First Person

Elisabeth, now 16 years old, has been reunited with her family in Burundi.
© IOM 2021/Lauriane Wolfe

First Person: ‘I’m not old enough to be a woman’ says trafficked teen

29 July 2021
Women

A teenage girl who was sold for sex for the price of a few beers as a twelve-year-old, has told the United Nations how she was trafficked between Burundi and Tanzania in East Africa.

Syrian refugee and poet, Amineh Abou Kerech, (16) left her war-torn country at the age of seven.
Mohammad Abou Kerech

First Person: Poetry and the pain of loss and leaving; a voice from Syria

14 March 2021
Culture and Education

A young Syrian woman has told the United Nations how poetry helped her to convey the emotions of all the children who have been caught up in the decade-long civil war in her country.

Martina Sandoval, UNPOL officer from El Salvador, serving in UNMISS, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan.
UNMISS/Gregório Cunha

First Person: Women peacekeepers a ‘powerful image for girls in remote villages’

13 March 2021
Peace and Security

Deputy Inspector Martina de Maria Sandoval Linares, from El Salvador always wanted to help others. Now, working as a UN Police officer, she has found her vocation, far from home in South Sudan. Ms. Linares, whose eight-year-old daughter and family are back in El Salvador, told UN News why the job is so rewarding, despite the sacrifices she makes.

A young girl at a plant nursery in Indonesia.
CIFOR/Ricky Martin

First Person: ‘The world is in your hands and begins at your door’.

18 February 2021
Climate and Environment

British celebrity gardener Monty Don, a UN advocate for plant health, is raising awareness of the links between human health, plant health and the well-being of the planet.

UN News' Abdelmonem Makki and his nephews in the village where he was raised in South Darfur, Sudan.
UN News/Abdelmonem Makki

First Person: family tragedy and the UN as ‘saviour’ in Darfur

30 December 2020
Peace and Security

The people of the restive region of Darfur in Sudan have seen the joint United Nations and African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) as a "saviour" according to a writer for UN News who grew up in Darfur.

The study of astronomy can “shed light” light on the challenges the planet faces from climate change.
University of Hawaii/Henry Weilan

First Person: Looking to the skies to understand the climate crisis

29 June 2020
Climate and Environment

Could studying the cosmos help us to fight the climate crisis? Two astronomers at the University of Hawaii think that knowledge of the solar system may help to slow down the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere.

Fred Cowell is the General Manager of Kauai Coffee Company in Hawaii.
ILO Photo/John Isaac

First Person: Innovation brewing at Hawaii coffee farm

25 June 2020
Economic Development

Innovation and experimentation are helping a coffee farm in the US state of Hawaii to prosper in a competitive market, an approach which has helped the company to get through the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Henry Lipkis in front of his monumental mural depicting a traditional parade in New Orleans.
ILO Photo/John Isaac

FIRST PERSON: An artist’s ‘obsession’ with New Orleans tradition

9 January 2020
Culture and Education

The International Labour Organization (ILO) marked its centenary in 2019 and as part of the commemoration has launched a photography project called “Dignity at Work: The American Experience”, to document the working life of people across the United States. UN News joined the ILO on a visit to the southern US state of Louisiana.

Dana Cormier has worked for 24 years at the Best Stop Supermarket which is owned by her family.
ILO Photo/John Isaac

FIRST PERSON: Cajun cuisine feeds expanding business

4 January 2020
Economic Development

The International Labour Organization (ILO) marked its centenary in 2019 and as part of the commemoration has launched a photography project called “Dignity at Work: The American Experience” to document the working life of people across the United States. UN News joined the ILO on a visit to the southern US state of Louisiana.

Captain Tucker Friedman is known as the alligator whisperer in Louisiana.
ILO Photo/John Isaac

FIRST PERSON: Louisiana alligator whisperer’s ‘dream job’

29 December 2019
Human Rights

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is marking its centenary in 2019 and as part of the commemoration has launched a photography project called “Dignity at Work: The American Experience” to document the working life of people across the United States. UN News joined the ILO on a visit to the southern US state of Louisiana.