Global perspective Human stories

The Lid is On

UN Photo/Mark Garten

PODCAST: Driving the climate agenda at UNGA77

On this week’s episode of The Lid Is On, we look at how the issue of the climate emergency has been raised during the opening session of the latest General Assembly session (UNGA77).

This week, we've heard powerful speeches by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, star-studded events and gatherings at UN Headquarters, and hundreds of events taking place in New York, capitalizing on the global attention the city receives, when so many world leaders are in town.

Audio
15'36"
UN Photo/Cia Pak

PODCAST: Avoiding ‘climate suicide’, transforming education, fighting hate speech – exclusive Guterres interview

This week we bring you a bonus episode of The Lid Is On: an exclusive interview with UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

On the eve of High-Level Week, when leaders from around the world gather at UN Headquarters in New York, Nargiz Shekinskaya from UN News sat down with Mr. Guterres to discuss some of the key international issues on his agenda, including the climate crisis, the need to urgently transform education, and how to tackle the worrying rise in xenophobia and hate speech.

Audio
17'10"
UN News/ Conor Lennon

PODCAST: A moment of peace before world leaders arrive at UN HQ

World leaders will soon be flying into New York, for High-Level Week at the UN General Assembly.

On Friday, the Peace Bell at UN Headquarters was rung by the UN Secretary-General and President of the General Assembly, and hundreds of young students filled the Economic and Social Council chamber, to reflect on this year’s theme for International Day of Peace, End Racism, Build Peace.

Audio
16'1"
UN Photo/Mark Garten

PODCAST: Acknowledging the ‘moral wound’ of slavery

On this week’s Lid Is On, Conor Lennon speaks to two experts on racism against people of African Descent, on the insidious nature of everyday racism, the importance of reparations, and why an acceptance that the wealth of developed countries is built on the back of oppressed, Black people, is liberating for people of all races.

Audio
21'6"
nyege nyege

PODCAST: The electronic sounds of pan-African collaboration

Uganda’s status as a refuge has seen large numbers escaping conflict in neighbouring and nearby countries, in particular South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and living in relative safety.

Whilst many are living in refugee camps administered by the UN in the north of the country, such as the Bidi Bidi settlement, others have made their way to the capital, Kampala, and some are making an impact on Uganda’s alternative music scene.

Audio
15'6"
UN News/ Conor Lennon

PODCAST: Developing northern Uganda - Market forces

Okubani Market is located in northern Uganda’s Yumbe District, within the Bidibidi refugee settlement which, during the South Sudan civil war, was the largest settlement of its kind in the world.

The market is a vital economic hub for refugees from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as the host community, which suffered years of insecurity at the hands of the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Audio
13'5"
UN News/ Hisae Kawamori

PODCAST: Developing northern Uganda – a brighter life

Hundreds of millions of people do not have access to electricity, seriously hampering their ability to improve their development prospects.

In Arua, northern Uganda, where employment rates are low and poverty is high, the UN is supporting a company that is providing pay-as-you-go solar energy services, putting the benefits of electricity in reach of villagers who would otherwise never be able to afford it.

Audio
11'37"