PassBlue UN Podcasts

It’s that time of year again when world leaders descend on New York for the United Nations’ annual General Assembly. In this special podcast episode, Dulcie Leimbach, editor-in-chief of PassBlue, and Paula Dupraz-Dobias, journalist at Geneva Solutions, sit down to discuss some of the critical issues at stake for the multilateral organization.

Our new audio podcast “Women’s Voices from the United Nations” features excerpts from five speeches by world leaders who spoke at last year’s UN general debate. The voices we’re highlighting are – in order of their “appearance” -- Mia Amor Mottley, prime minister of Barbados; Theresa Lazaro, foreign affairs minister of the Philippines; Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdottir, foreign affairs minister of Iceland; Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, president of Namibia; and Natasa Pirc Musar, president of Slovenia.

Yahya Jammeh, Gambia’s former leader, ruled the tiny West African country with an iron fist for 22 years after seizing power in a 1994 military coup. His regime was marked by widespread human rights abuses, including enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings. Despite being voted out in 2016 and soon exiled to Equatorial Guinea after refusing to accept the election results, his legacy continues to haunt Gambia as victims and their families wait for elusive justice and reparations.

This audio documentary, "Portrait of Jammeh," sheds light on the long-lasting scars left by his dictatorship. The documentary takes listeners to Kanilai, Jammeh’s hometown, where, despite his brutal legacy, many people still revere him. Survivors and families of victims recount chilling experiences, including mass executions carried out by Jammeh’s notorious death squad, the Junglers.

Samuel Zbogar, ambassador of Slovenia to the UN, leads the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month. In an interview, he tells PassBlue that his country will use its signature debate, on Sept. 25, to ask Council members to reflect on how their countries can work more for peace rather than war. A daunting challenge, he admits.

The country is back in the Council for the first time since 1999.

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Dr. Michael Imran Kanu, Sierra Leone's envoy to the UN, says his country's presidency of the Security Council this August will focus on Council reform and making the case for a permanent seat for the African continent.

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As UN Security Council rotating president for July, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia says that the West is using the "Kyiv regime" as "puppets" to fight the war in Ukraine and that there will be "certain political consequences" for doing so.

Nebenzia was speaking to the media on July 1 as he detailed his country's agenda in the Council for the next four weeks. Besides the topic of Ukraine, he fielded questions on the budding closeness between North Korea and Russia, including the gift of a luxury car.

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Joonkook Hwang, the ambassador of South Korea to the UN, says his country will highlight the threats of cyberspace to global peace and security. This is a new topic for the Security Council agenda, so why does it matter to the East Asian nation?

Find out in this month's episode of UNSCripted.

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Welcome to a special episode of PassBlue podcast series UNSCripted. I’m Jessica Le Masurier, and I’m joined by Hala Rharrit, the Arabic language spokesperson for the Mideast-North Africa region for the United States State Department who recently resigned in protest over US policy on the war in Gaza. (The text part of the interview has been edited for clarity.)

Mozambique's permanent representative to the Security Council, Pedro Comissário, says that vetoes, divergent priorities and other imperfections can severely limit the productive work of the UN's crucial peacemaking body. On this episode of UNScripted, we find out what Comissário plans to do as rotating president in May, despite these challenges, such as reinforcing international law on protecting civilians.

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Vanessa Frazier, Malta’s envoy to the UN, explains why the new Ramadan ceasefire isn't holding in Gaza and says that her country is counting on the ICC to hurry up its inquiry into whether war crimes are being carried out in the enclave.

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