HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STÉPHANE DUJARRIC,
SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
THURSDAY, 14 AUGUST 2025
CONFLICT-RELATED SEXUAL VIOLENCE REPORT
The Secretary-General’s 16th annual Report on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence has been published today.
The Report marks a staggering 25% increase from the previous year, with the highest number of cases recorded in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Somalia and South Sudan.
63 State and non-State parties are listed in the annex of the report, credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict on the agenda of the Security Council.
The report also introduces, for the first time, an appendix whereby parties are put on notice for potential listing in the next report of the Secretary-General.
The consistent denial of access to United Nations monitors in the context of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, has made it challenging to verify and definitively determine the patterns, trends and systematicity of sexual violence in these contexts.
The report also includes recommendations to the Security Council to address conflict-related sexual violence.
UKRAINE
Turning to Ukraine, the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that as front lines shift, intense hostilities continue to inflict a heavy toll on civilians on a daily basis, causing widespread destruction and forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.
In the Donetsk Region, where fighting has escalated, Ukrainian authorities ordered the mandatory evacuation of families with children from over a dozen towns and villages. Between Monday and Wednesday this week, authorities report that more than 6,000 people fled high-risk communities along the front lines, either through organized evacuations or on their own.
Relentless attacks are also impeding both the evacuation of civilians and the delivery of aid to Pokrovsk Town, located just a kilometre from the front line.
Local authorities estimate that more than 1,000 people are still living there. Humanitarian access is also worsening in Kostiantynivka Town, where approximately 7,000 residents need urgent support.
Aid organizations are working around the clock to assist those fleeing the violence, providing transportation and other assistance at transit sites for newly displaced people.
The Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, is visiting the south of Ukraine today. He met with displaced people in a community centre in Mykolaiv and discussed urgent needs with our partners and the local authorities.
On its latest update, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said that the number of civilian casualties in Ukraine reached another three-year high in July. With 286 civilians killed and 1,388 injured, the July casualty number was the highest since May 2022.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission said that the high July casualty numbers continued a pattern of steadily increasing civilian casualties in 2025. Casualty numbers for the first seven months of 2025 were 48 per cent higher than in the same period in 2024.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Turning to the horrific situation in the Gaza Strip, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that air strikes and shelling have intensified in parts of Gaza city over the past couple of days, as attacks also continue in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis. Strikes are hitting residential buildings and tents housing displaced people, resulting in a high number of casualties.
OCHA warns that if the announced Israeli ground operation in Gaza city moves ahead, thousands of families already in appalling humanitarian conditions could be pushed over the edge even further.
With 86 per cent of the Strip now in Israeli-militarized zones or under displacement orders, aid groups lack the access and supplies to address the dire needs at the scale required. Any further loss of space, more mass displacement orders, or intensified attacks in populated areas would have devastating consequences.
As a reminder, the Israeli ban on the entry of shelter materials has been in effect for over five months. In recent days, temperatures have soared, and hundreds of thousands of people are now left without protection from the heat. Nearly everyone in Gaza has been displaced at least once since the war began, and the makeshift shelters they managed to improvise or acquire have often either worn out or been abandoned in the rush to flee.
Meanwhile, yesterday, the World Health Organization supported the medical evacuation of 38 patients, mostly children, from Gaza – alongside nearly 100 companions.
We reiterate our calls for a ceasefire, the unconditional and immediate release of all hostages and the unimpeded humanitarian access.
SYRIA
Turning to Syria, the UN and its humanitarian partners continue to deliver vital assistance to people impacted by the recent violence in southern Syria.
In the governorates of Sweida, Dar’a [Dar-Ah] and Rural Damascus, UN agencies and our partners are supporting both people who have been displaced and the communities hosting them. Between August 5th and yesterday, we supported four aid convoys through the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), which yesterday delivered critical assistance to Sweida, including food, hygiene kits, medical supplies and fuel to restore water access. One of the convoys counted 21 trucks that delivered 250 metric tons of flour, as well as food baskets, water containers, fuel, and seven dialysis machines. The World Food Programme and UNICEF provided some of these supplies.
But of course more support is urgently needed. More than 190,000 people were displaced by the recent violence, which has also disrupted basic services and commercial supplies. Over the past week, over 920 families have left Sweida Governorate, while some 370 families returned, according to Syria Civil Defense organization.
Our humanitarian colleagues also warn that the ongoing insecurity and sporadic violence continue to impede the humanitarian access to Sweida. Just last week, a Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy came under fire in Dar’a Governorate. Despite ongoing insecurity and operational challenges, we continue to engage closely with Syrian authorities and other partners to strengthen the response.
LEBANON
UNIFIL peacekeepers report that they continue to discover unauthorized weapons, ammunition and infrastructure in southern Lebanon. Yesterday, they found rocket launchers, rocket shells, mortar rounds and bomb fuses in Sector East. On Tuesday, the peacekeepers observed a tunnel in Sector West with rocket launchers and mortar shells inside. These were referred to the Lebanese Armed Forces, as per standard practice.
In addition, UNIFIL observes continued Israel Defense Forces military activities in the area of operations, including an airstrike in Sector West and artillery shelling from the south of the Blue Line with points of impact in Sector East yesterday.
UNIFIL continues to conduct training activities with Lebanese Army personnel in support of their capacity building.
This week, UNIFIL engineers conducted trainings on surveying, locating and extracting explosive devices; procedures for safely exiting mined areas; and securing sites potentially containing explosive devices. Such training activities are crucial now as the Lebanese Armed Forces engages daily in identifying and securing areas contaminated with unexploded ordnances and explosive remnants of war.
At sea, the Mission’s Maritime Task Force yesterday held an exercise with the Lebanese Air Force personnel.
SUDAN
Moving to the situation in Sudan. We are extremely alarmed by the rapid spread of cholera in different parts of Sudan, especially in the Darfur region.
In the past week alone, our health partners recorded 40 cholera-related deaths in the region. Treatment to more than 2,300 patients has been provided by our partners at facilities run by the Ministry of Health. But in Tawila, the cholera treatment centre has been overwhelmed. As you well know, in Tawila hundreds of thousands of people are hosted after fleeing fierce hostilities in and around El Fasher in North Darfur State.
Last month, Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher allocated $5 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to support the cholera response in Sudan, but more resources are needed without delay.
Humanitarian partners require $50 million to sustain their cholera operations through the end of the year.
Meanwhile, active fighting, insecurity and bureaucratic impediments continue to block or delay our access to areas impacted by famine and other locations of acute need. El Fasher in North Darfur remains besieged and cut off from humanitarian support.
Humanitarian access is also constrained in the Kordofan region, where fighting persists along key supply routes. The closure of these routes has severely disrupted the delivery of vital goods and worsened economic conditions, triggering displacement and a worsening of the humanitarian situation.
As nutrition needs deepen, the humanitarian community is responding where we can.
In East Darfur State, to identify acute cases and refer children for treatment, our partners, supported by UNICEF, screened 32,000 children under the age of 5 for malnutrition last month. A similar effort in June reached 15,000 children.
We continue to reiterate that all parties engaged in the conflict must adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law, including facilitating unimpeded humanitarian access and protecting civilians from harm.
MYANMAR
Turning to Myanmar, the country continues to grapple with repeated shocks, including devastating conflict, flooding and other disasters that have stripped millions of people of their homes or shelter, livelihoods and sense of safety. Conflict between the Myanmar Armed Forces and various non-state armed groups continues to force civilians to flee their homes, exposing them to serious harm and protection risks.
Since early July, heavy rains have triggered widespread flooding and landslides, displacing families and damaging homes, roads and other critical infrastructure.
The UN and its humanitarian partners, have reached nearly 1.3 million people impacted by the earthquakes on 28 March. However, underfunding continues to constrain the response.
Funding cuts have forced reductions across all sectors of the humanitarian response, leaving vulnerable people in desperate and dangerous situations.
Myanmar remains one of the world’s most underfunded humanitarian operations, with less than $136 million received of the $1.1 billion needed for this year's appeal received. That's just 12 per cent. We call on donors to step up funding to support a scale-up of life-saving assistance.
SHIPWRECK/LAMPEDUSA
The International Organization for Migration and the UN Refugee Agency in express deep sadness by the capsizing of a boat that occurred yesterday off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy, in which at least 35 people are feared dead or missing, including children. According to information gathered by IOM from the 60 survivors brought to Lampedusa, around 95 people departed from Zawiya, Libya, on two boats. One vessel began taking on water and all passengers were transferred to the other, a fiberglass boat, which later capsized due to overcrowding. Reported nationalities of the victims are Egyptian, Sudanese, Pakistani and Somali.
Filippo Grandi, our High Commissioner for Refugees, pointed out that over 700 refugees and migrants have now died to date this year in the Central Mediterranean.
All responses, rescue at sea, safe pathways, the helping of transit countries and addressing root causes, must be strengthened.
**Guest
Noon briefing guest is Susan Jane Ferguson, who is the UN Women Representative for Afghanistan, on the four-year mark of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
