Interviews

The recent sentencing of militia members in the Central African Republic for the 2017 killing of civilians and peacekeepers, has sent a strong message that impunity will not be tolerated.

That’s the assessment of Lieutenant General Balla Keïta of Senegal, outgoing Force Commander at the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the country, known by the French acronym MINUSCA.MWELLS

Questioning details and attempting to distort actual history – its chronology or statistics – are just a few examples of Holocaust or genocide denial.  

Often, that “leaves a window open ... creates oxygen in the room for extremism” and it is a signal of “prejudice, racist and antisemitic beliefs”. 

That’s the view of Sara Brown, Executive Director of Change, at the Centre for Holocaust, Human Rights and Genocide Education, in New Jersey, United States.  

A world without landmines is possible - and sooner than you think. 

That’s the message from mine clearance experts helping to make communities safe with the UN Mine Action Service, or UNMAS. 

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, they explain that although contaminated land is being cleared in more than two dozen countries, this fulfils only a small part of their future development needs. 

Locust swarms of a magnitude not seen in decades are devastating crops and placing millions at risk of hunger in the Horn of Africa. 

UN agencies are pushing for greater international assistance for Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia—the three countries most affected by the Desert Locust invasion which could worsen with the arrival of the rainy season in March. 

The way children and teenagers behave online has profoundly changed, and if societies ignore the need to rethink child safety issues, then “we are sticking our heads in the sand”. 

That’s according to Neil Walsh, Chief of the Cybercrime and Anti-Money Laundering Section at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).  

While the Internet has given children access to a world of information, including by providing a platform for their voices to be heard, it has also exposed them to cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, hate speech and other dangers. 

That’s according to UN expert Najat Maalla M’jid, who reports that one billion children—or half the world’s youngsters—are victims of violence, which can include online aggression.  

If young people can be mobilized worldwide to help stamp out the practice of Female Genital Mutilation, it can be ended within the next ten years.

That’s according to UN reproductive health agency UNFPA’s joint programme coordinator on eliminating FGM, Nafissatou Diop, in an interview just ahead of the International Day of Zero Tolerance to end FGM.

The work of the UN department responsible for peacebuilding is becoming increasingly complex, encompassing problems from cyber security to the climate crisis.

Rosemary DiCarlo, a veteran diplomat, has been in charge of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) since 2018.

In a wide-ranging interview with Conor Lennon from UN News, Ms. DiCarlo talked about the evolving role of the department, and her hopes for the future of global security.

She started by giving an overview of the wide range of activities covered by DPPA.

Some were workers, some teachers, some neighbours. Many ordinary people enabled the Holocaust simply by doing their jobs. Some made the choice to help, while others decided to join in with the persecution, betraying Jewish friends and classmates.

But what “fuelled the Holocaust was antisemitism” which didn’t end with the defeat of the Nazis, and “continues today”, affecting all of society.