UN INFORMATION SERVICE GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid press briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons and representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Health Organization, and the International Telecommunication Union.
81st Session of the General Assembly
Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service, said the high-level general debate of the UN General Assembly's 81st session was starting today under the theme “Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all”. World leaders were going to gather for the annual debate: some 71 heads of states, 45 heads of governments, 50 ministers, 11 vice presidents, and one crown prince were expected.
This would be the final general debate for the current Secretary General, after ten years in office. In his own address, Mr. Guterres was expected to focus on peace and security, inequality, the climate crisis, and artificial intelligence. His address would be broadcast on UN Web TV.
Yemen: Escalating conflict could fuel more displacement and refugee movement
Babar Baloch, for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said fighting in Yemen was expanding across multiple front lines, triggering a rapidly growing displacement crisis: more than 130,000 people had fled their homes since the beginning of September. Civilians continued to bear the brunt of the conflict, with at least 110 casualties as reported, including 28 lives lost. Casualty and displacement numbers were likely to grow, deepening humanitarian needs at a time when insecurity and access constraints were hampering UNHCR’s relief efforts.
Even before this escalation, more than 5.2 million people were internally displaced inside the country, where it was estimated that more than 22 million people required humanitarian assistance, including the internally displaced people (Yemen had a population of around 35 million people). Yemen was also hosting some 65,000 refugees and asylum seekers, mainly from Somalia and Ethiopia. Conversely, 3,000 Yemeni civilians, fleeing across the Gulf of Aden, had arrived in Djibouti, where UNHCR was working with authorities and partners to assist the arrivals; hundreds of others had landed in Somaliland and Puntland.
Armen Yedgaryan, UNHCR Representative in Yemen, added that Taiz remained the epicentre of the crisis, accounting for more than 60 percent of overall displacement. More displacements inside Yemen were reported from other governorates, reflecting the expanding and multi-front nature of the conflict. Conditions for displaced people were increasingly severe as they arrived in already congested displacement sites, with urgent needs for shelter, food, clean water, health care, and protection, placing additional pressure on the existing fragile services and infrastructure.
Answering questions from journalists, Mr. Baloch said the Refugee Agency expected more arrivals in Djibouti by mid-October, when the seas would calm down. Displacements inside Yemen could reach over 230,000 in the next month; this figure was on top of millions who had already been displaced in the country. Around 70 percent of displaced persons inside Yemen were women and children, some of them going through their fourth displacement, according to testimonies.
UNHCR’s response was constrained by severe funding shortfalls. UNHCR's operation in Yemen was 18 percent funded in 2026 (33 of 193 million US dollars). An estimated 25 million US dollars was needed for UNHCR to address the present emergency.
Health and climate impact of El Niño
Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said WMO would remain focused on El Niño in the coming months. She would provide journalists with WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo’s remarks at the UN General Assembly in New York, on “extreme heat and El Niño”.
Armel Castellan, Extreme Heat Services Technical Advisor at the World Meteorological Organization, said El Niño was strengthening rapidly, the two last months having been the hottest on record. The effects of this El Niño event were already visible in climate-sensitive sectors. WMO expected it to peak towards the end of the year, its impacts running well past. This was more than a heat problem: WMO’s outlook for September to November also pointed to above-normal rainfall in some regions and drought risk in others.
Secretary-General Saulo had said plainly last week: “We have the forecasts, we have the science. We can prepare for what is coming, in health and in every sector that is affected by the weather and our changing climate.” In this regard, WMO seasonal outlooks gave much needed lead time, so that health authorities could look ahead and prepare, rather than repair.
Health practitioners making informed decisions made the difference between losing lives or saving them: therefore, WMO was working with partners to strengthen “climate services for health”. This meant building the needed bridges between health and meteorological communities, to ensure that forecast reached health authorities at the right time, and in the right format. In this context, national Meteorological and Hydrological Services (MET services) mattered very much right now. They held the most current, localized picture of the scale of what was likely to unfold. Investing in national MET services, in reliable observation networks and warning systems, and in climate services for health, would ensure that climate information helped decision makers and health authorities protect every region, city, and community.
Dr Teresa Zakaria, Unit Head for Risk Reduction, Humanitarian Operations and Climate Change at the World Health Organization, said the most severe impacts of El Niño would be felt where climate shocks intersected with weak health systems, limited access to healthcare, food insecurity, displacement, and humanitarian crises. The health impacts of El Niño were predictable and there was a window of opportunity to act now before these risks became crises.
Heat exposure could contribute to death and severe illness by exacerbating cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, metabolic and mental health conditions. Heat-related illness and respiratory disease linked to wildfire smoke and poor air quality were also a concern. Droughts and flooding could destroy homes and livelihoods, displacing people and reducing their access to food, clean water and health care.
Critical health facilities and infrastructure were often damaged by floods and drought, creating conditions that allowed diseases to spread. Malnutrition and cholera were among the most serious concerns and were assessed as very high risks in both drought- and flood-affected settings. More than 150 million people were already facing acute food insecurity globally; that number was expected to rise as climate-related shocks disrupted food production and livelihoods.
WHO's recent Global Public Health Situation Analysis - El Niño 2026, developed with WMO, outlined health risks across different regions and the actions countries and communities could take to reduce their impact. Countries and communities that acted now could mitigate these impacts. Countries should strengthen disease surveillance systems, ensure rapid response capacities were in place, and pre-position medical supplies in areas at greatest risk. (Other references to be found on WHO’s website: El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and Climate inaction is claiming millions of lives every year, warns new Lancet Countdown report.)
Answering questions from journalists, Mr. Castellan said what made this El Niño unique, compared to what happened in 2015, was its association with temperatures that were already record-breaking.
Asked whether the dengue fever would become common in Switzerland, Dr. Zakaria said that whether a disease was going to be endemic in a specific area or setting depended on the presence of the pathogen (virus or bacteria), of the vector driving the transmission, and of response capacities. Even in dengue endemic areas, public health measures such as early detection, preventive measures, and, when available, vaccination, determined whether outbreaks happened and diseases spread or not. There had been reports of cholera in some developed countries: because systems were in place, as well as good hygiene, it had not spread.
On a related note, Babar Baloch, for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said UNHCR and the University of Melbourne would present today the first-ever Global Recommendations on Nationality and Statelessness in the Context of Climate Change. These recommendations provided practical steps for States to protect the right to nationality and prevent stateless people from being left behind.
David Hirsch, for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said ITU and the World Meteorological Organization would hold a Global seminar on the use of radio spectrum for meteorology (28-30 September). Participants would examine how to ensure the continued protection of radio frequencies essential for weather forecasting, climate monitoring, water management, earth observation, and natural hazard early warning systems. The event would bring together policymakers, spectrum regulators, meteorological authorities, satellite experts, and international organizations. It would open next Monday morning, when ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin and WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo would officially launch the revised joint ITU-WMO handbook on the “Use of radio spectrum for meteorology: weather, climate, water and related environmental applications”.
For the United Nations Information Service, Ms. Vellucci said that on 24 September, in New York, as part of the High-Level Week, the General Assembly would convene a one-day plenary meeting to strengthen international cooperation and collective action to address sea level rise (10 a.m. New York time, live on UN Web TV).
Asked about the tiger mosquitoes that plagued the Palais des Nations, Ms. Vellucci advised keeping windows closed overnight, keep the offices clean and avoiding still water under plants that contributed to mosquito proliferation.
Announcements
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) would present its “2026 Report on developments in the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory” during another press conference, next Thursday at 2 p.m. Speakers would be Pedro Manuel Moreno, UNCTAD Acting Secretary General (online), and Mutasim Elagraa, Coordinator, UNCTAD Assistance to the Palestinian People.
On behalf of the Human Rights Council, Ms. Vellucci said the UN Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua would hold a press conference today at 2 p.m. Speakers would be Jan-Michael Simon, chair of the Group, as well as Ariela Peralta Distefano and Reed Brody, members.
Ms. Vellucci also informed that the 31st session of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) would end next Thursday, 24 September. On that day, at 3 p.m., the Committee would hold an informal meeting with State parties to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The Committee would also present its concluding observations on the country reports – submitted by Armenia, Belize, Gabon, and Lesotho – that it had reviewed during the session.
Regarding the election of the new UN Secretary-General, Ms. Vellucci said a third informal poll had taken place, which had not been conclusive. The process was continuing and it was in the hands of Member States.
Tomorrow, 23 September, would be the International Day of Sign Languages.
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