UN Interviews

With half of Afghanistan’s children under five at risk of severe malnutrition and two-thirds of the country needing humanitarian assistance, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator is urging the international community to provide real commitments at a crucial aid conference on Monday.

In an exclusive interview for UN News in Geneva ahead of the conference, Daniel Johnson sat down with the newly-installed head of UN humanitarian affairs, (OCHA) Martin Griffiths, who recently returned from his first visit to Afghanistan, now under Taliban control.

He called on the Taliban to recognize the scale of need across the country and urged them to respect the rights of women and girls.

For the people of Kazakhstan, 29 August is not just a day on the calendar but a reminder of the threat that nuclear weapons pose to humanity.

That’s the message from the country’s UN Ambassador, Magzhan Ilyassov, speaking ahead of the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, observed annually on that date.

It commemorates the 1991 closure of the Semipalatinsk test site in northeastern Kazakhstan, where the Soviet Union exploded hundreds of nuclear devices over a 40-year period.

Liudmila Blagonravova asked Mr. Ilyassov about Kazakhstan’s role in spearheading the International Day, and about the significance of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in January.

Given the ongoing developments in Afghanistan, he also spoke about how Kazakhstan is assisting scores of Afghans living and studying there.  

As head of the police component at the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), Satu Koivu says “good competencies and skillset”, regardless of sex, will go far for those with ambitions to pursue police leadership. 

The newly-appointed chief, who joined the Mission in May of this year, tells Ersin Oztoycan how her desire to serve humanity steered her into peacekeeping.

In the lead up to World Humanitarian Day, marked annually on 19 August, climate justice advocate Mitzi Jonelle is clear that the climate crisis is a humanitarian crisis. 

While most people consider the environment “a scientific problem to be fixed by the scientists”, the Filipino youth activist is determined to put an “empowering human aspect” into the climate crisis battle, involving “everyday people”. 

Her optimism surrounding the ability of youth to move the needle towards climate action is contagious – “when we unite, there is so much power there”, she told UN News’s Liz Scaffidi. 

As preparations gear up for this November’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, the leading scientific body responsible for assessing the latest evidence on climate change said on Monday that human activity is “indisputably” to blame.

Although it’s perhaps little comfort for the many millions affected by weather disasters today, Jonathan Lynn, Spokesperson for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) told UN News’s Daniel Johnson, that there is a chance that by limiting greenhouse gas emissions, we can slow down sea level rise and significantly slow global warming.

More than a million people die on the roads each year, and up to 50 million are injured. Jean Todt, the UN Special Envoy for Road Safety, and the president of the FIA, the body which governs world motorsport, is committed to driving that number down.

Whilst the situation has improved dramatically in the developed world, the vast majority of road-related deaths and injuries occur in poorer countries, where there are fewer safety standards and regulations.

Speaking to UN News’s Conor Lennon, during the New York leg of the Formula E electric racing championship, Mr. Todt said the solutions for improving road safety are well known, but they need to be put into place. 

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While the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed inequalities faced by the world’s indigenous people, such as poor access to healthcare, it has also led to greater understanding of their priorities, which include social cohesion and protecting the planet. 

That’s the opinion of Ghazali Ohorella, an international lawyer and indigenous rights advocate who is an Alifuru from Maluku, which is part of Indonesia. 

Dianne Penn spoke to Mr. Ohorella ahead of the annual UN commemoration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on 9 August. 

He expressed why global dialogue on post-pandemic recovery, including to address climate change, biodiversity loss and other challenges, could see indigenous people finally sitting “at the table” instead of being “on the menu”. 

But first Mr. Ohorella explained where he is from. 

Six months since the military coup in Myanmar, the UN and partners are doing their utmost to help protect the country’s people and show solidarity with their plight, amid mass displacement linked to deadly clashes with Government forces and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. 

That’s the message from the organisation’s top acting humanitarian coordinator in the country, Ramanathan Balakrishnan, who’s been speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson. 

Conflict in Afghanistan is worsening - and increasingly pitting Afghans against Afghans - as most international forces pull out of the country, with nearly 800 civilians killed and more than 1,600 wounded in May and June alone.

This latest data from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, reflects the highest casualty numbers over any two-month period since records began in 2009.

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, UNAMA’s head of human rights, Fiona Frazer, insists that what ordinary Afghans want is peace, amid an ongoing assault by Taliban and other non-State armed groups.

A new study from the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on the impact of COVID-19 on victims and survivors of human trafficking, indicates that the ‘severity’ of abuses and levels of violence have increased during the pandemic.

The report assesses how frontline organizations responded to the challenges posed by the pandemic while traffickers took advantage of the global crisis, capitalizing on the economic downturn and the extra time both adults and children have been spending online.

Louise Potterton spoke to Ilias Chatzis, Chief of UNODC’s Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Section, which developed the new study.