UN Interviews

In an exclusive interview with UN News, Volker Türk, High Commissioner for Human Rights, underlined that accountability is key and a fundamental “missing link” in most conflicts around the world which simply perpetuates cycles of violence.

“It is absolutely critical that accountability is part of any future arrangement because we know that if impunity reigns, and if the facts are not told and if the truth is not told, we will have grievances going on and on and on,” he said, referring to the latest bloody cycle of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is poised for elections on 20 December, when votes will be cast for a new president and well as national and provincial legislatures.

In a historic move, this election marks the first time that local representatives will be on the ballot, a significant stride towards enhancing community participation in the whole electoral process.

“This is in my view, a very good step,” Bintou Keita, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the DRC and head of the UN peacekeeping mission (MONUSCO), told UN News, after briefing the Security Council earlier this week.

She described to Jerome Bernard how MONUSCO was supporting the authorities ahead of voting, in three key provinces where the mission is deployed. 

Sixteen year-olds in Gaza are now in the middle of the fourth war of their short lifetimes, a leading UN humanitarian has told UN News, pointing out that for the youngest, it’s causing unimaginable trauma.

Gemma Connell of UN humanitarian coordination office OCHA, is in Rafah, where she has spent the past week and says that for mothers, they’re also enduring terrible suffering and loss of dignity that is life-altering.

Abdelmonem Makki asked her what she had seen, as local health authorities report that more than 18,000 have now been killed amidst the battle between Palestinian militants and Israeli forces – mostly women and children.

Vanessa Frazier, Malta’s Permanent Representative to the UN, has told UN News that the Security Council must insist on the release of all Hamas hostages in Gaza, and the unhindered and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid into the Strip.

As part of an unofficial fact-finding trip organized by the United Arab Emirates, Ms. Frazier along with other UN ambassadors representing their countries on the Security Council, were taken on Monday close to the border between Egypt and Gaza to see for themselves the humanitarian efforts being made to bring in aid, and to care for those wounded during the ongoing Israeli military operation. 

Resolution 2712, a Security Council Resolution drafted and tabled by Malta, calling for “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting, was adopted on 15 November, succeeding where other resolutions calling for a ceasefire have so far failed. On Tuesday, after concluding the visit, Ms. Frazier spoke to Conor Lennon from UN News, who began by asking her to describe what they had seen.

Clear and unequivocal language on the phasing out of fossil fuels is the only way forward to prevent the human rights crisis that is caused by climate change. 

This is the message from Benjamin Schachter, the UN human rights office Environment and Climate Change Team Leader, who is coordinating the OHCHR delegation at the COP28 climate conference, now underway in Dubai, UAE.

The climate summit is in its final stretch, coinciding with the annual observance of Human Rights Day on December 10, and the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), putting a spotlight on links between human rights and climate change.

Speaking to UN News, Mr. Schachter explained that a human rights-based approach and a participatory and inclusive process can lead to climate solutions and better outcomes.

As the focus at COP28 turns to food and agriculture, the spotlight is on smallholder farmers in developing countries on the frontlines of climate change, clinging on to their livelihoods amid drought and floods.

Bernhard Kowatsch, the head and founder of the UN World Food Programme’s Innovation Accelerator, told UN News’ Dominika Tomaszewska-Mortimer that innovation is the key to helping climate-proof their businesses – not just tomorrow, but right now. He called for more investments in small projects that can go big, ramping up funds for recovery but also anticipatory action before disaster strikes, and making more climate microfinance available to women food entrepreneurs.

Taking 5 per cent of global military expenditures and directing it towards education and the climate crisis, would free up $100 billion a year to respond to climate change.

Speaking to UN News on the sidelines of COP28 conference in Dubai, Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of the UN global fund for education, sent a strong message to countries as she launched an appeal for $150 million to empower teachers and millions of children affected by forced displacement and climate change.

Ms. Sherif expressed concern that from the Sahel to the Middle East and Asia, children are bearing the brunt of floods, wildfires, drought, heatwaves, and other extreme weather events, which directly impact their education.

She said that the climate crisis has become an education crisis.

The war has taken a huge toll on Gaza, leaving “everybody” grieving, said the Director of the UN Palestinian refugee support agency, UNRWA, in an interview with UN News on Friday.

Tom White warned that staffers are overwhelmed while people continue dying in and around some shelters, due to Israeli airstrikes, where they are seeking UN protection. 

“We are essentially starved of the resources that we need to provide for people”, he told Abdelmonem Makki.

With global temperatures hitting record highs, and extreme weather events affecting people around the globe, this year’s UN climate change conference, COP28, is a pivotal opportunity to get on track and accelerate action to tackle the climate crisis.

In Dubai, Ezzat El-Ferri from UN News spoke with 20-year-old activist Connor Greaux-Taylor, from St. Kitts, who dropped out of high school to work in the tourism industry. He’s part of UNICEF’s Innovation30 initiative and works on “the frontlines” to sustainably repurpose sargassum, a large brown seaweed which is polluting local beaches.

Being denied access to sites where some of the most horrific crimes and human rights violations are alleged to have taken place during the military’s brutal repression of dissent, is a major challenge for the IIMM, the UN-appointed Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.

But the investigation team has nonetheless been able to interview victims and witnesses outside the country and sift through a vast amount of useful data that has laid at least the groundwork for future prosecutions, says the IIIMM head, Nicholas Koumjian.

He explained to UN News’s Vibhu Mishra how the UN Human Rights Council-mandated independent investigators go about their work, and what they hope to achieve.