Interviews

Young people in Chad are joining outlawed terrorist groups “because of ignorance,” according to a traditional leader in one of the most insecure and unstable parts of the West African country.

Youssouf Mbodou Mbami is the chief of the Canton of Bol and presides over a large swathe of Lake Chad, an area where many young people have been recruited or forced to join terrorist groups, such as Boko Haram.

Transformative change is needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – mobilizing civil society and individuals - but also through securing “national and a global leadership”.

That’s according to the President of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), Mr. Ola Elvestuen, who is also Norway’s Minister of Environment.

More than 100 leading scientists from all regions of the globe contributed to a major new UN report on the effects on climate change on land that was published on Thursday.

One of those experts is Dr. Valérie Masson-Delmotte, and in an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, she warns that although land use today is “absolutely unsustainable” for many reasons, it can also be part of the solution to reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

At the beginning of 2019, the UN’s peacekeeping mission in Cyprus (UNFICYP) became the first Mission in the history of the Organization to be led solely by women: Mission chief Elizabeth Spehar, senior police advisor Ann-Kristen Kvilekval, and Force Commander Major-General Cheryl Pearce.

Together, the three women oversee more than 1,000 military, police, and civilian staff supervising the ceasefire line, maintaining the buffer zone, and working to find a political solution to the ongoing differences between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

From becoming a school teacher to training as a football player, 40 girls between the ages of 6 and 18 trapped in humanitarian crises shared their dreams with award-winning photographer Vincent Tremeau.

A photographer for the UN office coordinating humanitarian affairs, known as OCHA, Mr. Tremeau explained that “it started as a game” in which the girls dressed up in clothes depicting what they would like to be as adults.

Fighting hunger and all forms of malnutrition has been the mandate of José Graziano da Silva, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO), during his eight years at the helm.

As the UN agency enters a new leadership phase, Mr. Graziano da Silva reflects on his time as Director General of FAO. 

He spoke to FAO's Charlotta Lomas. 

The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, MINUSMA, is one of the toughest UN peacekeeping operations. 

Peacekeepers stationed there have sustained severe and regular casualties from the activities of armed groups in the north of the country, and many civilians have borne the brunt of the instability, which includes deadly inter-ethnic clashes.

The Force Commander of MINUSM A is the Swedish General Dennis Gyllensporre.  He has an extensive background in international peace operations, notably in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sudan, and Afghanistan.

Karelia in the Russian Federation is a land of lakes, rivers and forests whose culture inspired Lord of the Rings author, J.R.R. Tolkien – the community proudly says - but it is at risk from climate change, big industry and a language that is in danger of dying out.

In an interview with Daniel Johnson, Alexey Tsykarev, from the Centre for Support of Indigenous Peoples in Karelia, maintains that indigenous languages and centuries-old practices need far greater protection.

A “continued flow” of Venezuelans out of their country is to be expected, UN humanitarians said on Friday, highlighting the many risks faced by families on the move, such as begging, child labour and even so-called survival sex.

In an interview with UN News’s Samuel Mungai, UN refugee agency spokesperson Liz Throssell, explains that one in two families have encountered problems on their perilous journeys.

An Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has already killed more than 1,700 people since last August, but communities there are more worried about measles and basic services, says the World Health Organization (WHO).

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, Dr. Margaret Harris explains how the added focus on DRC since the outbreak was declared an international emergency earlier this week, could be an opportunity to do much more to help people in the longer term.