UN Interviews

As demand continues to grow for the critical minerals that power our mobile phones, electric cars and more, who’s looking out for the mainly indigenous peoples whose territories contain the vast majority of these natural riches?

Tackling the issue from a human rights angle is UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent rights expert on climate change, Eliza Morgera, who’s been talking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson on the same day as the Security Council meets to discuss how to ensure that critical minerals extraction promotes peace and development, rather than conflict. 

Too often, children are casualties of war. Sometimes, they’re even forced to fight. 

That’s the case in South Sudan, where UNICEF – the UN Children’s Fund, together with the UN mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) – work with the Government to support the release and reintegration of underage fighters.

Daniel Johnson spoke to the agency’s South Sudan Chief of Child Protection, Brendan Ross, from the capital Juba.

On the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar, the Government and local businesses faced a challenge: they relied on surveys conducted only once per year, making it difficult to quickly respond to travelers’ needs.

Following conversations with the Tanzanian government on how to advance development and grow the tourism industry, the UN Development Programme, or UNDP, created a platform called Jozani AI – named after a national forest in Zanzibar – to empower the local government and local businesses to make more informed decisions.

That’s just one example of how, even as the UN works to create a global governance framework for artificial intelligence, it is also using the technology to address global challenges and improve people’s lives.

The UNDP’s Deputy Resident Representative in Tanzania is John Rutere.

UN News’ Isaiah Steinberg asked him how Jozani AI is helping people in Tanzania.

An upsurge in violence in Haiti could be in anticipation of more “assertive operations” by the recently formed UN-backed Gang Suppression Force as rival gangs in the beleaguered Caribbean Island nation fight for control of territory and resources.

Gangs control the vast majority of the capital Port-au-Prince, and terrorize the population with murder, rape and kidnapping for ransom.

Some 1.5 million Haitians have been driven from their homes by the gangs.

The UN Designated Expert on Human Rights in Haiti, William O’Neill, is a frequent visitor to the country.

UN News’s Daniel Dickinson asked him what is driving the increase in violence. 

Professor Serigne Gueye, a Senegalese urologist and world expert on obstetric fistula, has spent decades helping women recover from one of the most devastating – yet preventable – childbirth injuries. 

Honoured with this year’s UN Population Award, he has treated patients across Africa, trained surgeons from more than 45 countries and championed access to quality maternal services.

In an interview with UN News’s Ana Carmo, Professor Gueye said eliminating obstetric fistula depends on stronger maternal health systems and universal access to emergency obstetric care.

As governments, industry leaders and researchers gather in Geneva on Monday for the first Global Dialogue on AI Governance and the AI for Good Summit, a UN expert says managing artificial intelligence responsibly will require action from everyone, not just policymakers.

Professor Kaveh Madani, Director of the UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health, told UN News’s Nathalie Minard that governments, technology companies and users all have a role to play in reducing AI's growing environmental footprint – and ensuring the benefits outweigh costs.

As drones, artificial intelligence and new weapons transform modern warfare, Ukraine has become one of the world's most mine-contaminated countries, creating new dangers for civilians while threatening global food security and recovery. 

In an interview with UN News, Paul Heslop, Senior Mine Action Adviser for the UN Mine Action Service in Ukraine, explains how drones have fundamentally changed the battlefield, making conflicts more lethal and leaving behind increasingly complex explosive hazards. 

Speaking to Jolina Dong, Mr. Heslop discussed how Ukrainian deminers are adapting to these new threats, why clearing contaminated land is essential for rebuilding – and how innovation in Ukraine could transform humanitarian mine action worldwide.

A night of heavy strikes across Kyiv has left children and families facing widespread destruction, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Ukraine.

At least 20 people are now reported to have been killed in the Kyiv attacks. UNICEF is also deeply saddened by reports of a seven-year-old girl killed in the Dnipro region on Thursday.

Speaking to UN News’s Evgeniya Kleshcheva after visiting some of the affected sites, UNICEF Chief of Communications and Advocacy Toby Fricker described the severe damage he’d witnessed to residential buildings and a nearby kindergarten.

As synthetic drugs spread into new markets and traffickers develop increasingly potent substances, the global drug landscape is becoming more complex, unpredictable and dangerous, the 2026 World Drug Report reveals.

In an exclusive interview with UN News, Chloé Carpentier, lead researcher on the report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), warned that powerful new synthetic opioids, persistent gaps in access to treatment and the growing links between conflict and drug trafficking are reshaping the global drug crisis.

Speaking to Jolina Dong, Ms. Carpentier explained why adolescents, women and people living in humanitarian settings face some of the greatest risks, and why stronger international cooperation is essential to keeping pace with a changing global drug market.

Five days after two deadly earthquakes struck north-central Venezuela, the UN says the emergency is far from over. 

With search-and-rescue operations continuing, Vanessa May, Head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the stricken South American nation, told UN News’s Victoria Fernandez that families who have lost their homes and loved ones will need sustained support, including psychosocial care alongside food, water and shelter. 

She stressed that recovery and reconstruction “will take time”, as the UN and its partners prepare for the next phase of the humanitarian response.