Noon briefing of 13 November 2026
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NOON BRIEFING BY FARHAN HAQ
DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL ANTÓNIO GUTERRES
FRIDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 2026
SECRETARY-GENERAL / COP31
The Secretary-General will soon leave Antalya, in Türkiye. Before leaving, he spoke to the media, and he said that for nearly ten years as Secretary-General, he has tried to speak the truth about climate change. Mr. Guterres said that sometimes, that truth has been uncomfortable or unwelcome; but his responsibility has never been to make the facts more convenient but to tell the truth rooted in the science and to be especially clear when the truth is hard.
The Secretary-General underscored that facts are facts, and the fact is that climate change does not stay in its lane. He highlighted that he has have never viewed climate action as just one of many other issues, and that climate action is central to every aspect of the work of the United Nations. You cannot build peace on a burning planet, he said. His remarks have been shared with you.
This morning, he had a closed meeting with the coalition of finance ministers for climate action, where he noted that finance ministers are central to climate action for a simple reason: the climate challenge is now an economic challenge.
Finance ministries are where governments make choices real, he said, adding that those choices will determine whether we get ahead of climate risk, or simply keep struggling to pay for the damage.
The Secretary-General also met with the Council of Engineers for the Energy Transition and had a closed meeting with the heads of the Multilateral Climate Funds.
Also today, he had a meeting with Indigenous peoples and spoke at an event with civil society organizations. He noted that this was his last COP as Secretary-General, and he said that meeting with the civil society was a fundamental priority. He thanked them for their courage, for their ideas and for their constructive advice.
TRIP ANNOUNCEMENT / ASEAN
On Saturday, the Secretary-General will arrive in Manila, the Philippines, to attend the 49th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, hosted by this year’s ASEAN Chair under the theme “Navigating Our Future, Together.” During his stay, the Secretary-General will meet with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, and hold bilateral meetings with a number of heads of delegations.
On Sunday, he will attend the Opening Ceremony of the Summit, and on Monday, he will take part in the 16th ASEAN-United Nations Summit, which marks the 15th anniversary of the Comprehensive Partnership between the two organizations.
During his engagements, the Secretary-General is expected to emphasize the importance of ASEAN, stressing that the region has tremendous power and influence to tackle big problems, both in its neighborhood and around the world, and pointing to joint work on conflict prevention, climate action, sustainable development, peacekeeping and human rights.
The Secretary-General will have several activities on Tuesday, including a meeting with the U.N. Country Team in the Philippines, a dialogue with youth, and the Closing Ceremony of the ASEAN Summit.
He is expected to be back in New York on 19 November.
YEMEN
Across the country, civilians and civilian infrastructure are increasingly being hit by drones, missiles, airstrikes and shelling.
Civilians, including children, are being killed and injured in places that were considered safe only a couple of months ago, such as hospitals, markets, and their own homes. This is a worrying trend, and it must not become the accepted reality of this war. Obligations under international law apply to all parties under all circumstances.
We reiterate the need to take all feasible precautions and measures to prevent civilian harm and to ensure accountability for violations.
Also on Yemen, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, demanded that the body of our colleague Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Shami, whose death in Houthi custody we learned of two weeks ago, must be returned to his family without delay.
He called on the Houthi de facto authorities to take urgent steps to establish the date, cause and circumstances of his death, and to ensure that those responsible are held accountable.
The High Commissioner again called for all detained U.N. and humanitarian personnel to be released immediately and unconditionally.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
The U.N. Humanitarian Country Team in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in a statement issued today, said that the devastating impact of the latest rainstorm in Gaza was preventable. Children and adults were killed, critical services suspended, and thousands of family shelters flooded, swept away, or torn apart – not by the storm alone, but by policy decisions.
The Country Team said that as the Occupying Power, Israel is obliged to ensure the basic needs of the local population, including the supplies essential for their survival. Yet Israeli policies continue to obstruct the entry of critical items as well as access to most of Gaza’s land, including areas away from the shoreline that are less prone to flooding. Incoming supplies face multiple approval requirements, limited crossing capacity and unpredictable or narrow delivery windows that delay their entry.
Although funding has fallen far short of what is needed, more than 150,000 tents procured by humanitarian partners and Member States are outside Gaza, ready for dispatch; most are in Al Arish, just 50 kilometres away from Khan Younis.
The Humanitarian Country Team calls on the Israeli authorities to immediately ensure that Palestinians in Gaza have access to life-saving supplies and that their entry is expedited in sufficient quantities, through every available crossing. And it calls on Member States to use their influence to ensure these steps are taken swiftly and to provide the necessary humanitarian funding without delay. Lives are at stake.
UKRAINE
the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that another wave of attacks has killed and injured more civilians, damaged civilian infrastructure and disrupted power supplies across the country. According to local authorities, between yesterday and this morning, some 10 civilians were killed and 60 others injured, including several children.
Humanitarian operations continue to come under threat. On Wednesday, a drone struck an armored humanitarian vehicle during an evacuation in the city of Komyshuvakha, in the Zaporizhzhia region. Everyone on board survived, and nine civilians were evacuated that day.
Our humanitarian partners, supported by U.N. agencies, have provided first aid and shelter supplies to people impacted by the hostilities in the regions of Odesa and Zaporizhzhia.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
The U.N. Senior Ebola Coordinator, Julien Harneis, said that significant progress has been made in the fight against the virus over the past six months, but he cautioned that significant transmission continues, including into new areas.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva today, Mr. Harneis outlined three operational priorities: first, ensuring safe and unhindered humanitarian access. Second, strengthening our engagement with the private sector, as many patients, particularly in urban areas, first seek care from private health providers. And last, improving our preparedness where transmission has yet to occur, inside DRC and in neighbouring countries.
Also on DRC, today, the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) jointly warned that severe hunger is expected to deepen in the country, with a record 30.3 million people projected to face Crisis levels of acute food insecurity between January and June 2027, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis.
Conflict, displacement and rising food prices are driving the crisis, compounded by the Ebola and other disease outbreaks. Our colleagues call for more funding to scale up assistance, and efforts to ensure a secure, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access.
DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL / TRAVELS
The Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed, will travel to Beirut, Lebanon, over the weekend.
The visit will focus on expanding access to crucial mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings in Lebanon as part of the Greentree Acceleration Plan. The Plan has been developed by a group of global experts in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in humanitarian settings, convened by the Deputy Secretary-General and co-hosted by Julia Gillard, Chair of Wellcome and U.N. Office for Partnerships, in collaboration with WHO, UNICEF, the U.N. Refugee Agency and OCHA.
The Deputy Secretary-General will also visit various projects and initiatives supporting affected communities including displaced communities, engaging with healthcare providers, humanitarian partners and frontline workers to expand mental health and psychosocial support for affected populations and support frontline humanitarian workers exposed to high levels of stress and trauma.
The Deputy Secretary-General is also expected to meet with personnel of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and express her thanks to the contributions and sacrifices of its peacekeepers, while reaffirming the United Nations’ commitment to peace and stability in southern Lebanon.
During her visit, she will meet with senior government officials and the United Nations Country Team to discuss the situation in Lebanon and the U.N.’s continued support for the country and its people.
SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE SIMÃO / TRAVELS
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel and Head of the U.N. Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Mr. Leonardo Santos Simão, is in Praia, Cabo Verde, from 12 to 17 November 2026, as part of the UNOWAS good offices mandate.
The visit takes place in the context of the presidential election scheduled for next Sunday 15 November. It aims to reaffirm the UNOWAS support for the efforts of Cabo Verdean authorities, institutions and people to ensure the smooth conduct of the electoral process.
During his visit, the Special Representative will meet with national authorities and a broad range of national actors and regional partners, as well as members of the diplomatic corps and the UN Country Team.
HAITI
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that intensified clashes are putting people at growing risk, particularly in densely populated neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince.
Since mid-October, violence in the commune of Croix-des-Bouquets, in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, has displaced around 2,000 people, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Nealy 90 per cent of them are staying with host families, while the rest have sought shelter at five spontaneous sites.
Between January and September 2026, some 4,200 people were killed in violence according to the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, and some 1.5 million people remain displaced across the country.
The violence is hindering our ability to coordinate safe humanitarian operations and curtailing our access, making it harder to reach people in need.
We call for communities to be protected and to be able to access health facilities, schools and other essential services.
SECURITY COUNCIL
Today, the Security Council will convene at 3:00 p.m. for a briefing on the situation in the Middle East. Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari will brief.
The meeting will be followed by a vote on the renewal of the mandate of the UN Security Force in Abyei, UNISFA.
HC TÜRK / AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, today called on States to urgently agree on the development of a legally binding treaty regulating autonomous weapon systems, ahead of next week’s Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
Mr. Türk warned that, given the rapid pace of technological development, the window to regulate these increasingly powerful systems is closing. He stressed that human judgement and responsibility must remain at the centre of decisions involving the use of force, and he called for prohibitions on autonomous weapons that target people. A machine must never have the power to decide whether a human being survives or dies.
This year’s Review Conference, held every five years, will be particularly significant for the future work on autonomous weapons. Mr. Türk called on States to seize this moment to begin negotiations on a legally binding instrument containing clear prohibitions and restrictions. He said, "The longer the international community waits, the more difficult it will become to establish meaningful safeguards – and it may be too late.”
NIGER
The Government of Niger, with strategic support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will host the inaugural Niger Investment International Forum from 24 to 26 November in Niamey.
Under the theme “Investing in Niger: Building Strategic Partnerships for a Prosperous Niger and Sustainable Economic Sovereignty,” the three-day Forum is expected to bring together approximately 1,000 participants, including nearly 300 investors from at least 30 countries, to explore concrete investment opportunities.
SENIOR PERSONNEL APPOINTMENT – UNITAR
Yesterday evening, the Secretary-General announced the appointment of Gwi-Yeop Son of the Republic of Korea as Acting Executive Director of the U.N. Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), to become Acting Executive Director of the UN Institute for Capability and Learning Innovation (UNICLI), following the United Nations General Assembly’s endorsement of the merger of the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) into UNITAR, establishing UNICLI, targeted for 1 January 2027.
She will succeed Michelle Gyles-McDonnough of Jamaica, whose new appointment we announced on Wednesday and to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her continued commitment and dedication to the United Nations.
Currently the Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia in the United Nations Development Coordination Office (UNDCO) in Istanbul, Ms. Son brings over 30 years of experience in international development with the United Nations. She previously served as the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan (2018-2020), supporting the country’s transition.
WORLD DIABETES DAY
Tomorrow is World Diabetes Day.
Every five seconds, one person develops diabetes. Every ten seconds, one person dies of it. And every thirty seconds, someone loses a limb to it. On this day, we remember that behind those numbers are people, and that much of what they face can be prevented.
WORLD DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR ROAD TRAFFIC VICTIMS
Sunday is the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
Road crashes remain the leading cause of death for children and young people aged five to 29, with over 90 per cent of fatalities occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
In his message, the Secretary-General stresses that these tragedies are preventable and calls for stronger policies and better enforcement to reduce road deaths and injuries.
INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE PREVENTION OF AND FIGHT AGAINST ALL FORMS OF TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME
Sunday is the International Day for the Prevention of and Fight against All Forms of Transnational Organized Crime. This year's theme is “Follow the money. Stop organized fraud.”
Organized fraud is one of the fastest-growing forms of transnational organized crime. The Day highlights the need for countries to work together to trace illicit profits, dismantle criminal networks and protect victims.