This week marks one year since dozens of personnel from the United Nations, nongovernmental and civil society organizations, and diplomatic missions were arbitrarily detained by the Houthi de facto authorities in northern Yemen. Others have been detained since as far back as 2021. Today, we reiterate our urgent demand for their immediate and unconditional release. As of today, 23 UN and five international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) personnel remain arbitrarily detained. Tragically, one UN staff member and another from Save the Children have died in detention. Others have lost loved ones while being held, denied the chance to attend their funerals or say goodbye.   Our arbitrarily detained colleagues have spent at least 365 days – and for some, over 1000 days – isolated from their families, children, husbands, and wives, in flagrant breach of international law. The toll of this detention is also weighing heavily on their families, who continue to endure the unbearable pain of absence and uncertainty as they face another Eid without their loved one. Nothing can justify their ordeal. They were doing their jobs, helping people in desperate need: people without food, shelter, or adequate health care. Yemen remains one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with over 19 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, many of whom rely on it for survival. A safe and enabling operating environment for humanitarian operations, including the release of detained personnel, is essential to maintaining and restoring assistance to those in need. Humanitarian workers should never be targeted or detained while carrying out their mandates to serve the people of Yemen. The prolonged detention of our colleagues has a chilling effect across the international community, undermining support for Yemen and hindering humanitarian response. It has also undermined mediation efforts for lasting peace. We acknowledge the release of one UN and two NGO personnel and the recent release of an Embassy staff member. We call on the de facto authorities to deliver on their previous commitments, including those made to the Director-General of the World Health Organization during his mission to Sana'a in December 2024. The UN and INGOs will continue to work through all possible channels to secure the safe and immediate release of those arbitrarily detained. Signatories: Achim Steiner, Administrator, UNDP Amitabh Behar, OXFAM International Executive Director Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director Cindy McCain, WFP Executive Director Hans Grundberg, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Yemen Inger Ashing, Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children International Michelle Nunn, President and CEO, CARE Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the commitment shown by the Organization’s Member States which, during nearly two weeks of meetings, adopted historic measures to make the world safer and healthier. The landmark adoptions of the first global agreement to make the world safer from future pandemics and increase in financial support to the World Health Organization were the highlights of the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly, which ran from 19–27 May. Immediately after, the WHO Executive Board met for two days, until 29 May, to address the Health Assembly’s outcome, WHO governance reform and the nomination and appointment of regional directors.  Dr Tedros said Member States demonstrated their commitment to WHO and multilateral action to protect and promote public health. “WHO and many of our Member States and health partners are facing various challenges,” he said. “But the World Health Assembly has sent a clear message: countries want a strong WHO and are committed to working together with WHO to build a healthier, safer and fairer world. These were strong votes of confidence in WHO at this critical time.” Making the world safer from pandemics “The Health Assembly’s adoption of the Pandemic Agreement on 20 May was a landmark in the history of WHO and global health,” said Dr Tedros. “Despite many obstacles, and in the face of significant mis- and disinformation, WHO’s Member States have succeeded in negotiating and adopting a legally binding agreement to make the world safer from pandemics.” The Pandemic Agreement sets out a range of measures to prevent pandemics and strengthen health system resilience, including through improving the rapid sharing of pathogens; ensuring fair, equitable and timely access to vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics; and strengthening technology transfer, financing and supply chains. Dr Tedros said adoption of the Pandemic Agreement was not the end of the journey, adding that Member States still must negotiate the annex on pathogen access and benefit sharing for adoption at an upcoming Health Assembly. The next step would be for 60 countries to ratify the agreement, including the annex, before it enters into force as an instrument of international law. “But having watched this process over the past three and a half years, I am confident of two things,” the WHO Director-General said. “First, that Member States will finish the job by May next year (2026), as they have committed to doing; and second, that the deception and distortion will continue.” In particular, Dr Tedros said while it has been widely acknowledged that the Pandemic Agreement will not infringe on national sovereignty, some quarters will continue to repeat the false claims. “Let me be clear once again: the Pandemic Agreement will not infringe on national sovereignty, period. And the Pandemic Agreement does not give WHO any powers, period,” Dr Tedros said. “WHO’s job is to make recommendations to governments, but what governments do with those recommendations is entirely up to them. WHO is not even a party to the Agreement. This is an agreement between sovereign nations, and it will be ratified and implemented by sovereign nations that choose to do so. The intentional distortion of the Pandemic Agreement as ceding power to WHO must stop.” Assessed contributions increase The Assembly’s other major outcome was the approval of WHO’s 2026–27 Programme Budget, including the next 20% increase in assessed contributions, adding US$ 90 million in fully predictable and flexible funds to WHO’s income each year. In 2022, Member States agreed to increase assessed contributions progressively to 50% of our base budget, from just 16% at the time. This rise is the cornerstone of WHO’s transformation of its approach to sustainable financing by diversifying its donor base and receiving increased support from all of its Member States towards WHO’s core budget and programme of work. “This is another major step towards making WHO less dependent on earmarked voluntary funds from a handful of traditional donors,” said Dr Tedros. “WHO also held a pledging event at which Member States and philanthropic donors committed at least US$ 210 million in additional funding to the WHO Investment Round.” In addition to these two major achievements, the Health Assembly also celebrated several countries for eliminating diseases, and eliminating industrial trans-fat from their manufactured food supplies. WHO Member States also adopted several important resolutions, reflecting WHO’s vast mission and mandate, including a new target to halve the health impacts of air pollution by 2040; new targets for nutrition in mothers and young children; to strengthen regulation of digital marketing of formula milk and baby foods; and a new global strategy for traditional medicine. Countries for the first time also adopted resolutions on lung health and kidney health, and for a lead-free future, and established World Cervical Cancer Elimination Day and World Prematurity Day as official WHO health campaigns. Resolutions on digital health, Guinea worm disease, health financing, the health and care workforce, medical imaging, nursing and midwifery, rare diseases, sensory impairment, skin diseases, social connection and more were also adopted.