The Lid is On

While many in the developed world are home schooling via Zoom and other online tools these days, in South Sudan, it’s old-fashioned radio that’s proving the best way to keep children on track with schoolwork.

The country is still recovering from a brutal, seven-year civil war, in which hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed. The UN Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan, UNMISS, has a mandate to protect civilians and, during the COVID-19 pandemic, that includes providing advice on limiting the spread of the virus.

Countries must not forget routine lifesaving immunizations for diseases like measles, while racing to find a vaccine that will save millions of lives and end the COVID-19 pandemic.

That’s the message from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) vaccination programme director, Professor Kate O'Brien, who’s been talking in-depth to UN News for this latest Lid is On podcast, stressing also the importance of getting the facts, as misinformation rages online.

Music credit: Ketsa, ‘Live With No Fear’

In this special edition of our Lid Is On podcast, from UN News, we hear from independent UN human rights expert, Tendayi Achiume, who warns that apart from the coronavirus that’s destroying so many lives and transforming societies around the world, a virulent xenophobia and tide of racial hatred has also been unleashed, aided by what she calls “entrepreneurs of intolerance”.

Music credit: Ketsa: “Within the Earth”, and “Awaiting Her Return”

Yuriko was just a 12 year-old growing up in Hiroshima, when the devastating mushroom cloud enveloped the city in the morning of 6 August 1945.

Kathleen Burkinshaw’s novel The Last Cherry Blossom, tells Yuriko’s extraordinary survival story, a journey inspired by the life of the author’s mother, laying bare the importance of nuclear disarmament.

For this edition of our podcast show, The Lid is On, Ana Carmo spoke to Ms. Burkinshaw when she came to talk about the book, at the UN Bookshop in New York last year.

A photography project to document the ‘humanity, and quiet dignity’ of workers in the United States has been launched by the UN’s specialized agency, the International Labour Organization (ILO). 

The aim of the project, which comes as ILO celebrates its 100th birthday, is to look at the working lives of Americans across the country and listen to their hopes and fears for the future. 

For this edition of our flagship podcast show, The Lid is On, Daniel Dickinson joined ILO on the road as it reached the southern US state of Louisiana.   

A group of survivors devastated by terrorism in the Lake Chad region of Africa, are taking small steps towards building new lives and livelihoods.

In Cameroon alone, there are some 250,000 internally displaced people and around 100,000 refugees, forced to flee their homes due to a brutal insurgency which was originally led by Boko Haram – it’s now splintered into a number of different extremist Islamist armed groups.

Ahead of the UN’s Climate Action Summit on 23 September, the Secretary-General urged Member States to come with “concrete” solutions to the climate crisis, not just speeches. 

What are the UN’s top priorities, and can countries make more progress towards lasting peace, prosperity, and essential climate action?

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is urging the nations that make up the 74th General Assembly to provide “concrete answers” to the big challenges of our time.

In this exclusive UN News interview, Melissa Fleming, new head of Global Communications here at the UN, talks to António Guterres for our Lid Is On podcast, about the power of effective international cooperation, on the road to 2030.

Survivors of terrorist atrocities in the Lake Chad region of Africa have been telling UN News about how they have been able to overcome the horror of kidnapping and being forced to watch their own close family members being executed.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and many thousands killed across the region over the past decade or so, as a result of a terrorist insurgency which continues to this day.

Who wants the death of the UN?

This provocative question is the title – translated into English from Qui veut la mort de l’ONU?  in French – of a new book by Romuald Sciora and Anne-Cécile Robert, two French journalists and experts in international affairs.

In it, they argue that the United Nations is often unfairly held responsible for a lot of the ailments of the world: war, famine, health and environmental crises…