UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

3 June 2025

Update on the International Labour Conference

Zeina Awad, for the International Labour Organization, recommended that journalists check the daily programme of the 113^th Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC), online to stay well informed of the ILC proceedings.

On 12 June, heads of states (list yet to be finalized) would attend the Global Coalition for Social Justice Forum. There would be a VIP section near Door 40, where journalists would be able to ask their questions. Also, the Minister of Human Resources for Malaysia, Mr. Stephen Slim, would be in town 8-10 June for the ILC, and would be available for interviews.

The Finance Committee would be deciding on the budget and the programme of the ILO for 2026 and 2027.

UNHCR: Sudanese Refugee Numbers Double in Chad

Eujin Byun, for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), introduced Dossou Patrice Ahouansou, Principal Situation Coordinator for UNHCR, speaking from Amdjarass (eastern Chad).

Mr. Ahouansou noted that since April 2023, more than 844,000 Sudanese refugees had crossed into Chad. Prior to this crisis, Chad was hosting approximately 409,000 Sudanese refugees who had fled earlier waves of conflict in Darfur between 2003 and 2023. In over two years, the country had seen the refugee population surge to over 1.2 million people, far exceeding the number received during the previous two decades and placing unsustainable pressure on Chad’s ability to respond.

The most recent influx to Chad had begun in late April 2025, following attacks by armed groups in North Darfur in early April. Assaults on displacement camps, including Zamzam and Abu Shouk, and El Fasher town, had killed more than 300 civilians and sent tens of thousands in search of safety. In a month, 68,556 refugees had arrived in Chad’s Wadi Fira and Ennedi Est provinces. These civilians were fleeing in terror, many under fire, navigating armed checkpoints, extortion, and tight restrictions imposed by armed groups. Most refugees told horrendous stories of human rights violations, including killings, sexual violence, forced recruitment, or extortion of property. The toll was very heavy on children.

Shelter conditions were dire: only 14 per cent of current needs were being met, leaving tens of thousands exposed to extreme weather and insecurity. Refugees received only 5 litres of water per person per day. There was also a huge a mental health and psychosocial supports need. Additionally, around 290,000 refugees remained stranded at the border, exposed to the elements, insecurity and the risk of further violence.

UNHRC was providing response with UN agencies, local authorities and communities. Despite the efforts of humanitarian partners and local authorities, the emergency response remained dangerously underfunded. As part of the Sudan Regional Refugee Response, UNHCR and partners in Chad were urgently seeking USD 553 million to respond to the life-saving needs of refugees fleeing Sudan into eastern Chad, including protection, shelter, food, water and sanitation.

It was a crisis of humanity and protection. Lifesaving assistance could not be delivered at the speed and the scale needed. UNHCR needed unhindered and sustained humanitarian access to the refugees.

Answering questions from journalists, Mr. Ahouansou said the UNHCR had approached many potential donors, including countries, multilateral donors and the private sector. UNHCR’s Sudan Regional Refugee Response was seeking USD 1.8 billion in total to support 4.8 million people.

Refugees were talking about systematic killings and forced recruitment of men. They were arriving in regions where there were already underlying development problems.

Regarding the situation in Al Fasher, refugees reported that convoys were attacked every day. It was very difficult for civilians to leave the town due to restrictions. In April, some 300 civilians had died during the attack on Zamzam.

Ms. Byun said after being under siege for a year, families were at a breaking point. There was a need for unhindered humanitarian access to the people concerned, including thousands and thousands of children. All children needed mental health and social services support. This crisis was “a women and children crisis”, in that they made up 90 per cent of the refugees: such a proportion was unprecedented.

Rolando Gómez reminded that the UN Secretary-General, since the beginning of this conflict, had been calling for more resources and for a flow of aid to those most in need. Mr. Gómez also cited an earlier statement by UN Resident Humanitarian Coordinator Kristine Hambrouck, condemning an attack on Al Obeid Hospital in the Kordofan State, in which aid workers had been killed.

Answering other questions regarding the ongoing crisis in South Sudan, Ms. Byun explained that since the conflict had started in the Upper Nile State, in February, over 160,000 had fled either inside the country or in neighbouring countries. A press release would be published later today.

OHCHR: Attacks on Aid Distribution Site in Gaza

Jeremy Laurence, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), read out a statement published this morning by the High Commissioner:

“Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza, are unconscionable. For a third day running, people were killed around an aid distribution site run by the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation”. This morning, we have received information that dozens more people were killed and injured. There must be a prompt and impartial investigation into each of these attacks, and those responsible held to account. Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law, and a war crime.

Palestinians have been presented the grimmest of choices: die from starvation or risk being killed while trying to access the meagre food that is being made available through Israel’s militarized humanitarian assistance mechanism. This militarized system endangers lives and violates international standards on aid distribution, as the United Nations has repeatedly warned. The wilful impediment of access to food and other life-sustaining relief supplies for civilians may constitute a war crime. The threat of starvation, together with twenty months of killing of civilians and destruction on a massive scale, repeated forced displacements, intolerable, dehumanizing rhetoric and threats by Israel’s leadership to empty the Strip of its population, also constitute elements of the most serious crimes under international law.

In 2024, the International Court of Justice found that there was a real and imminent risk of irreparable prejudice to the rights of Palestinians in Gaza under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The Court issued binding orders on Israel to take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical care to Palestinians throughout Gaza. There is no justification for failing to comply with these obligations.”

Mr. Laurence explained that there had been 32 killed on 1 June; 3 on 2 June; and 27 on June 3, near the distribution center. Women were among the victims; there was no information on child fatalities.

The aid used to be delivered to Gazans in desperate need, Mr. Laurence further explained. Now, people were forced to walk to distribution centers where they did not know if they would get food or be shot at. The last attack flew in the face of humanitarian principles, as well as against the dignity of people who were simply trying to get food just to survive. Willful impediment of access to food and other life sustaining relief supplies for civilians could constitute a war crime.

The High Commissioner had repeatedly tried to engage with the Israelis, not only on the issues that were taking place on the ground, but also for the Office to gain full access to Israel, to Gaza and the other occupied Palestinian territories.

Answering another question, Tarik Jašarević, for the World Health Organization, mentioned the various ways the Organization had for delivering food supplies into Gaza. What was needed now was access, he noted.

Finally, Mr. Gómez reminded that the Secretary-General, in a statement published on 2 June, had deemed “unacceptable that Palestinians [were] risking their lives for food” and had called “for an immediate and independent investigation into these events and for perpetrators to be held accountable”.

World Food Safety Day: “Food Safety: Science in Action”

Markus Lipp, Senior Food Safety Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), noted that science was a way to talk about risk, offering a common language that was essential in the world of food safety: we needed to agree on how to define risk, how to assess it, and how to respond.

That’s where the work of FAO and WHO came in. Through their joint scientific advice programme, they pooled the best science available to define the core elements of food safety that applied to all consumers. Food safety ultimately rested on trust. Risk was managed through a web of institutions and relationships that earned and maintained public confidence. Building on that, risk management – through the Codex Alimentarius Commission – took additional factors into account, including local context and cultural norms.

We needed science, not as a top-down, distant authority, but as a shared language to communicate shared interests, and differences, with respect and clarity. When we used science this way, we were not just managing food safety: we were building trust between consumers and producers, between regulators and industries, and between countries trading across borders. FAO believed food safety was not just about preventing harm, it was about creating confidence in the food we ate, in the systems that protected us, and in the institutions that served the public good.

Dr. Simone Moraes Raszl, Scientist at the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, World Health Organization (WHO), said the theme of World Food Safety Day, “Food Safety: Science in Action,” highlighted the essential role of science in protecting our food supply and our health. On this occasion, WHO was hosting Health Talks on Food Safety, until 4 June, to highlight how science drives progress in food safety.

Every day, Dr. Raszl explained, 1.6 million people around the world fell ill due to unsafe food. These illnesses were preventable, and the science to prevent them already existed. What was needed was coordinated, evidence-based, and inclusive action. The World Health Organization, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization, played a central role in that regard. Through the Joint FAO/WHO Scientific Advice Programme, WHO provided the scientific foundation for international food safety standards.

This year marked two occasions: the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives would hold its 100^th meeting ; and the Expert Meeting on Microbiological Risk Assessment celebrated its 25 years. The work of these and other groups guided national policies, informed regulations, and ensured that food traded across borders was safe for all consumers.

Food safety was everyone’s business: policymakers must invest in science-based regulations and data systems; food businesses must implement rigorous safety practices and support transparency; academia must innovate and educate; and consumers must stay informed and practice safe food handling at home.

World Environment Day: Focus on Plastic Pollution

Rolando Gómez, on behalf of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said the 2025 edition of World Environment Day on 5 June, would focus on plastic pollution. Among other events, on 5 June, there would be a Ciné-ONU screening of the film Nature by UNEP Goodwill Ambassador Yann Arthus-Bertrand, who would be there in person for a Q&A with the audience (Cinérama, Geneva, 6:45 p.m.) Later the same day, there would be a World Environment Day concert at Victoria Hall (Geneva, 8:30 p.m.)

Announcements

Estelle Fach, Head of Monitoring, Evaluation and Communication at the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) Secretariat, said that next Thursday, 5 June, Costa Rica would officially join CAFI to contribute its expertise to protecting the forests of Central Africa. This new partnership lay the foundations for a new model facilitating the exchange of fiduciary, technical, and political experience between countries in the Global South (Costa Rica and six Central African countries) with high forest cover.

This partnership focused on Payments for Environmental Services (PES), in which funding was conditional on demonstrating results. This was a proven mechanism in Costa Rica but new to Central Africa. CAFI estimated that 271,2 million hectares of land could be used for six PES activities (such as agroforestry or sustainable forest management) in Central African countries, which would sequester 4.8 billion tons of CO2 and inject USD 73 billion into the local economy.

The agreement would be signed next Thursday at 5 p.m. at the World Meteorological Organization in the presence of Mr. Guillermet Fernández, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica; Agi Veres, Director of the UNDP Representation Office in Geneva; and Berta Pesti, Head of the CAFI Secretariat. The press was invited, and a press release would be sent later today.

Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service, said that today UNOG would commemorate the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers with an event to honour the service and sacrifice of peacekeepers throughout the years. A flag-raising and wreath-laying ceremony would be followed by several speeches, including by the United Nations Geneva Director-General, Tatiana Valovaya (4 p.m., Ariana Park).

A press conference would take place today at 6 p.m., featuring Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations; Patricia Danzi, Director General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; and Kamal Kishore, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) (CCG Geneva).

Mr. Gómez added that there would be no human rights treaty body meeting this week, and that the date of the next public plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament would be announced at a later stage.

Finally, Mr. Gómez mentioned statements made yesterday by the Secretary-General regarding the one-year mark of the detention of UN personnel and other personnel in Yemen; and the election of the new President of the General Assembly.

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