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
Gaza is ‘hell’ for newborns and mothers, warns UN Children’s Fund
January 19, 2024 17:50 - 7 minutes - 1.68 MBEmirati 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 s...
IOM official in Sudan fears war could reach UN bases
January 16, 2024 21:52 - 8 minutes - 4.79 MBNine 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...
Gaza: ‘Mammoth task’ to scale up aid warns veteran humanitarian
January 15, 2024 16:39 - 13 minutes - 18.6 MBWith 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 suppl...
Red Sea emergency hits consumers worldwide: UNCTAD
January 04, 2024 18:18 - 8 minutes - 18.6 MBHouthi 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 o...
Will the world get to grips with AI in 2024?
January 01, 2024 06:00 - 24 minutes - 13.9 MBThe 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 A...
Award-winning journalists highlight UN as ‘global body’ advancing reparations
December 29, 2023 21:17 - 12 minutes - 16.6 MBEarlier 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...
‘Solidarity’ as UN humanitarians visit frontline in Ukraine on Christmas Day
December 29, 2023 13:55 - 9 minutes - 12.7 MBHumanitarian 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.
Intense escalation in Gaza bombardment leaves medical teams facing impossible choices
December 26, 2023 16:37 - 9 minutes - 16 MBUN 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...
UNRWA: Supporting the civilians of Gaza caught up in a ‘brutal war’
December 19, 2023 22:28 - 10 minutes - 6.56 MBSince 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, man...
Gazans search for firewood in cemeteries in ‘catastrophic’ situation
December 19, 2023 17:00 - 4 minutes - 6.73 MBCemeteries in Gaza are being raided for wood as people affected by the ongoing bombardments look for ways to cook food and feed themselves; that’s according to the World Food Programme’s Samer Abdel Jaber who has just visited the south of the enclave. The conflict in Gaza began after the October 7th attacks by Hamas on Israel which left at least 1200 people dead. Khaled Mohamed of UN News asked Samer Abdel Jaber what he witnessed on his visit.
From Gaza to Ukraine, accountability vital to end horrific cycle of rights violations: Türk
December 15, 2023 22:38 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MBIn an exclusive interview with UN News, Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights, underlined that accountability is key and a fundamental “missing link” in most conflicts around the world which simply perpetuates cycles of violence. “It is absolutely critical that accountability is part of any future arrangement because we know that if impunity reigns, and if the facts are not told and if the truth is not told, we will have grievances going on and on and on,” he said, referring to th...
Supporting peaceful and inclusive elections in DR Congo
December 13, 2023 22:24 - 9 minutes - 10.1 MBThe Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is poised for elections on 20 December, when votes will be cast for a new president and well as national and provincial legislatures. In a historic move, this election marks the first time that local representatives will be on the ballot, a significant stride towards enhancing community participation in the whole electoral process. “This is in my view, a very good step,” Bintou Keita, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the DRC...
Gaza: Trauma rooted in ‘scourge of war’ impacting women and children alike
December 13, 2023 10:39 - 8 minutes - 11.1 MBSixteen year-olds in Gaza are now in the middle of the fourth war of their short lifetimes, a leading UN humanitarian has told UN News, pointing out that for the youngest, it’s causing unimaginable trauma. Gemma Connell of UN humanitarian coordination office OCHA, is in Rafah, where she has spent the past week and says that for mothers, they’re also enduring terrible suffering and loss of dignity that is life-altering. Abdelmonem Makki asked her what she had seen, as local health authoriti...
‘Everyone was asking about a ceasefire’: Malta’s UN ambassador reports back on visit to Gaza border
December 12, 2023 22:25 - 5 minutes - 4.01 MBVanessa Frazier, Malta’s Permanent Representative to the UN, has told UN News that the Security Council must insist on the release of all Hamas hostages in Gaza, and the unhindered and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid into the Strip. As part of an unofficial fact-finding trip organized by the United Arab Emirates, Ms. Frazier along with other UN ambassadors representing their countries on the Security Council, were taken on Monday close to the border between Egypt and Gaza to see for the...
Human rights are a solution to the climate crisis
December 10, 2023 13:03 - 10 minutes - 14.4 MBClear and unequivocal language on the phasing out of fossil fuels is the only way forward to prevent the human rights crisis that is caused by climate change. This is the message from Benjamin Schachter, the UN human rights office Environment and Climate Change Team Leader, who is coordinating the OHCHR delegation at the COP28 climate conference, now underway in Dubai, UAE. The climate summit is in its final stretch, coinciding with the annual observance of Human Rights Day on December 10...
When farmers go hungry, innovation to the rescue
December 10, 2023 00:07 - 6 minutes - 8.69 MBAs the focus at COP28 turns to food and agriculture, the spotlight is on smallholder farmers in developing countries on the frontlines of climate change, clinging on to their livelihoods amid drought and floods. Bernhard Kowatsch, the head and founder of the UN World Food Programme’s Innovation Accelerator, told UN News’ Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer that innovation is the key to helping climate-proof their businesses – not just tomorrow, but right now. He called for more investments in sma...
It’s time to reprioritize our resources to focus on the climate crisis
December 09, 2023 14:26 - 8 minutes - 12.3 MBTaking 5 per cent of global military expenditures and directing it towards education and the climate crisis, would free up $100 billion a year to respond to climate change. Speaking to UN News on the sidelines of COP28 conference in Dubai, Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of the UN global fund for education, sent a strong message to countries as she launched an appeal for $150 million to empower teachers and millions of children affected by forced displacement and climate change. Ms. She...
‘Everybody is grieving’ in Gaza: UNRWA
December 08, 2023 19:23 - 12 minutes - 17.5 MBThe war has taken a huge toll on Gaza, leaving “everybody” grieving, said the Director of the UN Palestinian refugee support agency, UNRWA, in an interview with UN News on Friday. Tom White warned that staffers are overwhelmed while people continue dying in and around some shelters, due to Israeli airstrikes, where they are seeking UN protection. “We are essentially starved of the resources that we need to provide for people”, he told Abdelmonem Makki.
COP28: ‘Continue to pursue your vision,’ urges young Caribbean activist
December 07, 2023 22:23 - 6 minutes - 12.8 MBWith global temperatures hitting record highs, and extreme weather events affecting people around the globe, this year’s UN climate change conference, COP28, is a pivotal opportunity to get on track and accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis. In Dubai, Ezzat El-Ferri from UN News spoke with 20-year-old activist Connor Greaux-Taylor, from St. Kitts, who dropped out of high school to work in the tourism industry. He’s part of UNICEF’s Innovation30 initiative and works on “the frontlin...
Myanmar: Technology key to aid war crimes investigations
December 04, 2023 19:58 - 10 minutes - 11.5 MBBeing denied access to sites where some of the most horrific crimes and human rights violations are alleged to have taken place during the military’s brutal repression of dissent, is a major challenge for the IIMM, the UN-appointed Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar. But the investigation team has nonetheless been able to interview victims and witnesses outside the country and sift through a vast amount of useful data that has laid at least the groundwork for future prosecution...
Gaza: ‘Somehow their nightmare has just got that much worse’
December 03, 2023 15:28 - 11 minutes - 16 MBSaying nowhere is safe in Gaza is not a cliché, according to UNICEF’s James Elder, speaking to UN News from Rafah in southern Gaza. “That’s the message we keep trying to share”, he told Reem Abaza, just hours after the pause in fighting ended between Israel and Palestinian militants. The UN children’s agency official said leaders’ enabling fighting to resume simply means the death of more and more children, noting that the only aid route at Rafah, is closed once more.
World getting ever closer to 1.5°C limit, warns WMO chief
November 30, 2023 18:53 - 6 minutes - 8.92 MB2023 is on track to be the hottest year ever and the last 10 years have proven to be the warmest decade so far. These are worrying trends that suggest increasing floods, wildfires, glacier melt and heatwaves, lie immediately ahead.This is the warning issued by Petteri Taalas, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General, who spoke to UN News in Dubai, ahead of the launch of the agency’s provisional State of the Global Climate report on the opening day of COP28.He told Sachin Gau...
WFP: Climate risk insurance helps communities bounce back from disaster
November 29, 2023 21:07 - 11 minutes - 4.7 MBWhen it comes to mitigating loss and damage caused by climate change, the global response is often failing to keep pace, according to Gernot Laganda of the UN World Food Programme (WFP). “We have had decades now where the temperature curve has really kept climbing, while adaptation financing was often too little, too late,” said the senior official. For many years, WFP has been using multiple tools to tackle the issue of hunger caused by weather extremes. One of those is climate risk insur...
Every single minute ‘a life is lost to AIDS,’ says UNAIDS deputy chief
November 28, 2023 21:59 - 11 minutes - 15.8 MBDespite intense national efforts geared towards eliminating AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, the Deputy Executive Director for the UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Angeli Achrekar, says that so far, the “job isn't done.” Ms. Achrekar, spoke with Pauline Batista from UN News as UNAIDS launched its latest report on Tuesday, Let Communities Lead. It suggests the world can still end AIDS by the ambitious deadline, but only if communities on the frontlines get the full support they n...
‘Milestone’ award will change refugee children’s lives: UNHCR prize winner
November 28, 2023 18:35 - 5 minutes - 7.98 MBJust one book can turn a displaced child’s life around and help unite the world, said the newly minted winner of the UN refugee agency’s (UNHCR) annual Nansen award on Tuesday. Somali-born Abdullahi Mire, who sought refuge with his mother at the vast Dadaab refugee complex in northern Kenya in the 1990s, told UN News the prize money was “a milestone for us” that would benefit kids in the camp by expanding bookshelves and boosting internet connectivity. The education advocate who founded th...
Gaza: Children flooding hospitals bearing ‘wounds of war’
November 27, 2023 20:29 - 8 minutes - 12.2 MBA child in hospital who’s lost his mother and sisters but doesn’t know they’re dead; another who dare not close his eyes in case he forgets what his dead parents look like – just some of the tragic testimony relayed to Spokesperson James Elder of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the past few days while in Gaza. He spoke to UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki, who began by asking what the situation was like on the ground there for children, as a fragile ceasefire holds amid the release of hostages.
WHO: Climate crisis is also health crisis
November 25, 2023 20:09 - 4 minutes - 5.66 MBThe climate crisis is also a health crisis. This is the message the UN health agency will deliver to world leaders and negotiators gathering at this year’s UN Climate Change Conference, COP28, in Dubai. The WHO says, the same pollution that impacts the climate also affects our lungs, and extreme weather events lead to a large range of diseases. UN News’ Nathalie Minard spoke with Dr. Maria Neira, Director of the Department of Public Health and Environment at the World Health Organization (...
General Assembly President urges critics to engage with the UN
November 23, 2023 20:15 - 11 minutes - 16.4 MBThe UN General Assembly last month passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas – the first collective call to action to come out of the UN since the start of the conflict on 7 October. The General Assembly comprises all 193 UN Member States and although its resolutions are non-binding, they represent “the conscience of humanity”. That’s the message from General Assembly President Dennis Francis, who also encourages people who believe the UN is ineffective to instea...
UNRWA staff member recounts agency’s 'impossible mission' in Gaza
November 23, 2023 16:32 - 7 minutes - 10.2 MBNegotiations continued on Thursday towards the implementation of the Israel-Hamas truce in Gaza, where staff from the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA, remain “on the ground doing an impossible mission”. That’s according to Maha Hijazi, UNRWA Warehousing and Distribution Officer, who was responsible for securing food for hundreds of thousands of people in the enclave, which continues to face dire shortages of food, water fuel and medicines. Ms. Hijazi and her family fled t...
In Gaza, ‘things are getting worse’: Palestine refugees agency
November 19, 2023 17:20 - 7 minutes - 10.6 MBIn northern Gaza, nearly 200 people were killed and injured following attacks this weekend on the UN-run Al-Fakoura school, according to Adnan Abu Hasna, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA). As the Israel-Palestine crisis continues, he told UN News’s Reem Abaza that “things are getting worse.” Speaking to us from Gaza, Mr. Hasna gave an update on the developing situation and what’s to come as the intensifying humanitarian crisis continues amidst fighting between...
Hopes rising of historic treaty to curb plastic pollution
November 17, 2023 17:43 - 7 minutes - 10 MBThe world needs a “strong, ambitious and just” treaty to cut down on the mass-produced plastics which are helping fuel the climate crisis, said the head of the UN-backed secretariat steering international negotiations towards a binding agreement to end the scourge, in an interview this week with UN News. The negotiations process is at its midpoint now. And for the first time, a text of the future treaty is being discussed by the Member States in its ‘zero draft’. The negotiators’ ambition i...
Entire Gaza population now in need of food assistance: WFP
November 15, 2023 20:06 - 4 minutes - 6.73 MBFood systems in Gaza are collapsing and the food aid entering the enclave is barely 10 per cent of the amount needed for the 2.2 million people there. The warning comes from the World Food Programme (WFP) which says Gazans are not getting enough to eat, making them more susceptible to diseases that can be easily spread. UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki asked Alia Zaki, WFP Palestine Head of Communications, how the agency is responding now to the immense needs.
Gaza-Israel crisis: Hospitals should not be a war zone, says UN’s emergency relief chief
November 15, 2023 12:02 - 5 minutes - 5.21 MBFive weeks into the Gaza-Israel crisis, the UN’s top emergency relief official on Wednesday reiterated growing international calls for the warring parties to de-escalate, while expressing solidarity with hundreds of thousands of Gazans displaced by bombardment and an order from the Israeli military to leave the north of the enclave. In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, Martin Griffiths highlighted the plight of patients at Gaza City’s embattled Al-Shifa hospital, amid reports that...
US suffering ‘selective amnesia’ on issues of racism and xenophobia: Human rights expert
November 14, 2023 21:31 - 9 minutes - 12.9 MBThe UN-appointed independent human rights expert on racism and xenophobia said on Tuesday that the United States is suffering a form of “selective amnesia” when it comes to “enduring systemic racism”. Special Rapporteur Ashwini K.P. has just finished a 14-day fact finding mission across the US where she had conversations with marginalized groups from Black, Brown, and Latino communities and lawmakers, among others. In an interview with UN News’s Pauline Batista at UN Headquarters in New Y...
Sudan conflict: First victims are children, says senior UNHCR worker
November 10, 2023 18:05 - 8 minutes - 11.4 MBThe heavy fighting that erupted in Sudan on 15 April has forced more than six million people from their homes and created a humanitarian catastrophe that the world must not continue to ignore. That’s the urgent message from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR’s) Dominique Hyde, who’s just back from White Nile state, where she witnessed the deadly impact of months of conflict on the country’s most vulnerable people, who are now sheltering in hundreds of displacement camps. Here she is now, speakin...
UN’s top court, a source of ‘authoritative’ advice
November 09, 2023 20:59 - 15 minutes - 21.1 MBThursday saw five new judges elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at UN Headquarters in New York, a reminder of its central role as the principal judicial organ for the world body. In addition to disputes brought before the “world court”, intergovernmental bodies can also submit petitions seeking advice on key issues. That’s according to Philippe Gautier, ICJ Registrar, who highlights that these “advisory opinions” do not deal with a judgement to settle a dispute between nat...
Remoteness, altitude and falling temperatures challenges for Nepal quake response
November 07, 2023 21:37 - 6 minutes - 3.74 MBA major challenge for humanitarians in Nepal supporting those impacted by last Friday’s devastating earthquake, is accessing remote and high-altitude areas that are the worst hit. UN agencies and humanitarian partners must rely on helicopters to ferry personnel and relief supplies as there are no roads, according to Rafeeque Ahmad Siddiqui, Head of Karnali Field Office at UNDP-Nepal. The weather is also posing challenges, he says, adding that there are limited times the helicopters can fly...
Delivering aid to pregnant women in Gaza an ‘impossible equation’
November 07, 2023 21:30 - 10 minutes - 14.9 MBSome 50,000 pregnant women are among the 2.2 million people in besieged Gaza, and 5,500 are due to give birth in the coming weeks, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has reported. As the conflict between Israel and Hamas enters a second month, UNFPA is working round the clock to provide support to pregnant women and hospitals, which face a lack of electricity, water, medicines, supplies and personnel. Laila Baker, UNFPA Regional Director for the Arab States, said a humanitarian ceasefire is ne...
Food provides much more than nutrition: UN expert on right to health
November 07, 2023 16:32 - 14 minutes - 33.1 MBDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, some households missed out on food aid “simply because their family looks different,” such as members of the LGBTQI community. That’s according to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, who recently presented her latest report to the General Assembly in New York. UN News’s Cristina Silveiro asked her to explain her findings, which examine how the link between food and health goes beyond nutrition and can also determine who gets exc...
AI: Film industry facing biggest upheaval in its history
November 06, 2023 16:37 - 11 minutes - 15.6 MBArtificial Intelligence (AI) offers a wide range of solutions from pre to post-production across the film industry but it also represents the most seismic shift in its history, one senior academic tells us. So-called generative AI is causing anxiety among technicians, actors and creators, warns Rizwan Ahmed, Director of the Media Centre at MANUU, in Hyderabad, India. In an interview with UN News’s Sachin Gaur, Mr. Ahmed underscored the need for policies and measures to address concerns ov...
WHO condemns targeting of ambulance convoy in Gaza
November 03, 2023 20:40 - 6 minutes - 8.62 MBThe World Health Organization (WHO) has condemned the reported Israeli airstrike which hit a convoy of ambulances near the Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Friday. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social platform X that he was “utterly shocked” by the reports, and in an interview with UN News, the agency’s Regional Director Dr. Ahmed Al Mandhari, condemned “such acts of hostility”. Dr. Al Mandhari told Khaled Mohamed how the cumulative bombardment has not only led to hospital...
Myanmar junta ‘a criminal enterprise’ not a government: Rights expert
November 03, 2023 19:18 - 10 minutes - 11 MBThe international community must take three steps, if they are to help end the “nightmare” that people in Myanmar are living every day. That’s according to Tom Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. First, cut the coup leaders’ cash flow, then the flow of weapons; and finally, deny them any legitimacy. Mr. Andrews – an independent rights expert who is not a UN staff member – sat down with UN News’s Vibhu Mishra, and described the atrocities the military ...
Attacks on journalists covering elections ‘a very scary trend’: UNESCO
November 02, 2023 16:46 - 6 minutes - 8.38 MBWith more than 80 countries set to hold elections next year, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is urging governments to ensure that journalists are protected throughout the entire period leading up to the vote. UNESCO data reveals that journalists have been attacked, and some even killed, while providing coverage throughout the electoral cycle. Recent years have seen some 759 attacks, and five deaths. To find out more, UN News’s Felipe de Carvalho spoke to G...
Gaza: Children ‘paying the heaviest price for this conflict’
November 01, 2023 18:28 - 6 minutes - 9.22 MBMore than 3,500 children have been killed and over 6,800 injured in Gaza during the current Israel-Palestine crisis according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). UNICEF official Salim Oweis emphasized in an interview with UN News that beyond the numbers, those are lives, dreams and futures lost because of the ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip. He told UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki that it was the children who are “facing the worst of times” in the enclave and called again for an immediate hum...
‘Thank God we’re still alive’: UNRWA staffers keep working under fire
October 31, 2023 19:48 - 6 minutes - 13.8 MBThe Spokesperson for the UN Palestine refugee agency (UNRWA) in Gaza has seen his own home partially destroyed and family members injured as Israel continues its assault and bombardment. Adnan Abu Hasna, told UN News on Tuesday that his son, brother and many other family members have been injured following displacement from the north, driving home the reality that nowhere is safe inside the enclave. The death toll for UNRWA workers since 7 October so far stands at 67. He told UN News’s Ez...
‘Political and humanitarian catastrophe’ unfolding in Gaza: Rights expert
October 29, 2023 19:44 - 19 minutes - 35.3 MB“Genocidal calls’ in Israel have become dominant as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues, the UN independent human rights expert for the Occupied Palestinian Territory warned in an interview earlier this week. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese also had a message for the Arab world in the face of the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October, saying it was “necessary and imperative” to condemn the atrocities. In an in-depth interview, Ms. Albanese told UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri that after decades ...
Ethiopians working to make lasting peace a reality
October 27, 2023 13:55 - 9 minutes - 10.1 MBThe recent conflict in Ethiopia can often make people forget about the country’s vibrancy, robust economic growth and burgeoning young population, according to the top UN official there. UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Ramiz Alakbarov said citizens across Ethiopia have voiced support for the 2022 peace agreement that ended two years of fighting between Government troops and forces in Tigray. UN News’s Nargiz Shekinskaya asked Mr. Alakbarov about the reaction to a recent report by ...
There’s no going back with AI, says Hollywood director McG
October 26, 2023 21:16 - 6 minutes - 1.43 MBArtificial Inteligence (AI) has become increasingly present in our daily lives, and as a result, a potential threat to the “human touch” that is so essential to the visual arts. That’s according to award-winning director and producer Joseph McGinty Nichols (McG), who’s been talking to UN News’s Pauline Batista about the evolution of AI in film. He says from Scorsese to Taylor Swift, AI will usher in a new era of “hyper personalized entertainment” – for better or worse.
Draft treaty hopes to enshrine the right to development globally
October 25, 2023 22:16 - 5 minutes - 7.79 MBA draft treaty on the right to development should give extra momentum to global efforts to achieve a more just and equitable and future for all people and the planet. That’s the opinion of Zamir Akram, a former Ambassador of Pakistan and chair-rapporteur of the Working Group that developed the text. It upholds everyone’s right to decent work, education, healthcare and housing, for example, which are all crucial for peace and progress. UN News’s Nadeem Saaed asked Mr. Akram about the backg...
WHO calls for safe humanitarian access and fuel deliveries to Gaza
October 25, 2023 21:27 - 4 minutes - 6.76 MBThe first trucks carrying medical supplies provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived in Gaza this weekend, but more aid is still desperately needed, Spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said on Wednesday. Speaking from Cairo, he said the UN agency continues to call for safe humanitarian access – both for aid deliveries and for the workers distributing these supplies. He also highlighted the critical need for fuel, which is running out, putting healthcare at risk because without it, h...