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Interviews

635 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 days ago - ★★★★ - 4 ratings

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.

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Episodes

Sustainability in vogue: a fashion CEO’s green journey

April 21, 2023 17:00 - 32 seconds - 7.63 MB

The fashion industry has always been driven by esthetics, but its environmental and social impacts are now coming to the forefront. Growing awareness of fashion’s carbon footprint and evolving consumer attitudes are prompting some of its biggest names, to question their business models and embark on a sustainable transformation. Ahead of this Saturday’s Earth Day, Riccardo Bellini, the CEO of luxury fashion house Chloe, has been talking to Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer about his company’s s...

Extreme weather, extreme impacts: a year of alarming climate records

April 21, 2023 11:01 - 52 seconds - 8.1 MB

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. O...

UNFPA delivers support to expectant mothers caught up in Sudan crisis

April 20, 2023 19:52 - 47 seconds - 2.33 MB

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 moth...

UNICEF raises alarm over dramatic fall in childhood immunization rates

April 20, 2023 01:47 - 2 seconds - 6.93 MB

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...

Sudan: WHO condemns military occupation of hospitals as ‘gross violation’

April 17, 2023 20:05 - 41 seconds - 1.54 MB

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...

Better emergency responses must focus on rural livelihoods - FAO

April 17, 2023 18:32 - 32 seconds - 8.63 MB

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...

‘Every time I talk about it, I cry’: How hate speech triggered Rwandan genocide

April 14, 2023 16:23 - 39 seconds - 17.4 MB

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 I...

Game-changing plan to fight climate change at Olympics

April 04, 2023 04:01 - 3 seconds - 2.55 MB

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 dev...

The health worker initiative easing stress of COVID-19 burnout

April 03, 2023 16:41 - 32 seconds - 6.05 MB

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 hea...

‘Herculean effort’ needed to make famine a thing of the past: UN coordinator

April 03, 2023 16:36 - 49 seconds - 9.4 MB

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 Domi...

UN has key role in dialogue around slavery: Leading US social justice expert

April 02, 2023 22:00 - 58 seconds - 13.7 MB

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...

'Take pride in who you are': Android developer shares World Autism Awareness Day message

April 02, 2023 18:13 - 59 seconds - 14.7 MB

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.

DR Congo mission chief leads proactive fight against deadly misinformation

March 31, 2023 19:22 - 13 seconds - 13.9 MB

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 fi...

Cocaine trade sees significant growth post-COVID, with Brazil emerging as key hub: UNODC

March 16, 2023 07:02 - 26 seconds - 18.5 MB

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 P...

Horn of Africa hunger emergency sparks surge in disease, warns WHO

March 14, 2023 14:30 - 11 seconds - 6.72 MB

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 ...

South Sudan faces ‘stark choice’ at critical juncture along road to durable peace

March 07, 2023 21:43 - 48 seconds - 9.9 MB

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.

After 30 years of fighting, hunger the last straw for Horn of Africa’s most vulnerable: UNHCR

March 01, 2023 14:53 - 1 second - 716 KB

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 Russian invasion, concerns grow over global food affordability

February 24, 2023 02:13 - 41 seconds - 9.81 MB

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, her...

Many colleagues ‘have lost everything except their work’: WHO Representative in Ukraine

February 23, 2023 18:41 - 12 seconds - 6.37 MB

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...

Digital ambition: How one Afghan student plans to get girls back to school

February 16, 2023 15:07 - 52 seconds - 14.2 MB

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 U...

Syrian women demand peace, as hope crumbles along with quake-struck buildings

February 15, 2023 15:39 - 55 seconds - 12.3 MB

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 Region...

Some Ukraine towns practically erased, one year into invasion

February 15, 2023 14:37 - 15 seconds - 8.6 MB

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 s...

Syria quake disaster: Aleppo residents too scared to go home, warn UN rescue teams

February 14, 2023 16:37 - 58 seconds - 6.85 MB

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 U...

Earthquake disaster: ‘We are losing the future generation of Syria’

February 13, 2023 16:47 - 16 seconds - 2.13 MB

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...

Earthquake latest: ‘Miracle’ rescues that keep hope alive amid destruction

February 13, 2023 15:02 - 57 seconds - 9.56 MB

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 currently 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.

‘Huge’ needs across earthquake-hit areas of Syria, amid war, winter and cholera

February 07, 2023 22:03 - 33 seconds - 1.51 MB

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. Abdelm...

We need new greenhouse gas emissions network, insists UN weather agency

February 01, 2023 20:20 - 51 seconds - 10.8 MB

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.

Mali’s power ‘vacuum’ leaves civilians targeted by extremists, warns refugee agency

January 30, 2023 20:43 - 41 seconds - 7.52 MB

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 bee...

Counting the environmental cost of the Ukraine war

January 27, 2023 19:20 - 37 seconds - 7.63 MB

A report by the UN environment agency (UNEP) produced at the end of 2022 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.

UNRWA launches $1.6 billion funding appeal as humanitarian conditions worsen

January 24, 2023 17:35 - 4 seconds - 1.17 MB

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.

People trafficking report highlights fears that COVID-19 has diverted resources from rescuing victims  

January 24, 2023 15:37 - 20 seconds - 10.1 MB

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 tr...

‘Absolutely no place’ for sexual exploitation, top UN official raises alarm

January 23, 2023 14:05 - 7 seconds - 16.2 MB

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 a...

A step towards peace in Sudan

January 17, 2023 15:36 - 37 seconds - 6.78 MB

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 yo...

‘Brutal’ temperature changes are the new normal, says UN meteorological agency 

January 06, 2023 18:16 - 27 seconds - 12 MB

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. 

Pelé family members recall ‘big heart’ of football’s king, who inspired generations

December 29, 2022 21:56 - 57 seconds - 3.24 MB

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 costing lives of peacekeepers and civilians in DRC, warns mission chief 

December 09, 2022 19:26 - 19 seconds - 11.4 MB

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 A...

UN aid chief: Humanitarians can’t help everyone, without more funding

December 01, 2022 16:55 - 35 seconds - 8.98 MB

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 ...

Inequalities keeping AIDS alive

November 29, 2022 22:30 - 23 seconds - 9.83 MB

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 conversati...

Key biological weapons treaty talks must break deadlock, urges President

November 29, 2022 20:32 - 36 seconds - 6.34 MB

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.

Diabetes cases rising worldwide, WHO reports

November 15, 2022 21:45 - 49 seconds - 13.5 MB

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 co...

Glass ‘half full’ after crunch year for human rights, says Council President

November 07, 2022 20:42 - 22 seconds - 3.38 MB

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 Counci...

International Court of Justice underpins trust in world’s legal order, says top official

November 04, 2022 20:50 - 20 seconds - 7.95 MB

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...

Abandon ‘charity’ approach to effectively address poverty: Rights expert

November 03, 2022 19:57 - 27 seconds - 11.6 MB

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 so...

Western States living behind ‘wall of denial’ over Israel’s occupation: UN rights expert

October 29, 2022 18:12 - 41 seconds - 12.5 MB

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. Sh...

Millions at mercy of devastating flooding across west and central Africa

October 28, 2022 15:41 - 40 seconds - 7.5 MB

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.

UN rights expert aims to tackle ‘multi-pronged’ scourge of torture

October 21, 2022 12:55 - 24 seconds - 14.3 MB

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...

Digital technology, social media fuelling hate speech like never before, warns UN expert

October 20, 2022 13:12 - 9 seconds - 20.8 MB

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...

Ukraine: UN commission chair says report ‘is the truth as we have observed it’

October 18, 2022 18:35 - 21 seconds - 1.23 MB

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 ...

UNCTAD PODCAST: Shift in policies needed to avert global recession

October 04, 2022 16:02 - 3 seconds - 12.5 MB

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.

Pakistan emergency flood response is underway, but food security fears persist 

August 31, 2022 16:43 - 42 seconds - 9.15 MB

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.