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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC,

SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES

WEDNESDAY, 17 JUNE 2026

SECRETARY-GENERAL TRAVEL 

The Secretary-General is still in the Dominican Republic, but he is about to leave Santo Domingo on his way back to New York. 

Earlier today, he met the President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader. The President and the Secretary-General discussed international and regional developments, including the situation in Haiti. 

Mr. Guterres also met with our UN colleagues working in the country. 

Yesterday, as you saw, he concluded his visit to Haiti with a press conference. He said that for the first time in many years, Haiti has a chance to turn a corner, but only if the international community assumes its responsibilities. 

He appealed to the world to step up, to fund the humanitarian response and progressive recovery and to support the Haitian institutions and the Gang Suppression Force.                                                   

The transition is moving, he added. Everyone, the international community and Haiti’s leaders alike, must do their part to turn this momentum into concrete results. 

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TRAVEL 

The Deputy Secretary-General is currently enroute to London, United Kingdom, to participate in the London School of Economics and Political Science’s Global School of Sustainability Forum 2026.  

At the Forum, she will engage with global leaders, policymakers, researchers, and representatives from the public and private sectors to discuss pathways for advancing sustainable development in a rapidly changing global context. She is expected to underscore the importance of accelerating climate action, strengthening international cooperation, and advancing solutions that deliver tangible results for people and planet. The Forum will bring together international leaders and stakeholders to explore challenges and opportunities for building a more sustainable future. 

While in London, the Deputy Secretary-General will also convene a meeting on maternal health and child survival together with Goals House, bringing together partners and stakeholders to advance renewed action and investment to improve health outcomes for women, children, and communities. 

The Deputy Secretary-General is scheduled to return to New York on Sunday, 21 June. 

PEACEKEEPING 

The Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, is in the United Kingdom, where he is participating in events marking the first edition of the University of Oxford–United Nations Peace and Security Fellowship. 

This joint initiative between Oxford and the Department of Peace Operations brought 10 UN practitioners to the university to undertake policy-relevant research on peacekeeping, conflict prevention and political missions. 

On Thursday, Mr. Lacroix will deliver a lecture on “The Difficult Journey of Peace: Challenges and Opportunities for Peace Operations in a Fragmented World”.  

On Friday, he will speak at the Oxford Union, where he will exchange views with students on multilateralism and the future of peace operations. 

LEBANON 

Despite a reduction in the intensity of hostilities in the area of operations, UNIFIL peacekeepers continue to observe extensive IDF military activity. This includes high-density armoured movements, large-scale engineering and demolition works, and sustained logistical traffic across the area. 

Today, 26 violations of Lebanese airspace by the IDF were recorded between midnight and 4:00 p.m. local time, along with one air attack. In addition, peacekeepers reported a violation of Lebanon’s maritime space by two IDF vessels conducting a patrol roughly 600 meters offshore north of Naqoura. 

Kinetic activity has been gradually increasing since Monday, with 312 trajectories recorded between midnight and 16:00 hours today—291 attributed to the IDF and 21 attributed to Hizbullah. By comparison, 174 and 189 trajectories were reported over 24-hour periods on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. 

Yesterday, UNIFIL personnel recorded 185 firing incidents originating from IDF positions south of the Blue Line and within the area of operations. Four projectiles were also detected travelling from north to south, reportedly launched by Hizbullah. 

Outside UNIFIL’s area of operations, we are aware of reports of Israeli artillery shelling and airstrikes targeting multiple locations, including Nabatieh, Saida, and Jezzine, as well as repeated drone overflights over Beirut and its southern suburbs.  

At least one strike on a vehicle in Shukin reportedly resulted in four fatalities and several injuries. 

Separately, yesterday, following coordination through the UNIFIL–OCHA Civil-Military Coordination cell and deconfliction via the UNIFIL Liaison Branch, two humanitarian organizations carried out eight missions to Tyre and surrounding areas in Sector West. 

Meanwhile, our humanitarian colleagues on the ground tell us that more people are reportedly returning to the south of the country.  Many are going back with the hope of staying in their communities, even as they face ongoing insecurity, widespread destruction and limited access to basic services. 

 In Nabatieh Governorate, more than 4,000 families reportedly returned between June 12th and yesterday.  

And in the municipality of Srifa, in South Governorate, two collective shelters opened this week to support people who have returned to the area. 

However, many families remain unable to go back to their homes because of ongoing fighting and the threat posed by unexploded ordnance. 

OCHA warns that humanitarian needs remain high. According to UNICEF, more than 770,000 children are experiencing heightened distress after repeated exposure to violence, loss and displacement. 

We continue to call for the protection of civilians and for returns to be safe, voluntary and informed, with sustained humanitarian access and assistance for those who need it.  

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY 

Turning to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the International Organization for Migration says that it has been providing shelter repairs since May with its partnets, replacing wood with aluminium to improve durability, safety, and living conditions. They also supported the manufacture and installation of nearly 150 large emergency family shelters and provided shelter assistance to hundreds of families, combining cash and in-kind support. 

We and our humanitarian partners are also repurposingused  wooden pallets for furniture and other household uses. 

However, IOM warns that progress continues to be constrained by lengthy Israeli approval processes, including custom clearance. Delays have led to winter items only receiving approval during the summer.  

Last month, several shipments including kitchen sets and solar lanterns, already cleared by Israeli authorities, were nevertheless denied entry. 

Meanwhile, as families experience electricity blackouts, overcrowding and lack of safe cooking fuel, they often prepare meals over open fire inside or near to their tents. So far in June, we and our partners have responded to multiple fire incidents caused by cooking. To mitigate further risk, our teams are providing safety guidance to people at risk.  

Turning to the West Bank, settler-related incidents continue. On Monday, near the town of Halhul, Israeli settlers reportedly attacked Palestinian farmers using sticks and stones.  

A newly established settlement near the town of Dura prevented Palestinians from accessing thousands of acres of agricultural land, affecting the safety and livelihoods of more than a dozen families and restricting movement and access for thousands of Palestinians.  

OCHA calls once again for the protection of civilians, which includes enforcing the law against anyone who carries out attacks.   

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO  

Turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, our colleagues at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tell us that escalating violence and threats against aid workers continue to hamstring life-saving operations in the country's eastern provinces. In South Kivu, access remains heavily restricted in several areas as fighting continues to force civilians to flee for safety. Nearly 20,000 people were forced to flee their homes on 15 June, following clashes in the Mwenga and Shabunda territories. 

These displaced families need food, they need shelter, healthcare, safe drinking water and other basic services and protection. Meanwhile, in Fizi territory, humanitarian access also remains under pressure, as repeated interference by armed groups continues to threaten the delivery of life-saving assistance and [the safety of] humanitarian workers.  In the Ituri province, five Ebola response workers were briefly detained by armed groups yesterday. As we mentioned yesterday, Ituri remains the epicenter of the outbreak, accounting for more than 90 per cent of all confirmed cases. 

According to health authorities, as of 15 June, 29 new confirmed cases were reported, bringing the total number of cases to 837 across the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu. Despite these immense challenges, we, along with our humanitarian partners, continue to support national authorities in containing the outbreak and deliver assistance. However, humanitarian personnel cannot operate safely without security guarantees. Once again, all parties must do whatever they can to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure and allow humanitarians to do their life-saving work.

ECOSOC HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS SEGMENT 

Speaking of humanitarians, today also marked the start of the Economic and Social Council Humanitarian Affairs Segment. The three-day annual event brings together Member States, the UN system, humanitarian and development partners, as well as the private sector, to discuss challenges and opportunities to strengthening the coordination and the coordination effectiveness of the UN’s humanitarian work. 

Speaking at the opening, Tom Fletcher, our Emergency Relief Coordinator and head of OCHA, warned that in a changing world – with the humanitarian mission often contested – aid organizations not only face a gap between growing needs and shrinking funding, as we tell you almost every day here, but between needs and our ability to deliver. 

He stressed that respect for international humanitarian law and the protection of aid workers are indispensable to humanitarian action. 

“The future of humanitarian action will not be decided by humanitarians alone,” Mr. Fletcher said. He called on Member States, parties to conflict, donors, development partners and the private sector to all play their part.

HUMAN RIGHTS

The UN Human Rights Office issued a report today warning us that attacks against human right defenders have reached record levels over the past year. Preliminary data indicates that some 950 human rights defenders, journalists, and trade unionists were killed or forcibly disappeared worldwide in 2025, more than double the number a decade ago.  

These and other alarming trends are highlighted in Human Rights Count 2026, the Office’s latest global dataset documenting attacks on human rights defenders, civilian deaths in conflicts, patterns of discrimination worldwide, and the state of institutions tasked with protecting human rights. Very interesting report, very good data.         

SECURITY COUNCIL/UN WOMEN 

Today, the Security Council is convening an open debate on Women, Peace and Security, entitled “Peace is Decided with Women: Emerging from Conflict by Enhancing their Participation”. UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous said that gender equality and women’s empowerment are essential to building and sustaining peace at a time we are facing the highest number of conflicts since the UN founding. From Afghanistan to Haiti to Myanmar, Lebanon, Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine, women bear a disproportionate share of the consequences of conflicts they neither choose nor lead, while often remaining excluded from efforts to resolve them. 

She noted that women’s participation in UN-led peace processes reached between 16 and 23 per cent over the past five years, still too low, but roughly double the global average.                                              

Ms. Bahous recalled that, less than two years ago, the Secretary-General launched a common pledge on women’s participation in peace processes. Forty-three Member States and regional organizations have since joined, and she urged more countries to do so and to support the Secretary-General’s target of at least one-third women’s representation. 

WOMEN PEACEKEEPERS 

Eight years into the implementation of the Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy, steady progress has been made, with the share of deployed uniformed women doubling from less than 5 per cent in 2018 to over 10 per cent in 2025.  

 That information was shared yesterday by our colleagues from the Department of Peace Operations, in partnership with the Governments of Canada, Germany, Uruguay and Zambia, at a high-level event titled “From Commitment to Impact: Advancing Uniformed Women’s Participation and Leadership in UN Peacekeeping”. 
At the same time, DPO said at the event, challenges remain and gains are fragile, particularly in the context of liquidity constraints and reductions in overall peacekeeping personnel.  

Participants highlighted how deploying mixed teams, with women and men serving together, improves our peacekeeping missions' effectiveness and legitimacy on the ground.  

The event also marked the rollout of the Network for Uniformed Women Peacekeepers across all missions. To date, the Network has up to 1,800 members from over 90 contributing countries.  

INTERNATIONAL DAY TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION AND DROUGHT 

Today is the International Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. In a message for the Day, the Secretary-General notes that rangelands are vast open spaces found in every climate, on every continent, and they cover half the Earth’s land surface and sustaining over two billion people. Yet, he said, up to fifty per cent of the world’s rangelands are now degraded or at risk. 

The Secretary-General notes that we are today issuing an urgent call to recognize and respect the world’s rangelands. To protect our future, he stressed, we must protect the land. 

YVONNE MURRAY 

Today is hump day but it also a sad day because one of your colleagues is leaving us. 

RTE’s permanent representative in the press briefing room, Yvonne Murray, is heading to home to Ireland. 

We wish her and her family the best but the briefing room will be quieter without her. 

People often ask me what is biggest blunder you ever committed from the podium. 

Ranking pretty high on that long list is when I referred to Yvonne as an Anglo-Saxon.  I once again apologize for the remark.  

 **Briefings 

Noon briefing guests today were Jean-Martin Bauer, the Director of the World Food Programme’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Service and Rein Paulsen, the Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Office of Emergencies and Resilience. They briefed on the FAO-WFP Hunger Hotspots report. 

Tomorrow, at 11:00 a.m., Vanessa Frazier, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict will be here to brief on the Secretary-General's Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict.