Interviews
635 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 days ago - ★★★★ - 4 ratingsUN 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.
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Episodes
WATCH/LISTEN: Social media negatively affects girls’ mental health
April 25, 2024 20:49 - 7 minutes - 31.3 MB VideoDigital 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 usag...
Crisis in Gaza becoming a crisis of free speech
April 25, 2024 15:17 - 3 minutes - 5.17 MBSome 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...
Amid Gaza horror ‘we have the duty and responsibility’ to aid early recovery
April 25, 2024 11:41 - 12 minutes - 16.9 MBThe 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...
Remember Sabreen al-Sakani, one of 180 women who give birth in Gaza every day
April 23, 2024 08:28 - 9 minutes - 15.9 MBSabreen 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 ...
Real risk of famine in Sudan, warns senior FAO official
April 19, 2024 20:39 - 12 minutes - 16.9 MBSudan’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...
Understanding ‘who’s vulnerable’, key to protect women in conflict
April 17, 2024 04:01 - 12 minutes - 17.5 MBMillions 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 abilit...
Haiti: Top UN advocate for children caught in conflict committed to challenging gang leaders
April 16, 2024 16:52 - 14 minutes - 33.2 MBThe 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,...
Senior humanitarian in Sudan: ‘It’s very bad, but I don’t think we're at the bottom’
April 12, 2024 06:39 - 10 minutes - 4.28 MBEven 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...
There is a place for all in outer space: ‘It’s not just for the geeks and the nerds’
April 12, 2024 06:19 - 11 minutes - 4.71 MBTechnological 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...
‘Repeated trauma’ means long road to recovery for Gaza’s children
April 11, 2024 20:14 - 13 minutes - 10.7 MBA 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 repeat...
Djibouti boat tragedy ‘a rude wake-up call’ to huge risks migrants take
April 09, 2024 17:22 - 5 minutes - 3.76 MBAt 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 gav...
Gaza: No chance of pre-positioning aid ahead of Rafah invasion
April 07, 2024 22:31 - 10 minutes - 14.1 MBIn 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 pla...
‘Leaving no stone unturned’: Documenting rights violations in Gaza
April 07, 2024 04:07 - 10 minutes - 4.37 MBThe 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 in...
Children in Haiti 'terrorised and traumatised' by violence
April 06, 2024 12:13 - 10 minutes - 14 MBChildren 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 pe...
Gaza photojournalist Motaz Azaiza still has hope in humanity
April 05, 2024 16:26 - 4 minutes - 5.73 MBAn 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 hi...
People with disabilities need more support in rapidly changing world: rights expert
March 30, 2024 06:00 - 8 minutes - 2.06 MBIn 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 d...
First UN aid mission to Sudan reveals dramatic human cost of war
March 28, 2024 14:50 - 9 minutes - 7.88 MBThe 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 ...
Gaza: Rafah invasion would ‘break the back’ of UN aid response warns veteran aid coordinator
March 25, 2024 20:16 - 16 minutes - 13.4 MBIsrael’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 wo...
‘Paper thin’ children of Gaza leave helpless parents in despair: UNICEF’s James Elder
March 22, 2024 18:42 - 5 minutes - 8.37 MBThe 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 ...
WMO chief to youth: Engage in climate action for a better future
March 21, 2024 15:15 - 5 minutes - 7.42 MBWeather 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,...
Suffering in silence: Gaza’s malnourished babies are dying ‘in their tens, in the 20s’
March 19, 2024 16:42 - 5 minutes - 6.92 MBThe 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...
WATCH: Clearing munitions from Gaza 'years and years of work'
March 18, 2024 19:24 - 10 minutes - 52.1 MB VideoThe 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 v...
Unexploded bombs in Gaza will take years to clear, says Palestine UN Mine Action chief
March 18, 2024 19:24 - 10 minutes - 52.1 MB VideoThe 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 v...
WATCH: Unexploded bombs in Gaza will take years to clear
March 18, 2024 19:24 - 10 minutes - 52.1 MB VideoThe 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 v...
Ordeal of Ukrainians revealed after full-scale Russian invasion
March 15, 2024 16:28 - 6 minutes - 8.56 MBIt’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 be...
Gaza: More than 40 per cent of agriculture sector totally destroyed
March 14, 2024 18:10 - 8 minutes - 12.4 MBThe 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 l...
After losing 150 relatives in Gaza, US doctor says ‘those left are waiting to die’
March 13, 2024 19:13 - 6 minutes - 2.94 MBDr. 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 margi...
UNRWA deputy chief: ‘More aid has to come in at scale’
March 13, 2024 15:24 - 10 minutes - 14.3 MBOn 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 cros...
Why rural women pay the highest price of climate change and how to change it
March 08, 2024 14:12 - 8 minutes - 11.4 MBClimate 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 clima...
Mongolian Dzuds: Unravelling a climate change crisis and how space tech can help
March 07, 2024 19:38 - 8 minutes - 6.04 MBThe 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, ESCAP But 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 ...
Gloves are off in fight against online drug sales, says anti-narcotics body
March 05, 2024 12:18 - 9 minutes - 12.8 MBDrug 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 expla...
UNDP supports building homes and breaking stereotypes in Ukraine
March 03, 2024 18:21 - 8 minutes - 3.45 MBRoughly 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, o...
UN agency for Palestinians is a lifeline in Gaza, says General Assembly President
March 01, 2024 21:42 - 12 minutes - 27.6 MBThe 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 Ne...
Rights experts alarmed by reported violations against Palestinian women and girls
February 29, 2024 14:34 - 8 minutes - 11.6 MBIndependent 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 ...
Climate change: Saving nature from rising temperatures and conflict around the world
February 28, 2024 18:37 - 8 minutes - 11.6 MBClimate 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 ...
We will never leave the people of Gaza, says UN’s top aid official
February 14, 2024 17:26 - 9 minutes - 15.6 MBAn 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 Octobe...
World Radio Day interview: UN radio in South Sudan, a channel for peace
February 13, 2024 00:00 - 7 minutes - 1.78 MBRadio 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 Jo...
UN and Egyptian Red Crescent join forces to bring aid to Gaza and Sudan
February 12, 2024 19:17 - 39 minutes - 32.7 MBSharing 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 ...
World’s migratory species in decline, UN report warns
February 12, 2024 14:48 - 8 minutes - 12 MBNearly 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 Migrator...
De-escalation zone: The UN peacekeepers trying to stop Gaza war spreading
February 07, 2024 17:15 - 8 minutes - 20 MBAs 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 hav...
UNRWA will ‘come to a halt’ in March, warns agency director in Lebanon
February 06, 2024 17:53 - 8 minutes - 11.3 MBThe 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.
Dreaming of home, Gazans determined to stay inside shattered enclave
February 05, 2024 20:50 - 5 minutes - 4.19 MBThe 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...
FGM costing ‘$1.4 billion per year,’ says global coordinator
February 05, 2024 19:55 - 6 minutes - 1.58 MBFebruary 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 billio...
Madagascar prepares for effects of El Niño as humanitarian crisis continues
February 01, 2024 19:26 - 4 minutes - 3.65 MBThanks 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 26...
UN trade agency assesses economic impact of Gaza devastation
January 31, 2024 19:41 - 6 minutes - 8.31 MBRestoring 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 t...
Organized crime gangs in Southeast Asia grow networks through innovative use of technology
January 27, 2024 15:10 - 7 minutes - 10.7 MBCriminal 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-exis...
Small scale, reliable and renewable: Clean electricity is changing lives in Madagascar
January 25, 2024 17:27 - 10 minutes - 9.15 MBAccording 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 provid...
UNICEF warns of looming ‘learning catastrophe’ in war-torn Sudan
January 24, 2024 22:23 - 8 minutes - 12.1 MBSudan 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-le...
‘These are not conditions meant for human beings’: UNRWA official on Gaza visit
January 22, 2024 17:26 - 7 minutes - 4.14 MBNo 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.
Congo floods forcing some women to give birth ‘in the water’
January 19, 2024 21:53 - 3 minutes - 1.94 MBEntire 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 ...