UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING

29 August 2025

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, which was attended by spokespersons and representatives from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (also known as UN Women), the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Afghanistan Gender Alert

Sofia Calltorp for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) said that around the world, girls were preparing to go back to school this September. In Afghanistan, girls were preparing to mark four years since the Taliban banned them from secondary education.

Today, UN Women was releasing new data which showed that, despite this ban, the vast majority of Afghans – women and men alike – supported girls’ education. In a nationwide, door-to-door survey of more than 2,000 Afghans, more than nine out of 10 said it was important for girls to continue their schooling. Support was overwhelming across the board: from men and women, in both urban and rural communities.

It was clear that despite the existing bans, the Afghan people wanted their daughters to exercise their right to education. In a country where half the population lived in poverty, education was the difference between despair and possibility.

These findings could be found in a new UN Women Gender Alert, spotlighting the normalisation of the women’s rights crisis in Afghanistan, four years after the Taliban takeover. The Gender Alert came one year after the so-called “morality law” codified a sweeping set of restrictions on women and girls. The Gender Alert also looked at the Taliban’s ban on women working for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), announced nearly three years ago. Its impact was devastating.

In a survey conducted this July and August, 97 per cent of Afghan women in areas where the ban was enforced said it had harmed their daily lives. Three-quarters described their mental health as “bad” or “very bad”.

This was why investing in Afghan women’s organizations was at the core of UN Women’s work. Because when other doors were closed, these community organizations remained one of the only lifelines left. If you could not leave your home without a man, or speak to men outside your family – where could you turn for healthcare, mental health support, or simply the chance to connect with other women?

Ms. Caltrop said such women turned to local women’s organizations. Their work was especially critical for Afghan women and girls returning from Iran and Pakistan – among the 1.7 million Afghans who had returned this year alone – many forcibly. Without women aid workers, many would simply miss out on life-saving support that they desperately needed, and would be left on their own.

Yet, despite everything, Afghan women and girls were not giving up hope. In the nationwide, door-to-door survey, more than half of women said they remained hopeful about achieving their future aspirations – despite nearly every door to public life being shut. Hope itself had become a strategy for Afghan women and girls; a deliberate response to repression. The international community needed to hear this hope and respond.

A few weeks from now, Member States would gather at the United Nations General Assembly to commemorate 30 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action laid out a roadmap for gender equality. While the world had seen significant progress in the last 30 years in advancing the education of women and girls, for Afghan women and girls, the last four years had marked an unprecedented regression.

The question was simple: did we truly believe in equal rights for women and girls? Afghan women and girls were holding onto hope. We needed to meet that hope with action, not silence.

Read the full press release here.

In response to questions, Ms. Calltorp said UN Women’s focus was to support as much as possible women and girls and women-led organizations on the ground. UN Women engaged with the de-facto authorities in Afghanistan to pursue its agenda of supporting women and girls. The impact of these efforts differed between provinces. UN Women was pleading for the right of women and girls to education, which was so important to the future of Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s sweeping bans on women and girls’ activities were having an impact across society, including on humanitarian workers, but the United Nations was doing its utmost to protect its personnel, especially female staff, and had taken various security measures to ensure their safety and protect their rights.

Executions in Iran

Ravina Shamdasani for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said Iranian authorities had executed at least 841 people since the beginning of the year and up until 28 August 2025, according to information gathered by the UN Human Rights Office. Iran had been ignoring multiple calls to join the worldwide movement towards abolition of the death penalty.

In July alone, Iranian authorities executed 110 individuals. This represented more than double the number of people executed in July of last year and followed a major increase in executions during the first half of 2025. The high number of executions indicated a systematic pattern of using the death penalty as a tool of State intimidation, with disproportionate targeting of ethnic minorities and migrants.

Currently facing imminent execution were 11 individuals; six of them charged with “armed rebellion” due to their alleged membership of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) group, and five in relation to their participation in the 2022 protests. On 16 August 2025, the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence against workers' rights activist Sharifeh Mohammadi.

The death penalty was incompatible with the right to life and irreconcilable with human dignity. It created an unacceptable risk of executing innocent people. It was never to be imposed for conduct that was protected under international human rights law.

OHCHR called on the Government of Iran not to implement the death penalty against these and other individuals on death row. Once again, it called on Iran to impose a moratorium on the application of the capital punishment, as a step towards its abolition.

In response to questions, Ms. Shamdasani said there had been disproportionate targeting of human rights defenders and minorities with the death penalty in Iran. In July this year, authorities executed at least 110 individuals, including women, Afghan nationals and ethnic minorities such as Baluch, Kurdish and Arab citizens. At least 98 people from minorities were executed in June. At least 289 individuals had been executed for drug-related offences this year.

Sharifeh Mohammadi, a prominent rights activist, had been sentenced to death for security offences. The Supreme Court overturned her death sentence in 2024, due to “numerous issues” with the investigation, but she was resentenced to death on 13 February 2025, with the Supreme Court confirming the sentence on 16 August.

Most death penalty cases carried vague charges such as armed rebellion, enmity against God, and espionage, which made due process for those charged difficult to achieve. There were serious concerns regarding flaws in investigations, a lack of adequate legal representation, and the treatment of detainees, with many individuals on death row reportedly subjected to torture and placed in solitary confinement.

Also answering questions, Ms Shamdasani confirmed that Iran had carried out seven public executions this year according to available information, some of them in front of children; the real situation could be worse. Public executions added an extra layer of outrage related to human dignity. OHCHR was calling for the death penalty to not be used. The risk of executing innocent people was irreversible and there was little, if any, evidence of the efficacy of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime. The psychological trauma imposed by public death penalties, particularly on children, was devastating.

OHCHR had verified sources that provided it with reliable information about the executions, and it was, along with the fact-finding mission and Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, triangulating this information.

Information indicated systematic use of the death penalty in Iran as a tool of State intimidation and repression of dissent. The OHCHR had engaged with Iranian officials directly on multiple occasions regarding removal of the death penalty, but the situation appeared to be worsening; OHCHR had seen a continued rise in the number of executions in Iran this year.

Violence in the Syrian Arab Republic

In response to questions on the Syrian Arab Republic, Ms. Shamdasani said OHCHR was closely following the situation in the State, including the escalation in violence. The High Commissioner was calling for respect for the territorial integrity of Syria and for international human rights law. The OHCHR had been documenting serious violations, including with regard to Israel’s actions in the State, as well as related to ethnic tensions in different regions. It was continuing to push for accountability for the violations that had been committed.

Gaza Crisis Continues

In response to questions on the Gaza crisis, Christian Lindmeier for the World Health Organization (WHO) said that WHO had data on 94 suspected cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) across the Gaza Strip since June and up to 27 August. This was in part thanks to increased surveillance by the Ministry of Health, with the support of WHO and partners.

GBS was a “post-infection” syndrome that came typically following a gastrointestinal bacterial or viral infection. The full reasons for GBS infection were not well-known, but the collapse of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure; overcrowding in shelters; and the lack of medicines and surveillance mechanisms had led to the spread of GBS. The symptoms of GBS, including paralysis, were very similar to polio. The lack of testing capability and medicines was a huge challenge. There was zero stock of intravenous immune globulin and plasma exchange, and of anti-inflammatories; these deliveries needed to be expedited.

Also answering questions, Jens Laerke for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that OCHA had been working since the lifting of the ban on delivery of tents and shelter material to bring these items into Gaza. However, authorities had lifted only one of the impediments to delivering the items; Israeli customs clearance requirements and restrictions on the types of shelter materials that were allowed in remained. OCHA hoped to be able to make a delivery of shelter materials soon, for the first time sinch March.

There was a declared famine in Gaza City and there were currently 500,000 people in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) phase five, representing people in famine, with an expected rise of 160,000 in the coming weeks if nothing changed. The entire Gaza Strip needed food; famine would not have been declared had there been enough food. There had not been an effective humanitarian response as a result of Israeli restrictions. Gaza was on a descent into a massive famine and there needed to be massive amounts of food delivered safely across the Gaza Strip.

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, answered a question saying that World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain had visited the Gaza Strip and called for faster approvals to move supplies into and within Gaza, as well as for safety for people to reach aid. With famine now confirmed in Gaza, the right conditions needed to be put in place for the WFP to reinstate the vast network of 200 food distribution points, which included community kitchens and bakeries.

She said Ms McCain had visited a nutrition clinic that was keeping children alive and spoke with displaced mothers, who described their daily struggle to survive, often searching for scraps of food but finding nothing. There had been a moderate increase in the amount of humanitarian and commercial goods entering the Strip, but this was still far below what was needed to support two million people.

Ms Vellucci also recalled that two days ago, FAO had been able to provide 200 herders with two 100-kilogram sacks of animal feed each. This was a crucial step to protect livestock and help curb the spread of famine.

Announcements

Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, said the sixtieth regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council was starting on 8 September. On Wednesday, 3 September at 10:30 a.m., Ambassador Jürg Lauber, President of the Council, would hold a press conference to provide an overview of the upcoming sixtieth session.

On Monday, 1 September at 12:30 p.m., the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities would hold an online press conference to present its findings on the reports of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Finland, Kiribati, and Maldives, and on the situation of people with disability in Gaza. Speakers would include Miyeon Kim, Committee Chairperson; Abdelmajid Makni, Committee Vice Chair; and three Committee members.

Today was the International Day against Nuclear Tests. Ms. Vellucci read the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’ statement for the day, which said that the day arrived amid rising geopolitical tensions and growing nuclear risks — including the disturbing prospect of a return to nuclear testing.

In 2025, the 80th anniversary of the first nuclear test, the international community needed to remember the legacy of over 2,000 nuclear weapons tests carried out over the last 80 years. The effects of these explosions had been horrific.

The Secretary-General said that we could not accept this. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty remained the only internationally agreed, legally binding instrument to end all nuclear tests. Its entry into force, long overdue, was more urgent than ever.

His message to leaders was simple: stop playing with fire. Now was the time to silence the bombs before they spoke again.

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The webcast for this briefing is available here

The audio for this briefing is available here

TOPICS

1. UN WOMEN Sofia Calltorp (Zoom)
   Afghanistan Gender Alert
   
   
2. OHCHR Ravina Shamdasani (PR)
   Death penalty and executions in Iran
   
   
3. Answering questions on GAZA:
   
   OCHA Jens Laerke (PR)
   WHO Christian Lindmeier (Zoom)