UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the World Health Organization.

Updates on the Situation in Ukraine

Sabine Freizer, Representative in Ukraine, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), said more than three and a half years since the start of the Russian large-scale invasion and 11 years since the start of the hostilities, the war continued to escalate, claiming more lives, causing massive destruction, displacing millions, devastating the economy, and turning land into deadly minefields.

This morning in Kiev, after new strikes, people were left with severe electricity and water cuts. Massive strikes on energy continued to escalate, claiming more lives and causing immense destruction, as people faced the fourth winter of a full-scale war. Strikes on railroads had cut vital lifelines and blocked evacuations from the hardest-to-reach regions in the north and the east. Nowhere was safe.

The human toll was intensifying, with relentless attacks killing and injuring civilians, including women and girls. Throughout 2025, civilian harm had increased sharply, with total casualties jumping by 40 per cent compared to 2024. Since February 2024, at least 4,403 women had been killed, and 314 girls had lost their lives.

In Zaporizhzhia, UN Women had set up consultations with three groups of women. Their stories were incredibly powerful, showing how women had specific needs in the humanitarian response. One woman, who was a war veteran, had her own mental health needs, but was fighting for the rights of other women war veterans. Another woman who was internally displaced had set up a company creating aromatic candles, seeing them as a symbol of warmth and light amidst the fighting. In this way, women were in desperate need of assistance but were also leading the recovery.

Tomorrow was the International Day of the Girl Child. Ukraine was building underground schools, but these were not enough to meet the needs. The crimes being perpetuated in Ukraine left deep and lasting wounds on families and communities.

This week, UN Women was celebrating Security Council resolution 1325 and was planning to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. In his message for the commemoration, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said there needed to be zero tolerance for violence against women, protection for peacebuilders and human rights defenders, and accountability for all those responsible for acts of conflict-related gender-based violence.

Women in Ukraine were suffering from attacks but were playing a leading role in the humanitarian response and recovery. However, less than one per cent of recovery assistance had a gender aspect. Women needed additional support to continue the work they were doing.

Now was the time to stand with Ukrainian women and girls to ensure that they endured the war with resilience and emerged as empowered leaders who could shape Ukraine’s gender responsive recovery and a just and equal future.

In response to questions, Ms. Freizer said there had been an increase in civilian harm and targeting of energy and other infrastructure in Ukraine recently. Women were disproportionately affected by such attacks, as they spent more time at home. When households had no electricity and water, this had a huge impact on women heads of households. Attacks on public transport also had a disproportionate impact on women, who were more likely to use public transport.

Birgitte Bischoff Ebbesen, Regional Director for Europe, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said today, as the world marked World Mental Health Day, and with the theme for 2025 being mental health in humanitarian emergencies, IFRC, together with its National Societies across Europe, was launching new data that revealed a critical gap in how the world prepared for and responded to crises.

New data in the report “Mental Health: The Missing Pillar in Europe’s Emergency Preparedness” drew on over 150,000 voices from across the region, including Ukraine, Lithuania, Portugal, France, Ireland, and Romania. Mental health and psychosocial support were as essential as food or shelter, but they remained underfunded and poorly integrated into Europe’s crisis and disaster preparedness systems. This was particularly stark in Ukraine, where the conflict had inflicted deep psychological wounds.

The research revealed the scale of the mental health crisis. Some 56 per cent of people said they needed psychological support, yet only 19 per cent had been able to access it. Four in five said they or loved ones had experienced traumatic events since the escalation of the conflict.

The pressure was especially heavy on vulnerable groups: displaced people, older adults, children, survivors of violence, and persons with disabilities were all experiencing psychological strain.

These were the daily realities for families facing uncertainty, for volunteers offering help, and for communities still stuck between responding to ongoing bombardments and trying to recover with some normalcy.

The findings also showed that Europe was not mentally prepared for the next crisis. Only one in seven people felt mentally ready to face a sudden crisis such as conflict or disaster. In most countries surveyed, more than one in five people said they worried about crises daily or weekly, a level of ongoing stress that affected well-being.

The good news was that people wanted to help. Four in five respondents said they would be willing to offer emotional support to someone struggling. But nearly half feared they might make things worse. Encouragingly, six in ten said that with some basic training, they would feel much more capable of helping others.

The results of investments in this critical mental health gap were clear. Across Europe and Central Asia last year, the IFRC network delivered 2.4 million mental health and psychosocial support services, part of 9.4 million receiving support around these services globally.

In Ukraine and neighbouring countries, IFRC launched the largest ever mental health initiative, where teams supported millions affected by the conflict, including through helplines, counselling, group sessions, and training in psychological first aid. It had also trained tens of thousands of first responders, including volunteers, teachers, health workers, and civil protection staff, to provide psychological first aid and basic psychosocial support. These skills strengthened both immediate response and long-term community resilience.

The report offered a clear call: mental health should not be a missing pillar across Europe. Indeed, it was a critical component to crisis preparedness and response and a gap that urgently needed to be closed.

As the conflict in Ukraine continued, it showed what is at stake. Behind every destroyed building, there was also an invisible ruin — the toll on people’s minds and hearts. Rebuilding needed to start there too. The international community needed to invest early, act locally, and recognise that every conversation, every act of care, helped societies withstand the shocks ahead.

Mental Health in Humanitarian Emergencies

Dr Fahmy Hanna, Technical Officer for Mental Health, World Health Organization (WHO), said the theme of today, World Mental Health Day, was simple and urgent. The world faced not only unprecedented humanitarian crises but an unprecedented mental health crisis. Every emergency had two faces: one in shattered infrastructure — hospitals, schools, homes — and the other in disrupted lives. Both needed to be responded to.

Today, one in five people in emergencies lived with a mental health condition and an estimated 67 million people with mental disorders were living in conflict, disaster, or displacement settings. Their needs were not marginal; they were among those most affected.

Coordination was possible and progress was real. In 2019, fewer than half of emergencies had a Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) coordination mechanism; today it was 71 per cent — proof that when the world invested, people received coordinated care and better referrals. Eighty-five per cent of emergency responders now reported providing mental health support, but service coverage and quality still fell short.

WHO was supporting mental health in more than 40 emergencies today, backed by a global inter-agency surge roster of 600 specialists. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) MHPSS Minimum Service Package (MSP) set the global standard for rapid, coordinated action across sectors in all emergencies.

In 2024, WHO provided life-saving psychotropic medicines to 2.1 million people in emergencies in Sudan, Chad, and Ethiopia, and helped rebuild systems in Myanmar, Syria, and Lebanon. Yet in early 2025, country requests for these essential medicines dropped by 94 per cent, due to competing priorities between emergencies and lack of funding.

In 2024, WHO Member States unanimously adopted a milestone resolution at the World Health Assembly — the first in history to call for MHPSS across preparedness, response, and recovery.

The most powerful aid could be a safe place to tell your story. The most common condition in an emergency was not a physical wound, but grief. A broken bone could heal in weeks, a destroyed home rebuilt in months. But mental health effects, if ignored, could last a lifetime. People could not survive on food, water, and shelter alone. With mental health and psychosocial support, people could cope, recover, heal, and rebuild.

Access turned a number into a neighbour — a parent who could sleep again, a child back in class, a responder who could keep serving. Success needed to be measured by who found care.

Responders needed to integrate mental health into operations. Governments needed to invest in preparedness, which paid back in wellbeing and economic recovery.

WHO’s World Mental Health Day webpage today featured resources—social media assets, videos, and feature stories from the front lines in Afghanistan and Syria, among others—showcasing the organization’s work scaling up and building back better, sustainable mental health care during and after emergencies. 

The international community needed to renew its commitment to the value of mental health. Dr Hanna closed by wishing all health, safety, and mental well-being on World Mental Health Day.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said the Secretary-General had issued a message for World Mental Health Day.

Urgent International Support Needed for the Forcibly Displaced in the Sahel

Abdouraouf Gnon-Konde, Regional Director for West and Central Africa, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said about four million people were now displaced across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and neighbouring countries — around two-thirds more than five years ago — reflecting insecurity, limited access to services and livelihoods, and the effects of climate change.

While most displaced people in the region remained within their countries, cross-border movements were becoming more frequent, putting pressure on host communities and national systems. These onward movements highlighted the urgent need to expand scant assistance and enable people to remain closer to home, avoiding dangerous journeys.

The insecurity across the region was exposing people to violence, forced recruitment, movement restrictions and arbitrary detention. Women and children represented 80 per cent of forcibly displaced people in the region, and gender-based violence remained a critical and pervasive concern. According to the West and Central Africa inter-agency protection monitoring system, the number of people impacted by such incidents had significantly increased this year.

Over 14,800 schools had closed in the region by mid-2025, leaving three million children without access to learning or safe spaces. Forcibly displaced youth faced increased protection and livelihood challenges, including forced recruitment, trafficking and limited access to job opportunities, increasing the risk of taking dangerous journeys beyond the region. Across the region, over 900 health facilities had also been forced to close, leaving millions without critical care.

Food insecurity had become a growing driver of displacement; the share of displaced people and host community members citing it as a cause for their movement had doubled in recent years. Climate-related shocks further amplified risks, intensifying competition over scarce natural resources such as land and water, creating additional barriers to peaceful coexistence and social cohesion with host communities.

UNHCR’s priority was to strengthen protection, inclusion, resilience and solutions — supporting states and communities in managing displacement while fostering stability and self-reliance. However, humanitarian access and funding were both strained.

In the Sahel, humanitarian needs had risen sharply, while resources had declined significantly since 2022. In 2025, UNHCR requires 409.7 million United States dollars to cover humanitarian needs in Sahel countries but had only raised 32 per cent of this total. Critical activities, including registration, documentation, education, health, and shelter, had been drastically impacted.

Over 212,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger were not yet registered, limiting their access to essential services and heightening their risks of arbitrary detention and harassment.

Despite these challenges, communities across the Sahel were demonstrating resilience and solidarity. UNHCR data showed that in Mali, 90 per cent of displaced people felt a strong sense of integration with local communities generously sharing land and resources. In Burkina Faso, local conflict-resolution mechanisms supported coexistence between displaced and host populations.

All Sahel countries were parties to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol and had adopted national asylum laws that provided a framework for refugee status determination and inclusion, including the right to work and freedom of movement. All had also ratified the Kampala Convention on internal displacement.

UNHCR was calling for a renewed and strengthened international commitment to address the crisis in the central Sahel. Countries in the region could not face these challenges alone. Protecting millions of displaced families and securing a safer future demanded more than words; it required unified, sustained international action and true solidarity with the Sahel.

Read the briefing notes here.

In response to questions, Mr. Gnon-Konde said 75 per cent of displaced persons were internally displaced. People did not want to leave their countries due to a lack of access to borders and insecurity. Neighbouring States were afraid of terrorism activities and were trying to keep their countries safe. UNHCR was working with countries in the Sahel to support civilian populations to flee to the countries of their choice, while those countries worked to protect national security.

Eujin Byun for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said that UNHCR was today closing its Executive Committee. The outgoing High Commissioner Filippo Grandi would give closing remarks, which would be webcast.

Ceasefire Agreement Between Israel and Hamas

Ricardo Pires for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) shared the reactions to yesterday’s news of the agreement to secure a ceasefire and end the war in the Gaza Strip from two children UNICEF spoke to in Deir al Balah, southern Gaza.

Maisara, a 13-year-old boy, said “I felt happy the moment I heard the news about the ceasefire. Finally, I will return to my city in the north, because like all children, we are tired of war. We want to live our childhood again. What makes me even happier is that we will no longer suffer from hunger. I will hug the soil of my city because I missed it so much. Returning to my city means going back to school and to our normal life.”

Rasha, a 13-year-old girl, said “I miss my cousins. We want to go visit them in the cemetery in East Bureij camp. And we want to go see our families in Gaza. Since the ceasefire was announced, we have all been happy.”

These were just two of the more than one million children who had been waiting for this day for more than two years — two years of unimaginable suffering. The news of an imminent ceasefire brought a much-needed, long-overdue glimmer of hope for them and their families. This hope needed to be met with immediate, urgent action.

It was critical that all parties to the conflict did absolutely everything they could to ensure the deal was implemented, sustained, and led to lasting peace. In the hours until the ceasefire officially took hold, children needed to be protected.

The ceasefire would bring hope that the killing and maiming of children may finally stop. Over 64,000 children had either died or been injured due to attacks by Israel’s military. Around 25 per cent of them had potentially life-changing injuries.

The aid needed to flow. Israel needed to open as many entry points as possible. The situation was critical. There was a risk of a massive spike in child deaths, not only neonatal, but also infants, given their immune systems were more compromised than ever before. These children had not had access to proper food for years now.

To add to this, a cold winter, without adequate shelter and clothing, would be lethal. Neonates had died last year from hypothermia.

UNICEF knew this situation was coming. It took months to get these supplies from around the world and into Gaza. It factored this in and started ordering tarpaulins and winter clothes in July. It aimed to give two winter clothing kits to every baby under 12 months and bring in one million blankets for every single child in Gaza. It had assistive devices for the many thousands of wounded children in the pipeline, since it had been blocked for so long from delivering children in Gaza items like wheelchairs and crutches.

It was ready to support the restoration of water supply systems, along with drainage and sanitation systems, including solid waste management to serve all children and families in the Gaza Strip.

As an ultimate priority, the deal needed to be used to avert malnutrition and the extension of famine. UNICEF had the capacity to swiftly improve the nutrition status of 50,000 children below five years of age who were at high risk and 60,000 pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. It had been doing so in the past months but needed to be able to flood Gaza with nutritious supplies and treatment.

A genuine ceasefire needed to be more than words; it needed to be sustained and respected, placing children’s rights at the very centre. This meant opening all crossings for humanitarian aid and ensuring that every child, north to south, was reached with the essentials for survival.

Humanitarian relief was only the beginning. Children in Gaza also needed schools reopened, play spaces restored, and time to heal from unimaginable trauma. This ceasefire needed to create conditions for both emergency aid and long-term recovery, so children like Maisara and Rasha could reclaim their childhoods. It would be a long road.

In response to questions, Mr. Pires said the United Nations would work to restore its past humanitarian system in Gaza. UNICEF had not yet been officially contacted regarding when and how the United Nations would be incorporated into the peace plan. It was ready to flood Gaza with aid; to do what UNICEF did best at the highest scale possible. Its work would help to address child malnutrition and preventable diseases amongst children. UNICEF would continue to call for crossings to be opened so it could flood Gaza with aid. Discussions were ongoing and UNICEF hoped that solutions would be reached very soon.

In Gaza, children’s immune systems were very low, as they had not been able to eat properly for many months. Children needed sufficient nutrients to be able to cope with temperature changes and disease outbreaks. There were 50,000 children with acute malnutrition. They needed to receive treatment as soon as possible.

UNICEF had rescued two babies yesterday who were in incubators in Gaza City fighting for their lives. This was hopefully an example of what would come after the ceasefire – more children protected and less death. There were 16 babies still in incubators waiting to be moved. They were either under treatment or UNICEF did not have the clearance to move them.

Also responding to questions, Juliette Touma for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) called for all crossing into Gaza to be opened immediately so humanitarian supplies could flow into the enclave. UNRWA had 6,000 trucks worth of supplies ready to be delivered to Gaza, including three months’ worth of food for the entire population. This food was critical for averting and controlling famine. The supplies also included one million bars of soap and other hygiene supplies, which were not provided by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). These supplies needed to get in.

UNRWA had been banned by the Israeli authorities from bringing in supplies since March 2025. There had been no visas issued by the Israeli Government to international UNRWA personnel since January. Despite the ban on the agency, its 12,000 workers on the ground were continuing to provide support across the Gaza Strip. There was no indication yet that the ban would be lifted, but the organisation thrived on hope.

UNRWA had not been contacted regarding the peace agreement, but it was difficult to imagine the United Nations achieving the humanitarian response required without UNRWA. UNRWA was the largest humanitarian organisation inside the Gaza Strip and had the trust of the community. There were no middle-men or agencies between UNRWA and the communities it served. The sides working on the peace agreement needed to clarify the role of the United Nations.

The last time there was a ceasefire in Gaza, between January to March, the United Nations had been able to deliver 600 trucks of supplies daily, sometimes 800. This was the reason why famine had been delayed. Gaza needed 500 trucks per day. This figure was based on the number of trucks that came into Gaza before the war. Trucks were not the story; the story was that there were immense humanitarian needs in Gaza that needed to be addressed.

There were 660,000 children in Gaza who had not gone to school for the third year in a row. UNRWA staff and other United Nations agencies were ready to help children to return to education. When peace returned to the enclave, these children would be key to rebuilding the future of Gaza.

Over 370 UNRWA colleagues had been killed in the conflict, some in the line of duty. This was the highest death toll for United Nations personnel had had been recorded in any conflict since the organisation was established.

UNRWA’s Commissioner-General had issued a statement yesterday calling on all Member States to support the agency to do its work in Gaza. UNRWA continued to contact Israeli authorities at different levels but had not received responses since January this year, since the legislative bill was introduced by Israel that enforced a no-contact policy between Israeli authorities and UNRWA.

Christian Lindmeier for World Health Organization (WHO) said WHO welcomed the announcement of a long-awaited ceasefire and the release of hostages after the relentless conflict. Gaza’s health system, shattered yet standing, continued to serve its people with extraordinary resilience. Only 13 of the 36 hospitals and 62 of 100 primary care centres in Gaza remained partially functioning.

WHO was committed to helping to rebuild Gaza’s health system. It was scaling up the delivery of medical supplies of medical supplies to address urgent needs, as the burden on hospitals would not ease overnight. It was also supporting the rehabilitation of hospitals and increasing the deployment of emergency medical teams to expand healthcare capacity, restore specialist services, and make health facilities fully functional again.

As it expanded its response, WHO called for unimpeded access across Gaza; unhindered entry of medical supplies through all possible routes; the resumption of medical evacuations from Gaza to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; flexible funding to sustain the emergency response and drive the recovery; and above all, a lasting, permanent ceasefire and peace.

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to María Corina Machado

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said this year’s Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to María Corina Machado for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.

Thameen Al-Kheetan for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) congratulated María Corina Machado on winning the Nobel Peace Prize.  This recognition reflected the clear aspirations of the people of Venezuela for free and fair elections, for civil and political rights, and for the rule of law. The High Commissioner had consistently spoken out in support of these values.

In response to questions, Mr. Al-Kheetan said the Human Rights Council had requested the Office to provide regular updates on the human rights situation in Venezuela. It was engaging with all stakeholders, including the authorities, on different human rights situations in the country. OHCHR remained firmly committed to protecting the rights of all Venezuelans in Venezuela and abroad. Victims were at the centre of its work.

The National Assembly of Venezuela had voted to declare the High Commissioner persona non-grata. There were many human rights issues in the State and the Office needed to work in response and engage with authorities. It was in contact with many stakeholders in the country and abroad.

Announcements

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said tomorrow was the International Day of the Girl Child and the Secretary-General had issued a message for the day. He had also issued a message for the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, which was on 13 October.

United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan would hold a briefing on Monday, 13 October at 2:30 p.m. on the 16th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD16), the theme of which was “Shaping the future: Driving economic transformation for equitable, inclusive and sustainable development”. The Conference would be held from 20 to 23 October 2025 at the Palais des Nations.

On Thursday, 16 October at 10 a.m., the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) would hold a press briefing to launch its latest Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. Speaking would be Ko Barrett, WMO Deputy Secretary-General, and Oksana Tarasova, WMO Senior Scientific Officer.

A screening of the award-winning film “Colour”, directed by Dr Hannah Strohmeier, and a panel discussion featuring messages from the director would be held this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in Room VIII of the Palais des Nations, organised by the United Nations Office at Geneva’s Working Group on Addressing Racism in the Workplace. The film uncovered how colonial legacies and institutional racism impacted mental health in humanitarian workplaces. This 64-minute film drew on extensive research and testimonies of staff in Nairobi. It called for more inclusive and supportive organisational structures.

The United Nations Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law would hold its fifth session next Monday and Tuesday, 13 and 14 October, at Tempus at the Palais des Nations, under the theme “Democracy and climate change : focusing on solutions”.  The Forum featured opening statements from high-level speakers and six panel discussions devoted to climate change in a rule of law(less) context, key enablers of a climate-just world, reimagining climate governance, and interconnected solutions for interconnected problems, among other topics.

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