It’s been a full two years since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine which gave rise to “horrific” abuses and likely war crimes, including systematic torture and rape.

These grave violations are detailed in a new report to the UN Human Rights Council by the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine which was published on Friday.

Leading the inquiry is independent rights expert and Commission Chair Erik Møse.

UN News’s Daniel Johnson in Geneva sat down with him after the report launch and began by asking what had been learned about the brutal siege of Mariupol, at the start of the war.

The entire agriculture sector of Gaza which was already under strain before the Israeli offensive “collapsed many weeks ago”, especially in the most damaged northern areas of the enclave.

That’s according to AbdelHakim ElWaer, Assistant Director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) speaking exclusively to UN News, who called for immediate international action to prevent starvation and malnutrition from spreading.

He told Khaled Mohamed that around 55 per cent of agricultural land was now totally unusable in the north, along with half of all greenhouses, while food production has also been hit in the occupied West Bank.

Dr. Rola ElFarra, a physician from Houston, Texas, has family in the Gaza Strip. Some 150 of her relatives have been killed during the Israeli incursion and bombardment of the besieged enclave.

Among a group of Palestinian women who met with the UN Secretary-General last week, Dr. Elfarra shared stories and family photos of some of those killed, over 90 of whom were women and children, at a virtual event, War on #Gaza: Impact on Palestinian Women and Children, held on Wednesday on the margins of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68).

“Many died because of a lack of medical treatment,” she told UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki. “Those left are waiting to die.”

On her return from a visit to Gaza, her first since 7 October, Natalie Boucly, the Deputy Commissioner-General of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), described the “shocking conditions” she had witnessed in the Strip.

Speaking to Khaled Mohamed from UN News, Ms. Boucly said that the population is “literally besieged”, with limited health and sanitation and no access to electricity, and is only receiving “a trickle” of aid.

The Deputy Commissioner-General called for more land crossing to be opened up to aid convoys, and for the Israeli authorities to respect international law, and assume their responsibilities as the occupying power in Gaza.

Climate change is not equal. Across all developing countries, rural women are facing worse challenges due to the changing climate and paying a higher financial toll than men.

A recent UN study has for the first time revealed empirical evidence of these disparities.

Ahead of International Women’s Day, Laura Quinones from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) spoke with gender expert Lauren Phillips about the main findings of the report and what can countries do to close the climate gender gap.

The Dzud – literally meaning disaster in Mongolian – is a recurring and damaging weather event in the landlocked northeast Asian country, devastating its unique nomadic and pastoral way of life and wiping massive numbers of livestock.

But this season, the winter phenomenon is particularly extreme, affecting nearly 250,000 people and tens of millions of heads of cattle, horses, goats and sheep.

To find out more about this unique crisis, its socio-economic impacts, the link with climate change and how the UN is responding, UN News’ Vibhu Mishra spoke with Tiziana Bonapace, Director of the Disaster Risk Reduction Division at ESCAP, the Organization’s sustainable development arm in Asia and the Pacific.

Related story: Mongolian dzud: Extreme weather puts 90% of country at ‘high risk’

Drug dealers aren’t afraid of using popular social media and e-commerce platforms to sell their narcotics which is why countries and internet giants should join forces to fight the disinformation they peddle, a UN-partnered International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) report said on Tuesday. 

In an interview with UN News’s Khaled Mohamed, the board’s President, Professor Jallal Toufiq, describes the nature of the online drug threat and offers insight into how to counteract it. He also explains how natural disasters and emergencies linked to climate change and conflict have fuelled demand for medicines containing controlled substances.

Roughly two million homes have been damaged or destroyed in Ukraine, where the full-scale Russian invasion has entered a third year.

A recent UN-backed assessment estimated that overall reconstruction and recovery will cost $486 billion over the next decade. 

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) is working with the authorities and civil society on recovery efforts, which includes supporting a project called Velyke Divnytsvo that encourages women to take up tools and rebuild their country, one house at a time. 

UN News’s Liudmila Blagonravova spoke to UNDP’s Resident Representative in Ukraine Jaco Cilliers.  She began by asking him about the immense challenge of building back from war. 

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees – UNRWA - is a lifeline for Gazans and should have the continued support of donor nations, the President of the United Nations General Assembly has insisted.

In a wide-ranging interview, Dennis Francis insisted that investigations into allegations of collusion between UNRWA and Hamas militants were ongoing; and that until these findings are made public, the UN must not be seen to be “walking away” from Gazans.

Here’s Mr. Francis now, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson in Geneva, who started by asking him how he responded to criticism that the United Nations was unable to find solutions to growing global crises, from Ukraine to climate change.

Independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council are calling for an investigation into credible allegations of continued violations against Palestinian women and girls in Gaza and the West Bank against the backdrop of the current war between Hamas and Israel.

Reports allege that Palestinian women and children have been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, including when seeking refuge or fleeing bombardment, while hundreds more have been arbitrarily detained.

Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, is among the five experts that issued the appeal.

They are part of the Council’s Special Procedures - the largest body of independent experts in the UN human rights system – and are not UN staff.

UN News’s Reem Abaza asked Ms. Alsalem about their concerns.