How can the United Nations, created in the aftermath of the Second World War, stay relevant to today’s young people?

At this year’s High-Level Week of the General Assembly, the UN Secretary-General launched the Youth2030 Strategy, an ambitious plan to get the UN to step up its support for the empowerment of young people, and harness their talents for the global good.

For this edition of our UN News flagship podcast, the Lid Is On, Conor Lennon talked to some of the exceptional young talents invited to UN headquarters during the week, and was joined in the studio by activist and advocate for migrants and refugees, Tolu Olubunmi, who is advising the UN on the way it communicates with young people.

Many of the world’s 821 million hungry people could be fed if less food was thrown away, according to the United Nations.

The UN’s human settlements agency, UN Habitat, estimates that globally some 1.3 billion tons of food is lost or wasted each year.

A reduction in that shocking figure, presents what the agency has called “an enormous opportunity for tackling food insecurity.”

For this edition of our flagship podcast, The Lid Is On, marking World Food Day, Daniel Dickinson reports from New York on how small actions, could make a big difference when it comes to tackling global hunger.

This is the first in a series of special episodes of The Lid Is On, recorded during High-Level week of the General Assembly, and featuring some of the many experts, UN officials and politicians who filled UN Headquarters during late September 2018.

Conor Lennon kicks off with a look at digital technology, and how it is being used to tackle some of the world's biggest problems, from climate change to disaster relief.

This episode includes interviews with Claire Melamed, CEO of the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD); Bogolo Joy Kenewendo, Botswana's Minister for Investment, Trade and Industry; Rebecca Morgan, director of Google Earth; and Amanda Pitt and Stefania Tressari from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that about 800,000 people died in 2016 by their own hand, mostly in low- and middle-income countries.

As this week marks World Suicide Prevention Day, WHO is appealing to countries to develop suicide prevention strategies and a toolkit has been developed to help communities address the issue effectively.

In this episode of our Lid is On podcast, Yasmina Guerda spoke to WHO’s focal point for suicide prevention, Dr. Alexandra Fleischmann, and to Sheilla Akwara, a singer from Kenya who survived several suicide attempts herself and who is now working with youth to share messages of hope.

Music credit:  "Watershed" by Soularflair.

Audio Engineer: Carlos Macias.

How do you run one of the biggest refugee camps on the planet?

That’s the task facing UNICEF, the UN Children’s Fund, one of several international agencies which are helping hundreds of thousands of mainly Rohingya Muslims in a place called Cox’s Bazar in southern Bangladesh.

They fled their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and sought shelter in Bangladesh, following a military clearance operation 12 months ago that’s been likened to a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” by former UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.

In this episode of our Lid is On podcast, Daniel Johnson from UN News spoke to UNICEF’s Simon Ingram, who recalled the “hell on earth” he found last August, and what has been done to help youngsters since then, despite massive ongoing challenges.

Music credit 'Sun' by, Alan Spiljak

In a report released in July, the UN Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate for the Security Council (CTED), warned of a growing threat: the return of foreign terrorist fighters, or FTFs.

Member States estimate that there could up to 30,000 ISIL fighters in Iraq and Syria. A significant proportion of them are foreigners, and the majority of the European nationals return home.

As awareness of the risk grows, CTED has been providing Member States with advice and guidance on how to manage the risk posed by foreign terrorist fighters.

For the latest episode of our Lid is On podcast, we asked David Wells, political analysis and research Unit coordinator for CTED, to explain the challenges and potential solutions to the problem.

Music credit: "Fater Lee" by Black Ant.

Throughout his term as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein has never been afraid to speak up for the vulnerable and condemn abuse.

As the first Asian, Muslim and Arab in the post, his appointment in 2014 was a landmark moment. Amongst many notable achievements, his UN career has taken in the establishment of the International Criminal Court, establishing the legal definition of the crime of aggression, and a groundbreaking report into sexual exploitation and abuse in UN peacekeeping operations.

In this episode of our Lid is On podcast, to mark the end of his four-year term in office on 31 August, Zeid gave UN News an extensive interview, looking back over some of the most consequential moments of his time in the role.

Music credit: "Skin in the Game", by Soularflair

 “Never give up”. Is the motto of Ben Ferencz, the last surviving prosecutor of the Nuremberg post-war US Military Tribunals, and at 99 years of age, he is still a tireless, and fearless, fighter for human rights and justice.

After the war, Ferencz was drafted into the Trials at a time when the very concept of war crimes was barely understood. Just 27 at the time, he found himself prosecuting former SS officers responsible for the deaths of thousands of men, women and children.

He went on to campaign for the establishment of international law, including the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and to ensure restitution and rehabilitation for the victims of Nazi war crimes.

For this episode of our Lid is On podcast from UN News, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, invited Ben Ferencz to our New York studio to talk about the ongoing fight for universal human rights.

Music credit: "Sunken Streets" by Sro.

Young women are increasingly being groomed as reluctant suicide bombers in the impoverished Lake Chad region of central Africa.

The extremist group Boko Haram which originated in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri is now causing terror in neighbouring countries including Chad.

In this special The Lid Is On podcast from UN News, Daniel Dickinson travelled to Chad to listen to the experience of one teenage girl who survived after being sent by Boko Haram to blow herself up at a busy weekly market.

A veteran de-miner who has witnessed some of the worst damage explosives can inflict on civilians, says he has never seen anything like the situation in Mosul, the last stronghold of the extremist group ISIL in Iraq, which was finally liberated just over a year ago.

Paul Heslop of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said that, although teams have cleared nearly 30,000 grenades, artillery shells, aircraft bombs, and other deadly devices, “we’re just starting to scratch the surface”.

Mr. Heslop has worked in mine clearance for more than two decades and even took the late Princess Diana into Angola’s mine fields, back in 1997.

In this episode of our podcast, The Lid is On, he tells Dianne Penn how removing mines and bombs literally clears the path for peace and development.

Music credit: Judas Goat (Featuring Hicham Enouiti), by Filastine.