Interviews

The Desert Locust outbreak in the Horn of Africa could provoke a humanitarian crisis, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned.  

The invasion is the worst in decades to strike Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, and has destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of crops.  

As swarms of the pest continue to migrate and devastate crops in its path, the UN agency is calling for urgent international support to fight the worsening upsurge.   

The challenges facing cities, in an age of climate change and technological innovation, will be highlighted at the World Urban Forum, held in Abu Dhabi between February 8 and 13.

Before he left for the UN’s annual conference on the urban environment, Haoliang Xu, Director of the UN Development Programme’s Department of Policy and Programme Support, sat down with Matt Wells from UN News.

Mr. Xu revealed that there is a growing trend of city leaders looking to the UN to help solve an increasingly complex set of problems.

Following a five-day visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where instability, inter-communal violence and disease continues to take a heavy toll, the human rights situation there is showing signs of improvement, said High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet.  

An estimated half a million people from the Roma minority perished in Europe during the Holocaust, but their persecution under Nazi rule is still widely ignored today, according to an expert on the issue.  

Dan Pavel Doghi, Senior Adviser on Roma and Sinti issues for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) says the Roma people should finally receive the justice they deserve. 

Although women make up half the global population, they are often disregarded in the increasingly important world of big data: from measuring economic growth, to disaster response and recovery, or key public transportation planning, an award-winning author said at the United Nations on Friday. 

All societies are undermined without quality schooling for all said the President of the UN General Assembly (PGA), in an interview just ahead of the International Day of Education.

Tijjani Muhammad-Bande has convened a high-level meeting to mark the day on Friday, and he firmly believes education “helps strengthen self-esteem”.

The leading Nigerian academic and diplomat told Liz Scaffidi that nobody should be left without access to a quality education in the classroom.

The United Nations has been involved in the divided island of Cyprus for more than half a century, policing and monitoring a buffer zone between the Republic of Cyprus and the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

The mission is headed up by Elizabeth Spehar, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Cyprus, and is the first to have an all-women leadership team, in charge of the mission, military forces, and the police component.

Climate-induced fires, rising inequalities, political unrest and a bleak economic forecast; last year was a very turbulent one. How can we make sense of it?
The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs recently released two major reports on the global economy and inequality.
Hear the UN Chief Economist Elliott Harris and lead authors Marta Roig and Dawn Holland discuss the solutions to get us back on the right track.

Following a rise in attacks on civilians allegedly committed by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), coupled with attacks against Ebola workers, an independent assessment of the UN peacekeeping response by the MONUSCO Mission, was established last December.  

2020 marks the beginning of the UN’s Decade of Action, a final push to hit the goals of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, and also the 75th anniversary of the Organization.

In an interview with Conor Lennon from UN News, Amina Mohammed, the Deputy Secretary-General, outlined the many reasons to be positive about the impact the Agenda is having on people’s lives, and the momentum that is growing around the world.

Ms. Mohammed accepted, however, that progress towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals has not been as fast as hoped.