UN Interviews

When you are a girl, growing up surrounded by war and violence in a country like Afghanistan, it’s hard to study and finish your education, due to social barriers and sexual discrimination, one young Afghan has told UN News.

But a new online learning app is helping break through some of those barriers, allowing girls to learn about topics that enable them to feel confident, and to create business models that are more inclusive.

If you were offered the chance to buy a stunning African artefact, apparently with the blessing of the UN, what would you do?

For many people, it’s not obvious that the Organization never endorses or validates in any way, the sale of cultural treasures from any country.

In a warning to art lovers, the UN agency responsible for protecting endangered cultural heritage, UNESCO, has also said that increased pillaging of endangered World Heritage Sites during COVID-19 lockdowns, will likely result in a glut of stolen artefacts appearing online.

The development follows news of a new and sophisticated fraud ring that has been conning victims by using fake UNESCO permits.

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, Ernesto Ottone Ramírez, Assistant Director-General for Culture of UNESCO, explains how to avoid being taken in by this lucrative scam. 

Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Syria are in the low hundreds, but it is only a matter of time before the disease reaches those sheltering in camps in the war-torn country.

That’s according to Dr Akjemal Magtymova, the World Health Organization’srepresentative in Syria, who has just visited a camp in the northeast that is hosting tens of thousands of youngsters caught up in the more than nine-year conflict.

The importance of being informed about the coronavirus – from how to recognize the symptoms, to what to do to manage day-to-day life – is essential for all, and not to include people with disabilities is to leave them “without information that could save their lives”. That’s according to Rosemary Kayess, vice-chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, who has spoken candidly to UN News from home in Australia, about her own fears and the intense challenges that people with disabilities are living with, during the pandemic. 

The importance of being informed about the coronavirus – from how to recognize the symptoms, to what to do to manage day-to-day life – is essential for all, and not to include people with disabilities is to leave them “without information that could save their lives”. That’s according to Rosemary Kayess, vice-chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, who has spoken candidly to UN News from home in Australia, about her own fears and the intense challenges that people with disabilities are living with, during the pandemic. 

An asteroid tracking programme in Hawaii has been dubbed the “Earth’s Last Defence” against potentially catastrophic impacts, the UN has heard ahead of International Asteroid Day marked annually on 30 June.  

The Director of the ILO’s Office for the United States, Kevin Cassidy, sat down with astronomer Ari Heinz to find out more about his job with the programme.

An asteroid tracking programme in Hawaii has been dubbed the “Earth’s Last Defence” against potentially catastrophic impacts, the UN has heard ahead of International Asteroid Day marked annually on 30 June.  

The Director of the ILO’s Office for the United States, Kevin Cassidy, sat down with astronomer Ari Heinz to find out more about his job with the programme.

The study of astronomy can “shed light” on the challenges the planet faces from climate change; according to a professor at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy.

Professor John Tonry says astronomers are in a good position to correct widely held misconceptions about how the Earth’s atmosphere is changing.

Daniel Dickinson began by asked Professor Tonry what astronomy can tell us about climate change.

The study of astronomy can “shed light” on the challenges the planet faces from climate change; according to a professor at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy.

Professor John Tonry says astronomers are in a good position to correct widely held misconceptions about how the Earth’s atmosphere is changing.

Daniel Dickinson began by asked Professor Tonry what astronomy can tell us about climate change.

The study of astronomy can “shed light” on the challenges the planet faces from climate change; according to a professor at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy.

Professor John Tonry says astronomers are in a good position to correct widely held misconceptions about how the Earth’s atmosphere is changing.

Daniel Dickinson began by asked Professor Tonry what astronomy can tell us about climate change.