UN Interviews

The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya, Maria Ribeiro, raised major concerns on Monday for the safety of civilians and others who are being affected by the uptick in fighting between warring factions across the country, in particular, “migrants and asylum seekers who may find themselves in detention centres close to the main areas of conflict”.

Speaking by phone from Tripoli, Ms. Ribeiro told UN News that the United Nations had called for a “humanitarian truce” to allow emergency services access to newly-affected areas under fire.

The lack of basic water and sanitation facilities in health centres affects two billion people around the world and is particularly dangerous for women in childbirth and newborns, according to a new UN report.

Worldwide, two billion people are still not connected to the internet, creating a “digital divide” that is hampering development in the world’s least developed countries (LDCs).

In order to bridge that gap, the UN agreed in 2011 to set up a new UN body, the Technology Bank, which opened for business in Gebze, Turkey, last year.

Speaking to UN News’s Conor Lennon, Joshua Setipa, Executive Director of the UN Technology Bank, explained why it is in the interests of all nations to lend their support.

When Lieutenant Commander Marcia Andrade Braga arrived in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, to take up her post as Military Gender Advisor with the UN peacekeeping mission there, MINUSCA, no one else in the mission was tasked with protecting the needs of conflict-affected women.

But just one year on, she has managed to build a network of gender focal points across the country.

Suggestions that the UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet distanced herself from a report by her office on Sri Lanka are unfounded and should not get in the way of reform in the country, a senior UN human rights official said on Wednesday. 

Reports of sexual violence against refugee and migrant women and girls are sadly nothing new, but what about horrific attacks on men and boys who are on the move?

According to a new study by the Women’s Refugee Commission into people attempting to reach Italy from North Africa, the abuse is widespread, particularly in Libya’s detention centres.

People affected by Tropical Cyclone Idai in southern Africa, urgently need clean water, safe sanitation facilities and shelter, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Monday, warning that some areas of Mozambique still remain inaccessible because of the unprecedented flooding.

In an interview with Daniel Johnson from UN News, IFRC Secretary General Elhadj As Sy, described the huge scale of need he witnessed on a visit to the country last Friday. 

Half of all those affected by Tropical Cyclone Idai in southern Africa are extremely vulnerable children, UNICEF said on Friday, as its Executive Director Henrietta Fore visited the region.

Describing the scene from Mozambique, the country worst-hit by the flooding and devastation caused by the cyclone, Ms’ Fore said that the situation for children who survived Idai is “desperate.”

Speaking to Daniel Johnson from UN News in Geneva, UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac gave an update on the latest situation on the ground in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

When it comes to beating back climate change and reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, countries of the Global South will make major strides “by learning from each other, as they share similar problems”.

That’s according to Cornelia Richter, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)’s vice-president, the UN agency that helps transform the lives of impoverished rural people all over the world.

Journalists can help advance women’s rights by moving from a “protectionist approach to a more human rights approach” in their reporting, according to gender equality advocate Geetanjali Misra.

 “Protection of women just means keeping them indoors” she said, attending the annual Conference on the Status of Women (CSW) at UN Headquarters, but consistent reporting can help to shape public opinion over women’s equality issues.