AI Governance, Sudan & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (6 July 2026) | United Nations

Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Highlights:

Secretary-General/Travels
Responsibility to Protect
Sudan
Ukraine
Venezuela
Lebanon
Occupied Palestinian Territory
Abyei
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Central African Republic
Myanmar
Senior Personnel Appointment
World Rural Development Day
Briefing

SECRETARY-GENERAL/TRAVELS

The Secretary-General is in Geneva today, where this morning, he took part in the inaugural Global Dialogue on AI Governance.

In his remarks at the Dialogue’s opening session, the Secretary-General said that, used well, and shared widely, Artificial Intelligence could compress decades of development into years. He added that the choice before us is not between faith in AI or fear of it. It is between governing by design, and drifting by default.

He shared four priorities for the road ahead.

First, safety, he said. He called for an AI Child Safety Pledge, so that when a child is harmed, the answer must never be “the algorithm did it.”

Second, the Secretary-General said we need red lines in protecting human rights.

Third, he called for capacity, adding that we cannot allow the digital divide to harden the AI divide.

The Secretary-General added that he will submit to the General Assembly his recommendations for a Global Fund for AI.

And finally, the Secretary-General reiterated his appeal for transparency through his AI Environmental Transparency Initiative, which calls on every major AI company to measure and publicly disclose the full footprint of its systems and to commit to power every data centre with renewable energy by 2030.

He also brought up the issue of lethal autonomous weapon systems, or killer robots. He reiterated his call to have them banned by international law, adding that some decisions must remain forever human, none more than taking a human life.

The Secretary-General expressed the hope that this dialogue will become the place where global participation leads to global action.

Later in the afternoon, at the Palais des Nations, the Secretary-General delivered remarks at a meeting of the International Law Commission. He said that finding legal solutions to today’s crises is a fundamental duty for us all. And shaping the future of international law, by anticipating tomorrow’s challenges, falls with particular weight on this Commission.

Throughout the day, he held a number of bilateral meetings with leaders taking part in the Global Dialogue,

The Secretary-General will back in New York tomorrow.

RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT

This morning, Courtenay Rattray, the Chef de Cabinet, delivered remarks on behalf of the Secretary-General at an event marking the 21st anniversary of the adoption of the commitment of the Responsibility to Protect, in which Member States undertook a promise to take collective action, timely and decisive action in line with the UN Charter if a State fails to uphold its responsibility to protect its own people.

In those remarks, the Secretary-General told Member States that the Responsibility to Protect commitment is now more vital than ever, with the world facing more than 120 conflicts in 2025.

He also warned that we need to be proactive and vigilant, and to act before warning signs become mass graves.



Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2026-07-06