UN Interviews

Since the launch of Chat GPT in November 2022, artificial intelligence (AI) has been dominating headlines, sparking excitement but also concern over the pace at which the technology is developing and driving misinformation.

The UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology, Amandeep Gill, is busy working on a Global Digital Compact to be adopted at the UN’s Summit of the Future in 2024 – a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity for leaders to agree on common principles for addressing tech challenges.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been able to support around 50,000 Sudanese in need in three states, amid the continuing fighting and food crisis there, which temporarily halted the agency’s aid operation after three staffers were killed.

That’s according to Leni Kinzli head of communications for WFP in Sudan, who said a total of 19 million are expected to face food insecurity during the coming lean season, and called on the international community not to take their eyes off the crisis in the country, provoked by the ongoing military power struggle.

UN Women is giving financial and technical support to young Sudanese who are leveraging the power of apps to keep women and girls safe amid the continuing military showdown that’s seen more than 100,000 already flee the country.

Social media has long been a boon to press freedom, allowing journalists from all over the world to make their voices heard, grow an audience, and build trust.

But rampant disinformation has increasingly eroded the space for trustworthy information online, multiplying risks for the journalists who help separate fact from fiction.

During this week’s UN ECOSOC Youth Forum, young people have been gathering at UN Headquarters in New York, to discuss the importance of energy transition for a sustainable future.

They will be the ones left to deal with the consequences, if the necessary green energy transition fails to materialize, so they’ve been arguing for the right to be fully represented during this crucial climate change debate.  

Conditions for children caught up in Sudan’s military showdown are critical, with at least nine dead and over 50 injured, though the UN Children’s Fund fears that total is probably much higher.

Ammar Ammar, UNICEF’s Jordan-based regional chief of advocacy and communications covering Sudan, said only a lasting humanitarian truce can help restore shattered services, and for now it’s too dangerous for their lifesaving work to continue.

Ezzat El-Ferri of UN News Arabic, began by asking him to describe what UNICEF’s doing to help ease the suffering.

More resources are urgently needed for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to meet the needs of thousands of refugees and internally displaced, who are fleeing the bloody showdown between rival military factions in Sudan.

That’s according to Faith Kasina, Regional Spokesperson for UNHCR who is based in Nairobi. Ezzat El-Ferri of UN News’s Arabic service began by asking her for the latest on the extent of internal displacement across the country so far.

The fashion industry has always been driven by esthetics, but its environmental and social impacts are now coming to the forefront. Growing awareness of fashion’s carbon footprint and evolving consumer attitudes are prompting some of its biggest names, to question their business models and embark on a sustainable transformation.

Climate change has continued to drive hunger and displacement in 2022, as ever more frequent extreme weather events – drought, floods, heatwaves – have been threatening the very existence of vulnerable communities.

In a new report, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) shows that last year, humanity’s “war on nature” – in the words of UN Secretary-General António Guterres – has resulted in several alarming records, while the years 2015 to 2022 have been the eight warmest ever.