technology

Unsplash/Ian Usher

Digital tools being used to track people as never before, warns UN rights chief

25 June 2020
Human Rights

The internet and new digital tools are being manipulated as never before to infringe on people’s right to free assembly, the UN’s top rights official said on Thursday, in a call for a moratorium on the use of facial recognition technology during peaceful demonstrations.

UN Photo/Rein Skullerud

‘New and dangerous’ global risks require multilateral solutions, Guterres tells Italian Senate 

18 December 2019
Peace and Security

Shifting balances of power are triggering “new and dangerous risks”, the UN chief told the Italian Senate in Rome on Wednesday, pointing to the need for more coordinated international responses, focused on solutions.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services

News in Brief 12 November 2019

12 November 2019
News in Brief
  • Australia wildfires: ‘Get out’ if you can, warn UN weather experts  
  • UN health agency welcomes Ebola vaccine approval  
  • Economies must remain open, to succeed: IP chief 
Audio -
3'59"
ESA/NASA–A. Gerst

Thursday's Daily Brief: Syria latest, tech needs threaten life-saving weather forecasts, #UN75 birthday conversation begins, polio virus nears eradication

24 October 2019
Climate Change

A recap of Thurday's main stories: Wireless technology could block life-saving weather forecasts; UN gears up for 75th birthday dialogue; polio close to eradication; UN steps up northeast Syria aid; "unique opportunity" for end to Sudan-South Sudan border disputes.

NASA

Lives at risk if wireless technology demands are not held in check: UN weather watchdog

24 October 2019
Climate Change

Amid growing competition for radio wave space due to new wireless technologies, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on Thursday called on governments to protect radio frequencies allocated to potentially life-saving weather forecasting services.

NASA/Advanced Concept Laboratory

Space technology that’s helping small States survive climate change

11 October 2019
Interviews

Fifty years since the first moonwalk, space technology has made a huge difference to life on earth – just think about all those weather and telecommunications satellites orbiting way above us.

Now, with the help of high-precision satellite imagery and a nifty mobile phone app, UN satellite experts are aiming to give small island States threatened by natural disasters and climate change, the best chance of survival.

In an interview with UN News’s Kina Vujanic-Beck to celebrate World Space Week 2019, UNOSAT’s Dr. Einar Bjorgo, explains how technology out there in orbit, can be applied for development and humanitarian ends.

Audio -
4'43"
Courtesy of VFarm

Technology brings positive change, but ‘collateral damage’ must be minimized: senior UN official

27 August 2019
Economic Development

Digital technology has the potential to bring about a sustainable future, but the “collateral damage” of this transition must be mitigated, says the head of the UN’s technology strategy team, Salem Avan.

UN Photo/Evan Schneider

News in Brief 25 June 2019

25 June 2019
News in Brief
  • ‘Immediate’ moratorium call, on use of surveillance technology
  • 20,000 migrants rescued in Sahara since 2016
  • Concern over slow decline of malnutrition in India 
Audio -
3'25"
WFP/Gabriela Vivacqua

News in Brief 14 June 2019

14 June 2019
News in Brief
  • South Sudanese facing famine in all but name, warns UN food agency
  • Amid Sudan protest uncertainty, Darfur is still in crisis: OCHA
  • 5G technology jeopardizes forecasting and early warning alerts, say UN weather experts
Audio -
4'9"
ITU Twitter

Artificial intelligence summit focuses on fighting hunger, climate crisis and transition to ‘smart sustainable cities’

28 May 2019
SDGs

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is at the forefront of fighting hunger, mitigating the climate crisis and facilitating “the transition to smart sustainable cities", said the chief of the UN agency which specializes in information and communication technologies, Houlin Zhao, kicking off the third AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva.