UN Interviews

“Go vote” is the resounding message that 20-year-old climate activist Sophia Kianni wants everyone to hear, because the only way to effect real change to slow global warming, is through better public policy, she says. 

One of seven activists who make up the Secretary-General’s Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, the young American bemoaned the failure of the US Congress to pass ‘Build Back Better’ legislation, to tackle the climate emergency. 

If people want to be engaged, they need to be involved in their political processes, she told Liz Scaffidi, but she began by explaining how she took up the mantle of climate activist. 

With thousands of business leaders, government officials, academics and entrepreneurs gathering in Dubai this week for the World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum (WEIF 2022), discussions on Tuesday turned to boosting support for women entrepreneurs and women-led businesses.

The Forum held a panel on ‘Uplifting Women Entrepreneurship’ where participants discussed the range of challenges and solutions for businesswomen in the Arab region, and beyond.

UN News’s Anshu Sharma is in Dubai and spoke to the Chairperson of the Emirates Businesswomen Council of the UAE, Farida Al Awadhi.

This week, more than 1,000 business leaders, government officials, academics and entrepreneurs, are gathering at the World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum (WEIF 2022) in Dubai.

Under the theme of “connecting minds” towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, they will be brainstorming ways to strengthen global partnerships, and finding new investment opportunities to make the 2030 SDGs a reality.

UN News’s Anshu Sharma is in Dubai, and talked to WEIF’s Executive Director Dr. Hashim Hussein.

Medical needs in Ukraine “are just cascading” – that’s the message from the UN World Health Organization (WHO), which is pushing hard to access people with chronic and emergency needs, in large areas of the war-torn country.

On the line from the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, here’s the agency’s Tarik Jasarevic, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.

Up to 90 per cent of the Ukrainian population could end the year living on $5.50 a day or less, if Russia’s invasion continues for months on end, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Representative in the country – before the war, the figure was just two per cent.

Dafina Gercheva told UN News’s Nargiz Shekinskaya, that Ukraine and its people were going through a “living hell” as the bombardment continues, with more than 30 per cent of businesses already shuttered, and over $100 billion of infrastructure damage already recorded, after just a month of fighting. 

The solutions to restoring the health of the ocean – which provides us with oxygen, food and livelihoods – are out there, and in 100 days they will be in the spotlight in Lisbon, Portugal, at the second ever UN Oceans Conference. 

The event taking place this June will be a critical opportunity to mobilize partnerships and increase investment to fight ocean pollution, overfishing and other challenges. 

Laura Quinones spoke to the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean Peter Thomson. 

He began by explaining how UN Ocean Conferences came into existence, and why they are important.

Women and girls are 14 times more likely than men to be killed or injured as a result of climate crises and natural disasters, so it’s high time their voices carry more weight in climate negotiations.

That’s the straightforward message from UN Women, which has launched a new strategic plan to increase women’s political participation and leadership on climate change and environmental sustainability.

In honour of International Women’s Day which was celebrated all this week, UN News’s Ali Khaffane caught up with Adriana Quinones, Director of UN Women’s liaison office in Geneva, to explain the agency’s approach.

Social media influencers are glamourizing the use of cannabis, heroin and other controlled substances, and governments and companies need to do more to stop these kinds of messages being spread on popular platforms, the head of a UN-backed drug control body warned on Thursday.

Jagjit Pavadia, the President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), spoke to Conor Lennon from UN News on the launch of the organization’s annual report, which also shows that many potentially harmful drugs are easily available online.

Ms. Pavadia began by outlining the scale of the problem, and the danger it poses, particularly to young people and children.

Amid growing international condemnation over Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, tens of thousands of people are still trying to escape to neighbouring countries, fleeing en masse.

This has brought huge numbers to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where UN children’s fund spokesperson James Elder has been giving an update on the emotional and tense scenes he’s witnessed, to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.

Five days after Russia launched a "special military operation" against Ukraine, more than 500,000 people have fled across the borders, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported on Monday.

Ukrainians, mostly women and children, have been escaping to Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and beyond.

UN humanitarian agencies are on the ground and ready to increase support in what is a fast-growing refugee emergency.

UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo spoke to UN News’s Daniel Johnson, and told him that people arriving are exhausted by the “grueling journey to safety”.