UN Interviews

Climate change is no longer a distant threat; it is already reshaping lives and communities around the world.

Extreme weather – from unprecedented tornadoes to rising seas and creeping desertification – is forcing millions on the run, often within their own countries.

At COP30 in Belém this week, Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), stressed the importance of local, people-centred solutions.

At a time when false narratives about climate change are spreading faster than ever online, the UN education and culture agency, UNESCO, is calling for stronger global cooperation to safeguard information integrity.

Speaking to UN News’s Felipe de Carvalho in Brazil’s coastal city of Belém which is hosting COP30, Guilherme Canela, UNESCO’s Head of Digital Policies who takes a lead on promoting accurate information regarding climate change, says misinformation has become one of the most significant global risks – alongside climate change itself.

Filipinos are picking up the pieces after super typhoon Fung-Wong ripped through the country.

Eight people including three children are reported to have died because of the typhoon, but it could have been much worse: over a million people were evacuated from homes in 13 of the country’s 18 regions, in one of the Philippines’ largest ever pre-emptive operations.

People being held in prisons in Haiti are dying of starvation in subhuman conditions according to the UN’s Designated Expert on the human rights situation in the Caribbean island nation, William O'Neill.

Haiti is facing an increasingly perilous security crisis as gangs compete to control the capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding areas, impacting an already dysfunctional justice system.

Prisons are severely overcrowded, and some detainees can wait for years to be tried for minor offences, including the theft of chickens or shoes.

With half the world’s population under 30, sidelining young people is no longer an option. That’s according to UN Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs, Felipe Paullier, who champions the determination and creativity of the world’s youth.

He’s been at the World Summit for Social Development in Doha this week, issuing a strong call to action and urging world leaders to put young people at the heart of decision-making.

For millions of people with disabilities around the globe, the World Social Summit happening in Doha this week, represents something more powerful than promises – it represents hope.

That’s according to Fatma Al Jassim, who is in Doha representing the Global Disability Innovation Hub, a pioneering research centre in the UK, dedicated to driving disability innovation for a fairer world.

Speaking to UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki, Ms. Al Jassim explained why true inclusion is key to real change. 

Nearly 30 years after the landmark Copenhagen Declaration – when governments pledged to make societies fairer and more inclusive – conversations about putting social development back at the centre of the global agenda have taken on renewed importance.

To understand why it’s so critical, and how social protection connects to the broader pursuit of social justice, UN News’s Vibhu Mishra has been speaking to Srinivas Tata, of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Thirty years after the first World Social Summit in Copenhagen, global leaders have reconvened in Doha to assess progress and chart a path forward on poverty eradication and social development.

Over the past three decades, 1.5 billion people have been lifted out of poverty, and global life expectancy has increased by nearly seven years.

However, significant challenges remain, with an estimated 800 million people still living in extreme poverty, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda – launched 25 years ago through Security Council resolution 1325 – recognized women are affected by wars in specific ways and must also play a distinct role in resolving them.

Mexico, Chile and Colombia have all adopted foreign policies which emphasise gender equality in diplomacy, peacebuilding and development – but more needs to be done for women to be meaningfully included in peace processes and conflict resolution. 

Getting relief to communities in Jamaica cut off by the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa remains the “main challenge” for UN aid agencies in the Caribbean country.

The hurricane tore through the western part of the island — damaging homes, roads, and hospitals, cutting off access to some of the hardest-hit communities.

The United Nations team in Jamaica, working alongside the government and local partners, is focusing on providing urgent support — from food, water, and shelter to restoring health services and rebuilding critical infrastructure.