UN Interviews

In a historic milestone for global public health, Member States of the World Health Organization on Tuesday adopted the Pandemic Agreement – an accord aimed at preventing future devastating outbreaks.

Negotiations began in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, and after just three and a half years – a relatively short timeline for crafting complex international treaties – the world today is more prepared than it was before the coronavirus struck.

At the heart of the process is Precious Matsoso, co-chair of the intergovernmental negotiating body that steered the talks to the finish line.

She told UN News’ Vibhu Mishra shortly after the agreement was adopted that it was a ground-breaking moment in public health. 

Related story: Nations adopt historic pledge to guard against future pandemics

With so many wars and emergencies happening at once, it can be easy for other fundamental issues to go unnoticed, such as the safety of journalists.

Nonetheless, it is a time of great danger for reporters who cover these important stories – like Christina Assi, a Lebanese photojournalist who was seriously injured in a double missile strike in the recent fighting between Hezbollah and Israel.

Despite her injuries, Ms. Assi carried the Olympic torch in France ahead of the Olympic Games.

It was a powerful symbol of resilience to many but for her, things haven’t been easy at all. “I believe in nothing right now… Our Press vests are turning us into targets and it's becoming a death sentence for us,” she told UN News's Nancy Sarkis.

Autonomous weapon systems, which require no human input to select and apply force, are developing rapidly and pose a threat to existing humanitarian, ethical, human rights and security norms.

At the end of two days of informal consultations in New York this week – as negotiations continues towards a legal framework which will regulate and ban such systems – UN News’s Naima Sawaya spoke to Nicole van Rooijen, executive director of the civil society coalition, Stop Killer Robots. 

Naima began by asking Ms Rooijen to describe her organization.

There are now more than 122 million people worldwide, forcibly displaced from their homes. While trauma, depression and anxiety are prevalent says the UN World Health Organization (WHO), many refugees and migrants struggle to access mental health services.

Jîn Dawod is an entrepreneur from Syria who fled to Türkiye to escape the brutal war. Suffering post-traumatic stress disorder herself, she created Peace Therapist, a pioneering social technology initiative dedicated to providing online mental health services to vulnerable populations – free of charge. 

UN News’s Emma Trager-Lewis caught up with her after she took part in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation this week in New York.

Emma began by asking Ms. Dawod when she first came up with her game-changing idea.  

The digital revolution has created unprecedented opportunities for children and young people across the globe to communicate, learn, and socialise.

However, browsing the internet as artificial intelligence gathers pace, also presents dangers – from sexual abuse to cyberbullying – highlighting the need for smarter and more effective regulation to keep youngsters safe.

As the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) holds its annual forum on Science, Technology and Innovation, UN News’s Emma Trager-Lewis spoke to Baroness Kidron, Founder of 5Rights, a UK-based organization dedicated to children’s rights in the digital world.

Emma began by asking the former film director and producer, who addressed Tuesday’s session on harnessing AI for sustainable development, why she first got involved in campaigning for digital rights.

Tens of thousands of people went missing under the Assad dictatorship in Syria during more than five decades of systematic repression and forced disappearances.

In response, the UN General Assembly established the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic (IIMP) in 2023 to help account for them all.

The investigative body aims to provide long-awaited truth and closure for Syrian families.

Speaking to UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki following their recent assessment mission to Syria, IIMP head Karla Quintana said that “everyone knows someone who is missing”.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic – which disrupted immunisation efforts around the world – data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows Ukraine made remarkable progress restoring its inoculation programmes. 

However, the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022 has wreaked havoc with the country’s health infrastructure, displaced millions, and led to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and pertussis.

In an interview with UN News’s Evgeniya Kleshcheva, the national official who oversees immunisation at the WHO Country Office in Ukraine, Yevgenii Grechukha, outlines the severe impact of the war, highlights the fight against vaccine misinformation, and how the UN agency’s been working to improve access for those displaced.

UN Humanitarian Affairs chief Tom Fletcher has been forced to make “brutal cuts” to his organization, as major donors in the rich world slash their aid and international development spending.

UN News’s Conor Lennon spoke to him on Thursday via video-link from the UN offices in the Afghan capital Kabul, at the end of a three week visit to some of the most vulnerable communities in the country, where he has witnessed first-hand the deadly consequences of the dramatic aid slowdown.

Mr. Fletcher has publicly challenged policymakers who signed off on cuts to come to Afghanistan to see the effect they're having on the population, saying that “the effect of aid cuts, is that millions die”.

Conor began by asking if he uses the same blunt language with senior politicians in private.

The Māori women and girls of New Zealand who have survived sexual violence face a double trauma when accessing care, according to Māori activists.

Worldwide, nearly one in three women will experience gender-based violence, a statistic that is even higher amongst Indigenous women and girls, especially in the Māori community.

Due to the stigma surrounding sexual violence, and the lack of cultural awareness in the healthcare system, Māori women and girls rarely report instances of sexual violence.

During the 24th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, currently being held at the UN Headquarters in New York, UN News’s Emma Trager-Lewis sat down with Kerri Nuku, Director of the New Zealand Nurses’s Organisation; and Tracey Morgan, Chair of the College of Primary HealthCare Nurses in New Zealand.

Both women are Māori activists participating in the forum and began by introducing themselves in both Māori and English. 

Since arriving in Libya two months ago, UN Special Representative Hanna Tetteh has been engaging with key political figures to address the complex challenges facing the country as it struggles to recover from years of civil strife and multiple crises.

While there is general agreement on the need for elections, Ms. Tetteh has told UN News that consensus on moving forward remains elusive – emphasizing the importance of strengthening democracy through a Government which has a genuine mandate from the people.

Reem Abaza began by asking Ms. Tetteh for her key takeaways so far as the top UN official in Libya.