UN Interviews

Unless the international community can fully engage in the recovery work to save vulnerable lives across Syria following the deadly earthquake disaster, a whole generation will be lost. That’s the dire warning from the UN World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. UN News Arabic’s Reem Abaza, began by asking Dr. Ahmed Al Mandhari, to describe what he had seen on the ground in Aleppo.

More than 6,000 high rise buildings are known to have collapsed in last Monday’s devastating earthquake in Türkiye, killing thousands, but rescuers have not given up hope of finding more survivors. That’s the message from veteran UN disaster relief coordinator Winston Chang, who’s currently based at Türkiye’s national emergency management centre in Ankara, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.

The deadly earthquakes that have killed thousands across Türkiye and Syria come on the back of an already desperate situation facing Syria’s northwest, the UN Resident Coordinator for the Arab nation, El-Mostafa Benlemlih, told UN News in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. Abdelmonem Makki of our UN News Arabic team asked him to describe the latest situation on the ground.

The UN climate agency, WMO, has brought together governments and scientists in Geneva to push for the creation of a global greenhouse gas measuring network, that will help countries to adapt to climate change and mitigate its impacts.

With more on the initiative, here’s Dr Oksana Tarasova, Senior Scientific Officer at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), speaking to UN News’s Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has warned that every day in Mali, civilians are being attacked by extremists who are forcing them from their homes and in some cases following them to displacement camps, to target them once again.

This is what has happened recently to more than 3,700 Burkinabé refugees and Malians who fled N’Tillit village for Gao, the nearest city, located 120 kilometres away. With more on this alarming situation, here’s UNHCR Representative in Mali, Mohamed Touré, who’s been speaking to UN News’ Daniel Johnson.

A report by the UN environment agency (UNEP) produced at the end of 2022 provides insights into the destruction the war in Ukraine has inflicted on the country’s urban and rural landscapes.

Nargiz Shekinskaya from UN News spoke to Andrea Hinwood, UNEP’s Chief Scientist, and began by asking her how much this preliminary study can tell us about the true environmental cost of the conflict.

Without $1.6 billion in funding for essential services and humanitarian aid to help Palestinian refugees this year, they could hit rock bottom, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency – or UNRWA – said on Tuesday.

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini explains where the needs are most acute, and why the agency is an “indispensable” stabilizing force in the Middle East.

Disturbing new data released on Tuesday from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has highlighted concerns that most human trafficking victims who manage to escape, do so without the help of law enforcement. 

The worry is that the COVID pandemic has forced governments to divert resources away from law enforcement activities that include tracking smuggling rings and locating victims.  

Sexual exploitation and abuse of vulnerable communities have “absolutely no place” in the United Nations and more needs to be done to help victims raise the alarm. 

That’s the message from the top UN official tasked with eradicating sexual and gender-based violence, Christian Saunders. 

In an exclusive interview, Mr. Saunders explains how he wants all peacekeepers, humanitarian and development workers to understand, respect and implement the Organization’s zero-tolerance stance on sexual and gender-based abuse. 

The prospects of a political agreement between the Sudanese military and civilian groups, including civil society organizations, has moved a step closer, with the launch of the final phase of the Framework Agreement in Sudan, a process brokered by the UN and partners.

May Yaacoub from UN News spoke to Volker Perthes, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Sudan, about the progress so far, and the efforts being made to ensure that different sectors of society, including youth and women, are represented.