Defending the vulnerable from attack is one of the important duties of a UN peacekeeper, but what do you do when you come across a secret safe that may contain weapons, hidden away in a camp designed to protect civilians?

That’s one of the real-life dilemmas facing a UN police patrol in this latest edition of our podcast series from UN News, The Lid Is On.

We’ll be taking you inside one of the Protection of Civilian sites, where thousands of South Sudanese civilians have been sheltering during years of conflict, under the watchful eye of UN blue helmets from countries across the world.

Daniel Dickinson has been working as the Spokesperson for the UN Mission there, UNMISS, since early this year, and we asked him to report on the behind-the-scenes work that its troops and police get involved in every day, to try and ease the suffering of the world’s youngest nation.

Music credit:  Ketsa - Lighting the Night

The UN chief has called the plight of the Rohingyas in Bangladesh a “humanitarian and human rights nightmare”.

So what has it been like trying to ease the suffering on the ground?

For this latest edition of our UN News podcast, The Lid Is On, we’ll take you inside the biggest and fastest exodus of refugees since the Rwanda genocide of 1994.

More than 600,000 Rohingya - a Muslim minority based in northern Myanmar for generations, who've been denied citizenship – have fled for their lives across the border.

We asked the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, to put us in touch with some of the aid workers who have been dealing with the crisis since the beginning.

Music credit: Ketsa: Where the river run.

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How do you overcome years of sexual slavery, despite scars which will always remain?

Grizelda Grootboom knows the answer, and in September, she joined the Secretary-General at the UN’s main podium, to tell her story.

She came to urge the General Assembly to adopt a Political Declaration to end the scourge of human trafficking, telling delegates that they had to put victims’ needs first.

UN chief António Guterres called for trafficking to become a “real priority for international cooperation”.

“It’s so important to hear the voices of survivors,” said Grizelda.

Afterwards, she spoke at length to Cristina Silveiro, for this latest edition of our podcast series, The Lid Is On.

Duration: 39'55"

Music credits: Ketsa: “Sad Moments” and “Catch me Falling”

South Sudan has known no respite since fighting broke out last July, following the collapse of a peace deal between the government and opposition forces.

People in Africa’s newest nation have witnessed "barbaric" acts of violence carried out by armed groups, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), such as the sexual assault of women and girls and the kidnapping of boys for forced drafting.

The number of South Sudan refugees in Uganda has now passed the one million mark.

Another one million or more are being hosted by Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic.

It has become Africa’s largest refugee crisis and the world’s third largest after Syria and Afghanistan.

But it receives less attention and is chronically under-funded.

In this latest episode of our UN News podcast series, The Lid is On, Jocelyne Sambira has been looking into Uganda’s innovative approach to integrating refugees into society and how it’s impacting the local communities.

Duration: 14'52"

The Lid is On is also available on Sound Cloud.

Episodes of the UN Radio podcast series “The Lid is On”:

Hollywood helps highlight Europe's 20th Century refugee crisis: "The Lid is On" podcast classic

Lawyer runs 40 marathons to highlight water, sanitation issues

Saving the “blue heart” of the planet: the Ocean podcast

Podcast: A tale of happiness, biking from India to Sweden for love

The man who defined genocide: 'The Lid is On' podcast classic

The power of bearing witness: how rape became an act of genocide

Countering young violent extremists: one ex-jihadist talks to The Lid is On

Ending AIDS is within reach: The Lid is On, with Kenneth Cole

Hunting an indicted war criminal in the former Yugoslavia: The Lid is On podcast

“Film can change the world”: The Lid is On, with Gillian Anderson

Three comedians walk into the UN: Our seriously funny new podcast

A charity runner who does not particularly enjoy running has completed 40 marathons in 40 days to raise awareness about the global goal of providing all people with clean water and sanitation by 2030.

Mina Guli’s quest spanned six continents where she ran along the banks of six of the world’s major rivers, including the Amazon and the Nile.

The Australian lawyer was at United Nations Headquarters recently to talk about her amazing journey in support of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, which calls for access to clean water and sanitation for everyone.

The UN says water and sanitation are “at the very core” of sustainable development as they are critical to the survival of people and the planet.

Listen to her incredible story in this latest episode of our UN podcast, The Lid is On, presented by Dianne Penn.

The Lid is On is also available on Sound Cloud.

“I got knocked over by a wave on the New Jersey Shore when I was three-years-old and the ocean got my attention,” says the veteran oceanographer, who has also earned the sobriquet “Her Deepness.”

She will be one of the special guests attending the UN Ocean Conference in early June, but ahead of that major event to help repair and sustain the “blue heart” of the Earth, she came to UN Headquarters to talk to Matthew Wells for our podcast series, The Lid Is On.

The Lid is On is also available on Sound Cloud.

An Indian man who cycled across eight countries to be reunited with his sweetheart in Sweden has shared his story at the United Nations.

Pradyumna Kumar Mahanandia, known as PK, made the incredible journey in the mid-1970s.

He and his wife Charlotte Von Schedvin, known as Lotta, have been together ever since.

Their story is told in the book ‘The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love’ by Swedish journalist and travel writer, Per J. Andersson.

For the latest episode of our podcast The Lid is On, Dianne Penn brought the three of them together in our studio at UN Headquarters in New York, for a wide-ranging conversation about love, life and happiness.

The Lid is On is also available on Sound Cloud.

During the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, “rape was as much a tool of genocide as the machete,” the UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, Zainab Bangura has said.

Women from the ethnic minority Tutsi group in the African country were “systematically targeted and raped” during that period, investigations by the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda or ICTR uncovered.

The courageous testimonies of the rape survivors later provided the evidence required for the ICTR to prosecute rape as a war crime and act of genocide.

The so-called “Akayesu trial,” named after Jean Paul Akayesu, a former mayor of Taba town in Rwanda, has been touted as one of the most successful UN-backed transitional processes.

It’s also been featured in a documentary film called “The Uncondemned” by Michele Mitchell and the late Nick Louvel.

As the Rwandan women sat behind a curtain in the courtroom in Arusha, Tanzania, recounting in painful detail the brutal and violent sexual assaults they endured during the genocide, they had no idea they would make history and that by doing so, they would give hope to other rape survivors in war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and more.

Jocelyne Sambira presents this latest edition of our podcast series, The Lid is On.

Duration: 21'41"

The Lid is On is also available on Sound Cloud.

Episodes of the UN Radio podcast series “The Lid is On”:

Countering young violent extremists: one ex-jihadist talks to The Lid is On

Ending AIDS is within reach: The Lid is On, with Kenneth Cole

Hunting an indicted war criminal in the former Yugoslavia: The Lid is On podcast

“Film can change the world”: The Lid is On, with Gillian Anderson

Three comedians walk into the UN: Our seriously funny new podcast

Listen to a special holiday season programme: a look back at the best of our new podcast series launched in 2016, The Lid is On. It’s the phrase you hear at the close of business each day at UN Headquarters, when the meetings are over. We thought it was a distinctive name for our more relaxed, in-depth and conversational-based show that highlights some of the extraordinary personal stories that surface here at the UN. Matthew Wells highlights three of our favourite interviews from the series.

Duration: 10'00