General News

The atrocities committed by the Nazis during the Second World War were revisited on Tuesday as the UN observed the International Day of Commemoration of the Victims of the Holocaust.

The day marks the liberation of the notorious Auschwitz-Berkenau concentration and extermination camp on 27th January.

The now notorious acts committed at the camp included sending people, many of them Jews, to gas chambers and doing experiments on living human beings.

Derrick Mbatha sat down with one of the survivors of the Holocaust, Jona Laks who recalled her ordeal.

The call to end indiscriminate employment of weapons in populated areas of Syria has continued to be ignored, according to a UN top humanitarian official.

Kyung-wha Kang, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, was speaking on Wednesday at the Security Council.

She presented a report on recent developments in Syria, which is now in its fifth year of civil conflict.

Stephanie Coutrix reports.

Duration: 3’15”

Racism and discrimination at any level should not be tolerated because it can be a foundation for atrocities.

That’s according to Charlotte Cohen, a youth adviser to the United Kingdom Holocaust Commission.

She’s been attending an event at the UN in New York to observe the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.

The day, observed annually on 27 January, marks the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp run by the Nazis during the Second World War.

More than a million people, mainly Jews, perished in Auschwitz.

Devastating floods in Malawi have left thousands of farmers without crops and livestock according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The agency estimates that 60,000 hectares of land and 250,000 farming families have been affected by the heavy rains that have hit the Southern African country.

FAO Representative in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, Florence Rolle, spoke with Sandra Ferrari about the situation in the country.

Duration: 4’24”

The surveillance of outbreaks of the Ebola disease in West Africa needs to be intensified if the deadly virus is to finally be beaten, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) new regional director for Africa.

More than 8,700 people have died from Ebola mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, but now the number of cases is dropping.

Daniel Johnson has been speaking to the new WHO chief, Matshidiso Moeti, about her priorities for dealing with the epidemic.

Duration: 3’01”

Around 3000 child soldiers in South Sudan are scheduled to be released from fighting, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The children were recruited by the South Sudan Democratic Army's Cobra Faction.

Some had been fighting for almost four years in the country’s civil conflict.

UNICEF, which is facilitating the process, says close to 250 children have already been demobilized and will soon start to reintegrate schools.

A growing global population means there are likely to be far more than the 850 million vehicles on the roads now, with an even greater demand for fuel than today.

At a United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) partner event, fans of natural gas-powered cars explained why they could help meet tomorrow’s energy needs.

Daniel Johnson reports from the UN in Geneva.

Duration: 3'56"

The rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community in El Salvador are being highlighted as a result of a campaign supported by the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR).

The Libres e Iguales (Free and Equal) campaign was created in response to a reported increase in hate crimes.

It’s hoped it will help end discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Stephanie Castro begins her report with a clip from a video produced to support the campaign, where a woman asks “what would you do if your child was LGBTI?”

The maintenance of peace across the so-called “Blue Line” that separates Lebanon from Israel has been highlighted as one of the country’s greatest achievements of the past three years by the UN’s former senior official in Lebanon.

Among Derek Plumbly’s most important responsibilities at the helm of the Beirut-based UN political office in Lebanon (UNSCOL) was helping to maintain security across the Blue Line.

Civilians affected by an attack on the city of Mariupol in Ukraine are receiving vital support from the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.

The UN says a rocket, which appears to have been launched indiscriminately into civilian areas on Saturday, killed dozens of people and left over one hundred injured.

Fighting between Ukraine’s government troops and pro-Russian rebels has continued despite a September ceasefire, forcing 650,000 people to flee their homes.