prenatal care consultations.
In addition, our partners in food security have distributed more than 8.4 million meals.
However, humanitarian needs continue to outpace available resources with just 41% of the $308 million flash appeal funded for the period from March to the end of May.
Without full funding, there will be interruptions to critical services such as health, water and sanitation.
Turning to the occupied Palestinian territory, the UN resident and Humanitarian coordinator, doctor Ramiz Alakporov led diplomats representing 11 member states on a field visit to the West Bank to witness the humanitarian impact of demolitions, displacement, water access restrictions, and settler violence, and the response.
This area and the rest of the West Bank has seen a rise in settler violence and forced displacement.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that the delegation met affected Palestinians in two communities of the Northern Jordan Valley, Anlbaida and Al Hadidya.
The delegation also visited Hamad Al Male, which is one of 45 communities that have been displaced in full since 2023, due to settler violence and access restrictions.
More than 60% of the displacement is linked to settler attacks in the Jordan Valley.
The delegation visited homes that were abandoned when people were forcibly displaced, a demolished school that had been hit had been built with donor funding and water springs that had been taken over by Israeli settlers.
They heard testimonies from Palestinian herders facing repeated attacks, demolitions, and restrictions on access to grazing land.
Doctor Alakporov called for solidarity and partnership to support the people whose lives, way of living, and livelihoods are at risk.
He stressed the importance of helping vulnerable people stay in their own areas and the need for accountability for violence, demolitions, and illegal use of natural resources.
In Gaza, our colleagues leading on safety report multiple incidents of airstrikes, shelling, navy fire, and gunshots hitting residential areas.
This reportedly resulted in casualties over the weekend.
We remind all parties that civilians and civilian facilities must always be protected.
Our partners working on water and sanitation say raw sewage has flooded neighborhoods in Kunis, following power failures linked to the shortage of lubricating oil for pumping station generators.
This is compounding already severe public health and environmental risks.
Our partners stress that essential supplies, includ engine oil and spare parts, must be allowed into Gaza urgently as more critical facilities, including wells and desalination plants are at risk of failing.
Turning to Sudan, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk today strongly condemned the rising use of armed unmanned aerial vehicles in Sudan and the deadly impact it is having on civilians.
The Sudan team at the Human Rights Office, Sudan found that drone strikes accounted for at least 880 civilian deaths, more than 80% of all conflict related civilian deaths between January and April this year.
Mr.
Türk called for the adoption of robust measures to prevent the transfer of arms, including increasingly advanced armed drones to the fighting parties.
Meanwhile, our colleagues at OCHA tell us that on Friday, strikes in Southern Kordofan and North Kordofan states reportedly killed at least 26 civilians.
Armed clashes and additional airstrikes were also reported around Elobed and Bara Town.
On Saturday in West Koury State, more than 17 people were reportedly killed when a civilian truck traveling from Kumi village towards the locality of Abu zab was struck.
This is also according to local sources.
Drone strikes were reported in North Darfur and South Darfur states in recent days, including near Altina town, close to the border with Chad, and in Nyala City.
The insecurity is also forcing more people to flee.
The International Organization for Migration reports that heightened insecurity in Blue Nile State displaced more than 4,600 people from villages in Al Kurm locality last Thursday alone.
We reiterate that parties must respect international humanitarian law and their obligations to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Aid must be allowed to reach people in need quickly, safely, and without obstruction.
Over the weekend, the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo strongly condemned the recent wave of deadly attacks targeting civilians in Naturi, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces.
Dozens of civilians have been killed in recent days in attacks in the territories of Urumu, Chugu, and Mombasa in Nuri, as well as around OCHA in the neighboring province of North Kivu, and in the Buffaliro chiefdom in South Kivu.
Monusco condemns all attacks against civilians, which continue to worsen insecurity, fear, and vulnerability among communities already severely affected by conflict.
The UN Mission also reiterated its call on all sides to immediately cease attacks against civilians and to act in full compliance with applicable international law.
From Haiti, our OCHA colleagues report an alarming surge in gender based violence in the first three months of this year.
Humanitarian partners have recorded almost 2000 incidents of gender based violence for about 21 cases per day.
More than 70% of the cases involved rape, a dramatic increase from the previous quarter, where 49% of incidents were rapes.
Most of these cases were gang rapes reportedly perpetrated primarily by armed groups.
Most survivors are women and girls.
This follows the sharp rise in gender based violence last year when partners recorded just over 8,000 incidents, and that was a 25% increase compared to 2024.
Despite the growing crisis, support services remain severely underfunded.
So far this year, only $1.2 million of the $15 million required has been received.
That's just 8%.
This is severely limiting survivors access to emergency medical care within the critical 72 hour window after an assault.
It also limits psychosocial support and temporary emergency shelter.
Our partners on the ground report that with the resources available, some survivors have been able to access medical, psychosocial, and protection services such as safe spaces for women and girls.
However, needs continue to far exceed current capacity.
We and our humanitarian partners in Haiti stress the urgent need to scale up funding for health, protection services, and psychosocial support, particularly in the areas most affected by violence.
Overall, Haiti faces a severe humanitarian crisis.
So 1.45 million people are internally displaced and close to 6 million people, half of Haiti's population are acutely food insecure.
OCHA calls for additional funding to strengthen services for survivors, as well as protection efforts in areas most affected by violence.
And you're aware that the Secretary-General over the weekend welcomed the start of the three day ceasefire and the planned large scale exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and the Russian Federation.
The Secretary-General reiterates his call for an immediate, full, unconditional and lasting cease fire as a first step towards a just, sustainable and comprehensive peace in line with the UN charter, international law, and relevant UN resolutions.
That's it for me.
Bless you.
Any questions before you get to our guest ED first.
Thank you, Farhan.
President Trump said very recently that the ceasefire in Iran is on life support Life support.
Does the Secretary-General have any comment or any reaction to that statement? Well, We have tried over the years in all of our diplomatic efforts not to listen too much to the rhetoric by any particular side involved in negotiations.
What we want to do is make sure that the parties themselves remain committed to negotiations.
Certainly, we appreciate the role that Pakistan has been playing as a mediator, and we want the efforts to continue.
A return to full scale fighting would be, as the Secretary-General has repeatedly said, catastrophic.
Already the situation is untenable given the lack of freedom of movement in the street of Hormuz.
One other question on something completely different.
Indigenous groups across Latin America have sent letters to UN member states, UN organizations basically saying that Um, criminal groups are threatening the governance of that they are providing in indigenous areas, and that Also, they are threatening indigenous guardianship of fragile ecosystems.
Does the Secretary-General have any reaction to that? Well, certainly, the Secretary-General continues to support the rights of all indigenous peoples and he wants to make sure that the governments of member states work to protect the rights that indigenous people have, including from the threat posed by criminal groups.
Yes, please.
My name is Ju from 21st century B China.
So at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump would pay a state visit to China later this week.
So at this moment, does the Secretary-General of the United Nations have any comment on this upcoming visit? We are certainly appreciative of the efforts by the two governments to deal with their outstanding issues through dialogue, and we encourage them to keep up with the track of dialogue in order to resolve any differences that they may have.
And what areas of cooperation between China and the US are most critical at this moment given the current geopolitical and economic environment? Well, there's a huge number of issues on which the US and China, along with all the main countries of the world, including, of course, the other permanent members of the Security Council, have a role to play.
You're well aware of the issues on which the Security Council has seized, but of course, there are cross cutting issues including the threats posed by climate change and the geopolitical situation, as you know, that has been caused by the economic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
The one last question is another topic virus.
What specific actions would you take to stop the spread of cant virus and does even believe that antivirus would be comparable to another develop into another global pandemic just as COVID 19? The World Health Organization has made it clear that they do not believe that this is a crisis on the level of the pandemic the pandemics that we have seen.
And they've explained why that is, given the different way in which Hunt virus is transmitted.
I read at the start of the briefing what the World Health Organization is doing, but you can see from their website all of their various efforts.
And of course, the Secretary-General is supportive of the international health efforts to ensure the safety of all people.
Yes, you also had a question? And the Nirvana.
Just to follow up that question, we all know the meeting will happen in this week so that the sector general believe the meeting can bring the global stability and the economic confidence to the world.
Certainly, the United States and China are two of the main economic powerhouses of the world and any way that they can deal with any of their differences in economic policies would be beneficial for the world as a whole.
Yvonne.
Thanks, Farhan.
On Haiti, you painted a very grim picture, indeed, about gender based violence there.
Given that the multinational security support mission has now wound up or is being replaced, is the conclusion from the Secretary-General that that was not a success, that it was a failure, and is the next mission, the gang suppression force, going to be more successful in his view? Clearly, there needs to be a greater effort to deal with the threat posed by criminal gangs, including, as we just were mentioning, the threat of sexual violence that they posed.
It's very clear that every year over the past three years from 2024, 2025, and now into 2026, the threat of sexual violence, including rapes and gang rapes, has only increased.
And any outside forces that are trying to deal with the situation will have to take that account and do whatever they can to bring that threat down.
My question was, is the conclusion now that the force that was sent in with the UN Security Council mandate did not succeed? And if that is the case, then how can you guarantee success going forward or at least attempt to? Well, certainly, we are also in touch with the gang suppression force and are trying to make sure that there are lessons learned from all the previous activities, including from the era of UN peacekeeping through to the one of the multinational force up until now.
Obviously, part of the lessons learned is there have to be different ways of dealing with the threat posed by gangs to lessen the amount of violence and the threat they pose to the communities in which they are located.
Yes, Bean.
Thanks, Farhan.
I'm not sure if you saw the report by New York Times reporter Nicholas Christoph, where he interviewed a number of Palestinians who were prisoners in Israel and the report basically talks about rape and sexual assault that they suffered in Israeli prisons.
Do you have a comment on that and is this something that requires further investigation from the UN, for instance? Our own Human Rights Office has been monitoring and investigating the claims made by Palestinian prisoners and we take very seriously the claims of mistreatment.
Obviously, they need to be treated fairly.
Of course, we've also made clear that all of those who are in detention need either to be formally charged and tried or otherwise released.
With that, let me turn to our guests.