UN Catch-Up Dateline Geneva

In this final show of 2021, climate wars and how the UN refugee agency is trying to help the world’s most vulnerable communities including those in the Sahel; a “COVID tsunami” alert from the WHO's Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; and Security Council condemnation for gruesome killings in Myanmar. Plus, an end-of-year message of solidarity and hope from UN chief António Guterres, while Brecht’s Mother Courage sets the tone for closing comments from regular guest Solange Behoteguy Cortes.

Following resolutions on climate and COVID vaccine equity, this week’s show highlights why the UN’s top rights forum is more relevant than ever, according to outgoing President Nazhat Shameem Khan from Fiji, who has been overseeing the work of the Human Rights Council in Geneva for a year. 

And, an appeal to “fight like hell” for vaccine equity, from the World Health Organization’s Maria Van Kerkhove.  

This and other top stories from the week, with closing comments from regular guest, Solange Behoteguy-Cortes.

In this week’s show, we’re in touch with a very busy COVID-19 call centre in the Central African Republic; we’ll also hear from the Human Rights Council where Ukraine’s unresolved crisis has been in the spotlight. An alarming heat record has been declared in the Arctic and we’ll hear some plain speaking from World Health Organization chief Tedros, on the issue of boosters and vaccine inequity. Not forgetting closing comments from the show’s regular guest, Solange Behoteguy-Cortes. That’s all coming up, in this week’s UN Catch-Up Dateline Geneva.

In this week’s show: there are 40 million slaves today around the world - find out what the UN is doing to help them; also, real concerns about COVID vaccine hoarding linked to the rise of Omicron, and an alert over a desperate hunger crisis that’s affecting millions in the Sahel, which is driving violence and displacement, that’s being felt as far away as the West African coast. 

Stay with us too for closing comments from regular guest, Solange Behoteguy-Cortes – and Gabriel Garcia Marquez - you’re in good company.  

In this week’s show: drought in Afghanistan to add to farmers’ woes, and how the UN is helping. Strong words from António Guterres and WHO's Tedros about Omicron travel bans, “travel apartheid” is the charge levelled by the UN chief; and the connectivity gap that’s widening – COVID-19 is a key factor of course, what else…

And, closing comments from regular guest, Solange Behoteguy-Cortes.

Hello, in this week’s show: an alert over fighting in Yemen’s north and the inevitable toll on the country’s war-weary people, grassroots solutions to gender-based violence among refugees and the latest from the UN health agency about rare multi-organ inflammation in children with COVID.

Stay with us too to hear about progress on the global eradication of landmines, and not forgetting closing comments from regular guest, Solange Behoteguy-Cortes.

In this week’s show: a worrying state of emergency continues in Ethiopia where UN staff are being held – the Secretary-General wants them released immediately – a pharma deal that gives a lot more people a chance to get COVID-19 antivirals than ever before, and tough words for the tobacco industry, from the World Health Organization (WHO).

And in this week’s interview - with UN communications chief Melissa Fleming – why it’s crucially important that the Organization should do more to listen to what young activists are saying, for everyone’s sake.

In this week’s show: how drones are proving their worth in humanitarian emergencies, worrying data on diabetes and COVID-19, the latest from the Belarus-Poland border, and news from the COP26 climate summit. Stay with us to hear closing comments from the show’s regular guest, Solange Behoteguy-Cortes.

That’s all coming up, in this week’s UN Catch-Up Dateline Geneva. Thanks for listening.

Packed into this week’s 15-minute show: potential war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ethiopia’s Tigray; we hear from the UN rights office which has spoken to victims and their families; an urgent appeal for Afghanistan’s ‘broke and broken’, and, news from COP26 in Glasgow, where countries have been reminded they need to spend a lot more on climate emergency adaptation measures...Stay with us too, for poetic closing thoughts from the show’s regular guest, Solange Behoteguy-Cortes.  

That’s all coming up, in this week’s UN Catch-Up Dateline Geneva. Thanks for listening. 

In this week’s show, why cookery classes are proving a hit with visually-impaired children in Rome; we have the latest stories from the UN News team in New York, and as ever, there’ll be closing comments to savour from regular guest Solange Behoteguy-Cortes.  

That’s all coming up, in this week’s UN Catch-Up Dateline Geneva.