The private sector “should not take the lead in poverty alleviation” but it should remain a key obligation of governments to improve the life of the poorest people across the world according to Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.  Mr. Alston believes countries like the United States are increasingly allowing profit-driven private companies, to run services for the estimated 40 million people who live in poverty in the US.  Daniel Dickinson sat down with Philip Alston to discuss his role as an independent observer of poverty.

How can the United Nations, created in the aftermath of the Second World War, stay relevant to young people today?

At this year’s High-Level Week of the General Assembly, the UN Secretary-General launched the Youth2030 Strategy, an ambitious plan to get the UN to step up its support for the empowerment of young people, and harness their talents for the global good.

• UN rights chief calls for release of hundreds abducted and abused in South Sudan
• ‘More time’ agreed for buffer zone, to spare three million Syrian civilians in Idlib
• Under fire, UN refugee agency evacuates 135 detained in Libya to Niger

South Sudan must bring to justice the military forces responsible for abducting more than 900 men, women and children from the east of the country, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Thursday.  Hundreds of people are still missing from Gbudue and Tambura states, both of which are in Western Equatoria region, OHCHR said in a report co-authored with UN peacekeeping mission, UNMISS.  OHCHR’s Julie de Rivero spoke with UN News's Daniel Johnson.