UN Interviews

In the lead up to World Humanitarian Day, marked annually on 19 August, climate justice advocate Mitzi Jonelle is clear that the climate crisis is a humanitarian crisis. 

While most people consider the environment “a scientific problem to be fixed by the scientists”, the Filipino youth activist is determined to put an “empowering human aspect” into the climate crisis battle, involving “everyday people”. 

As preparations gear up for this November’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, the leading scientific body responsible for assessing the latest evidence on climate change said on Monday that human activity is “indisputably” to blame.

More than a million people die on the roads each year, and up to 50 million are injured. Jean Todt, the UN Special Envoy for Road Safety, and the president of the FIA, the body which governs world motorsport, is committed to driving that number down.

Whilst the situation has improved dramatically in the developed world, the vast majority of road-related deaths and injuries occur in poorer countries, where there are fewer safety standards and regulations.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed inequalities faced by the world’s indigenous people, such as poor access to healthcare, it has also led to greater understanding of their priorities, which include social cohesion and protecting the planet. 

That’s the opinion of Ghazali Ohorella, an international lawyer and indigenous rights advocate who is an Alifuru from Maluku, which is part of Indonesia. 

Six months since the military coup in Myanmar, the UN and partners are doing their utmost to help protect the country’s people and show solidarity with their plight, amid mass displacement linked to deadly clashes with Government forces and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. 

That’s the message from the organisation’s top acting humanitarian coordinator in the country, Ramanathan Balakrishnan, who’s been speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson. 

Conflict in Afghanistan is worsening - and increasingly pitting Afghans against Afghans - as most international forces pull out of the country, with nearly 800 civilians killed and more than 1,600 wounded in May and June alone.

A new study from the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on the impact of COVID-19 on victims and survivors of human trafficking, indicates that the ‘severity’ of abuses and levels of violence have increased during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed progress towards gender equality and put women in a dire and vulnerable situation in many parts of the world, according to the World Health Organization’s Assistant Director-General.

WHO, along with UN Women, lead the Action Coalition on Gender Based Violence and will announce concrete commitments this week in Paris, at the Generation Equality Forum.

Rape is widespread all over the world, and all countries, as well as the UN, need to do more to improve legislation to improve conviction rates and protect women, Dubravka Šimonović, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, has told UN News.

As the world continues to battle COVID-19, yoga offers a “unique” way to destress and boost immunity, allowing the mind and body to connect in a state of “cellular quiet”.