General News

Thesele Kemane, Graduate student at the University of Cape Town Opera School, preforming in the General Assembly Hall. [UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz][/caption]For more than four decades, black and non-white South Africans lived under a brutal system of Apartheid. This intolerance prevented many young people from ever realizing their potential.

When the Apartheid regime officially ended in 1994, Nelson Mandela, the new leader, brought hope to many talented young people.

“Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, guaranteed in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It constitutes an essential pillar of any vital society.” That is the message of UN Deputy Secretary-General at a Security Council debate devoted to the protection of journalists in armed conflict.

According to Jan Eliasson, in the past decade, more than 600 journalists have been killed while exercising their critical role and service in society.

Beng Poblete-Enriquez reports.

Duration: 3'54"

Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos. [UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferre][/caption]Millions of people remain in desperate need of help around the world, Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos told a press briefing in Geneva on Wednesday.

This year’s original appeal for 57 million people in 24 countries has risen to 73 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.

Gerry Adams has the story.

Duration: 2'40"

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA), Miroslav Jenča, briefed the UN Security Council on 15 July on the work of the Centre over the past six months in support of the governments of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Shortly after, he sat down with UN Radio’s Artem Pashchenko to discuss the role of the Centre.

Duration: 4'33"

ICC’s new Registrar Herman von Hebel taking oath (April 18, 2013) [Photo: ICC][/caption]The International Criminal court was created in 2002 to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

There are currently eight cases before the ICC, as it is often called, all of them originating in Africa.

The Registrar, Herman Von Hebel, recently spoke to Gerry Adams about some of the controversies surrounding the ICC and its seemingly “top-heavy” number of African cases.

Congolese families fleeing to Uganda. [Photo: UNHCR/ L.Beck][/caption]Congolese refugees have been streaming across the border into western Uganda since Thursday last week following a rebel attack on the town of Kamango in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

United Nations aid agencies are warning of a major humanitarian crisis in western Uganda where tens of thousands of Congolese refugees are resisting efforts to be relocated to safer areas.

Beng Poblete-Enriquez reports.

Duration: 2’56”

UNHCR Spokesperson Adrian Edwards [Photo adapted from UNIFEED][/caption]The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) is providing emergency shelter, blankets and other essential relief items to some 66,000 Congolese refugees who have fled fighting for the safety of western Uganda in the last five days.

Refugees began fleeing after a reported attack last week on the town of Kamango in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Some 10,000 people who have been stranded in the bush in Pibor county, Jonglei, South Sudan following clashes between state and non-state actors, are now receiving assistance for the first time this year.

Toby Lanzer, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, said this is a significant breakthrough for the aid agencies to reach these people, some of whom require immediate medical attention.

In this interview with UN Radio’s Mamadou Alpha Diallo in Geneva, Toby Lanzer explains the breakthrough.

Duration: 4’58”

André Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a special event organized by the Permanent Mission of Switzerland. [UN Photo/Rick Bajornas][/caption]With the wingspan of a jumbo jet but the weight of a compact-sized car and powered by thousands of solar cells, each the width of a strand of hair, meet Solar Impulse, the first plane powered only by solar energy.

Solar Impulse made headlines on the 6th of July when it landed at Kennedy Airport in New York after flying day and night across the United States on nothing but the energy of the sun.

A UNAMID armored personnel carrier that came under attack on 17 October, 2012. [UN Photo/Albert González Farran][/caption]Seven Tanzanian peacekeepers from the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) were killed and 17 others injured during an ambush in Darfur, Sudan on the 13th of July.

Heavy ammunition was used in the attack from an unidentified group, according to Chris Cycmanick, the Acting Spokesperson for UNAMID.