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UN Secretary-General António Guterres - media stake-out - 26 February 2024
THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
PRESS ENCOUNTER
Geneva, 26 February 2024
Ladies and gentlemen of the media, good morning.
It is a pleasure to be once again with you, the first time in 2024.
As you know, I’m here in Geneva to address both the Human Rights Council and the Conference on Disarmament.
I am not going to repeat my remarks, but my main messages to the Human Rights Council were:
· There is a fundamental link between peace and human rights. Human rights are under attack on all fronts, particularly in conflicts, as states ignore their commitments to the United Nations Charter, and to international humanitarian law and international human rights law
· So civilians are suffering appallingly – and we see this most dramatically in the clear violations of international humanitarian law taking place in Gaza;
· And we must use the Summit of the Future in September to recommit to multilateral governance based on human rights – including the laws of the war.
I’ll also speak to the Conference on Disarmament this afternoon, and my message is the following one:
At a time when we need the Conference more than ever, it is not working as it should. And I will recommend some steps the Conference should take to revitalize the work.
Thank you very much, and as I promised, I was brief. I am here to answer four questions.
Question: Vous avez dit tout à l’heure devant le Conseil [des droits de l’homme] que l’autorité du Conseil de sécurité a été « mortellement sapée ». S’il ne parvient pas, dans les semaines ou les mois à venir, à agir sur un cessez-le-feu humanitaire à Gaza, est-ce que vous prononcerez officiellement sa mort cérébrale ?
The Secretary-General: Bon, j’ai parlé au conditionnel, je n’ai dit formellement. Mais je dirais que la mort cérébrale correspond à une personne qui est vivante mais qui n’est capable de rien faire. Alors si le Conseil de sécurité, un jour, démontrera qu’il ne sera pas capable de faire quoi que ce soit, alors il sera très proche de cette condition clinique.
Question: La Suisse essaie d’organiser un sommet pour une conférence de paix sur l’Ukraine. Est-ce que l’ONU peut participer à aider la Suisse à organiser ce sommet et est-ce que l’ONU veut prendre part, en tant qu’observateur, à cette évolution?
Le Secrétaire général: La Suisse n’a pas besoin d’aide, j’en suis sûr. Mais je tiens à vous dire que nous sommes absolument en faveur d’une paix, mais d’une paix qui soit dans le respect de la Charte des Nations Unies, dans le respect de la loi internationale et dans le respect de l’intégrité territoriale de l’Ukraine.
Question: On Ukraine, you have said that there is a real risk that the conflict could escalate and spread. What exactly do you mean by that? Do you think it also could reach and touch NATO countries? And what role do you see for the United Nations in helping to find a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine?
The Secretary-General: I was not referring to the entrance of other countries in the war as such. But obviously, this is a conflict that is lasting and lasting, and when a conflict lasts, there is always a risk of escalation. There are many modern weapons that can be used that can be extremely dangerous, as you know. On the other hand, the UN is totally committed to support any serious effort for peace. The UN at the same time is working hard in relation to humanitarian aid in Ukraine, and extremely interested in the re-establishment of the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. These are our priorities for the moment.
Question: I wanted to ask you about the discussions on the ceasefire and the hostage release that’s going on, and your understanding of how that is going, and also the fact that the UN is absent from the talks, and what that says - that the UN is absent from the talks on the hostage release and ceasefire for Gaza.
The Secretary-General: We have very clear positions. We are in favour of a humanitarian ceasefire tout court, and we are in favour and claiming for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages. This is what we would like to see happening. This is not what is on the table. What is on the table at the present moment is a negotiation aiming at a progressive release of hostages and some interruption of the fighting. Not being our objective, our final objective, we fully support any efforts that will lead to the liberation of hostages and to the reduction of the suffering of the Palestinian people. Merci.
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New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
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Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
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Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
“Some glacier loss is inevitable, but total loss of glaciers is not yet inevitable,” she said, pointing to emissions reductions as central to limiting future losses.
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The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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