Noon briefing of 7 May 2026

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC

SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES

THURSDAY, 7 MAY 2026

BEYOND GDP 

This afternoon at 3 pm, the Secretary-General’s High-Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP will present their report to Member States, outlining recommendations for a country-owned and universally applicable set of indicators that go beyond GDP to guide policy and decision-making. 

The Secretary-General will make remarks at the event and will say that the report being launched today is a landmark step in correcting a longstanding blind spot in measuring progress: The over-reliance on Gross Domestic Product.  

He will say that while GDP will continue to be an important measurement, it will not be the only one. Our world needs a more sophisticated, more diverse, and more humane accounting system.  

The report, titled “Counting What Counts: A Compass of Progress for People and Planet,” offers the United Nations’ first global framework for moving beyond GDP, proposing a wider set of measures to guide economic policy toward well-being and environmental sustainability. 

MIGRATION REVIEW FORUM 

This morning, in the General Assembly, the Secretary-General addressed the International Migration Review Forum.  

He reminded Member States that migration is an integral part of the human story, an activity as old as humanity itself, adding that migration is not the crisis. The crisis, he said, is the world’s collective failure to manage it together. 

Since the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, the Secretary-General said Member States have taken concrete steps to expand regular pathways, to strengthen labour mobility initiatives, to improve search‑and‑rescue, enhance data systems, and support for safe return and reintegration.  

No country can manage migration alone, the Secretary-General said. We need cooperation – across borders, across governments, and across society.                                                                               

HANTAVIRUS 

I want to give you an update on the situation regarding the hantavirus, and this from our colleagues in Cabo Verde, where Patricia Portela de Souza, who is the Resident UN Coordinator in that country, together with the World Health Organization Representative there, Dr. Ann Lindstrand. They worked closely with national authorities to support the response to cases of hantavirus linked to a commercial vessel in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship, according to our information, is sailing for the Canary Islands. 

So far, eight cases have been reported, including three deaths. 

In line with the framework of International Health Regulations, the response so far has involved close coordination between national authorities, and bilateral partners — particularly the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom, many of whom are coordinating remotely from outside the country, as well as the vessel’s own operators.

WHO and the UN team have also supported with tracking and investigating cases, guidance to health professionals, infection prevention measures on board the ship, laboratory investigations and the provision of medical supplies for the vessel. A WHO expert boarded the ship in Cabo Verde, and has been joined by two doctors from the Netherlands and an expert from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. They will stay aboard the ship until it reaches its next destination in the Canary Islands. 

They are conducting a medical assessment of everyone on board and gathering information to assess the risk of infection. 

Yesterday, the UN team supported authorities in Cabo Verde with the medical evacuation of three patients to the Netherlands for specialized treatment, following a multinational operation coordinated by the Dutch, Cabo Verde and ourselves.                                                   

The Resident Coordinator’s Office in Cabo Verde also continues to support national authorities on crisis communications and public outreach in close coordination with WHO. 

The World Health Organization has provided guidance to the ship’s operator on the management of health on board the vessel. They are developing step-by-step operational guidance for the safe and respectful disembarkation and onward travel of passengers and crew when they arrive.  

More broadly, WHO will continue to work with the countries to ensure that the patients, the contacts, the passengers and crew have the information and support they need to stay safe and prevent the spread of the virus.  

LEBANON 

Moving to Lebanon. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that the humanitarian situation there remains volatile. Wednesday evening’s Israeli strike on Beirut’s ‌southern suburbs caused a new wave of displacements of civilians, who, as you can imagine, had already been impacted by months of conflict. This was the first attack on Lebanon’s capital since the ceasefire announcement of April 17th and its subsequent extension. This is obviously a very alarming development. We are deeply worried also about reports of civilians also being killed in the attack and that also includes children. We once again call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and fully respect international law, including international humanitarian law.  

In the South and Nabatieh, new displacement orders were issued this morning by Israeli authorities for three villages, forcing yet again further displacements of civilians. 

Overall, more than 1 million human beings remain displaced in Lebanon. This includes 126,000 people hosted in more than 600 collective shelters across the country, while most of the displaced remain outside formal shelters. 

With the support of the Humanitarian Notification System, our humanitarian partners continue to assist civilians in conflict-affected areas, as well as hard-to-reach areas. 

Since March 2nd, 110 humanitarian movements have been facilitated by the UN system, but deliveries remain constrained due to insecurity, movement restrictions, unexploded ordnance, and damage to civilian infrastructure. 

Despite the constraints, humanitarian partners have distributed more than 160,000 blankets and some 120,000 mattresses to people in need. They have also delivered more than 100,000 hygiene kits and 50,000 menstrual hygiene kits.                                                                          

In addition, we and our partners have provided more than 3.7 million liters of water bottles and more than 65,000 cubic meters of water through trucking operations. 

UNIFIL

And on the peacekeeping front, UNIFIL peacekeepers are continuing to observe extensive military activities by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) throughout the area of operations. This includes high-density armored movements, large-scale engineering works, and sustained logistical traffic. Peacekeepers also report significant firing incidents and projectile trajectories, most of which appear to originate from Israel Defense Forces positions. 

UN peacekeepers and our positions are being directly affected by the ongoing hostilities. Yesterday, structural damage to the outer walls of three buildings inside a UNIFIL position in Al Bayyadah, in Sector West, resulted from exchanges of fire and Israeli military activities in nearby areas.                                                                                                                    

Separately, yesterday a fiber-optic guided drone, carrying a suspected rocket-propelled grenade-type warhead, crashed inside a UNIFIL position in Al Hinniyah, in Sector West, penetrating the roof of a structure there. The device did not, thankfully, detonate and caused no further damage. No UNIFIL personnel were injured. Our explosive ordnance disposal team successfully neutralized and disposed of the explosive device. 

At the UNIFIL position in At Tiri, in Sector West, peacekeepers also discovered an unexploded ordnance, which was safely destroyed on site. Later the same day, UN personnel found a fiber‑optic cable inside the same position, assessed as possibly associated with a drone observed in the area earlier. The cable was subsequently removed.        

Today, a rocket impacted and exploded inside one of our positions in Shama, which hosts the Sector West headquarters. The impact occurred in an outdoor area near the helicopter landing zone. No injuries were reported to our peacekeepers. Minor damage was sustained to one vehicle. The rocket is assessed to have been fired by Hizbullah towards Israel Defense Forces units operating in the area. 

Once again, we stress that the safety and the security of our peacekeepers and the inviolability of our UN premises must be respected at all times by everyone.  

OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY 

Turning to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, our OCHA colleagues tell us that to mitigate potentially life-threatening risks of fire, sanitation workers must be allowed to remove waste from displacement sites and residential areas and transport it to Gaza’s designated landfills. 

Last Friday, UN teams mobilised water tankers and machinery to support crews responding to a fire at the Firas market in the centre of Gaza City – right next to people’s shelters.  

With designated landfills becoming inaccessible during hostilities, the market has been used as a major solid waste dump, with trash now covering an entire city block and exceeding four flights in height. It’s hard to imagine. 

Our sanitation partners report that Gaza’s two sanitary landfills are near the perimeter fence surrounding the Strip, where access needs to be enabled by Israeli authorities.

They also stress the need for permissions to bring into Gaza the machinery to remove the waste, the rubble and explosive ordnance, as well as the spare parts required to operate that equipment. 

These permissions are also critical to address health risks linked to pests and rodents. 

Meanwhile, our partners say that people’s access to water remains challenging. With infrastructure destroyed, some 40 partners are delivering some 20,000 cubic metres of water by truck every day – an operation that’s heavily dependent on fuel and sustained funding. 

To meet the need for water for drinking and cooking, families are required to collect water directly from those trucks at about 2,000 distribution points. Yet many people lack adequate containers to collect and store water, and service providers are unable to fully ensure equitable distributions.                                                                                                                                        

Meanwhile, in the West Bank, our humanitarian colleagues warn that foot-and-mouth disease is now increasing concerns for vulnerable Bedouin and herding communities, whose livestock is the primary source of income and food. Partners say that movement restrictions and insecurity are complicating timely vaccination and veterinary response that is needed to treat this disease.  

 WESTERN SAHARA 

An update regarding Western Sahara, the Personal Envoy of the Secretary General for Western Sahara, Staffan De Mistura, supports and shares the concerns expressed by MINURSO, the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Western Sahara, concerning the Frente POLISARIO’s rocket attack of 5 May near Smara.  

MINURSO expressed deep concern over incidents of firing in civilian areas and urged the parties to avoid any act that may jeopardize the ongoing political process. 

The Personal Envoy, Mr. De Mistura, emphasizes that this is a time for dialogue and negotiations, not a time for military escalation. Such attacks underscore the urgent need to return to the ceasefire and negotiate a lasting mutually acceptable political solution to this conflict.  

SUDAN 

Moving on to Sudan, where our humanitarian colleagues tell us that despite ongoing insecurity, we and our humanitarian partners continue to deliver critical assistance where access allows. 

In North Darfur State, more than 15,000 people are now expected to benefit from supplies delivered by UNICEF in Um Baru locality on Tuesday, these deliveries include health, nutrition, water, hygiene and sanitation products. 

According to our recent assessments in the area, conducted jointly with our partners, severe food insecurity, with malnutrition rates exceeding emergency thresholds in Um Baru. 

However, access along the northern corridor of the state remains constrained by insecurity and continued drone activity, limiting the ability to reach people in urgent need.                      

In West Darfur, in the last few weeks, we and our partners have provided food assistance to some 15,000 families in Kulbus locality, where ongoing violence and intercommunal clashes across Darfur continue to drive displacement, continue to disrupt essential services and continue to put civilians at grave risk. 

Once again, we call on all parties to protect civilians, civilian infrastructure and to respect international humanitarian law, which is pretty clear in these aspects.  

SOMALIA 

Turning to Somalia, the World Food Programme (WFP) warns that worsening drought conditions, conflict and funding shortfalls are pushing millions of people deeper into hunger. According to the latest assessment, around 6.5 million people are experiencing crisis-level of hunger or worse, meaning that many are skipping meals regularly, suffering acute malnutrition, or at risk of starvation. 

Severe funding shortages are forcing humanitarian agencies to scale back operations. WFP warns that it may be forced to halt emergency assistance in Somalia by July unless additional funding is received. Emergency food assistance has already been suspended in a number of districts.  

WFP and partners continue to support communities through emergency cash transfers, nutrition assistance and drought response measures.  

SECURITY COUNCIL/UNISFA 

The Security Council held a briefing on the Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). Martha Pobee, Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, noted that the mission continues to conduct robust patrols and rapid response operations, while also supporting weapons disposal, mine action and humanitarian access, adding that sustained engagement by the Council will remain essential to uphold the demilitarized status of Abyei and advance a durable political solution. 

Briefing the Council via VTC, was the Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Guang Cong. He said that his Office continues to engage with the Abyei High-Level Committee and other stakeholders to support preparations for renewed bilateral talks, while urging progress on benchmarks tied to the mission’s mandate renewal and broader concerns.                             

HUMAN RIGHTS 

Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights is about visit Mongolia and South Korea beginning this Sunday. In Mongolia, he will meet with Government officials, as well as the National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia, civil society, religious leaders, and others.  

In Seoul, he will hold high-level meetings with the Government, representatives of civil society and the tech sector, as well as escapees from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He will also attend a ceremony at the “May 18th National Cemetery” in Gwangju and address the World Human Rights Cities Forum. 

In both countries, he will speak to the press. We will share details as we have them.  

HAPPENING AT THE UN 

There is a new feature on the Spokesperson’s website, which now includes a platform entitled, “Happening at the United Nations.” It serves as a hub for upcoming meetings and events, major observances, SG and DSG activities and developments across the system. 

It will be especially useful for the upcoming GA. You can find the page here: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/happening-the-united-nations

 **Guest tomorrow and Security Council Stakeout 

Tomorrow, the guest at the Noon Briefing will be Edem Wosornu, the Director of OCHA’s Crisis Response Division. 

She will brief reporters about the humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic following her recent mission there. 

At 12.30 p.m., Ambassador Mike Waltz, of the United States, and Ambassador Jamal Fares Alrowaiei, Bahrain’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations did a joint stakeout on the situation in the Strait of Hormuz.