Interviews

Years of violent insecurity in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo have left at least 5.6 million people there displaced. 

There’s not enough funding to help all those in need, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has warned, adding that some have been forced to sleep out in the open, leaving them vulnerable to sexual abuse, which is widespread throughout the area. 

In an interview with UN News’ Daniel Johnson, the agency’s Head of External Relations, Dominique Hyde, described the desperate scenes she saw for herself in Ituri province last week. 

This past week in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, violent protesters have targeted the UN peacekeeping Mission there, MONUSCO.

Three UN ‘blue helmets’ have been killed, along with demonstrators, who have called on the force to do more to protect communities from the many armed groups that roam the mineral-rich east of the vast country.

It’s a deeply worrying situation, but as MONUSCO number two, Khassim Diagne explains to UN News’s Daniel Johnson, every effort is being made to restore calm and investigate the killings.

The UN response to HIV/AIDS is under threat from a host of international crises, from COVID to the war in Ukraine, and the ensuing financial challenges faced by  countries across the world.

Mandeep Dhaliwal is the director of HIV and health at the UN Development Programme (UNDP). She spoke to Conor Lennon from UN News ahead of the 2022 International AIDS Conference.

A Gambian woman who was tricked into being trafficked to Kuwait in 2015 has shared her story of abuse and subsequent activism, in the hope others will be spared the “hell” she went through.  

Fatou Jagne studied pharmacy at university and was working at the biggest hospital in The Gambia. However, the salary was low, so a friend’s cousin offered to help her find a job in Kuwait. 

When Fatou arrived at the airport, her documents were seized and she was immediately sold into domestic slavery. 

The UN General Assembly is due to vote in a few days’ time on a resolution that recognises a universal Human Right to a Healthy Environment.

The draft text is based on the landmark resolution adopted last year by the Human Rights Council and calls upon States and international organizations to adopt policies that scale up efforts to ensure a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for all.

In this latest episode of The Weekly Tradecast from UN trade and development body UNCTAD, Jan Hoffman, head of trade logistics, explains how the Ukraine war has compounded severe strains on global supply chains, from the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Giovanni Pintor was right in the middle of what turned out to be a devastating car accident, the only thing on his mind was what he would tell his mother.

But that turned out to be the least of his worries after his two brothers were killed when their car lost control on a notoriously deadly bend in his native Sardinia, in Italy.

Today, the 25-year-old youth activist and UN staff member uses a creative approach that involves hip-hop concerts and street basketball tournaments to show how young people can be agents for change.

In the second episode of their Weekly Tradecast, UNCTAD talks to Paul Akiwumi, Director of the Africa, Least Developed Countries and Special Programme division. Soaring food and energy prices are hitting especially hard as the region struggles with the impact of the pandemic and climate change.

In the first episode of UNCTAD’s Weekly Tradecast, the organization’s Secretary-General, Rebeca Grynspan, talks about the global cost-of-living crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine.

What can be done to support vulnerable countries and people who will suffer the most from rising food, energy and fertilizer prices?

More than four months since the start of the war, people globally are facing a cost-of-living crisis not seen in more than a generation – in a world already grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.

Children and women worldwide, are the most likely to die in road crashes. But Nneka Henry says that doesn’t make road safety only an issue for youth or gender - it’s a development challenge for all of society.

Ms. Henry is the Head of the United Nations Road Safety Fund. UN HOPE Fellow, Diedra Sealey, spoke with her just ahead of the first ever High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on Improving Global Road Safety, taking place in New York this week.