Interviews

As jazz-great Nina Simone once said, "jazz is not just music, it is a way of life, it is a way of being, a way of thinking".

Written into the quest for human dignity, democracy and civil rights, the story of jazz is celebrated worldwide on 30 April, with the support of the UN culture agency, UNESCO.

Mexican jazz composer and drummer Antonio Sánchez, defines jazz simply as “freedom”, highlighting its inclusive power to bring “different elements together, transforming it into something greater.”

Making sure that more women take part in arms control talks should be a key priority for all countries, UN researchers said on Thursday, after publishing a report showing that female delegates are significantly under-represented in key discussions about weapons of mass destruction.  

Days after another wave of tragic terrorist attacks, the UN and the European Union have agreed to work more closely together to fight the scourge that has killed more than 350 people in the past week alone.

Vaccines are effective, safe, inexpensive, and “a silver bullet for public health” that help save countless lives across the world each year.

That’s according to Robin Nandy, Principal Adviser and Chief of Immunization for the UN Children’s Fund, speaking on the launch day on Wednesday, of UNICEF’s #VaccinesWork campaign.

It’s also the beginning of World Immunization Week, and UN News’s Siwen Qian began by asking Mr. Nandy, to explain how vaccination works.

For the first time, the UN health agency WHO, has released guidelines on how long very young children should be spending in front of a screen.

The World Health Organization’s recommendations also suggest how much exercise and sleep under-fives need to grow up fit and well.

Communities and religious leaders have come together to call for peace and calm in Sri Lanka, following the deadly church and hotel suicide bombings, on Easter Sunday.

With nearly 300 killed – including 45 children – the Indian Ocean island nation is in a state of mourning and living through a “national trauma”.

That’s according to the UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Hanna Singer, who also warned that beyond the “fear and shock” there was rising concern over a possible “backlash”.

In an ideal world, all jobs would be “green,” decent work that contributes to protecting the environment.

For the International Labour Organization (ILO), millions of green jobs must be created in the coming years, if countries are to put commitments made to minimise climate change into action.

Dan Dickinson from UN News called up Moustapha Kamal Gueye, coordinator of the Green Jobs Programme at the ILO in Geneva, and started by asking him what kind of green jobs exist already.

The reality of working today is that people are “continuously asked to do more and more and have no time to rest”, often with grave consequences for their health and wellbeing, an expert from the UN labour agency, the ILO, said on Thursday. 

In an interview with Daniel Johnson from UN News, occupational safety and health specialist Manal Azzi, discusses the pros and cons of technological innovation at work, as well as sustainable solutions to combat climate change, highlighting that prevention really is the key. 

Since before the era of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the arts have been used to confront slavery, and honour those who made freedom possible.   

As an artist who grew up in “a culture that was shaped by that particular history, making it part of his work’s DNA”, Christopher Cozier, from Trinidad and Tobago, has often drawn attention to the power of the arts, to deliver justice.  

Despite progress by the Afghan authorities in tackling torture of conflict-related detainees, much more needs to be done, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said on Wednesday. 

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, UNAMA’s Richard Bennett, outlines a new report’s key findings and explains how accountability for perpetrators would help eradicate the practice.