UN Interviews

Aquatic foods – a key source of protein, micronutrients and essential fatty acids – are “superfoods”, which, when added to a diverse diet of vegetables, fruits and pulses, such as beans, peas and lentils, contribute to cognition, health and nutrition.   

In an interview with UN News, 2021 World Food Prize Laureate Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted explained the important role that fish and aquatic food systems have in sustainable healthy diets, and how they should be included in nutrition policies and programme interventions to tackle malnutrition. 

Noting an urgent need to shift the global narrative from simply feeding people to nourishing a growing population, Dr. Thilsted, a steering committee member of a high-level food panel with the UN Committee on World Food Security, began by telling UN News’s Sachin Gaur how her research approach has led to this award. 

If news headlines get you down sometimes, I’ve got the antidote: it’s youth activist Gitanjali Rao.  

At just 15, Miss Rao was Time Magazine’s first Kid of the Year in 2021 – in recognition of her success in solving problems through science. 

Earlier this week, she was in Geneva for the Youth Activists Summit, which is where UN News’s Daniel Johnson caught up with her.

In Afghanistan, some 22.8 million people are facing food insecurity, including 14 million children.  

The situation s expected to worsen, with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) predicting that food stocks will run out halfway through winter.   

UN News’s Jia Du spoke with Samantha Mort, Chief of Communication, Advocacy and Civic Engagement at UNICEF Afghanistan, who assured that all offices remain open and warehouses full.  

For Ms. Mort, “there's no childhood” these days in Afghanistan. “It's all about survival and getting through the next day.”  

Afghanistan may have dropped out of the news headlines since the Taliban takeover in mid-August, but the situation there is heading towards catastrophe, UN humanitarians have warned. 

What the country’s most vulnerable communities need most urgently are food, and seed for next year’s harvest and livestock, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), which is ramping up support to reach the poorest families there. 

Here’s the agency’s representative in Afghanistan, Richard Trenchard, speaking from the capital Kabul, with UN News’s Daniel Johnson.  

In the past few weeks, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), under an agreement with the Global Fund, has quietly extended a lifeline to Afghanistan’s health system and all the families that depend on it, providing $15 million to avoid the collapse of the entire sector. 

Over 23,000 health workers, in nearly 2,200 health facilities across 31 provinces, have received wages since the scheme got underway. UNDP has also paid for medicines and health supplies. 

Deputy Resident Representative in Afghanistan, Surayo Buzurukova, told UN News the Agency “undertook this enormous challenge to help prevent the total collapse of the health system.” 

She spoke to UN News’s Alexandre Soares. 

The Registrar of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is urging States to manage their disputes through the key UN institution’s courtroom, before considering taking up arms against each other.

The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The man currently tasked with heading the Secretariat which assists the court, is Phillipe Gautier, who sat down with UN News in New York a few days ago, for a wide-ranging interview.

Jerome Bernard, of our UN News French team, began by asking him how the world’s top court had been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

When you hear about war and conflict as a news consumer, it can be easy to overlook the human toll; but not in Ethiopia, where a hard-hitting UN rights office report has uncovered the very real impact on ordinary people in Tigray. 

That’s where Government troops and their supporters have been fighting regional opposition forces since November 2020, and it’s led to serious rights violations that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes. 

To explain the report’s key findings, here’s Françoise Mianda from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – she’s Section Chief for East and Southern Africa. She spoke to UN News’s Daniel Johnson. 

Human trafficking takes many forms and can involve forced labour or domestic servitude. But when it comes to misusing technology platforms online, that’s mainly being done by sex traffickers to target and manipulate their victims.

New research conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) shows how victims are being lured via social media and online dating platforms, where personal information and location details, are readily available. 

Tiphanie Crittin, a UNODC Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer spoke to Louise Potterton, and told her about the challenges of trying to shut down sex trafficking networks. 

Messages of solidarity rang across Expo 2020 in Dubai as participants celebrated UN Day on Sunday. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed called on the world “to hold on to the hopefulness of the future of mankind and its home, the planet”.

EXPO 2020, which runs through March, includes a UN Hub where visitors can learn about the Organization’s mission for peace, development, human rights and human dignity.

UN News’s Jessica Jiji spoke to the deputy UN chief about the significance of commemorating UN Day at Expo 2020.

A new UN publication sheds light on the ways in which victims of human trafficking are accommodated during different stages of their trafficking ordeal.

This process known as ‘harbouring’ constitutes an act of human trafficking in the internationally recognised definition of this crime and is used by prosecutors and judges to secure convictions.

Martin Hemmi, a UNODC Associate Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer, who coordinated the production of the report, says he hopes the new study will be used by investigators, prosecutors and judges to lead to a better understanding of this crime and support measures to effectively protect victims and punish traffickers.