Interviews

UN staff and other humanitarians “know how important it is” to keep operations going in the crucial Yemeni port city of Hodeida, despite the intensifying battle to recapture it that’s now under way, headed by Saudi-led coalition forces.

That’s according to the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, Lise Grande, who told UN News that the worst-case scenario would be a prolonged siege, that could spark a fresh outbreak of deadly cholera.

She spoke from the capital Sana’a, to Reem Abaza.

To mark the World Day Against Child Labour, Indonesia - a major global producer of agricultural products - has committed to eliminate all forms of child labour by 2022.

Spain’s reported announcement that it will allow a boat to dock carrying hundreds of migrants and refugees that was originally turned away from Italy is a “generous display of solidarity”, the UN Refugee Agency said on Monday.

So far this year, more than 600 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach mainland Europe, UNHCR spokesperson Charlie Yaxley told Daniel Johnson.

When it comes to ending illegal and unregulated fishing, it’s all about “respecting the Ocean, so that the Ocean can give us more”.

That’s the verdict of Matthew Camilleri, a Senior Fishery Officer, in the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department at the Food Agriculture Organization (FAO), speaking out against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, as World Oceans Day was marked on Friday.    

The major drivers of humanitarian crises in the Sudan are subsiding, but so too is the flow of resources required to meet the needs, according to Mark Lowcock, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, who recently visited the country to assess the current situation there.

Bangladesh’s “zero-tolerance” policy on suspected drug offenders must stop amid reports that it has caused a reported 130 extrajudicial killings and led to more than 13,000 arrests since the policy began on 15 May, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement on Wednesday.

A landmark agreement was signed on Wednesday which it is hoped will provide hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees with a pathway to return home to their communities in Myanmar, from camps in Bangladesh.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and the Government of Myanmar officially put their signatures on the document that will give these two UN entities access to Rakhine State.

Representatives from the global airline industry held their annual meeting in Sydney this week.  

Felipe De La Torre from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) tells Julia Dean how they are supporting its Blue Heart Campaign to combat human trafficking.

Ongoing conflict must be brought to an end in order to curtail the steadily growing number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in South Sudan, according to the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, spoke to Vibhu Mishra about South Sudan’s growing challenges.

If you’ve ever wondered how UN Blue Helmets carry out their work – and how it might look in the future – then look no further than a new film on the subject: Until There Is Peace.

Set in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and focusing on the international force there, MONUSCO, the documentary focuses on what happened when the UN Security Council created a specialized “intervention brigade” to proactively protect civilians under threat from armed groups.