UN News Today 06 July 2026 |

Guterres calls for Child Safety Pledge at first UN dialogue on AI Governance

The UN Secretary-General has called for far-reaching, worldwide controls on Artificial Intelligence, as increasingly powerful AI chips designed for civilian use are now being deployed on the battlefield, where “killer robots” are already the norm.

Addressing the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva on Monday, António Guterres also stressed the need for greater accessibility for the billions of people currently unable to access AI.

He insisted that any future agreement must be “worthy of global trust” and put safety first – especially children’s – to protect them from digitally-generated manipulation and abuse. 

“I am today calling for an AI Child Safety Pledge – with three simple rules for any system a child can reach. Prove it is safe. Zero tolerance for sexual abuse – no company should allow its AI to generate sexual images of children – and every company must detect, report, and remove them. And never leave a child in crisis alone – when a child shows signs of distress, the system must stop and connect them to real human support.”

Echoing that call, the President of the UN General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock, urged collective action to counter the “sinister” side of AI, noting that a reported 99 per cent of deepfakes are sexual in nature and 96 per cent target women and girls.

Ukraine: At least 14 dead in Kyiv after latest Russian strikes 

To Ukraine, where Russian attacks on the capital Kyiv early on Monday killed at least 14 people and injured more than 80, according to the authorities.

This latest wave of missile and drone strikes came just days after a large-scale attack, said the top UN humanitarian official in the country, Matthias Schmale.

This past weekend also saw deadly bombardment in the Sumy region, where children were among the casualties, he said. 

Four other regions – Dnipro, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia as well as Kyiv – also suffered many civilian casualties and widespread damage to infrastructure, thus disrupting access to basic services.

Mr. Schmale visited sites in the capital city to express solidarity with those affected, remarking that “it is unbearable to witness the scale of human suffering.”

He added that “the devastating toll on civilians keeps growing, both along the front line and in urban centres.”

The UN has repeatedly condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022.

Since then, more than 16,000 people have been killed and some 46,590 injured, according to the most recent UN data.

One child killed a day in Gaza for more than eight months: UNICEF

UN child rights agency UNICEF continues to highlight the dire conditions in Gaza after more than 1,000 days of war.

Children in the enclave “have been killed, maimed, displaced, and deprived of the essentials that they need to survive, grow, and recover,” Spokesperson Louise Wateridge told UN News on Monday.

She said reports indicate that more than 60,000 children have been killed or injured.

Moreover, “a child has been killed on average every single day for more than eight months,” she added, despite the October ceasefire.

“Children in Gaza have taken their first steps through rubble, spoken their first words against the deafening sounds of bombs and strikes, and they’ve known nothing but war, displacement, and loss. Others didn’t even survive long enough to speak their first words. Childhood should not begin in survival mode. No child’s earliest years should be defined by the sounds of bombs and strikes, the loss of home, or the absence of enough food, water, and care.”

Ms. Wateridge noted that during a baby’s first 1,000 days of life, their brain can form more than a million new connections every second – a pace that is never repeated again, underscoring the critical value of proper nutrition, care, and protection.

Dianne Penn, UN News