Interviews

The top UN emergency relief coordinator in the Philippines said on Thursday that his team is anxious to see the full evacuation of vulnerable citizens completed as the Taal volcano continues to erupt.

Sunday’s major eruption caused widespread destruction, and it’s feared that there could be a “catastrophic” eruption over the coming days or weeks, said humanitarian affairs coordination office OCHA’s team leader, Mark Bidder.

More than 100 wildfires are still raging across Australia, with record-breaking temperatures and drought contributing to the loss of more than six million hectares of land that is home to some of the most unique plants and animals in the world. 

Some estimates suggest that around half a billion animals have burnt to death in the state of New South Wales alone. 

An Iraqi woman who was forced to marry as a teenager and denied access to formal education, is speaking up for victims of human rights abuses. 

Jamila Mahdi was only 13 when her father married her off to a relative. She literally spent the next 12 years a slave:  working the land, tending livestock and caring for her four children in dire poverty. 

While nations continue to grapple with major global issues as the new year dawns, such as disarmament and climate change, there is reason to hope that they will work together to resolve the biggest threats to humanity. 

That’s the message from Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the United Nations in Geneva. 

In a wide-ranging interview recorded last year with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, Ms. Valovaya explains how she sees the geopolitical situation from her vantage point at the UN’s European headquarters. 

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, the world must first address critical challenges affecting nature.   

That’s the opinion of Ola Elvestuen, president of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), the world’s highest-level decision-making body on the environment.  

“Passion and story-telling” are two of the key ingredients to become a wine expert according to Michelle Gueydan, a certified sommelier based in New Orleans in the United States. Ms. Gueydan transitioned from politics to event management and then became one of the minority of female sommeliers currently working in the US. 

A woman chef in New Orleans in the United States has been telling UN News how the restaurant business and cooking over a hot stove, has been a lifelong ‘labor of love’ for her. 

Roseann Rostoker decided she wanted to be a chef at age 14 and ultimately opened her own restaurant nine years ago.  

What does a crawfish farmer have in common with a taxidermist, or a voodoo priestess, or a long-haul heavy-load truck driver….?  

The answer, according to the Director of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) office for the United States, is a quiet dignity and pride in their jobs. 

The UN is committed to fighting corruption, a phenomenon that affects all countries in one way or another, through the work of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The United Nations Convention against Corruption is the only legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument, and a unique tool for developing a comprehensive response to a global problem: The vast majority of United Nations Member States are parties to the Convention.

One of the major challenges in eradicating the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is the threat from numerous armed groups preventing health teams from reaching at-risk communities. 

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, Dr. Michel Yao from the World Health Organization explains how the agency is deploying helicopters to remote areas, as it adapts to the volatile situation.