UN Jan 9th, 2026: Power, Principle and Pressure Inside the U.N. Briefing Room

By ATN News Team

UNHQ, New York: The United Nations on Friday issued a series of grim warnings from conflict zones across the globe condemning new Russian strikes on Ukraine, warning of escalating violence in Syria, and marking 1,000 days of war in Sudan with some of the bleakest humanitarian figures yet.

But inside the briefing room at U.N. Headquarters, it was the exchange with journalists sharp, persistent and increasingly legalistic that revealed a deeper tension: a press corps pushing harder for clarity as major powers challenge the norms the organization is built to defend.

Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric opened with Ukraine, saying another large-scale overnight Russian attack caused civilian casualties and disrupted electricity, heating and water supplies as temperatures fell below minus 10 degrees Celsius. In Kyiv, a health worker was killed and several rescuers and medical staff were injured while responding. The World Health Organization has recorded nine attacks on health care facilities in Ukraine since the start of the year.

Humanitarian agencies continue emergency assistance, he said, but winter conditions are worsening an already dire situation.

On Syria, Dujarric said the U.N. remains “gravely alarmed” by hostilities in Aleppo, warning of civilian harm and the risk of renewed escalation. He urged all parties to respect international humanitarian law and noted that insecurity has disrupted key roads and delayed aid delivery.

The situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory brought further troubling figures. In Gaza, aid partners reached more than 5,000 families this week with emergency cash assistance. In the West Bank, Dujarric said at least 20 Palestinian families were displaced from a herding community in Area C after what he described as settler intimidation, including cutting off water and electricity.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs documented more than 1,800 settler attacks in 2025, affecting about 280 communities the highest daily average since monitoring began in 2006. The U.N. again called for the protection of civilians.

The most sobering segment came on Sudan. Friday marked 1,000 days of war. Nearly 34 million people almost two-thirds of the population now require humanitarian assistance, Dujarric said, calling Sudan the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis.

He cited 9.3 million internally displaced people, more than 4.3 million refugees in neighboring countries, famine confirmed in parts of North Darfur and South Kordofan, and more than 21 million people facing acute food insecurity. The health system is near collapse, cholera has spread across all 18 states, and nearly 12 million people, mostly women and girls, are at risk of gender-based violence.

Despite extreme danger more than 125 aid workers have been killed since April 2023 humanitarian partners reached nearly 19 million people last year. Agencies aim to assist 20 million people in 2026 under a $2.9 billion plan.

In neighboring South Sudan, a UNMISS human rights report documented 295 incidents of conflict-related violence over three months last year, impacting more than 1,150 civilians.

Then the questions began and the tone shifted.

Gabriel Elizondo of Al Jazeera English opened by asking whether the U.N. had received any official notification from Washington about reports that the United States is withdrawing from 31 U.N.-related organizations. Dujarric said no, adding that he had checked with the legal office and found no formal communication, including on two treaties mentioned in reports.

Elizondo followed up by citing comments attributed to President Donald Trump in a New York Times interview in which the president reportedly said, “I don’t need international law.” What would the Secretary-General’s reaction be?

Dujarric avoided engaging the quote directly. Instead, he reframed the response: the Secretary-General, he said, would “redouble his message” urging all member states to respect the international law “they themselves created.”

Edith Lederer of The Associated Press pressed further, asking whether the U.N. was requesting the United States reverse any withdrawals. Dujarric replied that the organization has always sought more U.S. participation but stressed that many details remain unclear and that officials are awaiting clarification from Washington.

The exchange turned more forensic when Dezhi Jiang of Xinhua questioned U.S. financial contributions. Dujarric confirmed the United States has not paid its 2025 regular budget dues. Jiang then raised whether continued nonpayment could trigger loss of U.S. voting rights under Article 19 of the U.N. Charter.

Dujarric declined to draw conclusions, saying he would seek more detail on payment timelines. But the message was clear: correspondents were no longer asking only for quotes they were cross-referencing facts, invoking charter provisions and testing institutional accountability.

Other journalists challenged the podium on unrest in Iran, protests in the United States following a police shooting involving ICE agents, Reuters reports of more than 140,000 displaced civilians in Aleppo, and criticism from an Israeli minister who accused the Secretary-General of “deafening silence.” “I don’t think silence is the right word,” Dujarric replied tersely.

Near the end, a correspondent returned to the question hanging over the room: what happens when a powerful state signals that international law does not apply to it?

“We don’t speak for other countries,” Dujarric said, pointing back to the Secretary-General’s position that the United Nations believes in “the might of the law.”

He closed the briefing shortly afterward, wishing reporters a happy weekend.

What unfolded in the room reflected a shifting reality at U.N. Headquarters: a spokesperson carefully constrained by diplomacy, and a press corps no longer satisfied with vague answers. In a year shaped by geopolitical jolts and institutional stress, the daily briefing has evolved from a procedural ritual into something sharper and more consequential a live arena where multilateral principles, raw power and persistent questioning collide.