UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UN Geneva Press Briefing

Very good morning once again and thank you for joining us here at the regular press briefing here at the UN office at Geneva today, Tuesday, 11 August.

We have we heard from Mr Kumjian, the head of the Independent Investigative Mechanisms for Myanmar.

Now we are going to shift to the heat waves we have on the podium Claire Nullis of the World Meteorological Organisation.

Here with her is John Kennedy, the head of the Climate information.

But before we go to John, I'll turn it over to you.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, thank you everybody.

So I will make introductory remarks and just around, you know, highlights of some of the the facts at the moment.

And then my colleague John Kennedy will go into more detail and explain why this is this is happening.

So as we know, it's the month of August.

If you look around it, everywhere is pretty, pretty quiet.

It's the height of the vacation season in Europe and other parts of the Northern hemisphere.

But many national meteorological and hydrological services, emergency managers and responders, health professionals are really working tirelessly because of all the extreme weather that we're seeing.

And it's not just extreme heat, we're also seeing extreme rainfall, tropical cyclones.

So, you know, we're not in in holiday mode at all.

Western Europe experienced its hottest June to July.

[Other language spoken]

And I stress Western Europe, not the whole of Europe.

This is according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Globally, the month was the second joint warmest on record.

And what is really important is that sea surface temperatures were the highest ever recorded for the month of July.

Again, this is according to Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Some countries in Western Europe are now facing yet another heat wave.

The 4th of the summer.

Certainly it's the fourth of the summer.

And in Switzerland and in France and in other countries.

And as we can all see from the photos from the TV images and social media, intense drought is really biting.

It's having a devastating impact on farmers, agriculture, harvests, on on transport, on energy and and and also on on river levels and the heat and the drought, as my colleague will explain later, is combining to increase the risk of wildfires.

Japan and the Republic of Korea were one with two of a number of Asian countries which saw exceptional record-breaking heat last week.

And we're also seeing, you know, temperature records, be they station temperature records or overnight temperature records or daytime temperature records.

We're seeing these are broken in other parts of Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.

It's not all about heat.

Parts of West Africa are witnessing heavy monsoon rainfall and flooding.

The World Meteorological Organisation.

We produce a weekly hydromet scan which we provide to the UNUNHCR and humanitarian agencies.

And in the latest issue issued last week, it warned of very heavy rainfall with the risk of flash floods and landslides this week in North East and West India, eastern Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and some parts of Southeast Asia.

China conducted mass evacuations ahead of this weekend's landfall of Typhoon Dolphin, which is the 13th typhoon of the season.

And certainly yesterday the China Meteorological Administration had a lot of warnings in place for the risk of of bad flooding.

So where does the World Meteorological Organisation come into all of this?

In addition to monitoring what's happening and our members monitoring what's happening, we are trying with our members to improve forecasts and early warnings.

And This is why the Early Warnings for All campaign is our top overriding priority.

Just to give you a few examples of what we can expect this week and you will find in each case, you know, the National Metrological and Hydrological Service will provide more more details on its social media feeds on its website.

Meteo France says nearly all of the country will see extremely high temperatures, many above 35°C from the middle of the week onwards.

Meteo Suisse has also issued an amber level alert, which is the #3 out of four for high temperatures in not in all parts of the country, but in the parts of the country where the major cities are.

The UK's Met Office says temperatures could reach up to 36° later this week in parts of southern England.

And these are just examples.

[Other language spoken]

Last week in Central Europe and the Balkans, numerous station and temperature records were broken.

Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, to name but a few.

One commentator, he's a climatologist who's active on social media.

He actually commented, you know, it's like a European Cup of heat records.

It's important to note it's not universal.

There's been lower than average temperatures, higher than average rainfall across parts of Eastern Europe and and Scandinavia.

Moving on to wildfires, last month saw exceptional wildfire activity across Western Europe.

And again, I stress Western Europe in terms of the area burnt and the emissions and fire emissions data provided by the Atmospheric Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service show that for the year to date, 2026 emissions for France are comparable or higher than the extreme fire years of 2023 and 2022.

And France is on course to be have one of the most extreme fire years in the past 24 years.

The data for Spain shows fire emissions to be well above average for this time of year.

Fires are raging in parts of the western United States of America and in Canada.

There, as of yesterday, there were 591 active fires and of these, 43 were classed as being out of control.

And these are figures from the Canadian Wildfire Wildland Fire Information System.

[Other language spoken]

We will, I know there's a lot of detail in there.

I'll, I'll send you the, the full briefing notes hopefully before this briefing ends.

And with that, I'll hand over to John Kennedy, who's head of Climate Information at the World Meteorological Organisation.

[Other language spoken]

So what we've seen over the last few months, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, is the combined effects of the long term warming with a persistent pattern of alternating high and low pressure systems, which stretch out across and around the Northern Hemisphere.

And those high pressure areas are more typically associated with the high temperatures and dry conditions that have been leading to some of these high impact events.

And the low pressure areas are typically cooler and wetter.

So the reason we see heat associated with high pressure is that air accumulates and descends over areas of high pressure and that descending air warms and also makes clouds less likely to form, which lets in more sunlights.

And both of these contribute to higher temperatures.

Under a high pressure system, the high pressure also tends to block incursions of cooler air coming in from outside and they're often referred to as blocking highs for this reason.

So these kinds of high pressure patterns that we're seeing can last days or even as we've seen this year, weeks.

And in June, those areas of high pressure and associated high temperatures simultaneously affected Western Europe, North America and Central Asia.

And in July and at the start of August, the same approximate areas were affected in addition to East Asia.

So these areas of high pressure affected the seas as well as the land with marine heat waves around Western Europe and in the Arctic and also in the North Pacific away from any kind of land heat waves.

And according to the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service, between January and the end of June, so the first half of the year, approximately 82% of the global ocean experience marine heat wave conditions of varying intensity.

It's the second largest extent observed after 2024.

So in places that heat has been deadly and in the low with low rainfall combined with heat has led to drought, low river levels and an increased risk of wildfires Claire has talked about.

So in places, the rainfall we've seen has been below average since the spring.

Data from Copernicus for July show very dry soil in the Iberian Peninsula, France, the UK, parts of southern Germany, as well as areas further to the east.

And river flows have been low across the dry regions.

For example, the SEM, the Rhine and the Danube have also seen very low river levels that have also of course been cooler and wetter areas associated with those low pressure parts of the pattern.

However, because of the long term warming, the cool areas, cooler areas not so cool as they would have been in the past and the warmer areas are warmer.

So looking back in time, June 1976 is a really good example because June 1976 had a very similar pattern of high and low pressure warmer and cooler areas to this year.

But the picture for 1976 is one of a few isolated areas of above average temperatures in a much cooler world.

And in 2026, the pictures reversed.

It's one of a much warmer world with a few isolated areas of below average temperatures.

Now that same warming means the extreme heat is becoming more frequent, more intense, it's lasting longer and covering much wider areas than in the cooler climates of the past.

As Claire said, sea surface temperatures outside the polar oceans were the highest on record in June and July, according to Copernicus data.

This is corroborated by independent analysis from the UK and the US for June and global surface temperatures over land and ocean in July, with a joint second warmest for the month.

There's another factor at play, which is El Nino, which is now well established in the Pacific.

We expect to see a bump in global temperatures as El Nino is generally associated with higher global temperatures and the peak and global temperatures tends to come after El Nino has peaked itself, which usually happens between November and January.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you both very much for those introductory remarks.

And we'll turn over to you colleagues for your questions.

Yes, we'll start off with AFP then ARD go ahead.

[Other language spoken]

The the conditions that we're seeing now in in Western Europe, can we make the direct link with El Nino and and secondly, can we expect to see this more frequently?

Can we expect to see this, you know, if not every summer then on a much more frequent basis than we do now?

[Other language spoken]

OK, first, with the link to El Nino, there's not, there's not a clear link to El Nino for the temperatures over Western Europe during the summer.

But in terms of what we can expect to see in the future, the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, showed that extreme heat has been increasing in intensity, duration and frequency, and that pattern will continue into the future as long as greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the atmosphere.

[Other language spoken]

OK, we'll take a question online from Olivia Reuters.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, really great to get the science behind what's happening.

So thank you very much for this.

My question actually just a dovetail of what my colleague AFP was asking about to what extent you know, as a factor.

Yeah, actually you just mentioned there that it doesn't seem to be a factor in in Europe.

Do you mind just explaining the science as to what, as to why that is and instead what it what you think it is that's driving these high temperatures and perhaps the link therefore to to climate change, etcetera and extreme weather patterns.

[Other language spoken]

So El Nino kind of this time of year is just getting going typically.

So the kind of immediate impacts tend to be focused on the tropical Pacific and the surrounding land areas.

Later in the year, as we move into autumn or winter, we do start to see some effects from El Nino over Europe.

So it's a timing thing to a certain extent in terms of what's driving the heat over Europe.

I mean, we have the background warming from climate change.

That's a very kind of clear signal particularly we can see that very clearly at a global level.

But also that's kind of manifesting kind of almost across the whole globe.

There are very few areas that haven't warmed consistently, but that's combining with the weather patterns that we're seeing these kind of high and low pressure systems.

So it's those two things coming together that giving us the record heat.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry, do you want to add anything on sea surface temperatures?

Mediterranean Sea surface temperatures are very high as well.

[Other language spoken]

So lots of lots of things contribute I guess to kind of exact kind of situation for a heat wave.

So the Mediterranean has been incredibly warm as of the waters to the West of Europe as well.

We've seen marine heat waves and and those marine heat waves also feed into the kind of heat we're seeing over the land because they're providing the back part of the background warmth that this kind of high pressure systems are building on.

In addition to that, with the dry soil we're also seeing now it's kind of generally the case, I should say, that when soil is wet, it's harder to warm up.

And as that soil dries out, it becomes much easier for kind of the weather situation to warm.

They'll land up and then warm the air up.

So lots of these kind of factors are kind of coming together to see give us the record heat that we're seeing this year.

[Other language spoken]

I thought, I thought your hand was up early.

OK, we'll go back to you, Robin, and then we'll take a question online.

Go ahead, Robin, on the wildfires, what is the the impact that this has on air quality?

And then the knock on from that, what is the impact that that air quality has on people's everyday lives?

[Other language spoken]

So obviously wildfires produce a lot of smoke and that is bad for people's health.

It's kind of reduces air quality, not just locally, but also kind of over wider areas that smoke can blow around, but also when you get very intense fires, that smoke can be lofted higher into the atmosphere and have an effect over a much broader, broader area.

Just to add on that, I don't know if anybody from WHO is, is, is, is online.

So it's not just the immediate impact on, on, on health.

If you look at the satellite imagery, you know, as we've, as we've seen in, in, in North America this year, you know, the, the smoke plumes do travel a long distance and they, you know, do do affect air quality in, you know, far, far away from far away from, from the source.

In early September, WMO will be releasing its annual air quality and climate bulletin And wildfires is is a perennial feature of of of that.

[Other language spoken]

I think Tarek is connected, of course, not putting you on the spot there, but if you have anything to add to the the health effects or health impact rather just put your hand up.

But let's take a question now from Antonio of Spanish news agency.

Antonio, thank you.

So my question is, if there is data from WMO on the situation of the main navigable rivers in Europe, how the draft is affecting them, which rivers have had to suspend the navigation because we are seeing, for example, pictures of the of the bed of the Rhine River who are quite, quite surprising.

[Other language spoken]

We at WMO don't have that information.

I think there was some information provided by Copernicus Climate Change Service, which issued its report yesterday.

But obviously the, and I'm just looking at it it now, but obviously, you know, they're saying that the Danube, the Rhine are all among those impacted.

The we, we at WMO, we work closely with the Southeast Europe Drought Monitoring Centre.

I'm just looking at their information.

No, I don't think they have the information on, on river flows.

I can, I can do some, I can do some digging to see if I can find the, the, the, the source for you on, on, on that.

But I think a, what is worth stressing is that, you know, in some parts of Europe, the deficit is so, is so big.

It's been building up now for, for, for, for several months.

You know, it's not going to take just one summer storm to replenish river levels and replenish soil moisture.

And so to quote you from the Southeast European Drought Monitoring Centre, and I quote you verbatim, and this is for the northwestern part of Southeastern Europe.

And it's saying so especially, you know, Hungary, Serbia and the Adriatic Sea.

And it's saying between 250 and 350 millimetres, which is a lot of additional precipitation would be needed to normalise the surface water balance deficit deficit accumulated since April 2026.

So it's, you know, it's, it's been, it's been building, it's going to, even if we had normal, you know, rainfall starting immediately, you know, it will take a long time to, to redress, redress the balance.

And as a further plug, so in September, the 17th of September, we WMO will be reduced releasing the State of Global Water Resources report.

And although the report is for 2025, it will have information on long term trends in, in, in river flow and, and, and ground, you know, groundwater.

So stay tuned for that.

Thank you so much, Claire and John.

[Other language spoken]

Oh, Antonio, is that a follow up?

[Other language spoken]

Well, my question is because in the middle of this heat wave tomorrow, thousands of people will be outside regarding the total eclipse in countries like Spain.

I don't know if WMO has some advice for for for that or is preparing something.

[Other language spoken]

So can you just can you just repeat the start of the question?

[Other language spoken]

Yes, well, it's about the, the eclipse, the total eclipse that is in, in Spain and other parts of the world.

Many people is going outside to to the mountains to to see that and we are in the middle of in a height wave.

And I don't know if it can have risks for for the population or if WMO has some advice in these cases.

[Other language spoken]

I know that national Meteorological and Hydrological services, certainly the Spanish one, are, you know, they're posting a lot on social media about, about the eclipse.

If it's hot, I think, you know, normal common sense advice should apply.

You know, try to avoid the, you know, the, the, the heat at the, the peak in, in the afternoon sunscreen, hat, drink lots.

Try to avoid excessive movement.

So it's, you know, it'll be basic health advice, but obviously with the eclipse and the game, I don't know if who wants to say something.

You know, a lot of the advice is about the eyes and that that's, that's beyond our, our, our remit.

I don't know if John wants to add anything.

[Other language spoken]

I mean, I don't know if Tarek, if you have anything to add from The Who perspective, please do.

Otherwise, I think the message is clear.

Obviously, take precautions.

Do we have further questions for our colleagues at WMO?

Looking in the room online, I don't see that's the case.

So on that note, I'd like to thank you very, very much for your briefing.

Very thoughtful briefing.

And yes, and we should be sending the briefing notes out.

If they haven't reached you now, they will do in the next in the next few minutes.

Perfect, thank you.

We look forward to getting a Thank you, Claire.

OK, colleagues, I think that's it for active briefers.

[Other language spoken]

OK, we have a change to the agenda.

Jens is going to join us from OCHA and I just had a few other announcements afterwards.

[Other language spoken]

So this is the last minute agenda shift.

We're going to Yens rather is going to address the the earthquake in Colombia.

So without further ado over to you Yens.

Thank you, Rolando and good morning everyone.

Just a quick heads up on that because we have a an update out, a flash update on the earthquake in Colombia that happened yesterday.

We have that out overnight.

I will send it to you.

It's in Spanish only at at the moment, but I'm sure you can either read that or get it translated.

But just some highlights from from what we have seen.

The official data that we have on the impact is that 1495 people have been injured and at least 126 have died.

Those are official government figures.

We know they are being updated as more information comes in.

Nearly 5000 homes have been damaged and 387 have been destroyed.

61 buildings have collapsed and more than 550 educational institutions, 24 health facilities and more than 350 community centres have affected.

[Other language spoken]

The official reports also indicate that there are now limited access to essential services such as electricity, water supply, healthcare and connectivity in various cities.

Likewise, 53 roads have been identified as affected across various areas of the country.

The UN team is of course monitoring very, very closely.

The Orchard team is monitoring very, very closely.

That's why we have these reports and the entire country team is meeting today to see how they can further support the national response of the Colombian authorities in any way, shape or form that may be requested, required or needed.

So that's just a few updates from me on that disaster.

[Other language spoken]

And so we do have a number of hands that have popped up online.

Just checking if there are any other room.

[Other language spoken]

So let's go to the questions online for you, Antonio of FA Thank you.

Well, yes, I wanted to ask about the earthquake on in Colombia.

I don't know if you have something else to add on how UN agencies are mobilising to provide assistance and which are the most urgent needs right now.

[Other language spoken]

Right, thank you.

As as I mentioned, the entire country team is of course mobilised and they are in contact with their regional headquarters and headquarters and with us here in Geneva as well.

The first thing that needs to happen is of course to to get a proper assessment of exactly what has happened, exactly where the needs are and exactly what is needed.

That is work that is already going on.

We have some of that more granular information in our in our flash update from from the country that I will share with you.

For the moment, there has not been any official request for international assistance.

[Other language spoken]

That may, of course, change should that happen.

The entire UN system and of course, humanitarians in particular, stand ready to support with everything we've got.

[Other language spoken]

Jens Tarek, I see you opened your video, so maybe you want to chime in on this point.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, thank you very much.

And as you asked me about the wildfires, I may add something at the at the end on that as we have a good fact sheet.

But just to add what I got from our colleagues in the regional office, Papa WS show last night on the health aspect.

So the as of last night Geneva time, damage has been reported in 24 health facilities across 6 departments and that that Valet del Cauca has experienced the most significant health infrastructure impacts, particularly in the city of Cali.

Key facilities affected include hospital and Rexetario Del Valle, where part of a tower housing cardiology and patriotic services collapsed and Clinic Anuestra which was fully evacuated.

Damage to water systems has also affected health facilities, creating additional operational challenges.

Now public health concerns that we have is really first to ensure continuity of essential health services and that is a priority, as well as to look into damage to water, sanitation, hygiene infrastructure that may affect health facility operations and increase public health risks.

Now continued aftershocks present ongoing safety concerns to health workers, patients and critical infrastructure.

As as Jan said, although the international assistance has not been requested, our office in the country in Colombia activated it's emergency response mechanism and it's field teams and teams have been deployed to affected areas including Cali and CHOCO to support health sector assessment and coordination.

Now the Government of Colombia has declared a national disaster and activated national emergency response mechanisms.

Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Health have activated their emergency operation centres and they are right now conducting rapid assessment and coordinating search and rescue operations.

They do medical evacuations and emergency health response activities.

And yes, as Yan said, we stand ready to to provide assistance.

I will send this in notes as well.

So you have these numbers.

That's very helpful.

[Other language spoken]

One, one thing that often goes down in in these situations is the communications network is the, is the communications network up and running for, for your team and, and for the humanitarian response.

And and secondly, on, on funding, although there's not been a request for yet for international assistance, Are you preparing for a funding response?

And in light of that, given the the cuts that have that have happened, is there basically is there money in the bank?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

The last one first funding, let let's see what the, what the assessments and the needs are and so on and so forth and whether this there will be any form of kind of international response in addition to what's already there.

I want to, to add on on that in terms of of comms, it is sporadic.

What, what I have the information we, we know that often happen, happens in, in, in earthquakes that some networks go down then they come up again and so on and so forth.

We have not had reports from, from our team that that's a significant issue in the, in terms of coordinating among ourselves and you know, being in touch with, with the authorities where they are and what they need.

So that is, has not been flagged as a concern.

I just want to add one thing just to be crystal clear.

We we mentioned that the assessments are are already on ongoing by the authorities and the main needs that have been reported up to now for which urgent complimentary response meaning UN supported response is required.

Those needs are related to safe drinking water, hygiene kits, household kits, healthcare and food assistance.

Thank you very much, Jens.

OK, let's see if there are other questions.

I don't see that's the case.

And of course, colleagues, it goes without saying that Secretary General, we express our thoughts and condolences to all those who have suffered.

You mentioned 126 thus far have died.

Of course, this is a moving story, so we'll we'll keep you updated.

Sorry.

Actually we have one more question, Sorry, Olivia.

Reuters, thanks.

This is actually on a separate topic for Tarek, please.

It's who, who relates the question, but not not for yet.

It's not for that be related.

[Other language spoken]

Why don't you pose your questions since we've finished on Colombia.

So over back to you, Olivia, Go ahead.

[Other language spoken]

Seeking the World Health Organisation reaction to the US President Donald Trump's signing of an executive order yesterday calling for fewer childhood vaccinations, limiting the inoculation schedule to 11 immunisations.

He said this would give US children gold standard protection.

Kindly seeking the the Who's view on that, please.

[Other language spoken]

As you know, we have been discussing vaccines many times and for more than 60 years.

WTO, another global health experts and you know, for example, the SAGE Strategic Advisory Group of experts on immunisation and national authorities have have intensively studied disease transmission, the safety of vaccines and the way they protect people from disease.

The immunisation schedule is a plan that shows when children, adolescents and adults should get their vaccines.

It is developed by medical experts who assess how disease is spreads, who get sick most often and at what ages.

This has shaped global guidance on what vaccines people need, when they need them, and how many doses are most effective and meet the highest safety standards.

Now, based on extensive reviews of scientific information, WHO issues vaccine position papers.

We have probably seen some of them that explain key facts about each disease, the vaccines available to prevent the disease, including their safety evidence, and WH OS recommendations on the timing of each dose.

Every vaccine is recommended at the time it offers the best protection against serious illness.

This can mean one type of vaccine is needed at birth while another is needed in adolescence.

Timing of each dose is based on years of research across the world on how the immune system develops, when a person is most at risk of a disease and how to keep protection strong.

Now, how does it work in practise?

In nearly all countries, there is a national immunisation Technical advisory groups WHO.

These groups make all policy recommendation and set national immunisation schedules.

Now these expert groups at national level rely on the normative and strategic guidance on existing and new vaccines from WHO strategic advisory group of experts sage on the immunisation to inform their decision at the national level.

So these advisory groups should be made-up of multidisciplinary experts who provide independent evidence based guidance to policy makers and immunisation programme managers.

So in one word really Olivia, this is all science based.

What comes out for from WHO?

And this is the advice we give to all countries and we hope that all countries will use this best scientific evidence that we have.

And we have to always stress that the science does evolve to to make their immunisation programmes for their citizens.

[Other language spoken]

Is that OK?

Further questions or anyone else for that matter?

I don't see that's the case.

So thanks again Tarek for that.

If I may just yeah, go ahead to the question of of wildfires.

We have a really good, good, good fact sheet and I really invite everyone to, to to look at it.

So, so wildfires, wildfire smoke is a mixture of air pollutants and one of them is particulate matter that is APM.

And you hear about PMPM index quite often and that's the principle public health threat.

So from PM, from wildfire smoke is associated with premature deaths in the general population and can cause and exacerbate diseases of the lungs, heart, brain, nervous system, skin, gut, kidney, eyes, nose and liver.

It has been shown that it can lead to cognitive impairment and memory loss and therefore firefighters and emergency response workers are also greatly impacted by injuries, burns and smoke inhalation, particularly at the high concentration.

So I, I may, I may, as I will send some of my notes, I will add, add few, few lines on this as well.

It is important to stress that that wildfires cause not only immediate health danger, but it can it can have a a long lasting health consequences as these particles get deep into into lungs and can cause different diseases.

Thank you Tarek, indeed very important and much appreciated.

Thank you very much for adding that comment on the previous subject.

So I think that does it for our briefers.

Let me just highlight a couple of things happening here in Geneva.

We have a couple of committees happening to going on right now with Committee on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, SERD.

This morning they are finalising its review of Kuwait.

This afternoon it'll start with the reviewing the report from India and then tomorrow Honduras.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is also meeting and today, or rather they rather not meeting yet, they will start tomorrow, their 35th session in fact, where during which they will, the Committee will review the reports of Qatar, Sri Lanka, Lithuania, Chile and Slovenia.

Another meeting happening now as we speak in room 12 is a conference on disarmament and the plenary meeting is discussing various agenda items.

Among them is new types of weapons of mass destruction and new systems of such weapons, radiological weapons, comprehensive programme of disarmament and transparency in armaments.

So lots of very interesting.

Agenda items at the Conference on Disarmament taking place now in Room 12.

While not here, but on the other side of the pond, Security Council, just to mention, is holding a meeting this afternoon on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

That's at 10 AM New York, time for PMR time and tomorrow, looking ahead, tomorrow at the 12th of August is International Youth Day.

And this is an opportunity to celebrate the creativity, dynamism and leadership of young people everywhere.

The secretary general says in his message, which we've shared with you.

Now, this year's theme is quote, different context, common aspirations.

[Other language spoken]

Now, this theme reflects the simple truth that is despite there are many differences, young people across the globe share similar hopes for dignity, participation and opportunity.

So I would encourage you to read that message, which is available in multiple languages.

Now just also to note that ahead of tomorrow's Youth Day, yesterday, we, the Department of Global Communications, issued a brief of children, Youth and information integrity.

It was launched yesterday.

It's the third of of the departments of issue briefs on strengthening information integrity.

And this particular brief comes, it's very timely in that it follows up to the Secretary Secretary General's recent call for an AI child safety pledge, which covers any system child covering covering any system of a child is able to reach.

The brief applies the UN global Principles for information integrity to the specific risks and opportunities uniting opportunities facing children and youth online.

It's a very important brief which we're happy to share with you.

There's a press release to accompany that.

So I just wanted to make sure you, you saw that as it's one of our priorities to tackle this, to tackle this issue.

So I see there's a hand up.

Is that for me or for another briefer Paula online?

[Other language spoken]

I just had a question about there's this AI for developing countries forum that's taking place tomorrow at the Assembly Hall.

Just wondering if we can access that with our passes.

I'll have to get back to you on that, Paula.

That's taking place here and assault is the assembly hall here.

[Other language spoken]

Let it's hard till Friday and there was we had, I mean there we received I think invitations to register for that.

But I yeah, given that it's in the at the Para de Nacion, whether we could just access it with our passes.

Normally if it's taking play, if there's a meeting that is public taking place here, you should be able to get in with your badge.

But let me just dig deeper and find out more about this.

And if there's anything I can share about this meeting, I will, I will drop a note and we'll add something in in our summary of this of this briefing.

So thanks for the question.

I don't see further questions for me.

So I wish you a good afternoon and we'll see you here on Friday.

[Other language spoken]

UN Geneva Press Briefing - 11 August 2026