Interviews

Cutting-edge digital tools, can help us to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and improve life for all.

But, if the right policies are not put in place, there is a real danger that these so-called “frontier technologies” will exacerbate inequality and destroy quality jobs, the UN is warning.

Areas of particular concern include the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI), which has been developing at a faster rate than expected. It’s often based on poorly understood algorithms produced with in-built bias and prejudice.

When the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2015, almost all nations agreed to come together to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius but, ideally, to keep it below 1.5 degrees.

On Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released an exhaustively researched report on the effects of a 1.5° and 2° Celsius increase in global temperatures.

Conor Lennon from UN News has been listening to what the report’s authors had to say.

For Pramila Patten, UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Friday was a particularly good day.

Despite being in a role where hearing distressing and traumatic testimony from victims of sexual violence is an essential part of the job, Ms. Patten was able to celebrate Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege jointly winning the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, highlighting the horrors of rape in war.

Despite tremendous efforts, an Ebola outbreak in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has yet to be fully contained, due in part to difficulties accessing parts of the region where conflict is raging.

The outbreak in North-Kivu which started in August, has so far seen a total of 161 confirmed and probable cases, and 106 deaths. So far, more than 13,700 people have been vaccinated.

On-screen celebrity and designer Kevin McCloud, visited the UN in Geneva on Thursday, to spotlight a flagship UN event to promote sustainable housing for all.

In an interview with UN News, Mr. McCloud, who’s from the UK, talks about some of the unusual things that have inspired his design-sense, including an Indian slum and tea-drinking in the street.

Daniel Johnson began by asking him if it was true his father had his own unusual professional background, as a rocket tester.

The presence of UN peacekeepers and other staff from the African Union-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur, UNAMID, is a valuable “source of protection” to people in central Jabal Marra, an area that has been strongly affected by the long-running conflict across the Sudanese region.

For 20 years, Doctor Evan Atar Adaha has been providing medical services to the conflict-affected people of Sudan and South Sudan.

Today, his dedication against all odds is being rewarded, as he is the winner of the 2018 Nansen Refugee Award – a prize given annually by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, to honour the women and men who work tirelessly to help people caught in humanitarian crises.