Interviews: Recent Episodes
United Nations
UN News interviews a wide range of people from senior news-making officials at Headquarters in New York, to advocates and beneficiaries from across the world who have a stake in helping the UN go about its often life-saving work in the field.
Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, is centre stage in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah this week, where top health officials have been attending the Fourth Global High-Level Ministerial Meeting on these so-called superbugs which have become increasingly resistant to existing strains of antibiotics.
Threatening to make the medicines on which we depend less effective, AMR is already responsible for killing 1.3 million people every year.
Attending the conference, Hanan Balkhy – a physician who is one of the World Health Organization’s senior officials leading the charge against AMR – told UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri that “awareness is one of the global action plan pillars” which need to be strengthened.
Explosive remnants of war, including artillery shells, rockets, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), pose a grave threat to civilians everywhere – but especially children in Gaza, now and in the years ahead, according to the Chief of Programme Management with the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS).
Taku Kubo spoke with UN News about the challenges these hazards present for long-term recovery and reconstruction in the region.
Despite ongoing conflict and resource constraints, UNMAS has conducted close to 400 explosive hazard assessments and accompanied more than 270 humanitarian convoys as part of the aid effort.
Mr. Kubo spoke to UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki.
As the war in Lebanon grinds on, some 1.3 million people have now fled intense Israeli bombardment up and down the country, according to the authorities.
This includes a significant number of Syrian refugees, who’ve already had to flee over a decade of civil war in their own country.
Reaching Syria is by no means easy, because of the very real risk of bombing at border crossing points; and then there’s the question of how safe it is to return to Syria’s towns and cities.
With more on this – and how the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, is helping returnees at Lebanon’s borders in cooperation with the Syrian Government – here’s Rula Amin, Senior Communications Advisor for UNHCR, speaking to UN News’s Nancy Sarkis.
The number of prisoners in Iran being executed is rising while civic space shrinks, according to the independent human rights expert who monitors the country.
Special Rapporteur Mai Sato was at UN Headquarters last week briefing the General Assembly, where she highlighted lack of transparency by authorities in Tehran and the failure to uphold the right to life, while also raising the alarm over the worsening situation facing women in the country.
In an interview with UN News’s Julia Foxen, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed expert who only took up her role in August this year, explained how she hopes to fulfill her mandate and hold authorities to account.
As the Democratic Republic of the Congo enters its third decade of armed conflict, a huge number of unexploded land mines and other ordinance remain, constituting a deadly threat to civilians.
That’s according to Jean-Denis Larsen, the chief of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in the central African nation, who told UN News’s Julia Foxen in an interview at UN Headquarters in New York, that the danger leaves less land available for housing and crucial civilian infrastructure.
The key measure of success, he says, is the agency’s ability to hand back safe environments to communities.
Countries around the world are being encouraged to develop more ambitious plans to fight climate change as they meet at the global COP29 climate conference; That’s according to the Secretary-General of the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
Celeste Saulo spoke with UN News as the conference got underway in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Monday.
Some 198 States are coming together to assess global efforts in advancing the nearly ten-year-old Paris Agreement and limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The country-specific plans are called Nationally Determined Contributions.
Nazrin Babayeva asked Ms. Saulo about the WMO’s role today in adapting and mitigating climate change on a global scale.
The armed conflict in Myanmar is escalating. Ethnic armed groups have captured key towns and regions, and the country’s military – known as the Tatmadaw – are employing increasingly brutal tactics, including heavy weapons and airstrikes.
Caught in the middle, civilians are bearing the brunt.
Against this background, UN News’ Vibhu Mishra spoke with Nicholas Koumjian, head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), which monitors and collects evidence of crimes in the country.
He said as violence intensifies, new actors and alliances are emerging – and it’s incumbent on the international community to act.
Established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2018, the IIMM is mandated to collect and preserve evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law and prepare files for criminal prosecution.
Previous interviews with IIMM:
- Myanmar: Technology key to aid war crimes investigations
- Myanmar citizens show ‘great desire’ for justice: Investigative Mechanism chief
- For head of Myanmar Mechanism, time is of the essence for accountability
Despite the setback of a further two-year delay in holding elections that were promised for next month, the “silver lining” is that the UN can help South Sudan build capacity and become the “democratic, stable society” that its people deserve.
That’s the view of UN Special Representative and Head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Nicholas Haysom, who told UN News on Thursday that he is “confident” the country can progress in spite of a slew of major challenges including climate shocks and war over the border in Sudan – as long as the political will is there on the part of the country’s leaders.
The veteran Special Representative from South Africa – who served as chief legal adviser to Nelson Mandela – sat down with Ben Malor shortly after briefing the Security Council.
Although the use of mercenaries in conflict has increased in recent years, little is known about how they are funded and paid.
The issue is the focus of the latest report by the Working Group on the use of mercenaries, which was presented to the UN General Assembly this week.
Jovana Jezdimirovic Ranito is the Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group, which receives its mandate from the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
She spoke to UN News’s Dianne Penn about the difficulties in tracking financing for foreign fighters and how bankrolling them negatively impacts human rights, sustainable development and the environment.
In Afghanistan under Taliban rule, it is now even more important to ensure that women have access to public spaces and adequate housing, creating places that are “accepted culturally in the current environment, but also provide a space where women can meet”.
That’s the view of Stephanie Loose, Program Manager at the UN-Habitat Afghanistan Country Office, who is in Cairo to discuss the opportunities and challenges women are facing in urban areas.
She spoke to UN News’s Khaled Mohammed who’s at the UN World Urban Forum in Cairo.
On August 1, the United States and Russia conducted a landmark prisoner exchange involving 16 people – the first of its kind since 1986 – which resulted in the release of several leading Russian dissidents.
Among those freed was opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, who recently visited UN Headquarters in New York with Mariana Katzarova, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent expert – or Special Rapporteur – who monitors the Russian Federation, to introduce her new report to the General Assembly.
In an interview with UN News’s Nargiz Shekinskaya, Mr. Kara-Murza reflected on his recent release, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the ongoing human rights crisis in his homeland.
He underscored the "horrendous" scale of political imprisonment in Russia, where over 1,300 political prisoners are currently held, and countless others remain invisible.
Stressing that housing is a human right which gives meaning and dignity to people’s lives, the independent UN rights expert – or Special Rapporteur – who monitors the issue has issued an alert over the impact of war, with many civilians simply “losing their houses” as battlefields shift and expand.
Balakrishnan Rajagopal is at the World Urban Forum (WUF12) in Cairo, where he spoke to UN News’s Khaled Mohamed on the challenges of ensuring affordable and safe housing for all.
Close to 70 per cent of the world population lives in cities, which brings opportunities but also major challenges, many of which have featured high on the agenda at this week’s World Urban Forum (WUF12) in Cairo.
Successful urban development must include the perspectives of women and young people, according to the World Bank’s Global Director for urban resilience, who said it was vital to include their voice in decision making and how public space is used.
Ming Zhang spoke to Khaled Mohamed, who’s in Cairo covering the forum for UN News.
Youth-led initiatives have the potential to significantly impact local urban development, according to the deputy chief of the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
Haoliang Xu spoke to UN News ahead of the World Urban Forum which begins in Cairo, Egypt, on 4 November and which brings together people from across the world to discuss the challenges faced by cities.
It’s estimated that by 2050, some 70 percent of the world’s population will be living in urban areas, which will put pressure on health services, housing, as well as education, transport infrastructure and the police.
Pia Blondel asked Mr. Xu how cities will cope with the increase in people.
The resumption of the mass polio campaign in northern Gaza this weekend is crucially important to protect children from disease, but they are “absolutely not safe” from daily bombardment.
That’s the message from UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees; along with the UN health agency (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund. Humanitarians must now reach 119,000 children under 10 in northern communities in the coming days to keep them safe from polio, which is highly infectious.
With more, here’s UNRWA Senior Emergency Officer Louise Wateridge who’s been speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson from central Gaza.
Pregnant women and girls in Lebanon’s shelters face trauma, harassment and disease, UN humanitarians have warned.
With war still raging in Lebanon, 1.2 million people have been forced to seek safety in hundreds of shelters across the country.
And although 60 per cent of the country’s public schools have been converted into places of refuge for those who’ve fled displacement orders and bombing, there just aren’t enough shelters for everyone.
This problem affects women and girls the most as they are at risk of disease and sexual assault, warned UNFPA, the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health services.
With more, here’s Pamela Di Camillo, UNFPA’s Representative ad interim for Lebanon, who’s been telling UN News’s Nancy Sarkis about the harsh conditions that women – especially those who are pregnant – are facing.
In a time of global crisis, it’s essential not to forget the steady erosion of rights across Afghanistan.
That’s the view of Richard Bennett, the UN’s independent human rights expert – or Special Rapporteur – who monitors the country. He was in New York to present his report to the General Assembly.
Mr. Bennet told UN News’s Vibhu Mishra that members of the international community who’ve pledged support must stay the course “because nowhere else in the world are women treated as appallingly as they are [there] these days”.
Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. They serve in their individual capacity, independent of the UN system and national governments. They are not UN staff and draw no salary.
The “big conclusion” of the latest report from the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, is that through the systematic use of torture, Russia is guilty of crimes against humanity.
That is the view of Commissioner Pablo de Greiff, who was in New York this week to present the report to the UN General Assembly.
In an interview with UN News’s Evgeniya Kleshcheva, Mr. de Greiff started by describing the challenges they faced collecting evidence as the war in Ukraine rages on.
The Chairperson of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, on Wednesday presented the commission's latest investigative report to the UN General Assembly.
Navi Pillay and her UN Human Rights Council-appointed team found that Israel has carried out a policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system as part of a broader assault; committed war crimes, and deliberately attacked medical personnel and facilities.
The report goes on to conclude that Israel – and Palestinian armed groups – are responsible for torture and sexual and gender-based violence, and that Israeli security forces have deliberately killed, detained and tortured medical personnel.
Ahead of her briefing to the General Assembly, Conor Lennon from UN News sat down with Ms. Pillay in the UN News studios, and he started by asking her to recall a particularly harrowing case mentioned in the report: the killing of Hind Rajab, a five-year-old girl, and her extended family, as well as the paramedics who tried to rescue her.
The final phase of the polio vaccination campaign in war-ravaged northern Gaza has been postponed due to ongoing hostilities and lack of humanitarian access.
Explaining that two doses are needed for children to reach full immunity, UNICEF Communication Specialist, Rosalia Bollen, told UN News’s Khaled Mohamed on Monday that 120,000 children would be “at great risk” if they do not receive the second dose before mid-November.
Ms. Bollen described the many risks children are facing on a daily basis across Gaza.
With more than 120 armed conflicts in the world right now, there is a high prevalence and intensity of sexual forms of torture being committed.
That’s according to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, who was in New York on Friday, to present her report to the General Assembly.
Expressing alarm over the situation, Alice Edwards told UN News’s Nargiz Shekinskaya that with torture, “the likelihood of peace becomes more and more remote because it instils, and it’s caused, by hate”.
Access to high-quality education is a human right that not only greatly benefits individuals but also uplifts entire communities.
Millions of children, however, remain out of school due to a variety of factors including gender, location, social background or conflict.
With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Farida Shaheed, has prepared a report to the General Assembly exploring the challenges and benefits of incorporating AI in school settings.
With a third of the world still offline or without access to devices, she told UN News’s Ana Carmo that AI is “bound” to increase inequality, intensifying the so-called digital divide.
The International Court of Justice, or ICJ, is currently dealing with an unprecedented number of cases from around the world, particularly as the Middle East continues to be mired in conflict.
That’s according to Belgian jurist Philippe Gautier who has held the post of Registrar of the ICJ since August 2019, giving him the title of the senior-most official who heads the Secretariat of the Court.
In an interview at the UN Headquarters in NY on Friday, he told UN News’s Julia Foxen that today’s profound geopolitical tensions require the UN’s principal judicial organ – commonly known as the world court – to maintain its autonomous and independent role “without taking sides in the political arena”.
Around 890 children have been injured in the past year in Lebanon, according to the country’s Ministry of Public Health, with 75 per cent of those injuries occurring in the last month. As the conflict escalates, the number of child casualties has risen rapidly.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is working to assist children across various affected areas, including Tyre, Rmaich, Marjaaoun, Beirut, and the Bekaa Valley. Their efforts include providing shelter, medical supplies, mental health support, and access to education and essential goods.
Tess Ingram, Communications Manager for UNICEF Middle East and North Africa, told Nancy Sarkis of UN News: “Above everything else, the children of Lebanon need peace.”
From women activists feeding thousands of vulnerable families amid the brutal war in Sudan, to young Bangladeshis working to stamp out child marriage, human rights defenders worldwide are helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In fact, they are integral to ensuring that the 17 Goals – which include ending poverty, reducing inequality and protecting the environment – become reality, said Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.
She was recently in New York to present her latest report to the UN General Assembly. She spoke to UN News’s Dianne Penn about her mandate and the need to advocate for human rights defenders, hundreds of whom are killed each year over issues such as land rights.
With just days to go until world leaders, scientists, and climate action advocates convene for the UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, COP29, the host country Azerbaijan is fully prepared to welcome the key annual summit - despite having only ten months to prepare.
That’s according to UN Resident Coordinator Vladanka Andreeva who has been speaking to UN News’s Liudmila Blagonravova about the preparations and objectives for the COP, including the role played by the UN’s country team in Azerbaijan, consisting of 18 different agencies.
Ms. Andreeva emphasized that the host nation is leading by example, setting itself the target of achieving over 30 percent renewable energy production, as well as a 35 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, despite being a country rich in oil and gas reserves.
There are now 1.2 million internally displaced people in Lebanon because of the Hezbollah-Israel conflict which has created a new humanitarian crisis that UN aid agencies are responding to as best they can.
One immediate problem is that there’s not enough room for everyone in collective shelters, so many people are sleeping out in the open.
Keeping sickness at bay is another challenge, after a first case of cholera was confirmed in northern Lebanon this week. Other diseases are also spreading, such as rabies.
To find out more about the situation on the ground, UN News’s Nancy Sarkis has been speaking to the UN refugee agency’s Representative in Lebanon, Ivo Freijsen in Beirut.
As crises mount, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has told UN News there needs to be greater openness and accountability, warning that the world faces a critical turning point in the fight for human rights.
While human rights mechanisms have played a crucial role in preventing conflicts and atrocities, he expressed deep concern over the speed of escalation, emphasising that it is not rights themselves that are in crisis, but a lack of political leadership to enforce them.
In an interview with UN News’s Nargiz Shekinskaya at UN Headquarters in New York, Mr. Türk discussed the impact of current crises, including the erosion of international law, the role of technology and rising authoritarianism.
The recent series of incidents targeting the UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon, alongside daily bombing in the region, is a major threat to the safety and security of the peacekeepers deployed there.
Despite the difficulties the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, is committed to remaining along the “Blue Line” of separation with Israel, in keeping with its UN Security Council mandate, UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said, speaking to UN News’s Vibhu Mishra.
From Beirut, he described the operational challenges the “Blue Helmets” are facing and how they have been dealing with the attacks on UN positions along the line of separation in recent days.
Augustina Tufuor is a healthy snacks entrepreneur from Ghana who’s on a mission to help rural food producers make a better living and it’s working a treat.
Her business is thriving now, but it wasn’t like that at all when she was starting out, a) because she’s a woman and b) because farming is seen as a big risk by lenders, she says.
Thankfully, the Food and Agriculture Organization has tailor-made projects and training programmes to help businesses like Augustina’s overcome these systemic barriers so they can grow – as Lauren Phillips, FAO’s Deputy Director of the Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, explains to Daniel Johnson.
Across Southern Africa, one of the worst droughts in living memory has left millions facing hunger.
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), nearly six and a half million people are starving there. A staggering 21 million children are malnourished, after crops failed and livestock perished, amid last year’s El Niño climate phenomenon.
A record five countries have declared a national disaster because of the drought and requested international assistance – Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe – but Angola and Mozambique have been hit hard, too.
But this is just the start of the emergency, because October marks the beginning of the lean season, as WFP’s Tomson Phiri tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
UN agencies and partners have launched the second phase of a mass campaign to vaccinate some 540,000 young children in Gaza against polio.
Teams have all the necessary supplies to carry out the campaign, including cold chain storage for the vaccine doses and finger markers to indicate a child has been inoculated, said Hamish Young, Senior Emergency Coordinator for Gaza with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
However, what they need most is access, he said, particularly when the campaign heads to northern Gaza next week, given the new evacuation orders issued by Israel and the escalation in hostilities.
Mr. Young spoke to UN News’s Khaled Mohammed about some of the surprises from the first day, the challenges that lie ahead, and why Israel must adhere to its commitment to ensure teams can safely vaccinate all children amid the ongoing war.
Despite deadly new devastating strikes on public shelters in Gaza, UN aid teams confirmed that the second and final round of a mass polio vaccination campaign got off to a successful start on Monday.
Just hours into the operation, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said that thousands of children under 10 in the centre of the enclave had already been given another dose of the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2); the first oral shot was administered last month.
The success of the campaign is bittersweet, though, after an UNRWA school in Nuseirat that was due to be used as a vaccination base was hit by a deadly strike on Sunday night that left 22 dead.
Elsewhere, a pre-dawn strike at Al Aqsa hospital courtyard in Deir Al Balah set tented shelters ablaze and rescue workers searching for survivors among charred and mangled metal frames, as UNRWA spokesperson Louise Wateridge explains to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Five UN “Blue Helmets” serving with the interim force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) have been injured as Israeli forces continued to inflict damage on UN positions close to the “Blue Line” of separation between south Lebanon and Israel through the weekend.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Sunday denounced the attacks and said they "may constitute a war crime, " calling on all warring parties to respect international humanitarian law.
UNIFIL Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told UN News’s Nancy Sarkis in Geneva on Monday that all the parties “have the obligation to protect peacekeepers and ensure the safety and security of our troops.”
The recently adopted Pact for the Future has been hailed as a significant milestone in global efforts to promote a disaster risk-informed approach to sustainable development worldwide.
As the world marks International Day for Disaster Reduction on Sunday, Kamal Kishore, the UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction is emphasising the crucial need for ongoing disaster-risk assessments with up-to-the-minute data, particularly in regions vulnerable to rising sea levels.
In an interview with UN News’ Sachin Gaur, Mr. Kishore outlined some successful strategies that have helped significantly reduce cyclone-related deaths in countries like Bangladesh and India, adding that they could provide a blueprint the future.
A ceasefire is chief among the most compelling needs now in Lebanon, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the country, Imran Riza, said on Thursday.
It is estimated that more than a million people have been affected by ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, which have escalated in recent weeks.
While most are Lebanese citizens, Palestinian and Syrian refugees who have found shelter there, as well as migrants, have also been impacted.
UN News’s Khaled Mohammed asked Mr. Riza about the crisis, the UN’s response, and challenges facing humanitarian teams on the ground.
300 million children have been affected by online sexual exploitation and abuse over the past 12 months.
That’s one shocking revelation from a new report being launched by the UN’s Special Representative working to end violence against children, marking the beginning of the mandate 15 years ago.
More and more young children are getting online but that’s also true for predators and sexual offenders, said Najat Maalla M’Jid, adding that the lack of child safety online needs to be urgently addressed.
In an interview with UN News’s Khaled Mohamed, Ms. Maalla M’Jid highlighted that violence against children is increasing in all fronts, from cyberspace to child labour.
The brutal war in Sudan continues to affect children across the country, including in North Darfur where there has been a sharp escalation in fighting.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that at least 150 boys and girls have been killed in Darfur since April, and many more injured, in ferocious fighting between the Sudanese Army and rival paramilitary Rapid Security Forces (RSF) who have been locked in conflict for nearly 18 months.
The war has put Sudan’s children at risk of diseases such as cholera and malaria, as well as famine and malnutrition, while also preventing a staggering 80 per cent from attending school – possibly the world’s largest education emergency.
UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri asked UNICEF Representative to Sudan Sheldon Yett about the agency’s efforts to combat these crises.
While finalising its departure from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN Mission in the country, MONUSCO, remains fully engaged in assisting the country on its path to peace and stability.
It’s essential to ensure “women’s voices are heard in the political processes that are taking place,” says Special Representative Bintou Keita, Head of MONUSCO, who was in New York for High-Level Week at the end of last month.
In an interview with UN News’s Jérôme Bernard she speaks about the ongoing security challenges posed by multiple armed groups in the east and what the impact on women is likely to be as MONUSCO continues its mandated withdrawal.
As artificial intelligence rapidly becomes a potentially transformative part of our lives, a crucial question arises: how can we ensure that generative AI serves humanity rather than harming it?
AI has the potential to help humanity reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), but it must be guided by appropriate safeguards to ensure it is useful, safe, and inclusive.
During High-Level Week, two panels convened to discuss the future of AI, both moderated by Deputy Director of the UN’s News and Media Division, Mita Hosali.
Amandeep Singh Gill, the UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Technology, addressed our shared digital future, while Sarah Steinberg from LinkedIn, Tami Bhaumik from Roblox, and Hélène Molinier from UN Women, discussed new opportunities for women working in technology.
With increasing violence contributing to global crises, the UN has repeatedly raised concerns about diminishing access to education at all levels.
To address this growing emergency, the UN culture and education agency, UNESCO, has implemented measures to create pathways to education and employment for refugees, according to Sara Osman, an Associate Programme Specialist at UNESCO.
She explained to UN News’s Cecily Kariuki how the organization is working to boost educational opportunities, especially across the African continent in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Kenya and more.
More than 215 people, including 35 children, have lost their lives, with dozens still missing after heavy rains triggered flash floods and landslides across Nepal.
The capital Kathmandu has been hardest hit, experiencing its heaviest rains in over 50 years. Hundreds of homes, schools and hospitals have been damaged, and parts of the city remain underwater.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Nepal has dispatched emergency teams to the affected regions, providing vital humanitarian aid, as UN News’ Vibhu Mishra has been hearing from Florine Bos, Chief of Communications at UNICEF Nepal.
With multiple conflicts ravaging the world, staff of various UN agencies are stepping beyond their traditional roles, acting as frontline humanitarian workers dedicated to saving lives. UNFPA, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, is no exception.
Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director, highlights the harsh realities faced by women and girls caught in crises, particularly in Sudan, where the agency has been deeply embedded even before the current conflict.
In this interview with UN News’s Anton Uspensky, Dr. Kanem discusses UNFPA’s mission, the resources at their disposal, and the specific actions being taken to empower every girl and woman to make their own choices regarding marriage and motherhood.
Education is always the first public spending to be cut in a crisis and the last to be restored, according to the UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown.
But on Thursday he announced a new $1.5 billion commitment to invest in education for those children and youth most in need, powered by the game-changing International Finance Facility for Education.
The former British Prime Minister told UN News’s Ben Malor the cash injection would help get tens of thousands of students back to school – part of a wider, innovative plan to prevent whole generations of children from losing out.
With 70 years of experience in the safe commercial use of nuclear energy, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says all countries need to follow internationally agreed safety standards, and that safety is the absolute priority.
That’s according to Rafael Mariano Grossi, IAEA’s Director General, who is taking part in the High-Level Week of the UN General Assembly in New York.
In an interview with UN News’s Nargis Shekinskaya, Mr. Grossi said an apparent willingness by Iran’s new Government to resume nuclear inspections and dialogue was a positive development, and he addressed the perilous situation facing nuclear power plants in Ukraine and Russia.
“We need quick reform of the international financial architecture. It simply doesn't work in terms of addressing the financing and the debt challenges that Africa is having.”
That’s the view from Claver Gatete, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), taking part in a discussion organized by Africa Renewal earlier this week.
UNECA brings countries together alongside the African Union to boost key development issues such as financing, climate action and new technology.
He told UN News’s Julia Foxen about the need for fairer global financial systems and greater investment in climate adaptation efforts.
With an alarming uptick in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) worldwide, stakeholders will be gathering on Thursday for a High-Level Meeting to discuss ways of combating the growing superbug scourge.
UN News’s Felipe de Carvalho caught up with Yvan Hutin, Director of Surveillance, Prevention and Control at the AMR Division at the World Health Organization (WHO), who’s in New York for the summit.
One key concern is the impact that the brutal wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan are having on the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant strains.
Children make up half of Gaza’s entire population of over two million, but none have been able to attend school since the 7 October attacks triggered nearly a year of devastating war.
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the UN Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA, told UN News during an interview in New York on Tuesday that the longer the fighting goes on, the greater the chance of losing an entire generation.
For 75 years, UNRWA has provided free basic education to millions and the agency is determined to reopen classrooms as soon as possible.
Mr. Lazzarini told Khaled Mohamed what impact the constant targeting of schools and civilian infrastructure was having on Gazans as daily airstrikes continue.
Devastating Israeli airstrikes on communities in southern Lebanon on Monday sent thousands fleeing with little but the clothes they were wearing, according to the UN peacekeeping force in the country, UNIFIL.
Amid fears of an all-out war in Lebanon not seen since 2006, UN News’s Nancy Sarkis has been speaking to UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti, to find out what he’s been hearing about this new escalation that’s linked to the ongoing war in Gaza.
“Imagine if every decision we made, we had to think about future generations,” Anne-Marie Slaughter said, discussing the Pact for the Future at UN Headquarters on Sunday.
The former White House policy chief was part of the high-level advisory board for the Pact – adopted by world leaders that day – put together by Secretary-General António Guterres, which formed the centrepiece of the Summit of the Future.
She told UN News’s Julia Foxen that the General Assembly was becoming an increasingly important player in advancing global peace and security.
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the youth volunteer movement in the war-torn country has been growing and is now ten times larger than before hostilities began.
That’s according to 20-year-old Tetiana Kravchuk, who is a member of the Young People Advisory Board of the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, in Ukraine, where she advises on the 2025-2030 Country Programme and youth development projects.
UN News’s Evgeniya Kleshcheva caught-up with her in the margins of the Summit of the Future at UN Headquarters in New York and began by asking how the movement has evolved since February 2022.
Haiti is facing a “catastrophic and cataclysmic” human rights situation according to the UN’s designated expert on rights issues in the Caribbean island nation, William O’Neill.
Attacks by gangs, executions, kidnappings for ransom, violence against women – including rape – as well as corruption, inmates dying in jail and a paralyzed judicial system, are just some of the rights challenges the country is facing.
And now Haitians are becoming frustrated at the slow pace of international efforts, particularly the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission, to help the country to combat these problems, according to Mr. O’Neill.
The human rights expert has just finished a 12-day mission to Haiti.
Daniel Dickinson spoke to him from the capital Port-au-Prince and began by asking how ordinary Haitians are coping.
Amid intensifying strikes either side of the Israel-Lebanon border linked to the war in Gaza, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that some 1,500 people are still in hospital from this week’s extraordinary attack on mobile communication devices, reportedly targeting the Hezbollah armed group.
Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar, the UN health agency’s Representative in Lebanon, said that almost 3,000 injured people were rushed to hospitals after the pager and walkie-talkie explosions. Medical teams struggled to handle the massive influx of patients in the country where the “tension is increasing every day”, said the WHO official.
He spoke to UN News’s Nancy Sarkis.
Myanmar’s civil war has escalated to include systematic atrocities, including attacks targeting civilians, torture and sexual violence, according to a new report on Tuesday from the UN human rights office.
Since the military seized power on 1 February 2021, at least 5,350 civilians have been killed, and more than 3.3 million displaced. Over half the population is living below the poverty line mainly due to violence perpetrated by the national armed forces.
The situation is particularly alarming in Rakhine state, the site of a brutal crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya community by the military in 2017, leading to the exodus of nearly 750,000 community members into neighboring Bangladesh.
UN News’s Mehboob Khan spoke to UN refugee agency (UNHCR) Global Spokesperson Babar Baloch and asked him to sum up the situation in the country.
Some 4.5 million children are not attending school in Yemen, where Government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and Houthi rebels have been at war for a decade.
Peter Hawkins, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative in Yemen, said the “catastrophic situation” is a “time bomb” as the country could possibly have a generation of citizens who are unable to read and write.
He told UN News’s Khaled Mohamed that UNICEF has been working to rehabilitate damaged schools and to support teachers and children in returning to the classroom, especially girls, though he acknowledged it is not enough.
But first, Mr. Hawkins refuted recent “baseless” Houthi allegations that UN agencies and partners have been colluding to destroy Yemen’s education system.
A series of crises is making it difficult for Haiti’s most vulnerable farming households to work their land, recover from natural weather events and build their livelihoods according to a senior representative of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Extreme weather, including hurricanes, as well as the effects of climate change and now rampant insecurity have dramatically impacted successive growing seasons leaving around five million Haitians hungry.
The Caribbean island nation of 11 million people is largely rural and agriculture employs about half of the workforce.
FAO’s director of emergencies, Rein Paulsen, has visited Haiti and spoke from the capital Port-au-Prince to UN News’ Daniel Dickinson at about a farming community he visited in Grande Anse in the southwest of the country.
Amid the brutal war in Gaza and fears of famine, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is providing Palestinian livestock holders with veterinary kits to keep their animals healthy and disease-free.
This is just one example of the UN agency’s work to ensure food security and economic stability in conflict zones, including the West Bank, Ukraine and Sudan.
To find out more about these efforts, UN News’s Nancy Sarkis in Geneva spoke to FAO Deputy Director Beth Bechdol.
Over half a million people have been severely impacted by unprecedented flooding and windstorms in Yemen.
The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been working in the hardest-hit areas providing emergency shelter, cash assistance, and clean water.
But the agency is facing significant challenges, including limited resources and ongoing conflict, which complicates relief efforts, according to Matt Huber, IOM’s Acting Chief of Mission in Yemen
Talking to UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki, Mr. Huber said that IOM has just launched a $13.3 million appeal to scale up its response to meet the growing needs in the country.
More work needs to be done to ensure the success of the multinational security support mission which has deployed to Haiti to help the national police address chronic levels of violence and instability. That’s according to Bob Rae, Canada’s Ambassador to the UN and the newly elected president of the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
The mission, which is not a UN peacekeeping operation, began deploying in June and has experienced some notable gains including shifting the area of operation of some of the gang activity in the capital Port-au-Prince away from two key hospitals and the main port.
But, talking to UN News’s Cristina Silveiro following a visit to the Caribbean island nation, Mr. Rae said it was impossible to say the country “had turned a corner”.
This is Daniel Johnson for UN News.
Superbugs – or bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics – continue to be a major worry for the medical community and health authorities, because if they emerge and spread globally, life-saving drugs will no longer work.
As part of the global effort to prevent such antimicrobial resistance, the UN World Health Organization on Tuesday launched the first-ever guidance for manufacturers of antibiotics on what to do with their wastewater.
The guidance has been developed in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and its launch is timed ahead of the UN General Assembly high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance on 26 September.
With more, here’s Kate Medlicott, Team lead of sanitation and wastewater in the UN health agency’s Department of Climate, Environment and Health, who I caught up with in Geneva.
The fighting hasn’t stopped in Gaza but that hasn’t prevented tens of thousands of parents from making sure that their children are given the first of two polio vaccines.
The UN-led initiative inoculated 15,000 youngsters in one school-turned-shelter in central Deir Al-Balah on Monday, according to Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA.
Talking to Daniel Johnson from UN News on Monday, she described the challenge of rolling out the campaign where, to be successful, 90 per cent of Gaza’s children under 10 will need to be vaccinated – right now, and again in four weeks.
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Wednesday condemned Israel’s military escalation in the occupied West Bank, calling for attacks by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to stop, along with settler violence and the forcible transfer of Palestinians.
Ajith Sunghay, Head of OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told UN News that as the situation deteriorates even further - against the backdrop of war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza - people live in fear”.
He told Abdelmonem Makki a large number of settlers are entering Palestinian communities in the West Bank to attack herders or farmers, and “we’re seeing more and more backing of the IDF of settlers”.
Civilians in Lebanon - particularly in the volatile south - are grappling with constant threats of violence, high levels of displacement and economic deprivation, as the standoff between Israel and Hezbollah militants continues in the shadow of the Gaza war.
Fadel Saleh, from the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) in Lebanon, told UN News that tens of thousands of people are unable to access basic services such as water facilities – while crucial civilian infrastructure such as markets and farms have been severely damaged amidst the cross-border exchange of fire.
He told Khaled Mohamed any “uncontrolled conflict” that erupts could impact up to a million people, while “controlled conflict” will still affect 250,000, calling for a major increase in humanitarian funding for Lebanon.
Acute malnutrition is rapidly increasing among young children in Government-controlled areas in Yemen, UN agencies and partners warned in a report published this week.
The ongoing conflict between Government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and Houthi rebels, is driving the surge, along with other factors such as economic collapse, displacement and social disruption.
The report warned that all 117 districts in Government-controlled areas surveyed will experience “serious” levels of malnutrition or worse during the lean season from July to October. The situation has been further compounded by recent flooding.
To find out more, UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki spoke to Peter Hawkins, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative to Yemen, who spoke from the capital, Sana’a.
The recent confirmation of famine at the Zamzam camp in Sudan is “also a canary in a coal mine”, the new Representative of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the country has warned.
Sheldon Yett said the situation is an indication that “terrible things” are happening there. He also recalled that food security experts report conditions are “equally bad” at more than a dozen other locations across the country, where rival militaries have been battling for more than a year.
Speaking from Port Sudan, Mr. Yett told UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki that despite access constraints, insecurity and other challenges, UNICEF and partners are bringing supplies to Zamzam camp “every day”, but not enough food is getting in.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and partners are preparing to launch a campaign this month to vaccinate thousands of children in Gaza against polio after the disease was detected in sewage samples in two locations.
Boys and girls caught in the war wonder when the fighting will end, said UNICEF communications officer Salim Owais, who spent eight days in the enclave.
Mr. Owais visited several hospitals where he met children suffering from various diseases and war injuries amid the ongoing lack of doctors, medicines and equipment.
Speaking from Deir Al-Balah, he told UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki that “the picture is really grim in Gaza in general, but in a different way in hospitals.”
The World Food Programme’s (WFP) Spokesperson in Sudan says the world “cannot give up hope” of averting widespread famine across the war-torn country, despite evidence of it spreading on the ground in Darfur and increasing problems accessing those in desperate need who are caught between rival armies.
Leni Kinzli told UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki that international action now could avert many deaths, including for around 90,000 facing catastrophic hunger in the devastated capital, Khartoum.
The UN continues to monitor fast-moving developments in Bangladesh after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country on Monday following weeks of student protests that left hundreds dead.
Young people took to the streets to demand an end to a quota system for civil servant jobs, which was later withdrawn.
To find out more about the crisis, UN News’s Anshu Sharma in Delhi spoke to the UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, Gwyn Lewis, who said the mood in the country is hopeful, with “a sense of opportunity”.
Ms. Lewis also expressed hopes for a new interim government - which will reportedly be led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus - while noting the critical role the UN plays in issues such as bolstering constitutional justice and supporting institutional reform.
The international community should act now to prevent widespread famine from taking hold in Sudan, the head of the UN humanitarian affairs office in the country said on Monday.
Justin Brady was speaking just days after experts confirmed famine was present in parts of North Darfur state following more than a year of war between the Sudanese Army and rival military, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
He told UN News’s Khaled Mohammed that although humanitarians are doing their best to support vulnerable people, “we need the resources, political leverage, and advocacy to make the parties come to the table and end this war.”
With temperature records set month after month, more people globally find themselves working in warmer conditions.
Some 2.4 billion workers – over 70 per cent of the global workforce – are exposed to extreme heat while on the job, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The report shows that unlike in the 1950s, when heat exposure was a hazard in certain professions or sectors, today almost anybody can suffer heat stroke at work.
Balint Nafradi, occupational safety and hazard data expert at ILO, spoke to UN News’ Anton Uspensky about the report’s key findings and the laws that are being adopted based on the agency’s recommendations.
He also shared advice on how to work safely in the heat, including for athletes and staff at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Thousands of families in Gaza were once again on the move on Monday after Israel issued new evacuation orders in Khan Younis.
The UN Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA continues to assist people across the embattled enclave where “no place is safe” after 10 months of war, according to Communications Director Juliette Touma.
She spoke to UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki about UNRWA’s work in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported a shocking rise in the number of youngsters killed since October.
Ms. Touma began by speaking about how a UN convoy was hit by heavy shooting while heading to Gaza City on Sunday.
A jail which has newly opened in the city of Marawi on the Filipino island of Mindanao “symbolizes change” in the Philippines penal system, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The Marawi City Jail, which was built by the Bureau of Jail management and Penology (BJMP) and inaugurated in May 2024, has been established according to the Nelson Mandela Rules.
The Rules define what are generally accepted as being good principles and practice in the treatment of prisoners and prison management in detention facilities across the world.
The Philippines currently has some of the most overcrowded jails in the world.
Daniel Dickinson spoke to Renato Reynaldo Roales, a National Programme Officer at UNODC based in Mindanao, and began by asking him to describe the facility.
As December elections loom in South Sudan and humanitarian, economic, social and political crises persist, the UN Mission in the country, UNMISS, continually provides services to maintain a conducive environment.
In an interview with UN News’s Mehboob Khan, Force Commander Lieutenant General Mohan Subramanian has been speaking of previously volatile security situations and peacekeeping challenges in the world’s youngest nation, that took months at a time to control.
He explained the challenges the Mission anticipates during the election season, while noting plans to strengthen peacekeeping efforts, which includes enhancing the mission’s footprint across South Sudan and ensuring accurate information reaches eager voters.
The 2024 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) is underway in New York, bringing ministers and senior officials together to discuss how to get the world back on track to reach the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
One of the key concerns is how best to boost climate action to ensure a more peaceful, prosperous and sustainable future for all - and the legal framework that can make that a reality.
Justice Nambitha Dambuza is a Judge of Appeal who sits on South Africa’s Supreme Court and she’s been explaining to UN News’s Shanae Harte the role judges play in environmental protection, and how human rights can be preserved amid climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
Aid teams that reached Gaza City on Friday after a week-long military offensive by Israeli forces described apocalyptic scenes with “building after building” flattened.
Some 300,000 people now remain in the north of Gaza, according to latest estimates from the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, which is working to get basic supplies to the most vulnerable, including hygiene kits for women and girls.
“This is the biggest ask we’re having in the north and in the south,” said UNRWA Senior Communications Officer Louise Wateridge, who’s been speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson via Zoom from the enclave.
In Gaza, the recent spate of schools hit in ongoing Israeli bombardment threatens the futures of a “whole generation” of children in the embattled enclave, the UN agency assisting Palestine refugees, UNRWA, said on Wednesday.
In an interview with UN News, UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma explained that for the 600,000 children in Gaza who’ve been unable to go to school since war erupted on 7 October, the longer they stay out of school, the harder it is for them to catch up on their education.
For some, there are additional grave concerns that they are at risk of exploitation such as child labour and child marriage – “but also recruitment into armed groups and recruitment into the fighting”, Ms. Touma told Daniel Johnson.
Southeast Asia has become the “ground zero” for the multi-billion-dollar global internet scamming industry according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Transnational criminal groups working across the region are targeting victims around the world from so-called scam farms which are operating clandestinely - often alongside legal businesses.
Many of the workers are coerced into scamming activities against their will and can be tortured if they do not meet targets for stealing money from victims.
Benedikt Hofmann, the UNODC Deputy Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, visited a scam farm in the Philippines that was raided in March this year.
Daniel Dickinson caught up with him there and began by asking him to describe what he saw.
The UN Stabilization Mission (MONUSCO) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has fully withdrawn from South Kivu, ending the first phase of disengagement following the request to pull out altogether from the Government in Kinshasa.
MONUSCO’s operations began winding down in January, but its Head, Bintou Keita, says there should not be a rush to further disengagement since this process has thrown up unexpected challenges.
Given this, phase two for withdrawing from North Kivu will be handled differently, she told UN News’s Jerome Bernard.
Intense heatwaves like the one that blasted the US Midwest and northeast recently are likely to be increasingly common because of human-induced climate change, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
As if that warning wasn’t bad enough, climate scientist Alvaro Silva at the WMO told me that dangerous pollutants like ozone are also common features of extended periods of heat.
Here he is now, discussing the recent heat alert in the US, as well as the scorching temperatures in the Middle East that caused so many reported deaths at the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths told UN News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that UN humanitarians remain deeply committed to delivering aid across war-torn Gaza, despite speculation that operations could be suspended due to safety concerns.
The UN relief chief denied that any “ultimatum” had been given by the Israeli military, telling Daniel Johnson the UN would continue negotiating with all combatants to get aid to those in need, safely and securely.
The Colombian peace process ended decades of conflict with the FARC, but one unintended consequence may have been an increase in cocaine production.
According to the 2024 World Drug Report, a major annual study from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, prices dropped as more groups became involved in the cocaine trade, and the post-war environment helped make it possible to industrialize production.
Angela Me, head of social affairs at the Office on Drugs and Crime, told Conor Lennon from UN News about the surge in cocaine demand and the impacts of cannabis legislation.
The UN independent expert on torture said on Monday that the reported plea deal with the United States that has led to the release of Julian Assange “is a very good outcome” to the long running case.
The Wikileaks founder and whistleblower has been fighting extradition from the United Kingdom to the US for the past five years and has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to one count of violating the US Espionage Act, without serving additional prison time.
UN News’s Anton Uspensky asked Special Rapporteur Dr. Alice Jill Edwards for her reaction to his release from prison in the UK.
Around four in 10 countries where conflicts have ended return to a state of war within a decade, which is why investing in disarmament, demobilization and reintegration is crucial to sustaining peace.
That was one of the key messages from the UN Department of Peace Operations (DPO) and UN Development Programme (UNDP) at this year’s Symposium on Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration which was held in Geneva.
To find out more, UN News’ Nathalie Minard spoke to Thomas Kontogeorgos, an expert on the issue based at DPO.
She asked him about the situation in Haiti, DRC, Mali and Sudan – and what support the UN still provides to countries once peacekeeping missions come to an end.
When the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), released its annual report on global trends in June, it showed, for the twelfth year in a row, record numbers of displacement, around 120 million people.
Conflict remains the key factor behind the figures, and the report noted that the climate crisis is often a driver of that conflict.
On the ground, in the countries particularly affected, the UN is working closely with governments and civil society to support development, in the face of these problems, so that people can lead peaceful lives and no longer need to leave home.
Conor Lennon from UN News spoke to Mohamed Fall, the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, about the deep impact the climate crisis is making on the population.
War-torn Sudan is facing a looming famine and the world’s largest displacement crisis as the conflict between rival militaries that started last April grinds on and the situation deteriorates on the ground. UN News’s Khaled Mohamed spoke with Justin Brady, who leads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the country.
Speaking from Port Sudan, where most aid agencies are now based, Mr. Brady warned that “the images starting to come out from some areas are reminiscent of the worst of any famine we have seen elsewhere” and described the tense situation in El Fasher and other hotspots around the country, stressing that “we’re in a race against time, but the time is running out.”
More than 60 elections are taking place in 2024 and, whilst 90 per cent of people say they want to live in a democracy, many are voting for people and systems that are restricting their rights.
The UN has expressed concern about this “democracy paradox”, and that fact that some governments and governance systems are becoming increasingly repressive.
Conor Lennon from UN News discusses the issue with Sarah Lister, the Head of Governance at the UN Development Programme, and Iain Walker, the CEO of newDemocracy.
Each year on 20 June, the world celebrates World Refugee Day with forced displacement surging to historic new levels across the globe, according to the 2024 flagship Global Trends Report from refugee agency UNHCR.
UN News’s Pauline Batista sat down with UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Mary Maker from South Sudan, at UN Headquarters in New York, who discussed the importance of education and inclusion for refugees to ensure the mantra “leave no one behind” becomes a reality – especially in refugee camps around the world.
The resilience of women-led organizations to continue working across Gaza to benefit their communities is “an inspiration”, the Special Representative for UN Women in the region said on Wednesday in an interview with UN News.
Maryse Guimond from the Palestine Office of the UN agency advocating for gender equality described her first mission to the war-stricken enclave since before hostilities began and outlined how they are collaborating with other agencies, providing resources suck as food, dignity kits and psychosocial support.
She told Abdelmonem Makki the women-led organizations UN Women has been supporting are “key responders”, many of whom have been displaced multiple times themselves during the ongoing conflict. He first asked her to describe what she’d seen on the ground.
Some 3.2 billion people, or almost one third of the global population, are affected by desertification and land loss according to the UN’s most senior official dealing with the issue.
The loss of land through drought and desertification, which is being driven, in part, by climate change, can have huge impacts on agriculture, development, migration and national and regional economies and sometimes leads to conflict.
Ibrahim Thiaw is the Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
Daniel Dickinson spoke to him ahead of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, marked annually on 17 June and began by asking him where the fight to hold back desertification should begin.
It has now been over 1,000 days since the Taliban, the de facto authorities in Afghanistan, banned education for girls beyond sixth grade, a figure described by the Executive Director of the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, as “a blatant violation of their right to education” resulting in “dwindling opportunities and deteriorating mental health”.
To raise awareness and support Afghan Girls, Education Cannot Wait, the global fund for education in emergencies and crises, has launched a new phase of its Afghan Girls Voices campaign, featuring inspiring works from some of the world’s leading artists.
Many prominent voices are supporting the campaign, including the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, and former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who told Conor Lennon from UN News that the thousand day milestone was a “day of shame”.
The UN’s digital technology agency (ITU) launches ‘UN Virtual Worlds Day’ on Friday a pioneering event designed to integrate the metaverse – ‘an integrated ecosystem of virtual worlds’ – to improve how societies and governance work to greater benefit the public.
Virtual reality offers new opportunities for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ITU experts believe, and the broader UN community sees tangible benefits if it’s used wisely.
In an interview with UN News’ Anton Uspensky, Cristina Bueti, the ITU Focal Point on Smart Sustainable Cities and Counsellor for the Focus Group on the metaverse, explains how new technologies can improve lives, and help crack some intractable problems.
Nuclear power has been a source of optimism and fear since the mid-Twentieth Century.
On one hand, it evokes the destructive power of nuclear bombs, the catastrophic explosion of Chernobyl, the Fukushima disaster or, more recently Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, Europe’s largest, which has come under fire since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.
But the image of nuclear power got a boost at the end of 2023, at the COP28 UN Climate Conference in Dubai. The 198 countries represented at the conference included nuclear energy in the list of low-emission technologies that need to be scaled up, if we are to succeed in decarbonizing our economies. In addition, 22 countries committed to tripling nuclear power capacity by 2050.
Earlier I spoke to Rafael Mariano Grossi, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and asked him if he thinks nuclear is likely to become more popular and mainstream as an energy source in coming years.
Eight months into the war in Gaza, families have been forced to adapt to what humanitarians often call “negative coping strategies” to survive, as unemployment reaches a staggering 80 per cent.
For many in the Gaza Strip, this has meant sending their children out to work, despite the dangers, the UN labour agency, ILO, has warned.
Details of this worrying development the wider devastating economic impact of the conflict in Gaza and the West Bank are outlined in a new report from the agency.
With more, here’s ILO economist Aya Jaafar, speaking from the Regional Office for Arab States in Beirut, with UN News’s Nancy Sarkis in Geneva.
The plastics industry needs to show more responsibility and put their money where their mouth is on cutting harmful waste and pollution, especially as it impacts small island States.
That’s according to Director General of the Pacific islands environment agency, SPREP, Sefanaia Nawadra of Fiji, who told UN News the outcome document adopted at last week’s SIDS4 conference in Antigua and Barbuda does not go far enough on ocean management and cutting pollution.
Mr. Nawadra told Matt Wells that the latest breakthrough in talks towards a global plastics treaty, known as the Bridge to Busan Declaration, was a positive step in the right direction as long as major producers sign on.
The international community must continue to pay attention to the humanitarian situation in Yemen, where hunger and malnutrition remain chronic after nearly a decade of war.
That’s the opinion of Najwa Mekki, Chief of the Strategic Communications Branch at the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, in New York.
Ms. Mekki is fresh from a visit to Yemen, where Government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and Houthi rebels are battling for power.
The conflict has been further compounded by the war in Gaza, with Houthi attacks against the shipping trade in the Red Sea and their recent seizure of 11 UN national staff.
Ms. Mekki spoke to UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri about her visit and the need to build on ‘fragile’ progress made so far on the humanitarian front.
Sharks and dugongs serve as barometers of the marine ecosystem, but many people overlook their critical roles, perceiving sharks as menacing figures and dugongs as mythical creatures.
Ahead of World Oceans Day on 8 June, UN News’s Jing Zhang spoke with Gabriel Grimsditch, a programme management officer at the UN Environment Programme’s marine and coastal ecosystem unit based in Nairobi, Kenya.
In this exclusive interview, Mr. Grimsditch delved deep into the fascinating world beneath the waves, shedding light on the importance of these often misunderstood creatures in maintaining the health and balance of our oceans.
A devastating war in Sudan has left 800,000 people trapped in El Fasher in the west of the vast country, UN humanitarians warned on Friday, as they reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire to allow lifesaving aid in.
The development comes as disturbing details continue to emerge of an alleged attack on the village of Wad Al-Noura in Jazira state south of Khartoum which left more than 100 dead, including dozens of children.
To find out more, UN News’s Daniel Johnson spoke to Jill Lawler from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF. She’s working in Sudan and knows the area where the attack took place well.
UNICEF has released a new child nutrition report that highlights severe levels of child food poverty due to inequity, conflict, and climate crises.
The new report found that millions of children under five have difficulty accessing nutritious and diverse diets necessary for developmental growth.
UNICEF Nutrition Specialist, and a lead writer for the report, Harriet Torlesse, spoke to UN News and said one in four children globally are surviving on extremely poor diets, consuming just two or fewer of the major food groups.
She said there is no reason children should grow up in child food poverty when we are aware of solutions to assist them. UNICEF is calling on governments and donors to “position the elimination of child food poverty as a policy imperative, particularly to achieve the sustainable development goals of malnutrition.
With only six years to the 2030 deadline, humanity is alarmingly off track in the bid to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs.
Keeping track of progress is a gigantic task but one of the global tech giants – Google - is answering the call.
At the recent AI for Good Global Summit, Melike Yetken Krilla, who’s in charge of Google’s relations with international organisations, brought UN News’ Anton Uspensky up to speed on big data solutions such as Data Commons for the SDGs, a platform aggregating data on the Goals, and Flood Hub – which provides early warning of natural disasters.
Since the Taliban took back power as the de facto authority in Afghanistan in 2021, women’s rights have come under attack.
Today, the country barely makes the headlines despite the ongoing suppression of women’s rights and humanitarian crises, such as earthquakes and recent floods.
Jorge Moreira da Silva, the Head of the UN Office for Project Services, recently returned from a visit to Afghanistan to inspect some of the Office’s initiatives.
He told Mayra Lopes from UN News that, despite many difficulties, the UN has never left the country and continues to provide the support its people need.
The potentially transformative effects of Artificial Intelligence have been brought into focus by the UN in recent days, following a major conference in Geneva: the AI For Global Good Summit.
The title of the event says it all: how is the technology being used to further UN-endorsed goals, such as reducing inequality, tackling the climate crisis, and supporting sustainable development.
But the fact that we need to promote “AI for Good” is perhaps also an acknowledgement of fears that AI can be used in ways that are not beneficial, and some speakers brought up some of the issues that need to be addressed, such as gender bias in tech, and social media addiction.
Conor Lennon from UN News asked Fred Werner, one of the founders of the Summit and the Head of Strategic Engagement at the ITU, the UN’s agency for digital technology, how the technology is being used by the UN, and whether or not it has the potential to save lives.
Restoring land, halting desertification and building resilience against drought are the focus of World Environment Day on 5 June.
Up to 40 per cent of the world’s land is already degraded, while more than three billion people worldwide are negatively impacted by drought, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
UN News’s Julia Dean in Canberra spoke with UNEP’s Coordinator for Nature Action in Asia and the Pacific, Makiko Yashiro, about the 2024 campaign and why these are such critical issues for people and planet.
A medical epidemiologist working with the Indian Ocean Commission’s One Health initiative says that the number of ministers from small island States attending this week’s SIDS4 Conference in Antigua and Barbuda shows there is real “political commitment” to take urgent action.
Dr. Lovena Preeyadarshini Mangroo of Mauritius says although all five island nations that make up the Commission have similar problems, each country is different and must be properly understood before prevention and response plans to head of epidemics and other health risks can be put in place.
UN News’s Matt Wells caught up with her in Antigua and began by asking her to spell out what was at stake for safeguarding public health.
The developed world must increase support for small island developing States “not as an expression of generosity but of responsibility”, the UN’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction has said.
Kamal Kishore – who also heads up the Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) - was speaking to UN News in Antigua and Barbuda as the Fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) came to a close on Thursday.
He told Matt Wells that SIDS have always been “ahead of the curve” in trying to mitigate the impacts of increasingly extreme weather on their vulnerable countries and economies - but they can’t do it alone.
Nearly eight months of war in Gaza have devastated the enclave’s hospitals and clinics but many skilled medical professionals are still there and committed to being part of its future, a senior UN World Health Organization (WHO) official told UN News.
“There's a lot of very capable health professionals in Gaza, and they should be very much part - they should actually be the focus - of any reconstruction and any rehabilitation process,” said Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO Representative in Palestine.
“A lot of them are volunteers, most of them are not receiving any salary…we have to also think about the whole human resource approach to make sure we get Palestinian health workers back in place and indeed working towards a Palestinian solution.”
In a wide-ranging interview with UN News on Wednesday, the veteran humanitarian called once again for a ceasefire to ensure the delivery of desperately needed medical supplies and explained some of the obstacles that hospitals face sourcing simple X-ray machines so that medical teams can help injured patients effectively.
He also condemned last Sunday’s Israeli airstrike on a camp for forcibly displaced people in Tal al-Sultan that left dozens dead.
They may be small islands in size – but the countries of the Caribbean are huge exporters of culture and need to remind younger generations at home of why they should feel proud of where they come from.
That’s according to Claire Nelson, a Jamaican based in the United States and founder of the advocacy-based Institute of Caribbean Studies, who’s been attending this week’s SIDS4 conference taking place on the twin island of Antigua and Barbuda.
After taking part in a side event on the role of technology-driven artistic expression in cultural tourism, she spoke to UN News’s Matt Wells, who’s in Antigua, about the importance of not allowing small island culture to be swamped by the global entertainment industry.
Major Radhika Sen, an Indian peacekeeper deployed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has received the 2023 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award.
Major Sen worked in the DRC from March 2023 through April 2024, where she amplified women’s voices, created safe spaces for men and women to work together, and promoted gender-sensitive peacekeeping.
She will receive her award from UN Secretary-General António Guterres during a ceremony on Thursday; she is the second Indian peacekeeper to receive the award.
The peacekeeper spoke to UN News’s Sachin Gaur to discuss her reaction to being honoured for her efforts, some of the initiatives that led to her recognition, and the importance of women’s participation in peacekeeping.
How artificial intelligence (AI) can help advance efforts to build a more just and inclusive global future, for both people and the planet, is the focus of a two-day forum that opens in Geneva on Thursday.
The annual AI for Good Global Summit, organized by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), brings together leading experts in the field of AI and digital solutions to tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues – from emerging AI applications to governance and ethical considerations.
The event traditionally showcases cutting-edge technology, including AI-powered robots.
Ahead of the opening, UN News’s Anton Uspensky asked Robert Opp, Chief Digital Officer of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), about how the agency is integrating AI into its work, the benefits of new technologies, and why people should not fear robots.
Small island developing States (SIDS) gathered in Antigua and Barbuda this week for the SIDS4 conference should not be afraid to stand up to companies seeking short-term profit at the long-term expense of human health and the environment – especially in the tourism sector.
That’s the message from the Seychelles-born Executive Secretary of the UN-administered Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions Rolph Payet. He told UN News in Antigua that pollution – from chemical waste or cruise ships – is a “time bomb” for vulnerable countries unless they band together and take more action.
He told Matt Wells that while fighting climate change is a complex challenge for small islands, they can collaborate better to reduce pollution and promote sustainability through achievable and tangible goals such as water harvesting.
Youth activists have been meeting on the twin island nation of Antigua and Barbuda this weekend to ensure their voices and call for action is heard loud and clear by world leaders assembling for the SIDS4 conference.
With their personal “wall of commitment” around 80 passionate young changemakers attending the SIDS Global Children and Youth Action Summit have been committing themselves to more action and taking the long view that the climate crisis is make or break for their generation of small islanders.
UN News’s Matt Wells who’s in Antigua, spoke to organizer Ashley Lashley and one of the youngest attendees, Noah Herlaar-Hassan, about what they hope SIDS4 will achieve and why it’s vital to listen to young voices.
Following the 7 October terror attacks led by Hamas, thousands of Palestinians have been detained in what the Israeli Government has dubbed an “incarceration emergency” allowing them to fill prisons beyond official capacity.
The overcrowded detention facilities and reports of alleged degrading treatment and even torture, prompted Alice Jill Edwards, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, to call for a full investigation into the overcrowding and reports of alleged abuses.
In an interview with UN News’s Anton Uspensky, she gave more details on what she’s learned.
UN agencies and their partners are providing support to thousands of people from the Kharkiv region in Ukraine who have been evacuated from frontline areas where intensive Russian air strikes continue.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said vulnerable boys and girls are among those arriving at a humanitarian hub in the main city, Kharkiv.
They include children with disabilities and those who had been living with foster families and will now need to be placed in new homes.
UN News’s Nargiz Shekinskaya asked Munir Mammadzade, UNICEF Head in Ukraine, about the challenges displaced families face.
Without immediate action to protect biodiversity, a million species could be at risk, warns David Cooper, Acting Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
Due to unprecedented threat levels, he told UN News that coral reefs, amphibians, pollinating insects, and many large mammals are all on the brink of extinction due to rising temperatures, deforestation, pollution, and other factors.
Speaking on the International Day for Biological Diversity, he told Anton Uspensky that most people support climate action, even if they don’t express it – and it’s time to leverage the power of this “invisible majority”.
As the war in Gaza continues, health facilities and healthcare workers are struggling to provide care to civilians amidst unfavourable circumstances, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) team lead for emergencies communications Nyka Alexander said on Monday.
In an interview with UN News’s Khaled Mohamed, she said nowhere is safe in the enclave with only one third of its hospitals – about 12 out of 36 – still functioning at limited capacity.
In addition, medical supplies are low, workers are stressed and it has become difficult to treat many of those displaced.
The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda is leading the charge for more climate action paving the way for “resilient prosperity” as host of this month’s upcoming International Conference on Small Island Developing States, SIDS4.
In an exclusive interview with UN News’s Shanaé Harte, Gaston Browne said the very survival of small island nations is increasingly at stake due to rising waters, extreme weather, crushing debt and lack of basic resources.
People living in countries rich in the minerals needed for the transition to a net-zero carbon global economy could find themselves victims of a new “resource curse”, remaining in poverty despite the new-found wealth of their leaders.
This is one of the findings of economists at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), in their latest prediction of the state of the world economy in the coming months ( the World Economic Situations and Prospects mid-year update), which was released on 16 May.
Hamid Rashid, an economist at DESA and the lead author of the report, explained to Conor Lennon from UN News how nations can prosper from the cleaner energy future, and why the economy is still all suffering from a COVID-19 hangover.
Civilians in Gaza have been dealing with conflict and crises for seven months – a catastrophe that no word in the dictionary could describe, according to Yasmina Guerda, a Humanitarian Affairs Officer with the UN emergency relief coordination agency, OCHA.
In an interview with UN News’s Jerome Bernard, Ms. Guerda spoke about the unmissable destruction, the lack of basic necessities for civilians, and their daily battle to survive.
Additionally, she said, challenges derived from the war have resulted in difficulties in bringing staff and supplies into Gaza, leaving many without much-needed aid.
Ms. Guerda called on people everywhere to reach out to decision-makers to demand that international law, human rights, and dignity be respected and to play any role in aiding civilians in Gaza.
Daily attacks by the Russian military in Ukraine have damaged dozens of towns and villages in the south and east of the country but also in central areas - including the city of Dnipro, which was shelled again early this Friday, UN humanitarians said.
An array of military hardware has been deployed against heavily populated areas, such as drones and a new, frightening threat: relatively inexpensive glide bombs that can fly up to 80 kilometres and cause heavy damage.
The effect has been to reduce the ability of humanitarians to reach vulnerable communities who are unable or unwilling to leave their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The UN agency says that 80 per cent of energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, has now been damaged and that 14,000 people have been forced to evacuate from frontline areas and border communities in the east in just the last week.
With more on the worrying situation, here’s IOM Eastern Area Coordinator Leila Saleiravesh , speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson just after a fresh attack on the city in Dnipro, where she and her team are based.
Amidst ongoing armed conflict in Sudan, where millions of civilians are left displaced and food insecure, Deputy Executive Director for the World Food Programme (WFP), Carl Skau, visited the nation where he said a window of opportunity to reach civilians is rapidly closing as the rainy season approaches.
Mr. Skau noted that the Sudanese want to see an end to the conflict. He further warned that famine may be approaching and WFP is currently only able to reach about 30 per cent of about 18 million acutely food-insecure people.
WFP’s Leni Kinzli asked Mr. Skau about his visit and he said that internally displaced people (IDPs) are desperate for basic needs and want to return to their homes.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly developing and raising concerns on the battlefield, particularly lethal autonomous weapons systems, commonly known as “killer robots”.
The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) works to increase understanding of the risks and implications of AI for international peace and security.
UN News’s Sachin Gaur spoke to Shimona Mohan, UNIDIR Associate Researcher, who focuses on the intersection of gender, disarmament and emerging technologies such as AI.
A breakthrough in Libya cannot be achieved if leaders continue to monopolise the political process, the outgoing head of the UN mission in the country, UNSMIL, has said.
Libya has remained mired in deep crisis since the postponement of national elections, originally planned for December 2021.
UN Special Representative Abdoulaye Bathily called on leaders to “have a sense of history” and “think about the future of their country”, pointing to their long-standing impasse.
Before leaving office, he sat down with UN News’s Khaled Mohammed to discuss the stalemate, the dire situation of citizens and renewed geopolitical interest in Libya, including due to the wars in Ukraine and Sudan.
Rescue efforts continue in Afghanistan following deadly flash floods in three northeastern provinces this past weekend.
The Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Stephen Rodriques, said that so far, 180 deaths have been confirmed and nearly 9,000 homes have been damaged or completely destroyed.
The UN has deployed just over 20 teams to the region to conduct a joint assessment alongside partners and the de-facto authorities.
UN News’ Anshu Sharma asked him about challenges to the relief efforts and plans for longer-term support.
Two arson attacks which followed weeks of protests forced UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA to temporarily close its compound in East Jerusalem on Thursday.
The developments are part of a wider campaign to undermine the agency, said Senior Communications Manager Jonathan Fowler.
UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri asked him about these incidents, intimidation of UNRWA staff, and their commitment to stay and deliver amid the war in Gaza and rising violence in the West Bank.
Amid intensified settlement building and the increased use of war tactics by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the number of casualties and injuries in the West Bank are now the highest on record, said the head of the UN human rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory on Wednesday.
Ajith Sunghay, told Anton Uspensky of UN News that “whatever happens in Gaza has a massive impact on the West Bank” while violations of Palestinians’ rights have intensified at the hands of “emboldened” settlers.
Despite the risk of new strikes in Rafah, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners continue to establish field hospitals and get services back online at the shattered Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis.
Dr. Ahmed Dahir, Team Lead with the WHO office in Gaza, told UN News’s Khaled Mohamed that conditions have reached an “unprecedented emergency level”.
Dr. Dahir is currently in Rafah and has been describing the “crucial steps” being taken to prepare for any large-scale Israeli military operations in the coming hours.
Kenya remains on high alert as Tropical Cyclone Hidaya threatens to dump more torrential rains on East African countries, which recently emerged from three years of historic drought.
The heavy rains have caused deadly flooding and landslides that have killed nearly 400 people across the region since March.
The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Kenya, Stephen Jackson, has been calling for a “push on resilience” as extreme weather events intensify due to climate change.
UN News’s Thelma Nadzua began by asking him about the UN’s ongoing support to the Government as the rains continue.
More than a year of fighting between Sudan’s rival militaries has the country’s people on the verge of famine and uprooted huge numbers caught up in the crossfire.
Now, there’s a new threat - unexploded weapons littering Sudan’s towns and cities, where people have received little training about the very real dangers of these lethal devices.
Mohammad Sediq Rashid, Chief of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in the country, tells UN News’s Nancy Sarkis this deadly kind of warfare is new to Sudanese and with access to the capital getting easier, civilians are not waiting for crucial mine clearance to happen.
After more than a year of brutal fighting between rival militaries across Sudan, the last Government-held stronghold in Darfur of El Fasher is in danger of slipping into famine unless rebel fighters end their siege.
That’s according to the UN’s Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator Toby Harward who told UN News that if the fighting for control continues it will trigger revenge attacks across Darfur and a slide into the atrocities that unfolded there two decades ago.
Abdelmonem Makki began by asking him to describe the latest situation in El Fasher.
Since the 1950s, 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced, seven billion tonnes of which have become potentially toxic waste. If no action is taken, plastic pollution could triple by 2060.
It’s in our oceans, our rivers and overall plastic pollution represents “a huge problem” says Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the international negotiating committee secretariat (INC) focused on curbing the scourge, which met earlier this week on the road to what it is hoped will be an historic treaty next year.
Following the latest round of talks in Ottawa, Canada, “we are exactly where we need to be,” Ms. Mathur-Filipp told UN News’ Anton Uspensky, reflecting on the latest negotiations, and important steps that lie ahead.
More than two years since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in Ukraine, the harrowing human cost of the conflict couldn’t be clearer, with thousands killed and many of the injured requiring triple or quadruple amputations, mine action experts said on Wednesday.
The wider economic cost of the ongoing fighting in one of the world’s main cereal and commodity-producing regions is enormous too, currently valued at many billions of dollars, amid rising food and fuel prices.
With more, here’s Paul Heslop, Programme Manager for Mine Action at the UN Development Programme in Ukraine; he’s been speaking to UN News’s Nancy Sarkis on the sidelines of the Meeting of Mine Action National Directors and UN Advisers in Geneva.
Left behind in a now-abandoned school in Khan Younis is the evidence of the haste in which Gazan civilians fled the shelter in fear of Israeli bombardment.
Louise Wateridge, Communications Officer with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said people had to evacuate within hours – some leaving behind half-eaten meals, toothbrushes, and even clothes.
She said the ongoing war continues to leave families in fear, children without education, and infrastructural displacement, in Gaza.
UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki spoke to Ms. Wateridge, who is stationed in Rafah. She said that people in Gaza are visibly tired of the war, and are steadily hoping for a ceasefire.
Digital technologies and algorithm-driven software, especially social media, present high risks of privacy invasion, cyberbullying and distraction from learning to young girls – that’s according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) 2024 Global Education Monitor (GEM) report released on Thursday.
The report highlighted global progress in girls' access to and attainment in education over the past two decades but called attention to increased social media usage in young girls, its harmful effect on them, and the lack of women pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Shanaé Harte sat with Anna D'Addio, the Senior Policy Analyst in the GEM Report team at UNESCO, the agency's 2024 Gender Report and further discussed the use of social media in educational settings to protect girls’ well-being and learning.
Some heads of top “Ivy League” universities across the United States have been pushed out due to political pressure as educators crack down on students protesting Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, shining a spotlight on the right to free speech around the world.
That’s what Irene Khan, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, has told UN News’s Khaled Mohammed, stressing that the Gaza crisis is also becoming a crisis of free speech on campuses worldwide.
While there has been a rise in hate speech on both sides of the protests, she said legitimate speech must be protected, and people must be allowed to express their political views.
Special Rapporteurs and other rights experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, are mandated to monitor and report on specific thematic issues or country situations, are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.
The UN and partners are duty bound to work towards an early recovery on behalf of Gazans, even though that is “intrinsically tied to progress on the political front and the two-State solution”.
That’s according to Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza Sigrid Kaag who told UN News in an exclusive interview following the announcement of a new aid mechanism for the enclave that “we cannot ask civilians to wait”.
She told Ezzat El-Ferri that reconstruction will have to be far more than physical with a major focus on mental health and psychosocial support, especially for children.
Sabreen al-Sakani: one name among the more than 34,000 people killed in Gaza since 7 October. Sabreen was 30 weeks pregnant when she died after sustaining terrible head injuries in an Israeli airstrike in the south of the enclave.
Thankfully, her baby daughter lived after being delivered by emergency Caesarean section, at a hospital in Rafah last weekend. With more on this story - and the latest on the war in Gaza that was sparked by Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel – UN News’s Daniel Johnson spoke to Dominic Allen, from the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA.
Sudan’s food security crisis is a matter of deep concern with a very real risk there could be famine there, the Director of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Office of Emergencies and Resilience has told UN News.
Rein Paulsen has been in the war-ravaged country with an interagency team planning how best to scale up the aid response to the food security crisis.
FAO is supporting vulnerable farms to boost crop production and is implementing famine prevention strategies, including vaccinating animals.
“We have a window of opportunity and that window as right now,” he told UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri from the coastal aid hub of Port Sudan.
Millions of women and girls saw no progress in their reproductive rights simply because of who they are or where they were born, according to the new 2024 State of World Population report, released on Wednesday by UNFPA, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency.
Agency chief Dr. Natalia Kanem spoke in depth to UN News about her main priorities, noting that women and girls are often the most vulnerable in conflict zones such as Gaza and Ukraine.
She told Nathalie Minard that “the ability of human society to prosper really depends on looking at who's vulnerable. When you fix that, you fix the issue for so many others.”
The gangs which now control up to 90 per cent of Haiti’s capital must be persuaded to end their campaign of violence which has left the children of the Port-au-Prince region without safety, schooling and sufficient food to eat, the UN’s top envoy for Children and Armed Conflict has told UN News.
“One of my biggest fears is that the youngest of the young in Haiti might also become victims of trafficking, particularly girls, for sexual purposes,” Special Representative Victoria Gamba, said, telling Cristina Silveiro that she is determined to visit the crisis-wracked nation “at the first opportunity” and confront the gang leaders face to face.
Even before the war erupted in Sudan on 15 April last year, the country’s economy was already faltering, heavily reliant on international aid.
Now, the situation is rapidly deteriorating. Over 25 million Sudanese are in dire need, the healthcare system is in ruins, schools work in only one state, famine is looming.
Justin Brady, head of the UN aid coordination office OCHA in Sudan, told Anton Uspensky of UN News, how his team was continuing to keep aid flowing to around 14 million people amid military action, disrupted transportation routes, looted warehouses, communication blackouts and “negligible” funding.
Technological advances have transformed space exploration, making it more accessible but also more commercially driven, a senior official with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) has been telling UN News, ahead of the international day that marks the first manned space flight by Yuri Gagarin in 1961.
Thanks to private capital, missions to study the Moon have surged, accompanied by a significant rise in space launches over the past decade.
But these developments raise questions about the regulations governing space, increasing space pollution and diversity within space agencies, UNOOSA Director Aarti Holla-Maini, tells Anton Uspensky.
A vehicle filled with UNICEF humanitarians was hit by live fire earlier this week while waiting to enter northern Gaza. UN News on Thursday spoke with one of them, Tess Ingram, who said there’s a similar incident almost every day, "not always to us, but to the children as well."
Restrictions to aid access by Israel have increased, so civilians have limited access to the care they need, the UNICEF spokesperson said, telling Ezzat El-Ferri that children in the enclave are experiencing repeated trauma, every day, which is likely to impact them long into the future.
At least 38 migrants, including women and children, lost their lives in a shipwreck off the coast of Djibouti on Monday and although 22 people were saved by local fishermen, six others remain missing and are presumed dead.
UN migration agency, IOM, which is assisting survivors with treatment and other support, told UN News this was far from an isolated tragedy.
Much more needs to be done to avoid such tragedies impacting those in search of new opportunities said IOM’s Yvonne Ndege, who gave Vibhu Mishra the latest on the disaster and the ongoing relief effort for survivors.
In what is a “hand to mouth” aid operation hampered by Israeli restrictions, the UN has no ability to pre-position aid if hundreds of thousands of Gazans are forced to leave Rafah ahead of Israel’s planning invasion, said the humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory on Sunday.
Jamie McGoldrick was speaking in-depth to UN News’s Arabic team chief, Reem Abaza, who said until the spread of famine in the north could be averted, there was no way the UN could get aid in place in the south, what is a race against time.
The decades-long occupation compounded by Israel’s economic blockade and current military campaign in Gaza, highlights the importance of meticulously documenting alleged rights abuses, according to the head of the UN rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ajith Sunghay.
He says its crucial for informed decision-making and to counter disinformation: “We do not want to leave any stone unturned in order to bring the world's attention to the problems in Gaza,” he explains in an interview with UN News’s Anton Uspensky.
Mr. Sunghay addressed violations on both sides of the conflict, and emphasized the importance of Israel granting OHCHR access so that justice can be served.
Children in Haiti are “terrorised and traumatised” by the gang violence which continues across the country’s capital, killing people and forcing them to flee their homes. That’s according to the UNICEF representative in the Caribbean island country, Bruno Maes.
Armed gangs reportedly now control 80 to 90 per cent of Port-au-Prince, and over 360,000 people – the majority of them children – have been displaced.
Mr. Maes said there is a growing sense of desperation and a lack of hope among people who have been struggling to survive through a period of Haitian history characterised by a confluence of humanitarian, economic, political and security crises.
UN News’s Daniel Dickinson asked Mr. Maes about the current situation in the beleaguered country.
An award-winning Palestinian photojournalist said he has lost trust in the world but maintains hope in its people.
Motaz Azaiza has garnered global recognition for his arresting coverage of the current hostilities in Gaza, earning him millions of followers on Instagram.
He has been travelling the world to raise awareness and was at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday to meet senior officials.
UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki sat down with Mr. Azaiza and asked him about his work and what his colleagues in Gaza need most from the international community.
He began by explaining what it is like to be a journalist in Gaza today.
In today's rapidly evolving world, characterized by conflicts, climate change, and the advent of new technologies like AI, navigating that can be daunting for anyone. However, for individuals with disabilities, even minor shifts can significantly impact their lives.
Egyptian sociologist Heba Hagrass is the Special Rapporteur – or Human Rights Council-appointed independent human rights expert - on the rights of persons with disabilities.
She tells UN News’s Anton Uspensky that people with disabilities face unique challenges and the role played by families to inspire and help young people overcome obstacles, is crucial.
The war between rival militaries in Sudan doesn’t get the international attention it deserves, UN humanitarians said on Thursday, as they described the terrible human cost of nearly 12 months of conflict across the country.
According to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 24 million children in Sudan have been exposed to the conflict which shows no sign of letting up - and a staggering 730,000 are severely acutely malnourished.
Jill Lawler - Chief of Field Operations in Sudan for UNICEF - is one of the UN humanitarians leading the aid effort for those in need, including in Omdurman city near Khartoum.
She told UN News’s Daniel Johnson, what she had seen.
Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah would “break the back of our response” when it comes to preventing the aid crisis in Gaza from getting even worse, said the UN Deputy Special Coordinator in the region on Monday.
In an interview with UN News, Jamie McGoldrick who is the number two in the Office of the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, said politics aside, it is crucial to get more aid to those who need it.
He told Ezzat El-Ferri that in decades of frontline aid work he has never seen a conflict have such an intense, far reaching and speedy impact on a population as in Gaza today.
The north of Gaza is utterly devastated while “paper-thin” children cling on to life, even when they are in hospital, said the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Spokesperson James Elder, in an interview with UN News on Friday.
He’s been seeing the reality of malnutrition and dehydration up close on a recent mission to Gaza and told Daniel Johnson that the only way to end the desperation is to ensure a regular supply of aid.
Mr. Elder said the people he met on the ground had only one message for the Security Council which once again failed to reach consensus on Friday following another US veto: ceasefire now.
Weather and climate indicators were “off the chart” last year according to the latest report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) but it’s not too late for humankind to live in balance with nature.
That’s according to the Secretary-General of WMO, Celeste Saulo, speaking to UN News ahead of World Meteorological Day on 23 March.
She told Nathalie Minard that adopting a ‘net zero’ approach with a transition to renewables “at the core level of decision-making and action” is a must, calling for “every young person on Earth to engage”.
The entire Gaza Strip now has just 12 partially functioning hospitals where cases of severe acute malnutrition among newborns in northern governorates are likely already “overwhelming” medical teams, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
Backing repeated international calls for a ceasefire to allow more desperately needed aid into the enclave, WHO spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris warned that many “horrifically” underweight infants “are now dying”, after nearly six months of conflict.
Hospitals are reporting deaths of babies “in the tens, in the twenties”, but many more families are probably “suffering in silence” because they can’t get to a doctor, she told UN News’s Daniel Johnson in Geneva.
The residents of Gaza have faced unimaginable horrors since October. The massive bombardments that pummelled the territory over the last five months have flattened entire neighbourhoods, and when reconstruction eventually begins, the costs are likely to be in the tens of billions.
That reconstruction will be hampered by an unwelcome, deadly, hangover from the conflict: unexploded bombs, missiles, and other types of munitions.
The UN’s Mine Action Service has warned that “an extraordinary volume of explosive remnants of war is expected to contaminate civilian areas including residential areas, threaten lives and impede the safe delivery of emergency and humanitarian assistance.”
Mungo Birch, the Chief of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Palestine, told Conor Lennon from UN News that the current conflict has undone all of the work his team had done before 7 October.
It’s been a full two years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine which gave rise to “horrific” abuses and likely war crimes, including systematic torture and rape.
These grave violations are detailed in a new report to the UN Human Rights Council by the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine which was published on Friday.
Leading the inquiry is independent rights expert and Commission Chair Erik Møse.
UN News’s Daniel Johnson in Geneva sat down with him after the report launch and began by asking what had been learned about the brutal siege of Mariupol, at the start of the war.
The entire agriculture sector of Gaza which was already under strain before the Israeli offensive “collapsed many weeks ago”, especially in the most damaged northern areas of the enclave.
That’s according to AbdelHakim ElWaer, Assistant Director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) speaking exclusively to UN News, who called for immediate international action to prevent starvation and malnutrition from spreading.
He told Khaled Mohamed that around 55 per cent of agricultural land was now totally unusable in the north, along with half of all greenhouses, while food production has also been hit in the occupied West Bank.
Dr. Rola ElFarra, a physician from Houston, Texas, has family in the Gaza Strip. Some 150 of her relatives have been killed during the Israeli incursion and bombardment of the besieged enclave.
Among a group of Palestinian women who met with the UN Secretary-General last week, Dr. Elfarra shared stories and family photos of some of those killed, over 90 of whom were women and children, at a virtual event, War on #Gaza: Impact on Palestinian Women and Children, held on Wednesday on the margins of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68).
“Many died because of a lack of medical treatment,” she told UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki. “Those left are waiting to die.”
On her return from a visit to Gaza, her first since 7 October, Natalie Boucly, the Deputy Commissioner-General of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), described the “shocking conditions” she had witnessed in the Strip.
Speaking to Khaled Mohamed from UN News, Ms. Boucly said that the population is “literally besieged”, with limited health and sanitation and no access to electricity, and is only receiving “a trickle” of aid.
The Deputy Commissioner-General called for more land crossing to be opened up to aid convoys, and for the Israeli authorities to respect international law, and assume their responsibilities as the occupying power in Gaza.
Climate change is not equal. Across all developing countries, rural women are facing worse challenges due to the changing climate and paying a higher financial toll than men.
A recent UN study has for the first time revealed empirical evidence of these disparities.
Ahead of International Women’s Day, Laura Quinones from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) spoke with gender expert Lauren Phillips about the main findings of the report and what can countries do to close the climate gender gap.
The Dzud – literally meaning disaster in Mongolian – is a recurring and damaging weather event in the landlocked northeast Asian country, devastating its unique nomadic and pastoral way of life and wiping massive numbers of livestock.
Tiziana Bonapace, Director of Disaster Risk Reduction Division, ESCAPBut this season, the winter phenomenon is particularly extreme, affecting nearly 250,000 people and tens of millions of heads of cattle, horses, goats and sheep.
To find out more about this unique crisis, its socio-economic impacts, the link with climate change and how the UN is responding, UN News’ Vibhu Mishra spoke with Tiziana Bonapace, Director of the Disaster Risk Reduction Division at ESCAP, the Organization’s sustainable development arm in Asia and the Pacific.
Related story: Mongolian dzud: Extreme weather puts 90% of country at ‘high risk’
Drug dealers aren’t afraid of using popular social media and e-commerce platforms to sell their narcotics which is why countries and internet giants should join forces to fight the disinformation they peddle, a UN-partnered International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) report said on Tuesday.
In an interview with UN News’s Khaled Mohamed, the board’s President, Professor Jallal Toufiq, describes the nature of the online drug threat and offers insight into how to counteract it. He also explains how natural disasters and emergencies linked to climate change and conflict have fuelled demand for medicines containing controlled substances.
Roughly two million homes have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine, where the full-scale Russian invasion has entered a third year.
A recent UN-backed assessment estimated that overall reconstruction and recovery will cost $486 billion over the next decade.
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is working with the authorities and civil society on recovery efforts, which includes supporting a project called Velyke Divnytsvo that encourages women to take up tools and rebuild their country, one house at a time.
UN News’s Liudmila Blagonravova spoke to UNDP’s Resident Representative in Ukraine Jaco Cilliers. She began by asking him about the immense challenge of building back from war.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees – UNRWA - is a lifeline for Gazans and should have the continued support of donor nations, the President of the United Nations General Assembly has insisted.
In a wide-ranging interview, Dennis Francis insisted that investigations into allegations of collusion between UNRWA and Hamas militants were ongoing; and that until these findings are made public, the UN must not be seen to be “walking away” from Gazans.
Here’s Mr. Francis now, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson in Geneva, who started by asking him how he responded to criticism that the United Nations was unable to find solutions to growing global crises, from Ukraine to climate change.
Independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council are calling for an investigation into credible allegations of continued violations against Palestinian women and girls in Gaza and the West Bank against the backdrop of the current war between Hamas and Israel.
Reports allege that Palestinian women and children have been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, including when seeking refuge or fleeing bombardment, while hundreds more have been arbitrarily detained.
Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, is among the five experts that issued the appeal.
They are part of the Council’s Special Procedures - the largest body of independent experts in the UN human rights system – and are not UN staff.
UN News’s Reem Abaza asked Ms. Alsalem about their concerns.
Climate change has become such a major factor of global instability that even the UN Security Council has added it to its agenda.
At the UN Environment Assembly taking place in Nairobi this week, experts including Christophe Hodder, climate peace and security advisor to UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), have been meeting to discuss the complex link between climate change and conflicts.
Mr. Hodder highlighted the environmental damage caused by war and its consequences, explaining to UN News' Anton Uspensky the vicious circle that is created by conflict and a warming planet as it “affects ecosystems, human health and climate”.
An all-out Israeli invasion of Rafah could force the closure of the aid lifeline from Rafah, “but we will never leave the people of Gaza”, UN emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths said on Tuesday.
His expression of solidarity with Gazans came amid deepening concerns among humanitarians and the international community about the fate of some 1.5 million civilians uprooted by more than four months of heavy Israeli bombardment in the enclave, sparked by Hamas-led attacks in Israel on 7 October.
Mr. Griffiths reiterated that it was an “illusion” to say that anywhere was safe in Gaza, but that UN aid teams and their partners would do their utmost to help displaced civilians, wherever they decided to seek shelter.
“We are completely attached to their survival,” he told UN News’s Daniel Johnson
Radio Miraya has been broadcasting across South Sudan since 2006 and in that time its core message of peace hasn’t changed – and it must be a successful formula, since seven in 10 people in the country listen to it.
For World Radio Day, celebrated on 13 February every year, we caught up with Ben Dotsei Malor who’s just returned to UN Headquarters in New York from a posting to Juba, where Radio Miraya is based.
Here he is now, sharing his thoughts on his time there, with UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Sharing borders with Gaza, Israel, Libya and Sudan, Egypt has taken a lead role in providing lifesaving aid in the region. Since the outbreak of conflict in Sudan last April and the four-month-old war in Gaza, both the Government and the Egyptian Red Crescent Society have been key actors in helping to assist millions of civilians caught in the crossfire.
The sheer volume of aid delivered to Gaza has led Egypt to introduce innovations and strategies to get emergency supplies and services to almost two million Palestinians stuck in the enclave, which faces near constant Israeli bombardment alongside ongoing ground operations.
UN News’s Khaled Haridy Mohamed talked with Elena Panova, UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt, and Neveen Alqabbaj, Egypt’s Minister of Social Solidarity Society and vice-president of the Egyptian Red Crescent Society, about how aid is delivered in times of crisis.
Nearly half of the world’s migratory species are in decline and the global extinction risk is increasing, a new UN report has revealed.
Some whale species, sea turtles and jaguars are among the animals at risk, according to the first-ever State of the World’s Migratory Species report, launched at the opening of a major UN wildlife conservation conference taking place this week in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
The report was issued by Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), a UN biodiversity treaty.
For more on the findings, UN News’s Anton Uspensky spoke to Amy Fraenkel, the CMS Executive Secretary, who began by providing the background to the treaty.
As war rages in Gaza, another simmering conflict risks escalating on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon – which is why the UN peacekeeping mission there is so important.
UNIFIL – the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon – has three important responsibilities: helping civilians affected by the war, protecting the so-called “Blue Line” that separates both countries and maintaining a channel of communication between them.
The task isn’t easy though, amid daily exchanges of fire that have uprooted an estimated 86,000 people in southern Lebanon since 7 October and left three UN “blue helmets” injured and their base damaged.
For the latest on how UNIFIL’s peacekeepers are working to prevent violence from spreading, UN News’s Nancy Sarkis sat down with Andrea Tenenti, UNIFIL Spokesperson and Chief of Strategic Communications and Public Information (SCPI).
The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNWRA) serves almost six million Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
UN News’s Khaled Mohamed spoke with Dorothee Klaus, who’s the top official for the agency in Lebanon, which is home to around 250,000 Palestinians.
Explaining the dire, immediate impact of funding cuts and the current suspension of aid by many key donors, she said UNRWA operations could ‘come to a halt’ in March.
The UN agency assisting Palestinians, UNRWA, will continue delivering services as best it can to the people of Gaza and will play no part in “pushing” them across the border into Egypt.
That’s according to UNRWA Spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna, who told UN News he hoped there would be no ground operation by Israel inside the now densely populated border town of Rafah, where around 1.5 million are sheltering.
Ezzat El-Ferri asked him to explain why it was not feasible to move Gazans across the border to relative safety in Egypt.
February 6 marks the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM. In 2024, some 4.4 million girls are still considered at risk from this horrific act of gender-based violence.
“Even one mutilation is one too many” said UN chief António Guterres in his message marking the day.
According to Dr. Wisal Ahmed, the UN reproductive health agency’s (UNFPA) Global Coordinator for the FGM Trust Fund, health complications due to the practice add up to around $1.4 billion each year.
She told UN News’s Pauline Batista that engaging in “dialogue, having a conversation” is fundamental to ending FGM.
Thanks to careful forward planning, Madagascar is better prepared now to deal with the impacts of the current El Niño phenomenon and climate change, as the south of the country endures a long-standing humanitarian crisis, says Reena Ghelani, the UN’s Climate Crisis Coordinator for the El Niño response.
More people are expected to go hungry in February as the food security situation deteriorates, mainly due to an expected lack of rain as an impact of El Niño.
The UN says that more than 262,000 children under five are acutely malnourished across the south.
Daniel Dickinson spoke to Ms. Ghali as she visited an irrigation project in the Anosy region.
He began by asking her to explain what the El Niño phenomenon is.
Restoring the social and economic conditions that existed in Gaza before the current conflict will take tens of billions of dollars and several decades, according to the UN trade and development agency, UNCTAD.
Its latest report revealed that Gaza’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined by $655 million last year, roughly 25 per cent, mainly due to the onset of war following the 7 October terror attacks.
UN News’s Khaled Mohamed spoke to Rami Al Azzeh, an economist with the Assistance to the Palestinian People Unit at UNCTAD, who underscored the need for the international community to act now, given the level of destruction.
Criminal networks in Southeast Asia are growing their illegal operations in through the innovative use of technology, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The trafficking of people and drugs as well as money laundering and fraudulent scam activities are being boosted by the use of cryptocurrencies, the dark web, artificial intelligence and social media platforms, as criminals continue to base their operations in parts of the region where the rule of law is weak or non-existent.
Laura Gil asked UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Jeremy Douglas, how the landscape of transnational organized crime in the region is being changed by technology.
According to energy industry experts, we’re in the middle of a massive expansion of renewable energy sources, and it’s likely to continue. At the UN climate conference in Dubai at the end of last year, governments committed to tripling global capacity by 2030, and the International Energy Agency, for one, is bullish about that goal being achieved.
But will developing countries benefit?
Moritz Brauchle is the managing director of Africa GreenTec Madagascar, a social enterprise which provides sustainable energy solutions to some of the 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa currently living without any access to electricity.
He explained to Conor Lennon from UN News the advantages of minigrids and how they are breathing new life into communities that were formerly consigned to darkness once the sun went down.
Sudan is “on the brink of a learning catastrophe” as war is preventing 19 million children from continuing their education, which could translate into a staggering $26 billion lifetime earning loss.
The warning comes from Mandeep O’Brien, Representative of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Sudan, where rival military forces have been battling since last April.
She said UNICEF and partners are working to get schools to re-open safely, where conditions allow, in addition to providing e-learning and psychosocial support for children at camps for internally displaced people (IDPs).
Ms. O’Brien told UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki that as conflict rages in places such as Gaza and Ukraine, the world must not forget about Sudan.
No food, water, or health care facilities, no communication with the outside world, and the constant threat of bombardments.
These are the desperate conditions under which Gazans are living, says Juliette Touma, the spokesperson for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, who visited Gaza in mid-January.
On her return, she spoke to Conor Lennon from UN News, and described what she saw in the congested refugee camps of the occupied Palestinian territory.
Entire villages in the Republic of Congo have been affected by recent flooding, leaving more than 350,000 people in need of food, shelter, clothing and other basics.
People are living on top of their houses and some women are even giving birth in rafts, said Chris Mburu, UN Resident Coordinator the country, speaking to UN News’s Alexandre Carette in Geneva.
Mr. Mburu said the UN and partners are supporting the authorities to respond to the emergency as aid workers continue to try to reach survivors, amid immense difficulties.
Emirati Hospital in southern Gaza is one of last functioning maternity facilities in all of Gaza where “there aren’t enough staff and not enough medicine” for women about to give birth, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday.
Amid ongoing active conflict that has killed tens of thousands, UNICEF is doing its utmost to help, by delivering essential relief supplies to health teams, formula milk, clothes and food for women too weak to breastfeed.
But much more needs to be done to save lives - and ensure greater aid access to the enclave – said UNICEF’s Tess Ingram, who’s just back from a heartbreaking humanitarian mission to Rafah and Khan Younis.
Here she is speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Nine months ago, UN teams in Sudan were forced to evacuate from their headquarters in Khartoum, as heavy fighting between government and rebel forces raged in the capital.
The impact on the civilian population has been catastrophic, with half of the population in need of aid and more than seven million people forced to flee their homes. The security situation is so bad that humanitarian workers have been unable to bring aid to the areas worst hit by fighting.
Peter Kioy, the head of the UN migration agency, IOM, in Sudan, told Conor Lennon from UN News about his team’s perilous evacuation under fire, his fears of the fighting moving closer to the UN temporary bases and his frustration at being unable to reach those in desperate need of help.
With only ‘one door’ open on Gaza’s southern border at Rafah, for aid to reach more than two million Gazans who need lifesaving aid, Israel must provide greater and more reasonable access, said the veteran humanitarian official who is the interim Resident Coordinator for the enclave, in an exclusive interview with UN News.
Jamie McGoldrick, who’s also serving as Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told Ezzat El-Ferri on Saturday that better shelter, more food supplies, and repairs to water health and sanitation systems, are essential if famine and disease are to be kept at bay.
Read the interview here.
Houthi rebel attacks on ships using the Red Sea trade route off the coast of Yemen, are bad for global business and consumers everywhere but have also exposed a chronic shortage of vessels in the supply chain.
That’s according to Jan Hoffman, chief of the trade logistics branch at the UN trade and development body UNCTAD.
He’s been talking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson about the impact of the action taken by the Houthis in protest at Israel’s continuing offensive in Gaza, the repercussions of protracted attacks on shipping for trade overall, and what the UN can do to help de-escalate the situation.
The enormous potential of GPT4 caught the popular imagination in 2023, with its ability to generate texts in a range of styles, in response to written prompts.
But many expressed concern about the jobs that might be lost, the ease with which bad actors could produce highly convincing misinformation and, in a coming year full of elections, the risks AI could pose to democracy itself.
Conor Lennon from UN News asks Carme Artigas, Spain’s first-ever Secretary of State for Digitalization and AI, and co-chair of the UN’s AI Advisory Body, if 2023 was the year the world finally woke up to the need to regulate the technology, and the potential threats it poses to democracy next year, when millions will go to the polls.
Earlier in December, the UN Department of Global Communications hosted Knowledge, History and Power, an event featuring noted journalists Nikole Hannah-Jones and Laura Trevelyan. The event was organized by the Department of Global Communications Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery in collaboration with the Universities Studying Slavery Consortium.
Pauline Batista from UN News talked to both award-winning journalists about the challenges, hopes and dreams for “the future of reparations,” in the United States and globally.
Humanitarian workers visiting the frontline in Ukraine are showing solidarity with the people affected by the almost two-year-long conflict as “war does not stop on Christmas Day”, according to the UN’s most senior humanitarian representative in the country.
Denise Brown, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator led a convoy of aid to Kupiansk in the east of the country.
Saviano Abreu began by asking her what support the UN is providing on the frontline and elsewhere.
UN humanitarians carried out an emergency fact-finding mission to central Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital on Christmas Day, in response to fears of mass casualties after reports that three refugee camps were hit by Israeli airstrikes.
Doctors at the hospital, which was already at full capacity, reported seeing “100-plus patients” brought in with serious injuries in just the first 30 minutes, with around the same number of dead bodies.
With ever decreasing space in the Strip to treat men, women and children needing urgent lifesaving care, many more will die, warned Sean Casey from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Mr. Casey is the UN health agency’s Emergency Medical Teams coordinator who took part in that mission to central Gaza. Here he is now talking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Since the military incursion into Gaza, which followed deadly attacks by Hamas on Israel on the seventh of October, 135 staff members of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, are known to have been killed, the most ever in one incident.
Despite the danger and extremely difficult working conditions, UNRWA is continuing to assist those caught up in the fighting through no fault of their own. And the task is monumental. Nearly two million people have been displaced across the Strip, many forced to move repeatedly in search of safety.
Juliette Touma, the Director of Communications at UNRWA, is a veteran of high profile conflicts, including Libya, Syria, and Iraq. Conor Lennon from UN News asked her to compare the situation in Gaza with her experience in other countries.
As conflict escalates in Sudan, the need for humanitarian support keeps growing as people “die and suffer”, a senior UN aid official has said.
Edem Wosornu, Director of the Operations and Advocacy Division at UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, recently visited the country and neighbouring Chad.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than two-thirds of hospitals in Sudan remain out of service amid increasing reports of attacks on health facilities.
Ms. Wosornu spoke to UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki about the humanitarian efforts underway in Sudan and ongoing operations in Niger, in the wake of the attempted coup.
The continuing battle for control of Sudan between rival militaries has had a destabilizing effect on the contested area of Abyei claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, for both the UN mission there, UNIFSA, and the civilians they are mandated to protect.
That’s according to Major General Benjamin Sawyerr, acting head and Force Commander for UNIFSA, who said the months-long clashes have seen close to 6,000 flee into Abyei and forced the mission to switch all its supply routes to South Sudan, increasing costs and logistical challenges.
Climate-related court cases around the world are growing fast, and on Thursday the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) together with the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, highlighted the trend in their new Global Climate Litigation Report.
Andrew Raine, Head of the Frontiers in Environmental Law Unit of UNEP, spoke to UN News’s Anton Uspensky about the report’s findings, which show cases are surging in the Global South with human rights emerging as a powerful driver behind climate litigation.
As the UN weather agency WMO declared on Thursday that July is likely to be the hottest on record, UN News reporter Katy Dartford had other problems on her mind: filing her news bulletin from Greece, where forest fires have been raging.
Speaking from Corfu - where the wildfires have thankfully calmed down a bit since Monday – Katy puts the WMO’s announcement into context.
Here she is now, talking to Daniel Johnson.
As technology becomes increasingly accessible across the globe, more must be done to ensure its use in education remains equitable, scalable, and sustainable.
That’s according to Manos Antoninis, Director of the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, produced by the UN agency specializing in education, science and culture, UNESCO.
In an interview for UN News, he’s been outlining the advantages and disadvantages of using technology in education, how to improve safety online, the future of artificial intelligence (AI), and describing how online education resources can be tailored to a more diverse, global audience.
Jordan Larrabee spoke with Mr. Antoninis just ahead of the launch of this year’s GEM Report in Uruguay on Wednesday.
Climate-induced disasters in Asia and the Pacific have become increasingly frequent and severe, resulting in loss of lives and livelihoods, hampering the post-pandemic recovery and potentially derailing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The effects of devastating floods, severe droughts and rising sea levels are not confined within national borders; they have international implications too, including for trade, communal tensions and forced migration. Climate change is only making things worse.
Against this backdrop, Vibhu Mishra from UN News spoke to Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), who outlined how countries can reduce disaster risk, and strengthen climate action.
Artificial Intelligence may be the buzzword of the day, but before we know it, two new concepts may soon steal the limelight: Disruptive-tech and Artificial General Intelligence.
That’s according to Janet Adams, chief operating officer of AI experts SingularityNet, who maintains that these up-and-coming technologies have massive potential to combat inequality, in line with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Agenda.
To find out more, UN News's Elma Okic caught up with Ms. Adams at the AI For Good Summit in Geneva earlier this month.
Nelson Mandela was a giant of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and the country’s first democratically elected President, but he also had a wonderful sense of humour.
That is just one of the recollections of American politician and activist Andrew Young, a former US Ambassador to the UN and friend of the man who was affectionately known as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name.
Mr. Young was US Ambassador in the late 1970s, when Mr. Mandela was still serving out a lifetime sentence for treason before being released in 1990 after 27 years in prison.
Mr. Young, 91, was back at the UN on Thursday for the official commemoration of Nelson Mandela International Day. He spoke to UN News’s Dianne Penn.
The artificial sweetener aspartame that’s widely used in fizzy drinks has just been classified as “possibly” cancer-causing by UN scientists - but there’s no cause for alarm.
That’s the key message from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), whose assessment of aspartame was carried out on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO), by an expert panel of nutritional epidemiology and nutritional toxicology scientists.
With more details on what these findings mean for all of us, UN News’s Daniel Johnson spoke to IARC’s Mary Schubauer-Berigan, who’s head of the agency’s Monographs Programme.
As the deadline to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 approaches, urgent action is needed to accelerate efforts.
The latest report by UNAIDS highlights the critical role of strong political leadership, and a comprehensive response, to address emerging challenges and ensure progress towards achieving this ambitious global goal.
UN News’s Anshu Sharma in India spoke to Eamonn Murphy, UNAIDS Regional Director for Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Warning against complacency, he said countries must leverage innovative solutions that are now available, and modernize their response, to target the people most at risk today.
- Sudan: Thousands may die due to healthcare disruptions: WHO
- Children’s deaths on central Mediterranean route have doubled this year: UNICEF
- 165 million newly impoverished in past three years: UNDP
Fresh allegations of crimes against humanity in Sudan’s Darfur are the latest indication that the world is failing to live up to the promise of “never again” forged in the ashes of the Second World War.
Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, sat down with UN News’s Sandra Miller to warn against risk factors for atrocity crimes in a rising number of countries, including Sudan, as the brutal conflict between rival militaries continues there.
She also described the framework of analysis for atrocity crimes which allows the UN to assess situations and sound the alarm, with hate speech as both a key indicator and trigger of genocide.
A new publication released today by UNAIDS shows that bringing the pandemic to a close by 2030, is possible, provided governments make the right political and financial choices.
The Path that Ends AIDS, contains data and case studies which highlight the way out, and shows that countries and leaders who have committed to the fight, are achieving extraordinary results.
For more insight on the new report and how governments and communities can collaborate to end the disease once and for all, UN News’s Pauline Batista spoke to Dr. Angeli Achrekar, Deputy Executive Director for the Programme Branch at UNAIDS.
Joan Baez needs no introduction. The legendary artist and peace icon has been inspiring generations of activists for decades to stand up against war, poverty and injustice.
While at the UN in Geneva, she sat down with UN News’s Daniel Johnson to talk about her earliest encounter with the UN and which of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) resonates the most with her. She pointed to the climate crisis as today’s most pressing struggle, warning that “if we don’t get it, it’s going to get us”.
The performer famous for her era-defining rendition of the protest song “We Shall Overcome” also spoke about why in the face of conflict and despair, she continues to choose action and “do her part”.
The cost-of-living crisis continues to affect the world’s poorest families, which is all the more reason to redouble efforts to push for grain and fertilizer to leave key Black Sea ports, top UN economist Rebeca Grynspan said on Tuesday.
Ms. Grynspan, who is Secretary-General of the UN trade and development body UNCTAD, said although “there are things that are very difficult to solve… the UN will not spare any effort in trying to make this continue working for the future”.
Before 18 July – when a 60-day extension of the Black Sea Initiative by Russia is set to expire – Ms. Grynspan told UN News’s Daniel Johnson she’d likely head to Moscow to continue negotiations.
In 2020 alone, over 30 million people were displaced from their homes due to weather-related events, mainly devastating droughts. But those who cross national borders to flee climate change-related disasters are not recognized as refugees under international law.
The first-ever UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the context of climate change, Ian Fry, sat down with UN News’s Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer as he prepared to present his report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva this week. He talked about his call for full legal protection for people displaced by the climate crisis and how the private sector could help finance a “loss and damage fund” to support countries buckling under the effects of our warming planet.
Special Rapporteurs and other independent rights experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council. They are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work.
Close to 200 million people around the world are unemployed, and fears are rising that artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as Chat GPT will put even more people out of a job.
Alongside AI threats to the labour market, positive effects are also expected, such as helping workers automate more repetitive tasks to free up time for higher value work. But given the gaping digital divide between wealthier and poorer nations, will developing countries be able to reap AI’s productivity benefits?
Senior Economist Janine Berg from the International Labour Organization (ILO) is currently driving new research on the impact of AI on the world of work. She sat down with UN News’s Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer to assess the latest developments.
With security and humanitarian crises mounting across much of Africa, the international community is making a mistake by not engaging fully with South Sudan, which is at the centre of an increasingly volatile region.
That’s the view of the head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the world’s youngest nation, Nicholas Haysom, who told UN News that if a fresh crisis erupts there in combination with the military power struggle in neighbouring Sudan, it would be “catastrophic” for the whole Horn of Africa.
Maoqi Li asked the head of UNMISS and UN Special Representative why he thought South Sudan was not getting the attention it deserved.
A new report from UN global fund Education Cannot Wait (ECW) warns there are 224 million children and adolescents now in desperate need of education support: around 72 million are out of school because of conflict, crisis, and other emergencies.
Yasmine Sherif, ECW’s Executive Director, spoke to UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki about the fundraising challenge of helping the huge influx or refugees fleeing into Chad from Sudan, as well as the continuing crisis for girls’ education in Afghanistan.
In the nearly two years since Afghanistan’s de-facto authorities seized power, the “ambitions, dreams and potential” of girls and women have perished, a rights activist has told the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
And in an exclusive interview with UN News’s Nancy Sarkis, Afghan civil rights activist Shaharzad Akba explains that the country’s women and girls talk of “being buried alive, breathing, but not being able to do much else”.
Now in exile, Ms. Akba works with the non-profit organization Rawadari to help Afghan women and girls by raising awareness about restrictive Taliban policies, that have been likened to gender apartheid by the UN-appointed independent expert for Afghanistan.
From Afghanistan to Ukraine, the survivors of some of the world’s worst conflicts live in fear of landmines killing them or their children.
The UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) coordinates the Organization’s work to rid the world of mines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices.
Ahead of Mine Action Week beginning 19 June, which brings major demining stakeholders to Geneva, UNMAS Director of Policy Abigail Hartley sat down with UN News’s Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer to express sadness at the deaths last week of 27 civilians – most of them minors – killed by unexploded ordnance in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia.
The UN mine action service veteran also shared her optimism that Ukraine will one day be mine-free, too.
Nobody yet knows what the full long-term effects of taking cannabis are and legalizing it for recreational use runs the risk of trivializing the dangers for teen consumers, the President of the UN-administered international narcotics watchdog has warned.
In an interview with UN News, Professor Jallal Toufiq also raised the alarm over the continuing proliferation of synthetic opioids on the black market, describing it as the International Narcotics Board’s number one issue - stating the INCB was doing all it can to tackle the scourge.
Khaled Mohamed of our Arabic news service, began by asking him to sum up the impact of cannabis on public health, and the push to legalize it recreationally.
People living with Down syndrome and other disabilities need a place at the table, according to a Canadian activist participating at a key UN event focused on their rights.
Inclusion is one of the key issues at the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which is taking place at UN Headquarters in New York.
Eileen Travers sat down with Nicholas Herd and his colleague Warren Pot, from L’Arche Canada, part of an international non-profit organization striving towards the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.
She began by asking Mr. Herd why he came to the United Nations.
Mine Action Week takes place from 19 to 23 June in Geneva; it’s an opportunity to highlight how the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) works with partners to eliminate the menace posed by these explosive devices in more than 30 countries – including Ukraine.
To find out more about the challenge of clearing mines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices, UN News’s Nathalie Minard sat down with Hansjörg Eberle, head of the Swiss demining NGO, FSD.
In its new flagship report published on Wednesday the UN refugee agency UNHCR reveals that the 46 least developed countries are hosting more than 20 per cent of the refugee population – even though they account for only 1.3 per cent of GDP.
That’s one of the important data points contained in Global Trends in Forced Displacement 2022, which shows a record level of displacement, for the second year running, now standing at 108.4 million, UNHCR Director in New York, Ruven Menikdiwela told us.
UN News’s Pauline Batista began by asking her to outline the key findings.
The environmental and economic consequences of the dam disaster that’s inundated parts of southern Ukraine, flooding what is one of the world’s breadbaskets, is going to an awful shock to the people of the country and the entire ‘Global South’, the UN relief chief has told UN News.
In an interview on Friday night, Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, said the world stands by Ukraine in the wake of this latest disaster stemming from the Russian invasion, but with agricultural land swamped, food security is bound to be hit.
Nargiz Shekinskaya began by asking him in the wake of initial criticism from President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, if the UN could have acted sooner with aid, once disaster struck.
Young people must have a voice in global efforts to combat climate change – not because of their youth, but because they are important stakeholders who offer solutions to the crisis.
That’s the opinion of Ayisha Siddiqa, a Pakistani-American environmental and human rights defender, who is a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change.
Ms. Siddiqa spoke to Nadeem Saeed of UN News’s Urdu Unit, about how her background informs her work to accelerate the “SG’s” climate agenda.
She also shared her honest take on UN climate conferences, known as COPs, and explains why poetry “can be a mechanism of quiet protest” in the face of the climate emergency.
The flooding stemming from the Ukraine dam disaster near Kherson poses a grave risk to families, and threatens safe water and power supplies, said the UN Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) communications chief in the country.
Damian Rance said around 1,700 people have had to evacuate from flooded homes in the major southern city, and one of most direct threats is a doubling or even tripling of the threat posed by landmines, being swept away to new locations.
Oleksandra Burynska began by asking him what the latest was on the ground in the disaster area:
With new and emerging technologies, we hear a lot about killer drones, driverless tanks and autonomous airplanes on the modern battlefield.
One issue of particular concern is the use of what are officially known as lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), which can select and engage targets with force, without human involvement - raising a raft of security, ethical and legal concerns.
What are countries doing to regulate LAWS? And how can international law and the UN respond to this challenge?
To explore these and other questions, the Group of Governmental Experts on LAWS began meeting at the UN in 2017, as Mélanie Régimbal, Chief of the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs in Geneva, explains to UN News’s Nancy Sarkis.
The ocean is key to food security as the main source of protein for more than a billion people. Some 600 million worldwide depend on fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods.
As hunger continues to spread around the world, urgent efforts are needed to safeguard the ocean and ensure that it continues to provide food for a growing global population, in a sustainable way.
Ahead of Thursday’s World Oceans Day, Manuel Barange, Director of the Food and Aquaculture Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has been talking to FAO’s Michele Zaccheo about the promise of aquaculture, or farming in water, and how the ocean is an essential part of the solution to the interlinked issues of poverty, malnutrition, food security and climate change.
UN humanitarians are ramping up assistance in the aftermath of the Kakhovka dam disaster in Ukraine, as some 17,000 people find themselves in the critical zone at risk of flooding, and clean water has become scarce.
Health and security concerns are mounting fast, with flooding and the lack of clean water multiplying the risk of disease, while unexploded ordnance is being displaced by floodwater into new areas.
IOM’s spokesperson in Kyiv, Olivia Headon, has been talking to UN News’s Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer about the emergency response and the impact of the disaster on Ukraine’s future recovery.
The COVID-19 pandemic has rolled back progress in development but collaboration between countries of the Global South could help get the world back on track.
This exchange of technology and skills is known as South-South cooperation, and triangular cooperation, when supported by developed countries or partner agencies.
The UN’s High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation met this week to examine how the process can help accelerate recovery from the pandemic and achieve a more sustainable future for all.
Dima Al-Khatib is the recently appointed Director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC), which is hosted by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
She spoke to UN News’s Dianne Penn about some of the key issues discussed at the meeting, including the need for increased funding.
The cooperation of governments in Southeast Asia is helping the region to address the “enormous” challenge of tackling transnational organized crime, according to a senior representative of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, (UNODC).
The trafficking of people and illicit goods, especially synthetic drugs like methamphetamine, from the Golden Triangle, an area which includes Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, has enriched criminal networks and flooded the region and beyond with addictive narcotics.
UNODC has brought governments together to collaborate through border liaison officers who share information about trafficking. Daniel Dickinson spoke to UNODC’s Chief of Border Management, Alan Cole on a trip to the Golden Triangle and began by asking him about the role of these officers.
This week the UN hosts the 2nd Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent – the human rights platform which brings together institutions at the UN, civil society and others, to advance equality and fight racism.
The Forum’s Chair, Epsy Campbell Barr, said it was vital to boost investment to help the poorest of the poor, and meet “elemental demands” for basic services like clean water.
She spoke to UN News’s Pauline Batista in our studio at UN Headquarters in New York.
Torture, conflict and low COVID-19 vaccination rates have all been the results of increasing levels of disinformation and misinformation in Papua New Guinea, according to the UN Resident Coordinator in the country, Richard Howard.
Speaking on the line to UN News’s Julia Dean in Australia, he stressed that these consequences were very worrying, and in some cases “horrifically wrong”, calling for strong and rapid measures to counter the scourge.
Mr. Howard began by describing the prevalence and intensity of misinformation and disinformation being spread across the Pacific Island nation.
While more than 300 million people around the world face acute food insecurity, tobacco continues to be grown in 124 countries, diverting land and resources away from food crops – even in places where people are starving.
Ahead of World No Tobacco Day on Wednesday 31 May, the World Health Organization (WHO) has released new findings about tobacco’s disastrous health impact on development in low and middle-income countries.
WHO’s Director for Health Promotion, Dr. Rüdiger Krech, also busts the myth of tobacco as a lucrative crop, before explaining how the UN system helps farmers embrace alternatives that are better for their health and food security. Here he is, talking to UN News’s Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer in Geneva.
The arrest of one of the last remaining fugitives from the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda has been hailed as a commitment to ensuring that justice is served, no matter how long it takes.
Fulgence Kayeshima is alleged to have orchestrated the killing of approximately 2,000 Tutsi refugees at a Catholic Church in April 1994.
He had been on the run for more than 20 years, hiding in East African countries, including among refugee populations.
Mr. Kayeshima was arrested in South Africa on Wednesday by the UN tribunal for war crimes in Rwanda, known as the IRMCT, and local authorities.
This marked the culmination of an intense year-long process, as IRMCT Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz tells UN News’s Anold Kayanda.
The bamboo homes of Myanmar’s most vulnerable communities were no match for Cyclone Mocha which has left people with nothing, UN humanitarians warned on Friday.
With the latest from the country and neighbouring Bangladesh, here’s the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Anthea Webb, Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Since the launch of Chat GPT in November 2022, artificial intelligence (AI) has been dominating headlines, sparking excitement but also concern over the pace at which the technology is developing and driving misinformation.
The UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, Amandeep Gill, is busy working on a Global Digital Compact to be adopted at the UN’s Summit of the Future in 2024 – a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity for leaders to agree on common principles for addressing tech challenges.
Ahead of Wednesday’s World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, he has been talking to UN News’s Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer about using AI for good, why it’s not too late to regulate, and how getting AI governance right will be important for multilateralism itself.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been able to support around 50,000 Sudanese in need in three states, amid the continuing fighting and food crisis there, which temporarily halted the agency’s aid operation after three staffers were killed.
That’s according to Leni Kinzli head of communications for WFP in Sudan, who said a total of 19 million are expected to face food insecurity during the coming lean season, and called on the international community not to take their eyes off the crisis in the country, provoked by the ongoing military power struggle.
UN News Arabic’s Ezzat El-Ferri, asked her what the latest situation was on the ground.
UN Women is giving financial and technical support to young Sudanese who are leveraging the power of apps to keep women and girls safe amid the continuing military showdown that’s seen more than 100,000 already flee the country.
That’s according to the agency’s Representative in Sudan, Adjaratou Fatou Ndiaye, who told UN News that specially developed apps were also allowing women to map the availability of food and medicine, along with safe routes to escape the fighting.
She told Abdelmonem Makki of our Arabic service that above all, they deserve peace and development. He began by asking her to describe how the fighting was impacting women in particular.
Social media has long been a boon to press freedom, allowing journalists from all over the world to make their voices heard, grow an audience, and build trust.
But rampant disinformation has increasingly eroded the space for trustworthy information online, multiplying risks for the journalists who help separate fact from fiction.
Ahead of World Press Freedom Day, on 3 May, Derek Bowler, Head of Social Newsgathering at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), has been talking to UN News’s Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer about the complicated relationship between social media and free speech.
During this week’s UN ECOSOC Youth Forum, young people have been gathering at UN Headquarters in New York, to discuss the importance of energy transition for a sustainable future.
They will be the ones left to deal with the consequences, if the necessary green energy transition fails to materialize, so they’ve been arguing for the right to be fully represented during this crucial climate change debate.
Forum delegate, Aashna Aggarwal spoke with UN News’s Shivani Kala, after taking part in a session on how to accelerate the recovery from COVID-19 and get the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) back on track.
Conditions for children caught up in Sudan’s military showdown are critical, with at least nine dead and over 50 injured, though the UN Children’s Fund fears that total is probably much higher.
Ammar Ammar, UNICEF’s Jordan-based regional chief of advocacy and communications covering Sudan, said only a lasting humanitarian truce can help restore shattered services, and for now it’s too dangerous for their lifesaving work to continue.
Ezzat El-Ferri of UN News Arabic, began by asking him to describe what UNICEF’s doing to help ease the suffering.
More resources are urgently needed for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to meet the needs of thousands of refugees and internally displaced, who are fleeing the bloody showdown between rival military factions in Sudan.
That’s according to Faith Kasina, Regional Spokesperson for UNHCR who is based in Nairobi. Ezzat El-Ferri of UN News’s Arabic service began by asking her for the latest on the extent of internal displacement across the country so far.
Climate change has continued to drive hunger and displacement in 2022, as ever more frequent extreme weather events – drought, floods, heatwaves – have been threatening the very existence of vulnerable communities.
In a new report, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) shows that last year, humanity’s “war on nature” – in the words of UN Secretary-General António Guterres – has resulted in several alarming records, while the years 2015 to 2022 have been the eight warmest ever.
Omar Baddour, WMO’s head of climate monitoring and policy, has been talking to Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer about the key trends identified in the report.
The UN Secretary-General has appealed for the military rivals in Sudan to lay down their arms for at least three days so that people trapped in their homes can get desperately needed food, supplies and medical help.
Six days of fighting have been extremely devastating for civilians, including thousands of pregnant women now cut off from care, or hospitals where they can safely deliver their babies.
The UN’s reproductive health agency, UNFPA, estimates that there are at least 219,000 mothers-to-be in the capital, Khartoum, alone.
UNFPA Regional Director Laila Baker spoke to UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki about how staff there – who are mostly Sudanese nationals – are supporting expectant mothers amidst the crossfire and frustrated hopes of a ceasefire.
A new report from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) shows that immunization rates are in crisis, with 67 million children missing out on life-saving vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases are now on the rise, and it’s getting harder to play catch-up, as a surge in misinformation has dented the public’s confidence in the importance and efficacy of childhood shots.
UNICEF’s Global Head of Advocacy, Lily Caprani, has been talking to Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer about restoring vaccine confidence, and what needs to be done to accelerate immunization efforts now.
A senior World Health Organization (WHO) official has condemned the reported military occupation of at least one hospital in Sudan as a base for attacks, as “an incredibly concerning development.”
Dr. Richard Brennan, WHO Emergency Director for the Eastern Mediterranean region which includes Sudan, told UN News that the use of any health facility by either side in Sudan’s current military power struggle, would be a gross violation of international humanitarian law.
He told Abdelmonem Makki of our Arabic news service, that WHO was in regular contact with hospitals in Khartoum and other areas affected by the fighting, and despite careful pre-positioning of medical supplies to treat civilian casualties, they were fast running out.
Humanitarian needs are skyrocketing today, and the vast majority of people requiring aid, live in rural areas.
But while more than 70 per cent of all those affected in food crises are farmers or working in the fishing industry, only 4 per cent of emergency assistance targets their needs.
The Director of Emergencies of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Rein Paulsen, has been talking to Michele Zaccheo about ways to improve emergency responses, and put resources in the hands of farmers themselves.
In April 1994, a sinister call was broadcast over radio stations across Rwanda, triggering the start of 100 days of genocide that left more than one million people dead. Henriette Mutegwaraba heard that call over the radio.
“Every time I talk about it, I cry,” she told UN News, describing how propaganda spread messages of hate that sparked a deadly wave of unspeakable violence. She lost 60 family members and friends in the genocide.
Ahead of the UN General Assembly’s commemoration of the International Day of Reflection on the 1943 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, Ms. Mutegwaraba spoke with UN News about hate speech in the digital age, the 6 January attack on the United States capitol, how she survived the genocide, and how she explained what happened to her daughter.
Future Olympic events are poised to drive sustainability in sport and fight climate change, led by a set of game-changing measures adopted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and supported by the UN.
Speaking to UN News ahead of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, observed on 6 April, IOC’s legacy director, Tania Braga, explains how the 2024 Paris Games will be the first time that new sustainability guidelines will be fully implemented, aligning sport with development and climate action.
Eileen Travers asked Ms. Braga how compatible the Olympics are with sustainable development.
Latest data shared by the UN World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that one in two frontline health workers suffered burnout during COVID-19.
To help protect these key staff in the event of another pandemic, the WHO has convened its Fifth Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, in Geneva.
Participants include Dr Emma O’Brien from The Royal Melbourne Hospital, whose celebrated music therapy ensemble known as the Scrub Choir, most recently provided comfort to 1,000 under-pressure health workers, as she tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
First, though, we’ll hear from the WHO’s Workforce Director Jim Campbell, who explains why an action plan is needed so urgently to strengthen the global health workforce.
Record numbers of people are on the brink of famine today in Somalia, Ethiopia, Yemen, northeast Nigeria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Burkina Faso and Haiti.
Conflict and armed violence are among the root causes of these complex emergencies, while climate shocks are compounding vulnerabilities, especially in the Horn of Africa, which has had four years of consecutive drought with no end in sight.
UN Famine Prevention and Response Coordinator, Reena Ghelani, has been talking to UN News’s Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer about what she’s been seeing in the affected regions.
The transatlantic slave trade was a global phenomenon – directly affecting Africa, Europe and the Americas, with implications for Asia - and the UN can be a leader in promoting dialogue to addresses its complicated legacy.
That’s the opinion of renowned American lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a non-profit working to end mass incarceration in the United States, which mainly impacts people of colour and the poor.
He was at UN Headquarters on Thursday for an event to examine how museums can deal with the colonial past and include the voices of people of African descent.
Mr. Stevenson spoke to UN News’s Dianne Penn about what inspired his fight for justice, how slavery is linked to past atrocities such as lynchings and present-day violations such as police brutality, and why wider engagement by cultural institutions is needed to usher in a “new era” of greater inclusion.
Aniket Kadam is an android developer at a tech company called 100ms in India. After being one of the panelists at the pre-recorded UN event to commemorate World Autism Awareness Day, on 2 April, on the subject of work within the global theme "Transformation: Toward a Neuro-Inclusive World for All", UN News asked him to share his experiences living with autism alongside a message on the occasion of the international day.
A timetable for the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to fully withdraw, has yet to be agreed with the Government there, but constructive negotiations are continuing, MONUSCO chief Bintou Keita has told UN News, in an in-depth interview.
The UN mission’s core mandate is protection of civilians, but in many places of the partially militia-controlled east, there’s simply no authority which can keep people safe, if MONUSCO pulls out.
And when it comes to fighting deadly misinformation, Ms. Keita said it has been a “painful curve”, but the mission has now become proactive on social and other media platforms, to help stop its spread.
Jerome Bernard, of our UN News French service, began by asking her what the minimum conditions would be for MONUSCO to responsibly draw down, and leave DRC.
The illegal cocaine trade has bounced back following COVID-19 lockdowns, with coca cultivation up by more than a third from 2020 to 2021, according to a new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Speaking to UN News, UNODC’s chief analyst for the Global Report on Cocaine 2023, said new routes and networks had emerged, with global supply now at record levels.
Brazil has emerged as a major hub, and there’s concern demand is rising fast in West Africa and Asia, as Ms. Me told Pauline Batista.
As if the situation wasn’t bad enough for people facing starvation in the Greater Horn of Africa region, now UN humanitarians have warned that they’re in the grip of surging disease, linked to malnutrition.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda, have been particularly affected.
All seven countries are battling measles outbreaks, four have reported cholera outbreaks and malaria is a serious threat in Sudan.
With more on the human impact of this ongoing emergency, here’s Liesbeth Aelbrecht, WHO Incident Manager, talking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
As South Sudan prepares for elections in 2024, the world’s youngest nation sits at a fork in the road.
Progress towards a lasting peace include the need to hold fair elections, open civic spaces, and improved security. It also means having an inclusive constitution built for all.
But, right now, stark choices must be made, and 2023 is a “make or break” year, as Nicholas Haysom, who heads the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), tells UN News’s Eileen Travers.
Survivors of decades of conflict in the Horn of Africa have told the UN how hunger and drought have finally uprooted them from their homes.
To help 3.3 million people who’ve been displaced in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, issued an urgent appeal this week for $137 million.
And although famine was narrowly prevented last year, the humanitarian outlook for 2023 is extremely uncertain, as the agency’s Olga Sarrado tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
One year since Russia invaded Ukraine, UN food security experts are more concerned than ever about the global cost of living crisis that the war has fuelled.
In 2023, they’ve warned that the conflict could leave many developing countries – and particularly in Africa - facing potentially dire shortages of the essential foodstuffs that they used to import from the Black Sea neighbours.
With more on how the international community is coming together to tackle this affordability crunch, here’s Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with UN Geneva’s Michele Zaccheo.
This Friday will mark a year since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
For the World Health Organization (WHO), providing humanitarian support is the key priority during conflicts and other crises, said Dr. Jarno Habicht, the agency’s representative in the country.
Ahead of the grim anniversary, he spoke to UN News’s Andrei Muchnik about WHO’s ongoing operations amid missile and drone attacks, and how many local colleagues “have lost everything except their work”.
Dr. Habicht began by explaining what initially brought him to Ukraine.
Somaya Faruqi is one of the lucky ones. She managed to escape from Afghanistan in August 2021, just as the Taliban overran the country’s capital. Today, while the 20-year-old engineering student pursues a degree at Missouri S&T university in the US, her former classmates back home have been banned from the classroom by the de facto authorities.
In support of this week’s Education Cannot Wait conference in Geneva and its call for learning support in emergencies, Somaya has been speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson. She strongly believes education can help change discriminatory views about girls, women and their place in society.
The women of earthquake and war-ravaged northwest Syria all have the same message for the international community: help establish peace and restore some sense of hope for the future.
That’s according to Laila Baker from the UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA, who has been telling UN News what she’s seen and heard on the ground in Syria, in the past nine days of frantic relief efforts to save lives following the disaster.
May Yaacoub of our Arabic service, asked the UNFPA Regional Director to describe conditions around her.
Nearly one year since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the scale of destruction in the south and east has been massive - so much so, that one senior UN humanitarian worker has told UN News some towns “don’t even exist anymore”.
To help the vulnerable communities struggling to survive, the UN migration agency, IOM, has been stepping up aid and support.
That includes towns like Znamyanka in central Ukraine, where people fleeing escalating conflict further east have been arriving in search of shelter, as IOM’s Johannes Fromholt has been telling Daniel Johnson.
Aid teams on the ground in Syria are working round the clock to help those displaced by last week’s earthquake disaster, but the needs remain massive, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
In Aleppo, where families have found shelter in schools, mosques and churches, the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team (UNDAC) expressed concern that conditions are cramped and unsuitable, while many remain too terrified to return to their homes, fearing that they might collapse.
With more, here’s UNDAC Syria chief Samir Elhawary, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Unless the international community can fully engage in the recovery work to save vulnerable lives across Syria following the deadly earthquake disaster, a whole generation will be lost.
That’s the dire warning from the UN World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, who says that the wholesale suffering of Syrians regardless of political affiliation, can no longer be tolerated.
UN News Arabic’s Reem Abaza, began by asking Dr. Ahmed Al Mandhari, who has just returned to Cairo from the Syrian city of Aleppo, to describe what he had seen.
More than 6,000 high rise buildings are known to have collapsed in last Monday’s devastating earthquake in Türkiye, killing thousands, but rescuers have not given up hope of finding survivors.
That’s the message from veteran UN disaster relief coordinator Winston Chang, who’s based at Türkiye’s national emergency management centre in Ankara.
Here he is now, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson, with the latest on the international search and rescue effort.
The deadly earthquakes that have killed thousands across Türkiye and Syria come on the back of an already desperate situation facing Syria’s northwest, the UN Resident Coordinator for the Arab nation told UN News in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.
El- Mostafa Benlemlih, who is also the UN’s top humanitarian official in Syria, said the needs were huge in the affected area, which has seen more than a decade of war, a recent deadly cholera outbreak, and freezing winter temperatures.
Abdelmonem Makki of our UN News Arabic team asked him to describe the latest situation on the ground.
The UN climate agency, WMO, has brought together governments and scientists in Geneva to push for the creation of a global greenhouse gas measuring network, that will help countries to adapt to climate change and mitigate its impacts.
With more on the initiative, here’s Dr Oksana Tarasova, Senior Scientific Officer at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), speaking to UN News’s Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has warned that every day in Mali, civilians are being attacked by extremists who are forcing them from their homes and in some cases following them to displacement camps, to target them once again.
This is what has happened recently to more than 3,700 Burkinabé refugees and Malians who fled N’Tillit village for Gao, the nearest city, located 120 kilometres away. With more on this alarming situation, here’s UNHCR Representative in Mali, Mohamed Touré, who’s been speaking to UN News’ Daniel Johnson.
A report by the UN environment agency (UNEP) produced at the end of 2002 provides insights into the destruction the war in Ukraine has inflicted on the country’s urban and rural landscapes.
Nargiz Shekinskaya from UN News spoke to Andrea Hinwood, UNEP’s Chief Scientist, and began by asking her how much this preliminary study can tell us about the true environmental cost of the conflict.
Without $1.6 billion in funding for essential services and humanitarian aid to help Palestinian refugees this year, they could hit rock bottom, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency – or UNRWA – said on Tuesday.
In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini explains where the needs are most acute, and why the agency is an “indispensable” stabilizing force in the Middle East.
Disturbing new data released on Tuesday from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has highlighted concerns that most human trafficking victims who manage to escape, do so without the help of law enforcement.
The worry is that the COVID pandemic has forced governments to divert resources away from law enforcement activities that include tracking smuggling rings and locating victims.
The coronavirus is also believed to be responsible for a reported 11 per cent drop in the number of trafficking victims, but the devil is in the details, as UNODC’s Fabrizio Sarrica tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Disturbing new data released on Tuesday from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has highlighted concerns that most human trafficking victims who manage to escape, do so without the help of law enforcement.
The worry is that the COVID pandemic has forced governments to divert resources away from law enforcement activities that include tracking smuggling rings and locating victims.
The coronavirus is also believed to be responsible for a reported 11 per cent drop in the number of trafficking victims, but the devil is in the details, as UNODC’s Fabrizio Sarrica tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Sexual exploitation and abuse of vulnerable communities have “absolutely no place” in the United Nations and more needs to be done to help victims raise the alarm.
That’s the message from the top UN official tasked with eradicating sexual and gender-based violence, Christian Saunders.
In an exclusive interview, Mr. Saunders explains how he wants all peacekeepers, humanitarian and development workers to understand, respect and implement the Organization’s zero-tolerance stance on sexual and gender-based abuse.
Victims’ needs must come first, but there are lots of other practical measures that can be implemented across UN operations to reduce the risk of abuse from happening at all, he told Daniel Johnson at UN News.
The prospects of a political agreement between the Sudanese military and civilian groups, including civil society organizations, has moved a step closer, with the launch of the final phase of the Framework Agreement in Sudan, a process brokered by the UN and partners.
May Yaacoub from UN News spoke to Volker Perthes, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Sudan, about the progress so far, and the efforts being made to ensure that different sectors of society, including youth and women, are represented.
The rapid 10 degree Celsius rise in temperature across large parts of Europe before Christmas was “brutal” but it could be the shape of things to come, the UN Meteorological Organization WMO, said on Friday.
In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, Cyrille Honoré, head of the UN agency’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Public Services Branch, explains the science behind unusual weather patterns in Europe and elsewhere.
The son and former wife of Brazilian football legend Pelé, have been talking to UN News about the father and husband they knew, recalling his big but soft heart - and love for children from all walks of life across the country.
His son, Joshua Nascimento joined his mother, Assíria Lemos, in conversation with Monica Grayley, head of our Portuguese service, to talk about the legacy of the footballing great and three-time World Cup winner, who died in hospital in Sao Paulo, on Thursday.
Hate speech has cost the lives of UN peacekeepers and civilians on the ground they are there to protect in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the head of MONUSCO, the UN mission there, has said, but new initiatives to counter the scourge are making a difference.
Bintou Keita, who’s also the UN Special Representative in DRC, told UN News MONUSCO was countering fake-news and intolerance online, and the Government is working effectively to crack down on hate.
She began by telling Alban Mendes de Leon about the growing instability in eastern DRC caused by the many armed groups operating in the area, including M23 and the ADF – noting that despite the fighting across three provinces, most of the country was relatively secure and peaceful.
Fifty-one point five billion dollars: that’s the staggering amount that UN relief chief Martin Griffiths has asked donors for, to help 230 million extremely vulnerable people in nearly 70 countries next year.
Although relief needs are growing, Mr. Griffiths is under no illusion that less than half of what he’s requested will be provided.
Which is why he’s convinced that the money should come from other sources, including non-earmarked development funding, and even a windfall tax on energy companies, as he explains to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Forty years into the battle against AIDS, a new UN report spotlights fundamental inequalities as the key reason why the disease has yet to be eradicated.
Just ahead of World AIDS Day, César Núñez of UNAIDS, the UN agency leading the fight against the virus, told UN News that gender inequality is “a key driver” of the epidemic – along with other prevailing inequalities, especially those impacting vulnerable sex workers, prisoners, and intravenous drug users.
Mr. Núñez began his conversation with Liz Scaffidi by reflecting on the many years spent struggling to contain the disease worldwide.
The current review of the world’s primary biological weapons treaty taking place in Geneva needs to “break the deadlock” over a verification mechanism, the top diplomat presiding the talks has told UN News.
Even if that thorny issue remains unresolved, there are other proposals on the table that could make it harder to produce lab-made threats in future, Ambassador Leonardo Bencini explains to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Although several groundbreaking treatments for diabetes are in the pipeline, some patients still cannot get access to lifesaving insulin, which was discovered over a century ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports.
Diabetes is rising across the globe, in part due to population ageing but also obesity and other lifestyle factors. Currently, more than 420 million people are living with the disease, which impacts blood sugar levels, mainly in low and middle-income countries.
In connection with World Diabetes Day marked this week, on 14 November, Andriy Muchnik of UN News’s Russian Language Service spoke to Slim Sluma, head of WHO’s Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) Department.
Presiding over the UN Human Rights Council this year has felt like captaining a ship in the middle of a tsunami, Federico Villegas has told UN News in an interview in New York, with three world-shaping events threatening the very future of the Council itself.
The COVID pandemic, climate change, and the war in Ukraine, have tested the rights system to its limit, but the fact the Council could take action over war in the heart of Europe by an “overwhelming majority”, while the Security Council was gridlocked with Russia using its veto, shows its value.
Council President Villegas, spoke to Jerome Bernard of our UN News French service.
On Friday, Judge Leonardo Brant was elected to serve on the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principle judicial organ of the UN, which settles legal disputes between Member States.
The Brazilian jurist joins a bench of 15 eminent justices from around the world, who hear cases that can often take years to work their way through the system, with profound consequences for not only the countries involved, but entire regions.
UN News recently sat down with the Registrar, or head of the ICJ, Philippe Gautier, at UN Headquarters in New York, who told us without the Court, there would be “no trust” in the international legal order, and “terrible consequences” for international peace and security.
Philippe Coste of our French service, began by asking him what role the Court could potentially play in bringing Russia to account for its illegal invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, on 24 February.
Just as racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination should have no place in the world, “povertyism” – or negative attitudes and behaviour towards poor people - should also be illegal.
That’s the hope of Olivier De Schutter, the UN expert working to give greater prominence to the plight of the millions of people across the globe who are living in extreme poverty.
Together with the head of the UN’s labour agency, ILO, he also advocates for supporting low-income countries to provide social protection for their populations, such as unemployment benefits and old age pensions.
Mr. De Schutter, whose official title is Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, was at UN Headquarters recently to present his latest report to the General Assembly.
He told Florence Westergard from UN News’s French Language Unit why abandoning a “charity” approach to poverty is the only effective way to eradicate it.
Countries in the ‘Global South’ recognize Israel’s “settler colonialism” manifested through its illegal occupation of the West Bank and other Palestinian territory, said the UN's independent expert for human rights there, after delivering her first report to the General Assembly.
Francesca Albanese told UN News that many Western States on the other hand, are living behind a “wall of denial” over the issue, and essential rights are non-negotiable when it comes to forging a lasting peace.
She took up her post as Special Rapporteur for Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, earlier this year, and Shireen Yaseen of UN News's Arabic service, began by asking Ms. Albanese why she wanted to take on the Human Rights Council-appointed role.
Devastating flooding – the worst in a decade – has affected millions of people in west and central Africa, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, warned on Friday.
It’s appealed to all donors to step up their support for the most vulnerable, from Burkina Faso to Nigeria, where fields, farms and roads have been flooded.
With the latest, here’s UNHCR’s Olga Sarrado, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Despite the global prohibition against torture, it still “permeates many aspects of our lives”, impacting police conduct, conflict and even climate response, the newly appointed UN expert monitoring violations worldwide has said.
Dr. Alice Jill Edwards, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, has presented her first interim report to the General Assembly in New York.
She is the seventh person to hold the mandate, and the first woman in nearly four decades.
UN News’s Heyi Zou spoke to Ms. Edwards, who began by explaining her “breakthrough” appointment.
Propaganda and disinformation are nothing new in war, but digital technology and social media are fuelling it like never before, creating an ‘extremely dangerous’ situation in Ukraine and other warzones, for vulnerable civilians exercising their rights.
That’s according to the independent UN human rights expert on freedom of opinion and expression, Irene Khan, who tells us the “information blackout” inside Russia itself has wiped out any news independent of the State, offering encouragement to other aggressors around the world.
The UN News Russian service’s Nargiz Shekinskaya began by asked Special Rapporteur Khan if she saw any common themes in how information is being abused in warzones across the world today.
The Chair of the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has found reasonable grounds to believe war crimes have been committed there, since Russia’s invasion of 24 February.
On Tuesday, the Commission presented its first detailed written findings to the UN General Assembly.
Chair Erik Møse says there’s an undeniable need for accountability for the crimes which have been committed - the vast majority by Russian forces, although there are several instances involving Ukrainian troops.
In an interview with UN News, he told Dina Neskorozhana that the contents are report are simply “the truth as we have observed it”.
In this episode of the UN Conference on Trade and Development’s Weekly Tradecast, Sarah Toms talks to Richard Kozul-Wright, Director of UNCTAD’s Globalization and Development Strategies team, about their major report out this week. He argues that despite the looming recession due to the Ukraine war, COVID and other crises, the world can change course, if countries put the right policies in place.
Amid catastrophic flooding in Pakistan, UN humanitarians have raced to offer support to the Government, in the crucial early days of the relief effort.
Beyond the immediate challenge of reaching all those stranded by the high waters, fears remain about next season’s harvest, if the waters do not recede in time for planting.
With more, here’s the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) Country Director for Pakistan, Chris Kaye, who’s been talking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
It has been five years since the bloody crackdown in Myanmar that forced nearly one million members of the minority Rohingya community to seek shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh, joining scores of others who had fled previous waves of violence.
Nicholas Koumjian heads the International Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), established by the UN Human Rights Council to document crimes committed in the country, including in the wake of the February 2021 military coup.
During a recent visit to UN Headquarters, Mr. Koumjian spoke to Dianne Penn about the Mechanism’s work, its outreach to Burmese citizens, and the challenges facing its staff.
As a veteran prosecutor of international crimes – from Cambodia to Sierra Leone, to the former Yugoslavia and Timor-Leste – Mr. Koumjian is adamant that one day, justice will prevail in Myanmar.
When a massive earthquake hit remote communities in Afghanistan’s Khost and Paktika provinces on 21 June, UN Children’s Fund staffer Veronica Houser knew it was going to be a tough assignment. So many families had been buried in rubble and mud while they slept. To highlight the work of aid workers for this year’s World Humanitarian Day, here’s her first-hand account of the relief effort.
After two years of incredible gains, the prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have plunged in recent months; and more turbulence is likely, according to the UN trade and development agency, UNCTAD.
In its latest podcast, the Geneva-based agency is talking about cryptocurrencies with economist Marina Zucker of UNCTAD’s debt and development finance branch.
Are cryptocurrencies here to stay? Is it time for governments to regulate them? Tune in to hear Ms. Zucker spell out the risks and share her ideas about solutions.
While the economic crisis has impacted numerous sectors across Sri Lanka, nutrition security has been particularly affected.
According to recent UN data, 6.3 million people have been rendered food insecure, meaning that they cannot access a nutritious diet on a daily basis.
The World Food Programme (WFP) in the country is working towards solutions to the current food crisis.
UN News’s Anshu Sharma spoke to WFP’s Country Director, Abdur Rahim Siddiqui, and started by asking him about the economic impacts on people’s lives.
Years of violent insecurity in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo have left at least 5.6 million people there displaced.
There’s not enough funding to help all those in need, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has warned, adding that some have been forced to sleep out in the open, leaving them vulnerable to sexual abuse, which is widespread throughout the area.
In an interview with UN News’ Daniel Johnson, the agency’s Head of External Relations, Dominique Hyde, described the desperate scenes she saw for herself in Ituri province last week.
This past week in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, violent protesters have targeted the UN peacekeeping Mission there, MONUSCO.
Three UN ‘blue helmets’ have been killed, along with demonstrators, who have called on the force to do more to protect communities from the many armed groups that roam the mineral-rich east of the vast country.
It’s a deeply worrying situation, but as MONUSCO number two, Khassim Diagne explains to UN News’s Daniel Johnson, every effort is being made to restore calm and investigate the killings.
The UN response to HIV/AIDS is under threat from a host of international crises, from COVID to the war in Ukraine, and the ensuing financial challenges faced by countries across the world.
Mandeep Dhaliwal is the director of HIV and health at the UN Development Programme (UNDP). She spoke to Conor Lennon from UN News ahead of the 2022 International AIDS Conference.
She warned that the UN, and other organizations, are losing ground in the fight against the disease.
A Gambian woman who was tricked into being trafficked to Kuwait in 2015 has shared her story of abuse and subsequent activism, in the hope others will be spared the “hell” she went through.
Fatou Jagne studied pharmacy at university and was working at the biggest hospital in The Gambia. However, the salary was low, so a friend’s cousin offered to help her find a job in Kuwait.
When Fatou arrived at the airport, her documents were seized and she was immediately sold into domestic slavery.
She ended up working for more than 15 different families, toiling for long hours with little rest. She said life was “hell” because she was beaten, mistreated, and never paid.
Bessie Du spoke to the young activist ahead of Saturday’s World Day Against Trafficking in Persons to learn more about her traumatic experience, and how it spurred her advocacy.
The UN General Assembly is due to vote in a few days’ time on a resolution that recognises a universal Human Right to a Healthy Environment.
The draft text is based on the landmark resolution adopted last year by the Human Rights Council and calls upon States and international organizations to adopt policies that scale up efforts to ensure a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for all.
Laura Quinones spoke to UN Special Rapporteur, David Boyd, about why it’s important for nations to recognise this right and what is at stake for humanity.
She began by asking what impact last year’s Human Rights Council adoption has had so far.
In this latest episode of The Weekly Tradecast from UN trade and development body UNCTAD, Jan Hoffman, head of trade logistics, explains how the Ukraine war has compounded severe strains on global supply chains, from the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 80% of goods move by sea. Space on ships is tight and the cost to transport a container has soared. Now, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prices are rising for almost everything we consume.
While Giovanni Pintor was right in the middle of what turned out to be a devastating car accident, the only thing on his mind was what he would tell his mother.
But that turned out to be the least of his worries after his two brothers were killed when their car lost control on a notoriously deadly bend in his native Sardinia, in Italy.
Today, the 25-year-old youth activist and UN staff member uses a creative approach that involves hip-hop concerts and street basketball tournaments to show how young people can be agents for change.
He talks to UN News’ Daniel Johnson about his road safety association Adesso Basta, which translates to “that’s enough”.
In the second episode of their Weekly Tradecast, UNCTAD talks to Paul Akiwumi, Director of the Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programme division. Soaring food and energy prices are hitting especially hard as the region struggles with the impact of the pandemic and climate change.
The continent of 1.4 billion people relies heavily on grain and other essentials from Ukraine and Russia – exposing them to shortages and crippling costs that imperil development. Mr. Akiwumi, who led the production of the UN trade and development body’s latest Economic Development in Africa Report, says that to cope with this crisis and insulate itself for the future, Africa must rethink how it diversifies its economies to attract investment and narrow huge income gaps.
In the first episode of UNCTAD’s Weekly Tradecast, the organization’s Secretary-General, Rebeca Grynspan, talks about the global cost-of-living crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine.
What can be done to support vulnerable countries and people who will suffer the most from rising food, energy and fertilizer prices?
More than four months since the start of the war, people globally are facing a cost-of-living crisis not seen in more than a generation – in a world already grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
The United Nations Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance warned in a recent report that an estimated 1.6 billion people in 94 countries are exposed to at least one dimension of the crisis, which threatens to unleash an unprecedented wave of global hunger and destitution.
Children and women worldwide, are the most likely to die in road crashes. But Nneka Henry says that doesn’t make road safety only an issue for youth or gender - it’s a development challenge for all of society.
Ms. Henry is the Head of the United Nations Road Safety Fund. UN HOPE Fellow, Diedra Sealey, spoke with her just ahead of the first ever High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on Improving Global Road Safety, taking place in New York this week.
Closing the UN Ocean Conference on Friday, Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Miguel de Serpa Soares, spelled out the challenges that still need to be addressed to ensure lasting protection and the restoration of our Ocean.
Looking back on the week, Mr. Soares sat down with UN News’s Eleuterio Guevane. He started by laying out what the conference had achieved.
Each of us can do three things to help save our oceans: vote, promote solutions to existing problems such as pollution, and try to buy more sustainably.
Those are the key takeaways from Emanuel Gonçalves, marine ecologist, conservationist and chief scientist of the Oceano Azul Foundation, who’s come to take part in the UN Ocean Conference, in Lisbon.
UN News’s Ana Carmo started by asking him about the importance of including the high seas in marine protection.
Interlinking the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 – Life Below Water – and Gender Equality, the UN Ocean Conference this week is aiming to increase women’s participation and leadership in ocean related issues.
Women continue to be under-represented in ocean related issues, with most in the sector, stuck on land, “and getting very little pay”, says Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, President of the World Maritime University, based in Sweden.
On Tuesday, Ms. Doumbia-Henry took part in an event on the margins of the Conference, focused on boosting women’s representation in ocean sustainability and conservation.
She spoke to UN News’s Ana Carmo, who’s also in the Portuguese capital.
Ocean health is at a critical stage, and radical changes need to be made by people everywhere to allow sustainable management and development.
Knowing that women continue to be under-represented in the field of ocean protection, particularly in decision-making roles, experts at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon, are calling for an action plan to change that.
Ana Carmo who’s at the conference for UN News in the Portuguese capital, spoke to Maria Damanaki, founder of Leading Women for the Ocean.
UN humanitarians raised the alarm on Tuesday over frightening levels of child hunger in northeast Nigeria that are linked to more than a decade of violence by non-State armed groups.
In the three states where needs are greatest – Borno, Adamawa and Yobe - more than 1.7 million children under five, are already at risk of serious malnutrition.
With more, here’s the UN’s Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, talking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
“Ocean literacy” is defined as how you understand the ocean influences you, and how you in turn, influence what happens to the ocean, however small your impact might be in helping the seas survive for future generations.
Empowering people to become more responsible and protect ocean resources, is the way that the UN Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) believes we can all unlock innovative ocean science solutions.
Francesca Santoro is in charge of ocean literacy at UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), based in Venice.
Ms. Santoro explained to UN News’s Ana Carmo, what ocean literacy entails, and how the involvement of younger generations is crucial to help restore the ocean.
Here at UN News, we do try to avoid overloading you with too many facts and figures, but here’s one that’s worth remembering: the Human Rights Council has reached an historic milestone of convening this week, for its 50th session.
The world’s preeminent forum for discussing rights issues of concern was created by the UN General Assembly, back in 2006.
Fast forward to today, and for the current President of the General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, the Human Rights Council’s recently adopted resolutions on human rights and climate change have a personal significance, as he explains to Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer.
Hurricanes, COVID-19 and now the Ukraine crisis: these are the three main reasons why hunger levels are spiking across Latin America and the Caribbean.
According to the UN World Food Programme, or WFP, many families are so desperate that they’re prepared to risk their lives on a highly dangerous jungle crossing, linking South and North America, known as the Darien Gap.
With the details, here’s WFP’s Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Lola Castro, who’s been talking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson in Geneva.
Amid ongoing insecurity in some regions of Mali, the UN Mission in the country, MINUSMA, maintains an effective presence protecting civilians and supporting implementation of a 2015 peace deal.
That’s the message from El-Ghassim Wane, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Mali and Head of MINUSMA, who is in New York this week to address the Security Council.
Ahead of the meeting, Mr. Wane sat down with UN News’s Dianne Penn, who began by asking him if there has been any progress on the political front since he last briefed the Council in April.
As the world prepares to mark International Albinism Awareness Day on Monday 13 June, a top UN-appointed independent rights expert has insisted that progress is being made on raising awareness about the discrimination and dangers that people with albinism face.
Muluka-Anne Miti Drummond, who’s the UN Independent Expert on the rights of persons with albinism, has been speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
More than 40 different country situations of concern will be put under the international spotlight at the Human Rights Council’s landmark 50th session beginning on Monday, in Geneva.
Created in 2006, the forum is the most important multilateral body for the advancement of people’s freedoms, which recently have included strong and unequivocal action against racism and the challenges posed by climate change, as President of the Council, Federico Villegas tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
First families lose their land, then their livestock and then their children; that’s the stark reality of life right now in the Horn of Africa, where millions of people have been hit by successive failed rainy seasons.
According to UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, hundreds of thousands of Somali children are in desperate need of treatment for life-threatening severe acute malnutrition, more even than during the brutal 2011 famine.
With more details, here’s Rania Dagash, UNICEF Deputy Director for eastern and southern Africa, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
There is room for optimism that the war in Ukraine will end, but meanwhile, the UN is planning how best to protect millions of civilians through the harsh winter that begins in just a few months’ time.
That’s according to Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine, Amin Awad, speaking exclusively to UN News, marking the 100 days since the 24 February Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Abdelmonem Makki, began by asking Mr. Awad if he thought the fighting could end anytime soon.
When your country is at war, chances are you might have other priorities than attending an event at the UN that promotes peace.
But that’s not the case for Ukrainian teenager Daria Yelisieienko, who travelled all the way from her war-torn country this week, to show her support for United Nations peacekeepers everywhere.
These soldiers with their trademark blue helmets are honoured every year on 30 May, the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, at ceremonies such as the one that took place at UN Geneva this Monday - which is where UN News’s Daniel Johnson caught up with Daria.
Ocean and global climate are intrinsically linked – and if the “right decisions are made at the UN Ocean Conference, the Ocean will be a big part of Portugal’s feature”.
That’s the view of Samuel Collins, a project manager at the Oceano Azul Foundation in Lisbon.
The organization plays a big role in ocean literacy, aiming to educate a “blue generation”, works on ocean conservation, and also supports the development of startups creating products and services with positive environmental impact.
UN News’s Ana Carmo talked to Sam Collins, and started by asking him about the expectations for the upcoming UN Ocean Conference that will take place in the Portuguese capital at the end of June.
From conserving marine biodiversity to awareness raising and seafood consumption, Associação Natureza Portugal, or ANP, runs several projects that are contributing to a healthier ocean.
Based in the coastal city of Lisbon, Portugal, the non-governmental organization works in line with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Ahead of the UN Ocean Conference, which is taking place there at the end of June, UN News’ Ana Carmo spoke on the phone with ANP’s Director of Conservation and Policy, Catarina Grilo, and Nuno Barros, a specialist in Ocean and Fisheries.
She starts by asking them how co-managing small-scale fisheries can contribute to ocean health.
Governments should recruit more women into their national forces so that they can serve at UN field operations, an award-winning peacekeeper from Zimbabwe has said.
Major Winnet Zharare is the recipient of the 2021 Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award, presented by the UN Secretary-General during a ceremony on Thursday in observation of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
Major Zharare spent 17 months at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) where she championed gender parity within her own ranks, but also among local military counterparts and in host communities.
Ben Malor of UN News asked the former UN military observer about her experience there, the benefit of having “wicked” parents, and the importance of encouraging more women to work for the cause of peace.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the consequences of the war have been devastating for many millions of people in then country.
Many of those forced to flee left behind friends and communities, their homes, belongings, and jobs.
The UN's Nathalie Minard spoke to Ukrainian refugees in neighbouring Poland, to find out how cash transfers from the UN are helping them, and why the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) considers cash to be the most efficient way to help vulnerable people.
The head of the UN weather agency, WMO, has told UN News that with the cost of renewable energy falling, and new investment from the private sector, we have the tools to limit global warming to the globally-agreed limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius.
WMO chief Petteri Taalas, was speaking on Wednesday, as the State of the Climate 2021 report showed that new records were set last year for four out of seven key climate change indicators, despite some progress in recent years.
Daniel Johnson in Geneva asked Mr. Taalas to outline the report’s main findings.
Two and a half years into the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be tempting to think that for many of us, the worst is over.
The reality is that the fallout from the coronavirus could last a decade, and not only in the health sector, scientists have said in a new UN-backed report.
To ensure that we’re better prepared for the next global shock, governments everywhere need to take stock of the vulnerabilities that have been exposed nationally - and internationally - by the pandemic, as UN News’ Daniel Johnson hears now, from Mami Mizutori, head of the UN Office of Disaster Risk Reduction, Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization and first, Peter Gluckman, who’s President of the International Science Council.
As if there weren’t enough problems to worry about down here on earth, there is a growing number of threats to global peace in outer space too, which is why UN-led talks are underway all this week in Geneva to find common ground on cosmic security.
Chairing the first open-ended working group on reducing space threats, veteran Chilean diplomat Hellmut Lagos explained to UN News’s Daniel Johnson why space matters to us all, and what Member States are most concerned about.
As the war in Ukraine grinds on, the work of UN investigators has continued, with the harrowing task of gathering testimonies and evidence of potential war crimes.
To date, the deaths of more than 3,300 civilians have been painstakingly confirmed by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, which readily admits that the actual number will likely be many thousands more.
In an interview with UN News, the Head of the mission, Matilda Bogner, gives an overview of the investigation’s progress since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
If you like political cartoons, chances are that you’ve come across the work of Patrick Chappatte, in leading international newspapers and journals.
In addition to his prolific output, Mr. Chappate is also president of the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation; to coincide with World Press Freedom Day 2022 on 3 May, it’s unveiled a new exhibition in Geneva, featuring drawings by other top illustrators who take great risks to stand up to authority.
Here he is now, explaining to UN News’s Daniel Johnson how the challenges to a free press seem to be proliferating – and why it’s so important to push back against those who would stifle free speech.
“We can’t afford not to invest in prevention and peacebuilding” – that’s the view of newly-minted UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, Elizabeth Spehar.
In an interview with UN News, she gave the example of the effectiveness of the Peacebuilding Fund in the Gambia, where UN agencies have supported nationwide consultations on truth and reconciliation. One beneficiary testified that Gambians “now aspire to live in peace in this country.”
Ms. Spehar spoke at length to Liz Scaffidi, about the critical importance of building peace and her role in making that happen.
Demonstrating the wide-ranging consequences of the climate crisis, the UN Human Rights Council has appointed the first-ever Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the context of Climate Change. Ian Fry, who is of Australian and Tuvalu heritage, teaches environmental policy at the Australian National
University in Canberra. As UN Special Rapporteur, he will be tasked with studying how climate change affects the full enjoyment of human rights, and recommend ways to prevent these effects.
In an interview with the UN’s Julia Dean, Mr. Fry explained why the Human Rights Council created his new role.
The war in Ukraine is having a “ripple effect” in South Sudan, where the World Food Programme (WFP) is working to feed millions of people battered by conflict, unprecedented flooding, and displacement.
Food prices in the world’s youngest nation were already increasing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the war has disrupted supply chains, resulting in rising costs for staples such as sorghum, maize and vegetable oil.
Fuel prices have also skyrocketed, and WFP is now spending $1 million dollars more each month to keep its trucks on the road.
Matthew Hollingworth, WFP Country Director in South Sudan, explained to UN News’s Dianne Penn why the agency is being forced to make some tough decisions around aid distribution.
How can we tackle the lack of digital access that many developing countries face?
And how can we use digital tools to save our environment, fight inequality and help all nations benefit from the online economy? These are some of the challenges that the UN trade and development body, known as UNCTAD, is focusing on during this year’s eCommerce Week, from 25 to 29 April.
To find out more, UNCTAD’s Sarah Toms speaks with her colleague Torbjorn Fredriksson and Andy Yen, founder of Proton Technologies, about the latest innovative solutions that could help us achieve more inclusive development in our digital world.
Yessie Mosby is best known as one of the “Torres Strait Eight”, the activists from the islands north of the Australian mainland, who complained to the UN Human Rights Council that the government was not doing enough to protect them from the effects of the climate crisis.
In this interview with the UN’s Julia Dean, recorded earlier this month, Mr. Mosby described the devastating effects of the rising sea levels and extreme weather events in recent years, and his fears for the future.
He started by describing the deep connection that he and his community have to the islands, which have been home to his people for some 70,000 years.
In the West African country of Senegal, the most common form of human trafficking among children is forced begging.
Alline Pedra, a Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), is working with authorities in Senegal on procedures to prevent, investigate and prosecute cases of human trafficking.
UNODC’s Louise Potterton spoke to the anti-human trafficking expert for UN News.
Ms. Pedra began by explaining why children were being victimized.
Repeated warnings of the effects of the war in Ukraine on developing countries reached a new pitch on 13 April, when UN humanitarian agencies said that millions of displaced families across eastern Africa will fall deeper into hunger, as food rations dwindle, amid a lack of sufficient funds, meaning more than 70 percent of refugees in need do not receive enough to eat.
And that same day, the Secretary-General, António Guterres, launched a report detailing the disastrous consequences of the Ukraine war for those who rely on grain supplies sourced from the country.
Joyce Msuya, the UN’s deputy emergency relief chief, joined us in our UN News studio and told Conor Lennon that she had noticed back in 2021 that the hunger crisis was growing - well before the Russian invasion began.
Resilience among ordinary Ukrainians is remarkable but if the war goes on much longer, it threatens 20 years of development gains, the UN Development Programme (or UNDP), has warned.
From Lviv in western Ukraine, here’s Manal Fouani, UNDP lead in the country, describing to UN News’s Daniel Johnson the many and varied challenges that the country faces, seven weeks since the Russian invasion began.
As UN agencies warn of an impending famine situation in Somalia, a prolonged drought crisis in the entire Horn of Africa region is threatening to turn into a catastrophe.
A combination of the impacts of climate change, conflict and COVID-19 has created ‘the perfect storm of horror’, with the war in Ukraine pushing food and fuel prices up, according to UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Mohamed M. Fall.
He’s been in Ethiopia this week assessing the impact of the regional drought on families and children, and started by telling UN News’s Joshua Mmali, what he has seen on his trip, not far from the border with Somalia.
It’s not very often at the UN that we get the chance to talk to talented musicians whose work can help to promote the Organization’s goals of peace, human rights and development; but that’s exactly what happened when Mali songwriter Vieux Farka Touré agreed to tell us all about his brand new composition, A Song For The Sahel.
In partnership with the humanitarian coordination office OCHA, Mr. Touré set out to write a message of hope to the people of the Sahel, a region where spreading violence has left almost 29 million people in need of life-saving assistance and protection; that’s five million more people than last year.
Here he is now, talking - and singing - to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
A new low in the war in Ukraine has made headlines around the world this week, with the discovery that hundreds of civilians have been killed in the city of Bucha, in areas previously controlled by Russian troops.
Early testimonies from survivors indicate that the victims were “directly targeted” and killed, according to the UN rights office, OHCHR. Responding to claims from Russia that the incident is nothing more than fake news, here’s spokesperson Liz Throssell, talking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Although Africa “pollutes less” as a continent than others such as Europe or the Americas, it’s suffering disproportionately from the impact of climate change, with drought and flooding having a profound impact on food security and agriculture.
Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, a UN Assistant Secretary-General, and Director-General of the African Risk Capacity Group, a specialised agency of the African Union (AU) managed by the World Food Programme (WFP), was recently in Dubai taking part in the Entrepreneurship and Investment Forum there. UN News’s Anshu Sharma caught up with him on the sidelines of the event.
In this interview, he speaks about what the region needs to do in terms of disaster risk reduction and the five-year early warning plan to boost climate action in the African continent.
The six-month long 2020 Dubai Expo came to an end this week, marking the end also of the United Nations Hub there, which aimed to explain to attendees, the central and diverse role the Organization plays at the heart of world events.
As the first Expo to be held in the Middle East, the mega-event was forced to delay its opening, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but ultimately, it attracted 23 million visits.
Maher Nasser, Director of the Outreach Division and UN Commissioner-General at Expo 2020, spoke to UN News’s Anshu Sharma who was in Dubai, for the closing day. He described its impact, and the legacy that it is providing, years into the future.
This week saw the UN launch an ambitious bid to stop the spread of common, mosquito-borne diseases – known as “arboviruses” - which threaten more than half the world’s population.
The main target of the initiative is four of the most common arboviruses: Dengue, Yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika.
Here’s the World Health Organization’s Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove now, telling UN News’s Daniel Johnson all about how the Global Arbovirus Initiative plans to share expertise on bug-busting across continents.
“Go vote” is the resounding message that 20-year-old climate activist Sophia Kianni wants everyone to hear, because the only way to effect real change to slow global warming, is through better public policy, she says.
One of seven activists who make up the Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, the young American bemoaned the failure of the US Congress to pass ‘Build Back Better’ legislation, to tackle the climate emergency.
If people want to be engaged, they need to be involved in their political processes, she told Liz Scaffidi, but she began by explaining how she took up the mantle of climate activist.
With thousands of business leaders, government officials, academics and entrepreneurs gathering in Dubai this week for the World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum (WEIF 2022), discussions on Tuesday turned to boosting support for women entrepreneurs and women-led businesses.
The Forum held a panel on ‘Uplifting Women Entrepreneurship’ where participants discussed the range of challenges and solutions for businesswomen in the Arab region, and beyond.
UN News’s Anshu Sharma is in Dubai and spoke to the Chairperson of the Emirates Businesswomen Council of the UAE, Farida Al Awadhi.
This week, more than 1,000 business leaders, government officials, academics and entrepreneurs, are gathering at the World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum (WEIF 2022) in Dubai.
Under the theme of “connecting minds” towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, they will be brainstorming ways to strengthen global partnerships, and finding new investment opportunities to make the 2030 SDGs a reality.
UN News’s Anshu Sharma is in Dubai, and talked to WEIF’s Executive Director Dr. Hashim Hussein.
Medical needs in Ukraine “are just cascading” – that’s the message from the UN World Health Organization (WHO), which is pushing hard to access people with chronic and emergency needs, in large areas of the war-torn country.
On the line from the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, here’s the agency’s Tarik Jasarevic, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Up to 90 per cent of the Ukrainian population could end the year living on $5.50 a day or less, if Russia’s invasion continues for months on end, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Representative in the country – before the war, the figure was just two per cent.
Dafina Gercheva told UN News’s Nargiz Shekinskaya, that Ukraine and its people were going through a “living hell” as the bombardment continues, with more than 30 per cent of businesses already shuttered, and over $100 billion of infrastructure damage already recorded, after just a month of fighting.
The solutions to restoring the health of the ocean – which provides us with oxygen, food and livelihoods – are out there, and in 100 days they will be in the spotlight in Lisbon, Portugal, at the second ever UN Oceans Conference.
The event taking place this June will be a critical opportunity to mobilize partnerships and increase investment to fight ocean pollution, overfishing and other challenges.
Laura Quinones spoke to the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean Peter Thomson.
He began by explaining how UN Ocean Conferences came into existence, and why they are important.
Women and girls are 14 times more likely than men to be killed or injured as a result of climate crises and natural disasters, so it’s high time their voices carry more weight in climate negotiations.
That’s the straightforward message from UN Women, which has launched a new strategic plan to increase women’s political participation and leadership on climate change and environmental sustainability.
In honour of International Women’s Day which was celebrated all this week, UN News’s Ali Khaffane caught up with Adriana Quinones, Director of UN Women’s liaison office in Geneva, to explain the agency’s approach.
Social media influencers are glamourizing the use of cannabis, heroin and other controlled substances, and governments and companies need to do more to stop these kinds of messages being spread on popular platforms, the head of a UN-backed drug control body warned on Thursday.
Jagjit Pavadia, the President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), spoke to Conor Lennon from UN News on the launch of the organization’s annual report, which also shows that many potentially harmful drugs are easily available online.
Ms. Pavadia began by outlining the scale of the problem, and the danger it poses, particularly to young people and children.
Amid growing international condemnation over Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, tens of thousands of people are still trying to escape to neighbouring countries, fleeing en masse.
This has brought huge numbers to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where UN children’s fund spokesperson James Elder has been giving an update on the emotional and tense scenes he’s witnessed, to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Five days after Russia launched a "special military operation" against Ukraine, more than 500,000 people have fled across the borders, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported on Monday.
Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have been escaping to Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and beyond.
UN humanitarian agencies are on the ground and ready to increase support in what is a fast-growing refugee emergency.
UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo spoke to UN News’s Daniel Johnson, and told him that people arriving are exhausted by the “grueling journey to safety”.
UN scientists on Monday delivered a dire warning about the impact of climate change on people and planet.
The report launched by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows how climate change is affecting every continent.
Although it is a global issue, its “negative impacts fall particularly strongly on disadvantaged and poor people across the globe, who have the least ability to adapt”.
The comment is from Professor Mark Howden, Director of the Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions, at the Australian National University, one of the authors of the report, and Working Group Vice-Chair.
Professor Howden spoke to Julia Dean from the UN Country Team in Australia, explaining to her how nature can play a part in the solution, and what other actions are needed.
There’s no time to lose if we’re to ensure that the world after COVID-19 is fairer, more inclusive and more sustainable, UN labour agency chief Guy Ryder insists.
In an interview with UN News’ Daniel Johnson, the International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General also offers some refreshing advice: There should be “no more programmes” and “no more plans…let's just get down to the rock face and start making progress together".
Here he is now, speaking after the Global Forum for a Human-centred Recovery at ILO headquarters in Geneva. He begins with an assessment of the human and economic cost of the global health crisis.
Broadcasting in indigenous languages connects these communities to culture and at times provides important information that can save people’s lives.
That’s the opinion of Rhianna Patrick, a journalist from the Torres Strait Islands, located in the western Pacific.
On World Radio Day this Sunday, 13 February, she calls for more funding for Indigenous broadcasting.
But first, Ms. Patrick explains to Julia Dean from the UN Country Team in Australia why radio is such a good way of communicating with Indigenous communities.
Despite rising global wealth, most people today feel anxious about the future, according to a new report from the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
The study reveals that six in seven people worldwide are plagued by feelings of insecurity, even those in countries with some of the highest levels of good health and wealth, and this was before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dianne Penn spoke to Heriberto Tapia, the Research and Strategic Partnership Advisor in the Human Development Report Office at UNDP.
The new report is entitled New Threats to Human Security in the Anthropocene, and he began by explaining what this means.
Pinchas Gutter is from Łódź, Poland, where he enjoyed a very happy childhood before the Second World War. He survived six different Nazi concentration camps – a life forever changed by the traumatic events of the Holocaust.
The worst moment of all, was when he lost his father, mother, and sister on the same day, murdered by the Nazis.
In this powerful and moving interview marking this week of Holocaust Remembrance at the UN, he tells Nathan Beriro, that he turned “almost into a nothing”. Survivors, he says, “can’t ever run away from what they have lived”.
Now a Holocaust educator, he has one chief demand: a world without discrimination or hate.
A dusty old suitcase that lay undiscovered for decades in a backyard shed in Australia, has revealed an astonishing story of friendship, courage and resistance to the Nazi regime and its extermination camps, where millions of Jews were systematically murdered during the Second World War.
Letters inside the suitcase relate to an Australian family with a generational commitment to peace, whose friendship with another family in Germany, the Schindlers, produced a network bonded by a powerful sense of humanity, to save peoples' lives.
On the eve of the International Day in Commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust Julia Dean from our UN Country Team in Australia, spoke to Dr Frances Newell, whose mother and grandfather were part of this network who together with the Schindlers, helped Jews, political dissidents and other persecuted groups, escape the horrors of the Nazi regime.
The Chair of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), former Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete, says that although the key objective is helping disadvantaged children everywhere get access to quality schooling, supporting girls is their top priority.
In an exclusive interview with UN News, Mr. Kikwete said that gender equality is hard-wired “in everything we do”.
After meeting UN Secretary-General António Guterres at UN Headquarters this week which also saw the world mark the International Day of Education, the distinguished Chair of GPE sat down with Leah Mushi, to review how the partnership has been fulfilling its mission over the past 20 years.
There was already a learning gap before the pandemic, with disadvantaged and marginalized children lagging far behind in terms of educational achievement.
Since the onset of COVID-19, which has seen millions of children affected by school closures, it has become a gulf, and by some estimates, around 70 per cent of 10-year-olds can’t read a simple piece of text.
Richard Jenkins, the Director of Education at UN children’s agency, UNICEF, spoke to Conor Lennon from UN News ahead of the International Day of Education, marked on 24 January, and began by explaining the severity of the COVID effect on children’s schooling.
One week after the volcanic eruption and tsunami that hit the islands of Tonga, the UN Coordination Specialist there, says people “are still overwhelmed with the magnitude of the disaster.”
The disaster has affected 84,000 people, more than 80 per cent of the population, and killed three people - although many islands have yet to be reached.
Sione Hufanga explained that UN agencies are in the field distributing dignity kits to the most affected, along with food support, and trying to kick-start the agricultural sector, much of it blanketed in volcanic ash.
Mr. Hufanga spoke to UN News’s Alexandre Soares, detailing the most urgent needs and how the disaster can affect the country long-term.
Stunning images of a just-discovered deep-sea coral reef near Tahiti travelled across the world on Thursday – the result of a UNESCO-supported scientific mission to map the oceans.
For dive team member Laetitia Hedouin, from France’s National Centre of Scientific Research, it was an exciting chance to examine how living coral can adapt to our warming seas, as she told UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
The head of the UN labour agency warns that a recovery in the international labour market is still a long way off, with a lot of uncertainty for workers and businesses, hoping for the economy to bounce back.
Guy Ryder, the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), spoke to UN News at the launch of the agency’s World Employment and Social Outlook Trends (WESO) 2022 report, which offers gloomy projections of increased unemployment, and widening inequality between developed and developing countries.
Conor Lennon from UN News asked Mr. Ryder why the estimate is so dramatically different from the previous report, released in June of last year.
A powerful and haunting exhibition featuring the Hibakusha – the Japanese survivors of the nuclear bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki more than three-quarters of a century ago – has just been staged at UN Headquarters in New York.
It’s not the first exhibit dedicated to the issue of nuclear disarmament that Japanese art director Erico Platt has created for the UN, and although she is far too young to be a hibakusha, she is proud to amplify their voices against the horrors of nuclear weapons.
Ms. Platt explained to Liz Scaffidi, how her studies in Japan linked her to the right people, who, in turn, helped highlight again the urgency of banning nuclear weapons in what she describes as a “strong, powerful” and also beautiful exhibition, that’s the best she’s done…
Amid daily mass protests in Sudan and the reported lethal shooting of three demonstrators in Khartoum on Thursday, the UN rights office, OHCHR has urged the country’s military rulers to respect people’s fundamental freedoms.
Tensions have been running high since generals seized power in a coup last October, and there have been daily protests since the resignation of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok last weekend, as OHCHR’s Seif Magango tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
In the three decades leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, world tourism grew steadily year on year. But in 2020, the industry suffered an unprecedent hit, accounting for a staggering 70% of the fall in global gross domestic product (GDP).
The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has been constantly assessing the impact of the pandemic, and working hard to help kickstart the industry on behalf of millions around the world who rely on it.
Zoritsa Urosevic, UNWTO’s Executive Director spoke in depth to UN News’s Bessie Du, and highlighted the need to rethink the whole sector, boost rural tourism, and improve safety for travellers.
Globally, enough food is produced to feed the world’s seven billion people, and yet 811 million still go to bed hungry each night.
Award-winning chef and TV personality Andrew Zimmern was recently named a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), expanding his global advocacy to fight hunger and food waste around the world.
In an interview with UN News, Mr. Zimmern speaks about the implications posed by a growing food crisis, and how, as a “land of plenty”, the United States has a responsibility to help solve the hunger problem.
UN News’s Bessie Du starts by asking him what it means to be a Goodwill Ambassador for WFP.
Finding a national consensus to move forward following October’s military takeover of Sudan’s government, and subsequent reappointment of the civilian Prime Minister, is going to be a challenge, but discussions to restore trust are underway.
That’s according to the top UN official in the country, Volker Perthes, who also heads the UN assistance mission in Sudan, UNITAMS.
In an interview with UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki, Mr. Perthes also spoke about the de-escalation of tension in the restive Darfur region, and about the overall future of Sudan, where he believes that a return to full democratic government, is still possible.
Survivors of genocide and other atrocities committed by ISIL fighters in Iraq should rest assured that the international community supports them.
That’s the message from Christian Ritscher, head of UNITAD, the special UN team investigating these crimes.
While it might appear action is slow coming, he said there is no statute of limitations and crimes can be prosecuted “as long as at least one perpetrator is alive.”
Mr. Ritscher was in New York recently and spoke to UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki, prior to presenting the latest UNITAD report to the Security Council.
Artificial Intelligence systems are being used in an increasingly large range of toys, games and educational tools targeting children, but there are few safeguards in place to protect them.
The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, has developed guidance to help policymakers protect children, following consultations with private companies, experts, and young people.
Jasmina Byrne, Policy Chief at the UNICEF Global Insights team, and Steven Vosloo, a UNICEF data, research and policy specialist, both worked on the guidance. They explained to Conor Lennon from UN News that they were motivated by the huge growth of AI in everyone’s lives.
Despite the ongoing war in Yemen, and the devastating humanitarian consequences, there is still hope for recovery within a generation, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said in a report published on Tuesday.
The report outlines how ending the conflict, combined with inclusive policies, including greater investment in women, could lift Yemen out of poverty and put it back on the path to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Auke Lootsma, UNDP Resident Representative in Yemen, was in New York and spoke to Dianne Penn ahead of the launch.
Aquatic foods – a key source of protein, micronutrients and essential fatty acids – are “superfoods”, which, when added to a diverse diet of vegetables, fruits and pulses, such as beans, peas and lentils, contribute to cognition, health and nutrition.
In an interview with UN News, 2021 World Food Prize Laureate Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted explained the important role that fish and aquatic food systems have in sustainable healthy diets, and how they should be included in nutrition policies and programme interventions to tackle malnutrition.
Noting an urgent need to shift the global narrative from simply feeding people to nourishing a growing population, Dr. Thilsted, a steering committee member of a high-level food panel with the UN Committee on World Food Security, began by telling UN News’s Sachin Gaur how her research approach has led to this award.
If news headlines get you down sometimes, I’ve got the antidote: it’s youth activist Gitanjali Rao.
At just 15, Miss Rao was Time Magazine’s first Kid of the Year in 2021 – in recognition of her success in solving problems through science.
Earlier this week, she was in Geneva for the Youth Activists Summit, which is where UN News’s Daniel Johnson caught up with her.
In Afghanistan, some 22.8 million people are facing food insecurity, including 14 million children.
The situation s expected to worsen, with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) predicting that food stocks will run out halfway through winter.
UN News’s Jia Du spoke with Samantha Mort, Chief of Communication, Advocacy and Civic Engagement at UNICEF Afghanistan, who assured that all offices remain open and warehouses full.
For Ms. Mort, “there's no childhood” these days in Afghanistan. “It's all about survival and getting through the next day.”
Afghanistan may have dropped out of the news headlines since the Taliban takeover in mid-August, but the situation there is heading towards catastrophe, UN humanitarians have warned.
What the country’s most vulnerable communities need most urgently are food, and seed for next year’s harvest and livestock, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), which is ramping up support to reach the poorest families there.
Here’s the agency’s representative in Afghanistan, Richard Trenchard, speaking from the capital Kabul, with UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
In the past few weeks, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), under an agreement with the Global Fund, has quietly extended a lifeline to Afghanistan’s health system and all the families that depend on it, providing $15 million to avoid the collapse of the entire sector.
Over 23,000 health workers, in nearly 2,200 health facilities across 31 provinces, have received wages since the scheme got underway. UNDP has also paid for medicines and health supplies.
Deputy Resident Representative in Afghanistan, Surayo Buzurukova, told UN News the Agency “undertook this enormous challenge to help prevent the total collapse of the health system.”
She spoke to UN News’s Alexandre Soares.
The Registrar of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is urging States to manage their disputes through the key UN institution’s courtroom, before considering taking up arms against each other.
The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The man currently tasked with heading the Secretariat which assists the court, is Phillipe Gautier, who sat down with UN News in New York a few days ago, for a wide-ranging interview.
Jerome Bernard, of our UN News French team, began by asking him how the world’s top court had been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When you hear about war and conflict as a news consumer, it can be easy to overlook the human toll; but not in Ethiopia, where a hard-hitting UN rights office report has uncovered the very real impact on ordinary people in Tigray.
That’s where Government troops and their supporters have been fighting regional opposition forces since November 2020, and it’s led to serious rights violations that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.
To explain the report’s key findings, here’s Françoise Mianda from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – she’s Section Chief for East and Southern Africa. She spoke to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Human trafficking takes many forms and can involve forced labour or domestic servitude. But when it comes to misusing technology platforms online, that’s mainly being done by sex traffickers to target and manipulate their victims.
New research conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows how victims are being lured via social media and online dating platforms, where personal information and location details, are readily available.
Tiphanie Crittin, a UNODC Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer spoke to Louise Potterton, and told her about the challenges of trying to shut down sex trafficking networks.
Messages of solidarity rang across Expo 2020 in Dubai as participants celebrated UN Day on Sunday. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed called on the world “to hold on to the hopefulness of the future of mankind and its home, the planet”.
EXPO 2020, which runs through March, includes a UN Hub where visitors can learn about the Organization’s mission for peace, development, human rights and human dignity.
UN News’s Jessica Jiji spoke to the deputy UN chief about the significance of commemorating UN Day at Expo 2020.
A new UN publication sheds light on the ways in which victims of human trafficking are accommodated during different stages of their trafficking ordeal.
This process known as ‘harbouring’ constitutes an act of human trafficking in the internationally recognised definition of this crime and is used by prosecutors and judges to secure convictions.
Martin Hemmi, a UNODC Associate Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer, who coordinated the production of the report, says he hopes the new study will be used by investigators, prosecutors and judges to lead to a better understanding of this crime and support measures to effectively protect victims and punish traffickers.
More than one million people in southern Madagascar are going hungry in what the World Food Programme (WFP) believes could become the first-ever famine brought on by climate change.
Successive years of drought have forced people in rural communities to eat locusts, fruit and cactus leaves because they have been unable to plant or harvest sweet potatoes, tomatoes and other crops.
Alice Rahmoun, WFP Communications Officer in the capital, Antananarivo, was in the region recently. She said families have been selling prized assets, such as cattle, farmland and even homes, to survive.
Ms. Rahmoun spoke to Dianne Penn about the UN agency’s support to some 700,000 people, with plans to reach more, and hopes for the COP26 climate change conference which opens later this month in Glasgow, Scotland.
For more than two years, a UN-appointed team of 59 people has been collecting and analyzing more than two million pieces of evidence about possible human rights violations in Myanmar.
The team of professionals are formally known as the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, (IIMM) or Myanmar Mechanism, and was created in 2018 by the Human Rights Council.
In an extensive interview with UN News, the head of the Mechanism, Nicholas Koumjian, explains the importance of preserving this evidence before it is potentially lost.
It’s not very often at the UN that we get the chance to talk to talented musicians whose work can help to promote the Organization’s goals of peace, human rights and development; but that’s exactly what happened when Mali songwriter Vieux Farka Touré agreed to tell us all about his brand new composition, A Song For The Sahel.
In partnership with the humanitarian coordination office OCHA, Mr. Touré set out to write a message of hope to the people of the Sahel, a region where spreading violence has left almost 29 million people in need of life-saving assistance and protection; that’s five million more people than last year.
Here he is now, talking - and singing - to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
When he went to school for the first time, five-year-old Kailash Satyarthi saw a child cobbler, sitting outside the school gate.
Seeing the impoverished boy having to work and unable to go to class, gave him a new perspective, and set him on the road to becoming a passionate child rights advocate.
Kailash Satyarthi has been at the forefront of the global movement to end child slavery for decades now.
The human rights activist from India won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 and was recently appointed to serve as one of four UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocates.
Mr. Satyarthi spoke to UN News’s Anshu Sharma in New Delhi.
The most important action the world can take to tackle the climate crisis is to quickly decarbonize every mode of transportation on earth, according to one determined expert, starting with buses.
Alex Mitchell, Senior Vice President of Unlocking Innovation at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, and author of the newsletter, Sustainable Mobility, says that carbon is an existential threat that the world has an obligation to remove from transport.
For Mr. Mitchell, electric buses are a “Swiss army knife solution” to the problem because, as ridership grows, there is less dependency on private car, and because they are equally applicable in both emerging and developed markets.
Ahead of the upcoming UN Sustainable Transport Conference, which takes place between 14 and 16 October, Mr. Mitchell shared with UN News’s Liz Scaffidi, some of the ways the world can shift to safe, accessible and environmentally friendly transportation.
Three years after being appointed by the Secretary-General, the Force Commander for the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) ended his tour of duty just a few days ago.
Lieutenant General Dennis Gyllenspore, from Sweden, led over 13,000 women and men, often in challenging conditions.
Among the difficult tasks he faced were securing the north and the centre of the country, supporting the implementation of the Peace Agreement, and enforcing the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of former combatants.
As he shares in this interview with Nadege Digne Sinarinzi, from Mikado FM, he leaves with a sense of accomplishment and proud of the partnerships made.
When David Gressly, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, called for $3.85 billion from international donors to avoid a point of no return in March, he said that “Yemen can’t wait”.
Five months on, some $2 billion has been received, averting the immediate risk of famine, but leaving significant gaps in desperately needed areas, such as healthcare.
During a recent visit to UN Headquarters, Mr. Gressly spoke to UN News’s Conor Lennon about the current humanitarian situation in Yemen, and the impact the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have across the war-torn nation.
Conditions on the ground are dire for the thousands of Haitian migrants being forced to return to their homeland from the Americas, many of them “empty handed”, and bewildered.
That’s according to Giuseppe Loprete, chief of the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) Mission in Haiti, who told UN News that around 5,500 people have been forcibly returned since 19 September, with thousands more expected in the days ahead.
Those being expelled from the US border area and flown home, often after spending years away, are returning to a land facing multiple crises, Mr. Loprete told Leda Letra, including a recent devastating earthquake, rampant gang violence and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty opened for signature 25 years ago this month but hasn’t yet entered into force.
In his first UN News interview, the new head of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) notes that prior to 1996, when the Treaty opened for signature, around 2,000 nuclear tests were conducted, but since then, only three countries have crossed the line - only one of those, this century.
For Robert Floyd, nuclear testing remains an existential threat for humanity, with some 13,400 nuclear weapons still primed for use.
He spoke in New York to UN News’s Alexandre Soares, who started by asking him how CTBTO helps make the world a safer place.
Afghan political exile Zarifa Ghafari fled Kabul shortly after the Taliban takeover on 15 August; she’d already survived three attempts on her life as one of the country’s few female mayors – and she feared the worst if she stayed.
Today, the 29-year-old activist is determined not to let the gains made by women over the last 20 years, go to waste.
She spoke in Geneva to UN News’s Daniel Johnson, who started by asking her for her assessment of the country’s new de facto rulers.
With half of Afghanistan’s children under five at risk of severe malnutrition and two-thirds of the country needing humanitarian assistance, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator is urging the international community to provide real commitments at a crucial aid conference on Monday.
In an exclusive interview for UN News in Geneva ahead of the conference, Daniel Johnson sat down with the newly-installed head of UN humanitarian affairs, (OCHA) Martin Griffiths, who recently returned from his first visit to Afghanistan, now under Taliban control.
He called on the Taliban to recognize the scale of need across the country and urged them to respect the rights of women and girls.
For the people of Kazakhstan, 29 August is not just a day on the calendar but a reminder of the threat that nuclear weapons pose to humanity.
That’s the message from the country’s UN Ambassador, Magzhan Ilyassov, speaking ahead of the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, observed annually on that date.
It commemorates the 1991 closure of the Semipalatinsk test site in northeastern Kazakhstan, where the Soviet Union exploded hundreds of nuclear devices over a 40-year period.
Liudmila Blagonravova asked Mr. Ilyassov about Kazakhstan’s role in spearheading the International Day, and about the significance of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in January.
Given the ongoing developments in Afghanistan, he also spoke about how Kazakhstan is assisting scores of Afghans living and studying there.
As head of the police component at the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), Satu Koivu says “good competencies and skillset”, regardless of sex, will go far for those with ambitions to pursue police leadership.
With over 30 years of experience in law enforcement and policing around the globe, the Finland native acknowledges choosing a career in the force at 18 years old was not typical for females at the time, and is optimistic other women will continue to find their place in the field.
The newly-appointed chief, who joined the Mission in May of this year, tells Ersin Oztoycan how her desire to serve humanity steered her into peacekeeping.
In the lead up to World Humanitarian Day, marked annually on 19 August, climate justice advocate Mitzi Jonelle is clear that the climate crisis is a humanitarian crisis.
While most people consider the environment “a scientific problem to be fixed by the scientists”, the Filipino youth activist is determined to put an “empowering human aspect” into the climate crisis battle, involving “everyday people”.
Her optimism surrounding the ability of youth to move the needle towards climate action is contagious – “when we unite, there is so much power there”, she told UN News’s Liz Scaffidi.
As preparations gear up for this November’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, the leading scientific body responsible for assessing the latest evidence on climate change said on Monday that human activity is “indisputably” to blame.
Although it’s perhaps little comfort for the many millions affected by weather disasters today, Jonathan Lynn, Spokesperson for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) told UN News’s Daniel Johnson, that there is a chance that by limiting greenhouse gas emissions, we can slow down sea level rise and significantly slow global warming.
More than a million people die on the roads each year, and up to 50 million are injured. Jean Todt, the UN Special Envoy for Road Safety, and the president of the FIA, the body which governs world motorsport, is committed to driving that number down.
Whilst the situation has improved dramatically in the developed world, the vast majority of road-related deaths and injuries occur in poorer countries, where there are fewer safety standards and regulations.
Speaking to UN News’s Conor Lennon, during the New York leg of the Formula E electric racing championship, Mr. Todt said the solutions for improving road safety are well known, but they need to be put into place.
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While the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed inequalities faced by the world’s indigenous people, such as poor access to healthcare, it has also led to greater understanding of their priorities, which include social cohesion and protecting the planet.
That’s the opinion of Ghazali Ohorella, an international lawyer and indigenous rights advocate who is an Alifuru from Maluku, which is part of Indonesia.
Dianne Penn spoke to Mr. Ohorella ahead of the annual UN commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on 9 August.
He expressed why global dialogue on post-pandemic recovery, including to address climate change, biodiversity loss and other challenges, could see indigenous people finally sitting “at the table” instead of being “on the menu”.
But first Mr. Ohorella explained where he is from.
Six months since the military coup in Myanmar, the UN and partners are doing their utmost to help protect the country’s people and show solidarity with their plight, amid mass displacement linked to deadly clashes with Government forces and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
That’s the message from the organisation’s top acting humanitarian coordinator in the country, Ramanathan Balakrishnan, who’s been speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Conflict in Afghanistan is worsening - and increasingly pitting Afghans against Afghans - as most international forces pull out of the country, with nearly 800 civilians killed and more than 1,600 wounded in May and June alone.
This latest data from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, reflects the highest casualty numbers over any two-month period since records began in 2009.
In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, UNAMA’s head of human rights, Fiona Frazer, insists that what ordinary Afghans want is peace, amid an ongoing assault by Taliban and other non-State armed groups.
A new study from the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on the impact of COVID-19 on victims and survivors of human trafficking, indicates that the ‘severity’ of abuses and levels of violence have increased during the pandemic.
The report assesses how frontline organizations responded to the challenges posed by the pandemic while traffickers took advantage of the global crisis, capitalizing on the economic downturn and the extra time both adults and children have been spending online.
Louise Potterton spoke to Ilias Chatzis, Chief of UNODC’s Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Section, which developed the new study.
The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed progress towards gender equality and put women in a dire and vulnerable situation in many parts of the world, according to the World Health Organization’s Assistant Director-General.
WHO, along with UN Women, lead the Action Coalition on Gender Based Violence and will announce concrete commitments this week in Paris, at the Generation Equality Forum.
Dr. Princess Nothemba Simelela, better known as ‘Dr. Nono’ has dedicated her life to women’s health, with more than 30 years of experience as an obstetrician, academic, advocate and government official.
She spoke to UN News’s Laura Quinones and said it’s time to leave the ‘empty promises’ behind, and give women a real seat at the table.
Rape is widespread all over the world, and all countries, as well as the UN, need to do more to improve legislation to improve conviction rates and protect women, Dubravka Šimonović, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, has told UN News.
In her last report for the UN in the role, entitled: Rape as a grave and systematic human rights violation and gender-based violence against women, Ms. Šimonović, a highly experienced independent human rights expert, calls for governments to ensure that rape laws are in line with international human rights legislation which, she says, has evolved significantly over recent decades.
Speaking to UN News’s Conor Lennon, Ms. Šimonović said that impunity remains a major problem.
As the world continues to battle COVID-19, yoga offers a “unique” way to destress and boost immunity, allowing the mind and body to connect in a state of “cellular quiet”.
That’s according to Doctor Krishna Raman, who’s taking part in a major International Day of Yoga event on Monday, organized by the Indian mission to the UN.
He spoke to UN News’s Sachin Gaur, and explained his work on integrating Western medicine with yoga, and how the practice helps support wider social well-being.
In recognition of their efforts to raise awareness about the reality of climate change in the Czech Republic, the UN Information Centre in Prague, awarded the “The Facts on Climate” group its annual Climate Communication Prize, for 2020.
The volunteer-based organization, said the jury, has also cultivated “reliable and science-based discussion” about the issue. Its founder, Ondráš Přibyla, a young Czech physicist and a lecturer in the field of communications focussed on non-violence, says that his aim has been to build bridges between science and the general public.
UNIC Prague’s Michal Broza spoke recently with Mr. Přibyla and his team colleague Kristýna Zákopčanová, in their native city of Brno, in the Czech Republic.
When Lieutenant Colonel Ján Hric took command of what’s known as Sector 4 in the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, UNFICYP, he realized that he had “big boots to fill”.
He quickly learned that there were multiple layers involved in carrying out peacekeeping work in such a “broad international environment”.
But the highest-ranking Slovakian in the Force did not start his career, aiming to end up leading a group of UN ‘blue helmets. As a younger man he was more interested in playing volleyball, as he told UN News’s Liz Scaffidi.
The Cabo Delgado region of Mozambique has been plagued by insecurity since 2017, but this year has seen “multiple crises” impact the population there, after militant extremists overran the area around Pemba, killing dozens and displacing a third of the population.
Nearly 700,000 people are displaced, 46% of them children.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is one of the UN agencies providing relief on the ground, and in an interview with UN News while he’s assessing conditions there this week, Regional Director, Mohamed Malick Fall, said he’s most concerned about nearly 2,000 unaccompanied or separated children, whose survival is on the line.
He spoke to Alexandre Soares, of our Portuguese team.
In just a matter of two months, India’s second wave of COVID-19 infections overwhelmed the second most populous nation in the world, with 100,000 deaths recorded during May.
Behind the massive health crisis lurks an unprecedented threat to the job and food security of millions, and although India has one of the world’s largest food safety nets, the pandemic has created additional challenges that will need to be addressed.
UN News’s Anshu Sharma spoke to World Food Programme (WFP) Representative and Country Director to India, Bishow Parajuli, for an overview of measures being taken to help the country recover.
The world will recover from the economic shock of the COVID pandemic, the International Labour Organization (or ILO) said on Wednesday in a new report, but only if poorer nations receive some financial assistance to get back on their feet.
In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, ILO chief Guy Ryder, explains that unlike the last global financial crisis in 2008-9, that affected mainly wealthier countries, the current downturn has hit developing nations hardest.
Aid workers are usually sufficiently prepared to overcome whatever challenges they face, but what about a volcanic eruption?
That’s what happened to the UN refugee agency’s (UNHCR) team in Goma, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, when lava started pouring from Mount Nyiragongo on 22 May.
To talk about the experience from Goma, here’s Jackie Keegan, head of the agency’s office in the city, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
With some 1.8 billion people between the ages of 10 and 24 around the globe, young people have a “key role” to play in forging lasting peace agreements, according to UN Youth Envoy, Jayathma Wickramanayake.
They’re important to maintaining peace and security in communities, and to “building social cohesion”, she explained in an interview with UN News.
With half the world under the age of 30, young people must be an integral part of the UN peace and security agenda too she says, adding that “you cannot build peace without engaging half the world’s population”.
She began by explaining to Liz Scaffidi how the youth, peace and security agenda has evolved.
An estimated 160,000 people in Gaza now face going hungry as the escalation of violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and across the border into Israel, continues into its second week, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.
In addition to seeing that they get enough to eat, another priority for the agency’s Country Director in Palestine, Samer AbdelJaber, is making sure that his aid team stays safe – because they’re inside the enclave where airstrikes are continuing too, as he explains to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
As India confronts a devastating second wave of COVID-19 infections, with some 300,000 cases a day, securing essential oxygen equipment is “the need of the hour”.
That’s the message from Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, Representative of the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in the country.
The UN agency has been supporting pandemic response in India for more than a year, where it has been “all hands on deck”, she said.
Amid the current crisis, Dr Haque has been highlighting the importance of vaccination, but also the need to continue “social vaccination”, her term for practices such as proper handwashing and wearing masks in public.
Dr Haque spoke to our colleague Anshu Sharma in Delhi.
The United Nations has deployed all the personnel and resources at its disposal to help Indians deal with the deadly surge in COVID-19 that has seen more than 300,000 reported new cases per day, for almost two weeks now, and left many hospitals overwhelmed.
That’s according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) India Representative, Dr. Roderico Ofrin, speaking exclusively to UN News, who told Anshu Sharma that tried and trust methods of bringing down the numbers would surely work, if India can get “ahead of the game”.
With vaccination now open to all over 18, and 165 million already inoculated, he said that shots were only part of the solution, to bringing the multiple factors that have fuelled the surge, under control.
Press freedom should be seen as the “by-product of healthy political society", according to an exiled journalist from Myanmar, where the crisis following the military coup, is now in its fourth month.
Near daily pro-democracy protests are being held across the country, which have been met with a crackdown by security forces. There are reports that hundreds have been killed and countless more wounded, including media workers and journalists.
Just ahead of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, Julia Dean from the UN Country Team in Australia, spoke to Swe Win, Editor-in-Chief of the news agency Myanmar Now. She started by asking him how vital press freedom is for democracy.
Media which serves the public interest, not only provides vital information communities need to take informed action, it also dispels misinformation, strengthens democratic accountability and boosts sustainable development.
That’s the view of Sheetal Vyas, Founding Executive Director of International Fund for Public Interest Media, who says that amidst COVID-19, accurate and timely information is also a lifesaving public good.
But the pandemic has hit journalism hard, drying up revenue and putting its very existence into question – something that many fear may prove to be a so-called “media extinction event”.
UN News’ Vibhu Mishra spoke to Ms. Vyas, whose fund has a bold, billion dollar rescue plan to help save journalism for the public good, and he began by asking why public service journalism matters.
A shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea that claimed the lives of 130 migrants last week, has reignited the debate about why more can’t be done to protect these vulnerable people who’ve risked everything.
With the details about this latest tragedy which happened just off the Libyan coast, here’s Safa Msehli, from the UN migration agency, IOM, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Latest research from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) shows that climate change has not slowed down during the pandemic – and that action to reverse increasing greenhouse gas emissions, is more urgent than ever.
Ahead of the Leaders’ Summit on Climate convened by the United States on Thursday, here’s WMO meteorologist Laura Paterson, outlining the main findings of the UN agency’s State of the World Climate 2020 report, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
There will be “no damage whatsoever” to the environment from the discharge of seawater used to cool the broken reactors at Fukushima nuclear plant, the head of the UN atomic energy agency, Rafael Grossi, has insisted.
Although people’s concerns are totally justified, it is also worth bearing in mind that the filtering process used to strip the water of radioactive elements is used at nuclear power stations all around the world – as Mr. Grossi tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Fighting is ongoing in Ethiopia’s Tigray, where the level of cruelty against women and children is “incomprehensible” and likely vastly under-reported.
That’s the disturbing assessment of the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, which is deeply concerned for the more than million people displaced by six months of violence.
Just back from the conflict zone, here’s the latest from UNICEF spokesperson James Elder, who’s been talking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
The Saami people have lived in northern Europe long before borders divided the region up into the Member States we know today.
In Finland, generations of Saami children have attended State-run boarding schools, including this year’s now two-time chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Anne Nuorgam, whose experiences as a young girl not only left an indelible mark but also informed her life’s choices.
At UN Headquarters in New York to participate in the forum, the long serving Saami politician explained to Liz Scaffidi the importance of treaty bodies, laws and conventions but began by talking about her roots back home.
The more peace becomes enduring, the less protection civilians need: that’s been one of the key measures by which the UN mission chief in South Sudan – who left the UN’s top job in the country last Thursday - David Shearer, has judged his four-plus years in charge of the 20,000-strong peacekeeping force, UNMISS.
The New Zealander has needed all his political and humanitarian skills to leave behind a record of “positive change” in a country where a fragile peace is finally holding, following years of instability and brutal civil conflict.
UN News’s Matt Wells, began by asking him to describe the state of the world’s youngest country, when he first arrived in the capital Juba.
An intimate encounter with the “kissing bug” might sound cute, but Chagas disease – to give it its official name - is a nightmare for the millions who are infected every year, says UNITAID.
For this year’s World Chagas Day on Wednesday 14 April, the UN agency has high hopes that a tracing and treatment initiative involving several Latin American countries, will help protect hundreds of thousands of pregnant women and their unborn babies.
With the details, here’s UNITAID’s Mauricio Cysne, director of external relations, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
By 2030, two billion people are expected to rely on so-called “assistive” technology aids in their daily lives to eat, see, hear and even get dressed, according to UN patent experts at WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization.
It will also be possible to flag when anyone suffering from severe depression or other degenerative brain conditions might need help from a relative or carer, as Irene Kitsara from WIPO tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Horrific events have been unfolding in northern Mozambique in recent days, where thousands of people have fled gunmen who’ve attacked the town of Palma, located in Cabo Delgado province, reportedly killing dozens.
According to UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), youngsters have been separated from their parents, and every single one desperately needs help.
UNICEF’s head of communications in Mozambique, Daniel Timme, spoke to UN News’s Daniel Johnson from an aid hub in the provincial capital, Pemba.
The gigantic cargo ship that ran aground and blocked the Suez Canal last week is afloat once again after a Herculean salvage operation, but the damage to global trade will take months to fix.
That’s the assessment of maritime expert Jan Hoffman at UN trade and development agency UNCTAD, who also explains why the cost of sending freight around the world has increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here he is, talking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Nearly 700,000 people have fled “a cocktail of crisis” in the Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique, where a three-year brutal insurgency has intensified amid grinding poverty, natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite having some of the largest reserves of natural gas in Africa, Cabo Delgado is among the poorest regions in the country, and is plagued by lack of basic services and high unemployment.
Monica Grayley spoke to Aboubacar Koulibaly, leader of an expert team from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) that is currently in Mozambique to increase support to people battered by the complex, multilayered crisis.
Reasonable progress has been made so far drawing down the UN’s former peacekeeping mission in Darfur, UNAMID, and cooperation on the part of the Sudanese Government has been “excellent”.
That’s according to the head of the UN Department of Operational Support, Atul Khare, who recently returned from a visit to Sudan, where despite the presence of a new political mission, UNITAMS, the transitional Government is ready to assume full responsibility for civilian protection across the restive region.
Nearly half of the team sites formerly run by the UN have been handed over so far, and by the end of June, the only uniformed presence will be a formed police unit, as Mr. Khare told UN News’s Liz Scaffidi.
At least 15 people have died in a massive fire at a refugee camp in southern Bangladesh, home mainly to Rohingyas who fled neighbouring Myanmar, and 400 are still missing.
That’s the latest on Tuesday from UN teams and refugee volunteers on the ground at Cox’s Bazaar, who need to rebuild quickly ahead of the upcoming monsoon, as UN Children’s Fund spokesperson James Elder, tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
When COVID-19 locked down Cambodia last year, people with HIV were afraid that they would lose lifesaving access to regular supplies of anti-retroviral drugs.
Fortunately, that never happened, thanks to a successful new medicines distribution scheme - and a little bit of help from social media platforms too - as UNAIDS country director Vladanka Andreeva told UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
Ten years into the Syria crisis, humanitarian needs are deepening for millions of people, especially women, children, and the elderly, caught up in fighting through no fault of their own.
According to humanitarians, over 13 million people across the war-ravaged country are in desperate need of assistance.
UN News Arabic's Shirin Yaseen, spoke with Muhannad Hadi, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis, on what the United Nations is doing and the urgent priorities now.
He also highlights the need for a political solution to end the crisis.
Cooing doves, old women watering jasmine trees at dawn and a mother’s kindness are all images that a young Syrian poet and refugee has used to address the loss she feels after fleeing her homeland.
Teenager Amineh Abou Kerech left Syria in 2012, one year into the decade-long conflict which has devastated the country.
She recently participated in an event at the United Nations where she spoke about her poem “Lament for Syria” which won the UK’s prestigious Betjeman Poetry Prize in 2017.
She reads her poem for UN News.
This is Daniel Johnson. Picture the war in Yemen and chances are you’ve come across an image or two by war photo-journalist Giles Clarke.
On his latest trip to the country that’s been ravaged by six years of war, he based himself in an abandoned school, that’s home to hundreds of displaced people.
The photographs he took and the stories he heard feature in a campaign to raise awareness about their plight. It’s called Inside Yemen, Portraits of Resilience, and it wasn’t easy, as he explained when I spoke to him for this UN News interview.
Although women now account for more than a quarter of all parliamentarians worldwide, gender parity is still “far, far away”.
That’s according to Zeina Hilal of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the UN partner organization working to make parliaments more representative.
She said despite progress on the political representation front, including nations across Asia, women still face challenges including discrimination, harmful stereotypes, violence and harassment.
Anshu Sharma has been speaking to Ms. Hillal, who is the Manager of the IPU’s Gender Partnership Programme and Youth Participation Programme.
After 10 years of war in Syria, there are likely tens of thousands of detainees across the country, held by the Government and opposition groups – a traumatic waiting game for the families unsure of their fate.
In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, rights investigator Hanny Megally from the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, explains what steps the international community is taking to try to resolve the situation – and what obstacles it still faces.
Attacks on schools in northeast Nigeria and elsewhere are “a way of life” and their impact is “devastating” on children’s mental health.
Despite the dangers, boys and girls are returning in their thousands to places that were previously in the grip of Boko Haram extremists, according to UN Children’s Fund UNICEF.
UN News’s Daniel Johnson spoke to the agency’s representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins.
Broni Zajbert was six years old when Nazis forced his family into the Łódź Ghetto where he, his brother and parents witnessed the hunger, sickness and death that preyed upon Jews in their living quarters.
For five years, the family of four watched anti-Semite SS officers deport thousands of Jews on trains, never to return. Mr. Zajbert’s parents did everything in their power to keep their family alive, despite the nightmarish conditions in which they lived.
At 87 years old, Mr. Zajbert hopes this stain on humanity can serve as a warning to future generations on the dangers of hate and discrimination in all its forms. His testimony has served as the basis of Spanish-language Holocaust educational materials developed by the United Nations educational agency, UNESCO, in Mexico.
He speaks to Natalie Hutchison for this edition of In Their Words: Surviving the Holocaust. Finding Hope.
Music Credit: All tracks by Ketsa
- Silent dreams
- Soul Sale
- Calming storm
- Warm fuzz
- The return
- Beautiful hope
Halina Wolloh
When Halina Wolloh was four, her grandfather hid her from the Nazi regime – behind a stack of textiles.
When her father decided to move the family from the Warsaw Ghetto, she learned The Lord’s Prayer in Polish, in case her identity was questioned.
As a young woman, she lived for years with her Jewish identity invisible to the world, finding refuge in the homes of non-Jewish Europeans in Poland, until finding safety across oceans.
Today, the 84-year-old mother of three and grandmother to six lives in Peru, where she and her parents arrived more than seven decades ago.
Having previously participated in a UN Holocaust remembrance event, Mrs. Wolloh sat down with Natalie Hutchison to detail her testimony in this edition of In Their Words: Surviving the Holocaust. Finding Hope about how, even in the darkest of times, expressions of humanity emerge.
PRODUCTION NOTES:
English voice over: Ana María Chávez
Music Credit: Ketsa
- We are Stardust
- Soul Sale
- The Stork
- Ones Left Behind
- Empty Playground
From India’s Maharashtra state, super educator Ranjitsinh Disale was awarded a $1 million Global Teacher Prize for his exceptional impact on the lives of hundreds of students, especially girls.
From more than 12,000 teachers from over 140 countries, Mr. Disale was selected for the annual award – sponsored by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, and a UK-based non-profit organization working to improve education access to underprivileged children.
Recognized for going above and beyond, he changed the way parents perceive education and innovated classrooms to engage students and spark their interests. This extraordinary teacher even had a hand in helping to call off underage marriages.
Speaking to UN News’ Anshu Sharma, Mr. Disale began by telling what it means for him to have received this accolade.
Thousands of women and children who remain in “arbitrary detention without end” in camps in northeast Syria must be helped home to their countries of origin, a top independent rights expert has insisted.
In an appeal to well over 50 countries whose nationals are languishing in Al Hol and Roj centres because of their alleged links to ISIL extremists, Special Rapporteur Fionnuala Ní Aoláin told UN News’s Daniel Johnson that many western Europeans countries could do more to bring them home.
Some cancer patients are at higher risk from COVID-related illness or even death, but the World Health Organization’s (WHO) advice is clear: do not stay away from going to see your doctor if you need treatment or a professional diagnosis.
In an interview with Daniel Johnson, the UN health agency’s Dr André Ilbawi from WHO’s Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, explains how the coronavirus has had a “profound” impact on cancer care in rich and poor countries – and how some are coming up with solutions to this potentially deadly trade-off.
JHGC Collection, Johannesburg
At the time of this interview, Veronica Phillips revisited the question, why and how she survived the Holocaust whilst some six million other Jews did not.
Ms. Phillips passed away on 24 February, 2021 at the age of 94, shortly after we first published what will now stand for posterity as her final interview, in which she graciously shared her deeply personal account of survival.
As a teenager, Ms. Phillips endured appalling treatment, designed to kill Jews and other groups systematically targeted under the Nazi regime. After more than 70 years of silence, she began to share her testimony in hopes future generations would learn from her tragedy.
For this podcast episode, she told Natalie Hutchison her moving story once more; from narrowly escaping death in the gas chambers of Ravensbrück, to rebuilding her life after the war.
Music Credit: Ketsa
- Life Illusions
- Soul Sale
- Day Before Tomorrow
- Somewhat Sad
- Lost One
- Hard Sell
The work of the UN and its partners never stops against human traffickers in West and Central Africa, who force people to risk their lives on dangerous journeys across the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea.
Even the COVID crisis hasn’t stopped the smugglers – they’ve just resorted to taking bigger risks to cross borders that have been closed to others.
So says Vincent Cochetel – he’s the UN refugee agency’s (UNHCR) Special Envoy for the Western and Central Mediterranean.
He’s been talking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson about the many ways the agency helps vulnerable people in the Sahel.
Vered Kater
Baby Vered Kater with her parents and brothers in Holland in the 1940s.
Vered Kater knew from childhood that she would become a nurse. Not due to any special knowledge of the profession, but a desire to provide to others the type of intense care that delivered her from the Holocaust.
Before Ms. Kater built a legacy as a health worker, traveling to developing countries to administer aid to the needy, her early years in her native Holland, were spent in hiding. Living under cover with her “war parents'', who shielded her from the Nazis, Ms. Kater was spared from the horrors of con-centration camps.
She shared her testimony during the annual observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the Holocaust at the UN information Center (UNIC) in Yangon in 2019, and now gives an in-depth recount of her story of survival.
She speaks to Natalie Hutchison for this first edition of In Their Words: Surviving the Holocaust. Finding hope from her home in Jerusalem, with a message of warning on discrimination that goes unchallenged.
Photo Credit: UNIC Yangon
Music Credit: Ketsa
- There’s Still Hope
- Should Sale
- Ones Left Behind
- Souly Slowly
India has embarked on one of the largest COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in the world, with more than 2,600 WHO staff training nearly half a million team members.
That’s according to Dr. Roderico H. Ofrin, Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in India, which is one of the main UN agencies supporting the government-led drive.
Anshu Sharma asked Dr. Ofrin about WHO’s work there, including efforts to counter hesitancy and misinformation surrounding vaccination.
The equivalent of 255 million full-time jobs were lost in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recovery next year is likely to be slow – but it’s not all bad news, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).
In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, ILO’s Dorothea Schmidt-Klau maintains there is hope that the crisis will lead to new opportunities in the green economy, which is where young jobseekers in particular, should seek work.
The head of the UN migration agency, IOM, is strongly advocating for governments everywhere to respect the “fundamental right of healthcare” when it comes to ensuring vulnerable migrants and the displaced get equal access to COVID-19 vaccines.
In an interview for UN News, António Vitorino wants migrants to be included in all plans, regardless of their legal status, adding that IOM stands ready to provide practical support to countries who need help battling the pandemic.
IOM’s Yasmina Guerda, began by asking the Director General to outline the overall impact of the pandemic on migrants and the displaced.
Nearly 60,000 people from Ethiopia’s volatile Tigray region have now crossed the border to remote southeastern Sudan, after more than two months of fighting, many with just the clothes on their backs.
The emergency has created a massive protection challenge for the UN refugee agency in Sudan, UNHCR, which is doing everything it can to provide what they need, as spokesperson Axel Bisschop tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson.
The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to hamper the efforts of developing countries to adapt to the climate crisis. This is the analysis of Dr. Henry Neufeld, a climate mitigation expert, and one of the authors of the forthcoming report on climate change from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
Dr. Neufeld is the guest in this episode of the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) State of the Planet podcast, in which host Tim Albone grills him about what climate adaptation actually means, and asks for his take on the latest UNEP Adaptation Gap report.
The senior UN official warns that, whilst the pandemic should have allowed governments to invest more use of green technologies, and bounce back stronger than before, there is little evidence so far that this is happening.
Migration is part of the modern world, and it is not going away despite a COVID slowdown, a UN official has told UN News, just ahead of a new UN migration report launched on Friday.
Jorge Bravo, the head of the Population Policies and Development Branch at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), explained to Conor Lennon from UN News that it has never been easier or faster to move around the world, which is more integrated and connected than ever before.
Although movement restrictions brought in during the COVID-19 pandemic limited migration in 2020, Mr. Bravo said that the longer-term trend is still showing an increase in the numbers of people leaving their countries of origin to live elsewhere.
Compared to last year, everything is in place to successfully fight the devastating desert locust swarms that have been threatening food supplies and livelihoods across the Horn of Africa region, according to the senior UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official, in charge of forecasting the pest’s movements.
Charlotta Lomas spoke to Keith Cressman, who said that $80 million was still needed to control the scourge, through the coming months.
What progress is the world making in adapting to the changing climate? And can nature itself provide the answers? This is the focus of the first episode of the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) State of the Planet podcast.
Host Tim Albone speaks to Valerie Kapos, head of the Climate Change & Biodiversity Programme of the UNEP’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre. She and her team look at the role of “nature-based solutions”, which involve maintaining and restoring ecosystems such as mangrove forests, which provide protection against rising sea levels and extreme weather.
Tim and Ms. Kapos discuss the findings of the latest UNEP Adaptation Gap report, which details the scale of the gulf between countries’ ambitions in adapting to the crisis, and what they are doing in practice.
After years of drought, and with what little the people of Madagascar have managed to grow, destroyed by flashflooding, more than 1.3 million are in crisis - and some are even eating ground-up clay just to survive.
Movement restrictions relating to COVID-19 have also made it impossible for the poorest of the poor to find work to tide them over the lean season, the World Food Programme, WFP, has warned.
In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, WFP’s regional director for southern Africa, Lola Castro, explains how the UN agency is helping by empowering communities to withstand future climate shocks
Homeworking has necessarily exploded since the COVID-19 pandemic took a grip on the world in 2020, with the UN labour agency (ILO) estimating that it may have more than doubled, from around 260 million people in 2019, to some 580 million.
A new ILO report, released on Wednesday, lays out the penalties paid by those now having to work from home, which include higher health risks, lower wages, and social isolation.
However, Sergei Soares, a labour economist at the ILO who worked on the report, told UN News’s Conor Lennon, that some employers are happy with the productivity gains they have seen, which means the “great teleworking experiment” is likely to continue.
Mr. Soares began by explaining that the impetus behind the publication of the report was the fact that very few countries have ratified the ILO’s Home Work Convention, which entered into force some twenty years ago.