Focus on the Future Podcast

UN News Today - 2025

UN News Interviews - 2025

CLIPS

Podcast Classics

UN leaders have been paying tribute to Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa.  The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, anti-apartheid crusader and human rights activist died on Sunday.

This audio from the UN News archives features Archbishop Tutu speaking before the Special Political Committee in October 1985, where he denounced the apartheid regime in his homeland.

Photo credit: UN Photo/Yutaka Nagata
Audio credit: UN Audiovisual Library

Podcast Classics: Desmond Tutu Addresses Special Political Committee in October 1985

So maybe you’ve realized that you’re a moth rather than a butterfly? LIA LIA is her to let you know that’s ok, with her song “I’m a moth”. The singer has embraces the feeling of not fitting in, either in her father’s China, or her mother’s Germany.
In the ninth episode of amplifyHER LIA LIA tells us about her struggle to feel comfortable with who she is, her love of punk, and losing her fear of failing.
Original music that appears in amplifyHER is included with the kind permission of the artists. All rights reserved.

amplifyHER episode 9 : LIA LIA

In April 1994, a sinister call was broadcast over radio stations across Rwanda, triggering the start of 100 days of genocide that left more than one million people dead. Henriette Mutegwaraba heard that call over the radio.
“Every time I talk about it, I cry,” she told UN News, describing how propaganda spread messages of hate that sparked a deadly wave of unspeakable violence. She lost 60 family members and friends in the genocide.
Ahead of the UN General Assembly’s commemoration of the International Day of Reflection on the 1943 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, Ms. Mutegwaraba spoke with UN News about hate speech in the digital age, the 6 January attack on the United States capitol, how she survived the genocide, and how she explained what happened to her daughter.

‘Every time I talk about it, I cry’: How hate speech triggered Rwandan genocide

On the first episode of “Focus on the Future”, our mini-series running throughout High-Level Week of the UN General Assembly, Conor Lennon and Shanae Harte explain what the Summit of the Future is all about, how to bring back trust between countries, and why UN HQ was full of young people all weekend!

Contact us: thelidison@un.org
Music: Ketsa
Audio: UN News/ Conor Lennon

Given Taken

Focus on the Future: Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Crippling debt burdens are holding many African countries back: some  of them are paying more on repayments than on health, education and infrastructure.

On today’s show Conor Lennon is joined by Sachin Gaur from the UN News Hindi Unit, to cover the events focused on sustainable development and rethinking the entire international financial architecture. The big question is, how we can make it fairer?

Also, star wattage has been lighting up Headquarters. Edward Norton and Meryl Streep were among the artistic talents at HQ, advocating for the environment and Afghan women.

Music by Joachim Harris, all rights reserved
Audio: Conor Lennon

Focus on the Future: Ascending the Summit

Reforming the Security Council, to make it more representative of today’s world, has been under discussion for decades. The subject made it into the Pact for the Future, adopted earlier this week. Does this mean that it is more likely to happen?

Global governance is the key theme of today’s show, which is dominated by the opening of the General Debate, when Heads of State, Prime Ministers and Presidents gather for speeches and backroom talks and deals.

Conor Lennon and Shanaé Harte from UN News break down the big issues at UN Headquarters on Wednesday’s edition of Focus on the Future.

Audio: UN News/ Conor Lennon
Music by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved

Focus on the Future: The World arrives

In the Pact for the Future UN Member States pledged to do more to fight the climate crisis, a subject that has dominated several sessions at UN Headquarters this week. 

On Thursday’s episode of Focus on the Future, Conor Lennon and Sachin Gaur discuss some of the big climate-related events, including a General Assembly meeting on sea level rise. 

The rate of sea level rise has more than doubled over the last three decades, causing havoc in low-lying and small island developing countries, driving populations away from their homes. The leaders of some of the most affected nations speak out. 

Audio: UN News/ Conor Lennon
Music: Joachim Harris (all rights reserved)

Focus on the Future: A world in dangerous waters

The risk of the world’s major powers engaging in conflict  is at its highest level since the Cold War, and the possibility of nuclear war breaking out is greater today than it has been for several decades.
On the final episode of Focus on the Future, Conor Lennon and Ben Malor from UN News concentrate on international peace and security, and how the Pact for the Future could help to reduce tensions. 
We’ll hear from the UN’s heads of Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding ( and explain the difference between the two concepts!), and the Director- General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who warns against “normalizing” the idea of using nuclear weapons.
Audio: UN News/ Conor Lennon
Music: Joachim Harris

Focus on the Future: Peace, out

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a key UN policy document adopted in 1995, has been credited for several major advances for women, from legislation outlawing domestic abuse to inspiring a new wave of young gender justice activists.

Despite undeniable progress in gender relations over the past 30 years, inequalities between men and women persist and, in recent times, there has been a notable backlash against the very concepts of feminism.

In this episode of The Lid Is On, Conor Lennon from UN News speaks to Laura Turquet, the deputy head of the research and data team at UN Women, and Lydia Alpizar, a Costa Rican feminist activist based in Mexico City, to find out why this renewed attack against feminism is taking place, and what it means for the decades-long fight for gender equality.

Audio Credit: UN News/Conor Lennon
Music Credit: Joachim Harris

Is feminism under attack?

"It's been an apocalyptic night for families in Gaza," said UNICEF's Communications Specialist Rosalia Bollen on Tuesday. 

Deadly Israeli airstrikes resumed on Monday reportedly killing hundreds.

"Slightly after 2am local time, everyone was woken up brutally by the very loud explosions and the incessant bombardments all around us," said Ms. Bollen, adding that she could hear people screaming outside UNICEF facilities just minutes after the raid.

"It's been terrifying for families and children because the moment a plane approaches, you know it is going to drop a bomb," she also said, adding that children in particular were frightened of the warplanes.

"Those seconds before the impact, they actually become an eternity."


The night Gazans woke up to renewed Israeli bombing

From converting green spaces into tobacco-free areas to cutting out ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks from school lunches and promoting air quality, three cities on Thursday won awards for being some of the healthiest urban places on the planet.

Córdoba in Argentina, Fortaleza in Brazil and Manchester in the UK accepted prizes in Paris for their public health achievements, at the Partnership for Healthy Cities Summit, co-hosted by the UN World Health Organization (WHO), Bloomberg Philanthropies and Vital Strategies.

The city of Córdoba picked up an accolade for replacing sugary drinks with water, helping to lower obesity rates.

"We're seeing a lot of progress in local leadership and mayors from across the world taking on the fight and trying to lower rates of the world's biggest killers, heart disease, diabetes, cancers and respiratory diseases," said Jaimie Guerra, Communications Officer at WHO.

Three of world’s healthiest cities win awards for smoke-free parks, air quality, school lunches

Growing up just a few blocks from the United Nations in New York City, Sarah Lewis was drawn to narratives that shape who belongs and who counts – often reflecting on what schools were neglecting to teach. 

An Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, Ms. Lewis is also the founder of the Vision & Justice programme there, which bridges research, art and culture to foster equity and justice.

Speaking to UN News’s Ana Carmo while at UN Headquarters to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Ms. Lewis highlighted the importance of education in the fight against racism, emphasizing that ignorance is a key enabler of racial injustice. 

Audio Credit: Ana Carmo, UN News


‘Silence and erasure have no place’ in a just society

Chad is seeing an influx of Sudanese refugees whose numbers are expected to pass the one million mark in coming months.

Multiple UN agencies including the UN Development Programme, UNDP, have joined forces to help the most vulnerable; one example is the construction of a women’s centre that doubles as a safe haven.

Francis James, the UNDP Resident Representative in Chad – said that the centre in Adre in eastern Chad is due to be inaugurated next month.
It will offer counselling and an opportunity for women to build a business from weaving, sewing and making soap.

Further initiatives include establishing schools close to the camps housing Sudanese refugees, as it’s crucial “not to walk for kilometers through dangerous zones” risking assault, Mr. Francis explained.

Sudanese refugees are literally crawling over the border to Chad, says UNDP

Around a third of the 12 million Sudanese displaced following nearly three years of brutal conflict are women and girls of reproductive age, according to data from the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA). 

Aside from the brutality of rape, coupled with other physical and mental traumas, some of the 300,000 pregnant women who are running for safety “end up giving birth on the roadside”. 

That’s according to UNFPA’s Representative ad interim in the country, Argentina Matavel Piccin, who told UN News’s Khaled Mohamed that more support is urgently needed to curb the impact of gender-based violence.

Audio Credit: Khaled Mohamed, UN News

Sudan: Reproductive health agency decries devastating impact of war on women and girls

As violence escalates in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the Rwanda-backed rebel group M23 looking to gain more territory, UN peacekeepers are working flat out to protect civilians amid a worsening humanitarian crisis. 

Speaking to UN News’ Jérôme Bernard in New York, the chief of the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), Bintou Keita, outlined the mission’s role in any ceasefire, protecting the displaced and confronting sexual violence and child recruitment. 

She also shared why – despite mounting pressure – now would be the wrong time to withdraw from the most volatile regions.

Audio Credit: Jérôme Bernard, UN News


DR Congo: ‘Everyone has to silence the guns’: MONUSCO chief

The UN and partners are urgently mobilising aid teams, logistics, food and emergency support to help the stricken people of Myanmar following the deadly quakes on Friday.
UN News’s Sachin Gaur spoke on Saturday to UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Marcoluigi Corsi, who expressed his unwavering solidarity with the Burmese people and provided latest updates on the aid effort.

Audio credit: Sachin Gaur
Photo credit: UNICEF

UN urgently mobilising to support emergency response to deadly Myanmar quakes

Bodies are still being pulled out of the rubble after Myanmar’s deadliest earthquake in decades and needs are massive and rising by the hour, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

“Children have been hit the hardest,” said Julia Rees, Deputy Representative of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Myanmar.

She explained that families now sleep out in the open because they have no homes to return to. They are also in shock after witnessing their homes collapse or the death of a family member.

Children who were already living through four years of conflict and displacement following a military coup in February 2021 have now been exposed to an additional layer of fear and loss. “The psychological trauma is immense,” Ms. Rees said.

Meanwhile, humanitarian needs continue to surge all over Myanmar. “It is super, super hot out there and communities have no access to water,” Ms. Rees reported.

The UN agency has started delivering emergency water, sanitation and hygiene kits to communities that had received nothing since Friday. 

But conditions remain “incredibly challenging”, Ms. Rees stressed, as aid teams work “without electricity or sanitation, sleeping outside like the communities we serve”.

In Myanmar, ‘entire communities have been flattened,’ says UNICEF

Following last Friday’s massive earthquake in Myanmar, UN humanitarians are on the ground to support survivors and the affected communities.

The World Food Programme (WFP) started its first distributions in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw, within 48 hours of the quake itself. It is also on the ground at the epicentre in Sagiang – and in Myanmar’s second city of Mandalay, assisting thousands of families in desperate need.

But the UN needs much more funding from the international community to address the enormous needs, as WFP’s Country Director Michael Dunford told UN News’s Vibhu Mishra.

Audio Credit: Vibhu Mishra, UN News
Photo: WFP/Diego Fernandez


‘Without funding we can’t meet the needs of the people of Myanmar’: WFP

One week after a devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, hospitals remain overwhelmed, medical supplies are running low and emergency teams are struggling to meet growing healthcare needs.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the crisis has pushed an already fragile health system to breaking point, with over 5,000 injured Burmese requiring urgent trauma care amid the looming threat of disease outbreaks like cholera.

The most urgent needs include trauma and surgical care, essential medicines for chronic illnesses and disease outbreak prevention, as Elena Vuolo, WHO Deputy Representative in the country, explained to UN News’ Vibhu Mishra.

Audio Credit Vibhu Mishra, UN News
Audio Duration 20'2"
Photo Credit © WHO Myanmar

Hospitals overwhelmed, Myanmar’s health system on the brink: WHO

Eliana Drakopoulos, Chief of Communications at UNICEF Myanmar, describes the situation in the country, ten days after the devastating earthquake. As of 7 April, 3,500 people have died and over 4,800 were injured, while 210 remain missing. In addition, 1,824 schools, 167 hospitals and clinics, and 169 bridges are reported to have collapsed or damaged.

‘Situation getting really desperate,’ says UNICEF Myanmar official

The head of the UN trade agency (UNCTAD), Rebeca Grynspan, has expressed her concerns about the uncertainty that has swept the global economy, following the US decision to impose a host of tariffs on countries around the world.

UNCTAD is responsible for helping developing countries to take advantage of the opportunities presented by international trade, and to grow their economies. 

Speaking to Conor Lennon from UN News, Ms. Grynspan said that the agency has called for developing countries to be spared “the pain” of tariffs, which have led to massive disruption, and fears of a worldwide recession.

Audio: Conor Lennon, UN News

Ending global trade uncertainty calls for ‘rational decisions,’ says head of UN trade agency

The situation in South Sudan remains precarious, with the threat of renewed civil war looming large.

A growing concern, according to Lieutenant General Mohan Subramanian, Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), is the dangerous spread of misinformation, disinformation and hate speech, which continue to fuel instability in an already fragile environment.

He warned that even a single fake message shared on platforms like WhatsApp can trigger chaos, undermine peace efforts and deepen tensions between communities.

General Subramanian spoke to UN News’s Sachin Gaur and started by telling him about the key challenges the UN peacekeeping mission is facing in its efforts to maintain security. 

Audio credit: Sachin Gaur, UN News

Situation in South Sudan risks escalating into civil war amid rise in misinformation

Funding and supply shortfalls for the UN World Food Programme (WFP)'s work in Ethiopia will halt lifesaving treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children at the end of the month. “We are at the breaking point,” it said on Tuesday.

In total, 3.6 million “most vulnerable” people in Ethiopia stand to lose WFP food and nutrition assistance unless funding arrives urgently, warned Zlatan Milisic, the UN agency’s Country Director.

“Over 10 million people in Ethiopia are acutely food insecure. This includes three million people displaced by conflict and extreme weather. Malnutrition rates are alarmingly high,” he told journalists in Geneva via videolink.

'We are at the breaking point', says WFP Ethiopia head

The UN chief António Guterres told a summit of world leaders mobilising climate action ahead of COP30 later this year that the world is moving full-speed ahead and no government or group can stop the clean energy revolution. Listen to his remarks to the press in full following the meeting at UN Headquarters in New York.

Climate action: Guterres says it's full speed ahead for the 'clean energy revolution'

Representing Secretary-General António Guterres, UN Legal Counsel Elinor Hammarskjöld reiterated his many calls for a ceasefire, for humanitarian aid to reach all people in need and for all hostages to be freed.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), which sits in The Hague and is the UN’s top legal institution, is expected to hear from 40 States and four international organizations in proceedings slated to last all week.

Outlining Israel's obligations under international law in the occupied Palestinian Territory" Ms. Hammarskjöld said, "these obligations entail allowing and facilitating all relevant United Nations entities to carry out those activities for the benefit of the local population".

Israel has legal obligation to get aid into Gaza, says UN Legal Counsel

The biggest UN aid agency in Gaza on Tuesday condemned the two-month Israeli blockade on Gaza that has left families sharing a single tin of food at mealtime and the sick and injured without lifesaving medical help, amid daily bombardment.

“The siege on Gaza is the silent killer of children, of older people,” said Juliette Touma, spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA: “Families - whole families, seven or eight people - are resorting to sharing one can of beans or peas.”

In an update to journalists in Geneva, Ms. Touma stressed that thousands of trucks carrying relief supplies continue to be denied entry to Gaza. “We have just over 5,000 trucks in several parts of the region with lifesaving supplies that are ready to come in,” she explained.

“This decision is crippling the humanitarian efforts…and threatening the lives and survival of civilians in Gaza, who are also going through heavy bombardment day in, day out.”

Children in Gaza are going to bed starving, says UN aid agency

Aftershocks continue to shake the people of Myanmar, where millions remain in desperate need of aid, a full month since a 7.7 magnitude earthquake killed more than 3,800 people and injured another 5,100.

Speaking from the capital Yangon, UN partner IFRC’s Nadia Khoury said that the latest aftershock on Sunday measured 4.4 on the Richter scale.

“This is provoking widespread fear within a population already traumatized and also fear within the responders themselves,” said Ms. Khoury, Head of Delegation in Myanmar for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Myanmar quake: one month since disaster, ongoing aftershocks spread fear

Humanitarian operations everywhere continue to be shut down by sweeping cutbacks to lifesaving funding which will result in millions of people dying, the UN’s top aid official said on Wednesday.

Visiting the main hospital in the Afghan city of Kandahar, Mr. Fletcher said OCHA has been forced to close 400 medical centres, denying care to more than three million people. 

"You see the impact of that in major hospitals like this one, where you have 3-4 people to a bed, when you can see the newborn children not getting the support they need," Mr. Fletcher said.

'The impact of aid cuts is that millions die', says UN relief chief in Afghanistan

Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN human rights office, OHCHR, speaks on the school closures in the occupied East Jerusalem. 

CLIP: School closures in occupied East Jerusalem 'denial of education' for children

The UN human rights office on Tuesday expressed deep concern about the deportation of non-US nationals on unclear grounds and without due process.

Approximately 142,000 individuals were deported from the US between 20 January and 29 April, according to official US data. The fate and whereabouts of at least 245 Venezuelans and around 30 Salvadorans removed to El Salvador remain unclear.

"Lawyers don’t know where they are. In fact, no one knows where they are for certain, and we don’t know the legal basis," said Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the UN rights office, OHCHR. "So that is raising huge human rights concerns."

Many were deported under the Alien Enemies Act as alleged members of specific criminal groups.

"The individuals concerned were in many cases told only hours before they were flown out that they were being deported," said Ms. Throssell, speaking in Geneva.

'Powerless' families despair after relatives deported from the United States to South America

Amid reports that 57 children have died in Gaza from malnutrition since the Israeli aid blockade began on 2 March, the UN health agency warned on Tuesday that it only has enough supplies to treat 500 children. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) said that if the situation persists, nearly 71,000 children under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished over the next 11 months.

WHO spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris told UN News that treatment for the condition must be considered on a case-by-case basis but that all malnourished children need help immediately as they are at risk of dying.

Malnutrition in Gaza: WHO only has enough supplies to treat 500 children

Tens of thousands of refugees fleeing escalating violence in Sudan continue to escape to Chad at speeds not seen since the start of the conflict, while others remain trapped, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.

“Over 70 per cent of newly arrived refugees reported they have suffered serious human rights violation during their journey, including physical assault, extortion and sexual violence,” said Eujin Byun, UNHCR spokesperson. Some 20,000 Sudanese refugees arrive weekly in the country, she told UN News.

Lacking transportation options and fearing arbitrary arrest or forced recruitment, many are too afraid to flee the country. One in two refugees who spoke to the UN agency in Chad said that they had loved ones “trapped in Sudan”.

The humanitarian crisis mainly involves children and women. “Two thirds of households say, their children are out of school,” Ms. Byun said.



Photo credit: UNHCR

Sudan exodus: Worst situation in decades, says refugee agency

Until this week, no commercial or humanitarian supplies had been allowed into Gaza since 2 March, deepening an already catastrophic hunger crisis and sparking widespread condemnation from the international community.

Supplies from only 115 out of 400 trucks have been cleared for collection and distribution in recent days, which UN humanitarians have been describing as a ‘drop in the ocean’ of need. 

Speaking to UN News’s Ezzat El-Ferri, Olga Cherevko, a spokesperson for aid coordination office OCHA said that “people are dying and are left without aid”.

Audio credit: Ezzat El-Ferri, UN News


Gaza: ‘People feel this is the end,' UN humanitarians warn

Ocean phytoplankton may be tiny, but their impact on the planet is enormous. 

These microscopic organisms form the foundation of marine food chains and play a vital role in carbon sequestration and climate regulation. 

At the UN Ocean Conference taking place on the French Riviera, UN News’s Fabrice Robinet spoke to Alexandra Worden, a Boston native and plankton specialist at the world-renowned Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, who is working at the intersection of science, technology, and policy to better understand how nature-based solutions can support climate action.  

Audio credit: Fabrice Robinet, UN News 
Photo credit: © NOAA

A powerful planetary helper: Ocean phytoplankton

• From the Mediterranean coast, Guterres calls for action to save our oceans
• Iran urged to ‘cooperate fully and effectively’ with the IAEA
• UN allocates $6 million to tackle Nigeria malnutrition crisis

Dianne Penn, UN News
Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved.


UN News Today 09 June 2025 - UN Ocean Conference, Iran, malnutrition crisis in Nigeria

Speaking on the sidelines of the UN Ocean Conference 2025 in Nice, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that despite some progress, “dramatic gaps” remain in biodiversity, climate and marine protection.

“We see the corals bleaching, and we see that climate change became an extremely dramatic threat to the lives of our oceans,” Mr. Guterres told journalists.

CLIP - Marine life can't withstand climate shocks, warns UN chief

Ensuring that parents have opportunities for “decent work” is essential to reducing the number of young people, currently estimated to be 138 million globally, who are engaged in child labour, according to the UN.  

The internationally-agreed goal was to end child labour by 2025 and while the number has decreased by 12 million since 2020, millions of children are still working in dangerous or unregulated work places and are being denied the right to an education and a safer, more secure future. 

The Child Labour report released by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) highlights the trends in jobs involving young people and suggests how the practice can be brought to an end completely.  

UN News’ Naima Sawaya sat down with Benjamin Smith, an expert at the ILO and began by asking him to explain what constitutes child labour. 

Audio credit: Naima Sawaya, UN News 

‘Decent work for the parents’ is key to solving child labour

• We’re nearly at point of no return to save our oceans: UN chief 
• Sudan emergency: We need more help to prevent famine, says WFP
• At least three dead in new Russian drone assault on Ukrainian cities 

Audio credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News
Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved 

UN News Today 10 June 2025 - UN Ocean Conference, Sudan crisis, Ukraine

• At least eight migrants are dead after smugglers force passengers off Red Sea boat: IOM
• Gaza aid obstacles remain, say UN aid teams in shattered enclave
• The world pledged to ban child labour – so why are 138 million kids still working? 

Audio credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News
Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved. 



UN News Today 11 June 2025 - migrants in Red Sea, Gaza aid obstacles, child labour

Last December, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held historic hearings from addressing States’ obligations under international law to combat climate change, a process spearheaded by small island nations facing existential threats.

UN News caught up with Vishal Prasad, Director of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change at the UN Ocean Conference. 

CLIP: 'Climate change in the Pacific is an existential crisis'

The aid situation in war-shattered Gaza continues to deteriorate and people are getting hungrier because of the “very limited” volume of food being allowed in, humanitarians say.

"The only way to address the situation on the ground is by reopening additional crossings," insists Olga Cherevko, who works with the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. 

"As well as allowing unlimited and unfettered supply of aid to enter, which includes things that are necessary here that go beyond food, which means things like shelter, fuel, cooking gas, and other necessary elements to sustain life in Gaza.” 

Here she is now talking to UN News from Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Wednesday.

Gaza: aid obstacles still hinder our work, says UN worker

At least eight people are feared dead and 22 others are missing off the coast of Djibouti after smugglers stopped a boat carrying around 150 passengers likely bound for Yemen on 5 June, the UN migration agency, IOM, said on Wednesday.
Search and rescue operations supported by IOM have recovered five bodies from the sea near Moulhoulé in northern Djibouti. The confirmed death toll stands at eight but this is expected to rise as search efforts continue. With more, here's IOM Regional Communications Officer Yvone Ndege speaking to UN News.

People smugglers force migrants overboard in Red Sea

• Oceans summit biodiversity czar warns over lack of ambition
• Displacement doubles while funding shrinks, warns refugee agency
• Atomic watchdog says Iran not complying with nuclear safeguards  

Audio credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News.
Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved 


UN News Today 12 June 2025 - UN Ocean Conference, displacement global trends, nuclear energy

Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) speaks to UN News on Plastic Pollution, at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France. 

CLIP: 'We are choking with plastic' experts warn at UN Ocean Conference

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s Director General addressed the Board of Governors on Friday regarding the situation in Iran. 

The head of the UN-backed atomic watchdog announced that the Iranian authorities had confirmed that the Natanz enrichment site had been “impacted” without affecting existing radiation levels.

The Iranian nuclear safety authorities also reported that the Esfahan and Fordow sites had not been impacted.

CLIP: International Atomic Energy Agency's Director General on the situation in Iran

Peter Thomson, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, speaks to UN News about the highlights of the UN Ocean Conference and what is coming next.

Audio credit: Fabrice Robinet, UN News in Nice, France 

CLIP: Peter Thomson, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean

Since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, 1.9 million Syrian refugees have headed home to Syria. After 14 years of civil war, much of the country is in ruins, while over 90 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line.

Yet, Syrian refugees are not losing hope: UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has found that more than 80 per cent of the diaspora hope to return one day, a major shift compared to surveys conducted before the fall of the old regime.  

There are more than six million Syrian refugees, and over seven million are internally displaced. UNHCR is committed to helping all those who want to return home.

UN News’ Emma Trager-Lewis spoke to agency spokesperson in Syria Céline Schmitt, who’s just returned from a field visit to Dara’a, birthplace of the Syrian revolution in 2011. 

Audio Credit: Emma Trager-Lewis, UN News
Photo Credit © Courtesy of Céline Schmitt

Hopeful Syrians head home to an uncertain future

Persons with disabilities living in institutions face a heightened risk of being trafficked as their reliance on others for daily support can be manipulated; that’s according to an expert in disability rights speaking at the United Nations.

Eric Rosenthal leads Disability Rights International. He told a side event at COSP, the UN’s largest annual meeting focusing on issues that persons living with disabilities face, that people isolated from their families are easier targets for exploitation.  

The number of trafficking victims of all types has seen a troubling rise since the COVID-19 pandemic, with a 25 per cent increase in global detections between 2019 and 2022.

UN News' Anna O'Donnell sat down with Mr. Rosenthal and began by asking him to explain why people with disabilities are being trafficked. 

Audio credit: Anna O'Donnell, UN News

The vulnerable and forgotten: trafficked persons with disabilities

• Israel-Iran crisis: UN chief urges calm after overnight strikes 
• Victims of DRC violence start to rebuild shattered lives and livelihoods  
• Eastern Chad ‘reaching a breaking point’ as Sudan war refugees continue to arrive 

Daniel Johnson, UN News  
Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved. 


UN News Today 13 June 2025 - Israel-Iran crisis, DR Congo violence, Sudan war refugees

Small island States are among the most vulnerable communities facing rising sea levels and marine degradation – but this invaluable firsthand experience puts them in a powerful leadership position to shape inclusive, effective ocean policies.

Safiya Sawney, Grenada’s Special Envoy and Ambassador for Climate, has been at this week’s UN Ocean Conference in Nice and told UN News that “a big part of our heritage, of our culture, of our economy is derived from the ocean.”

Describing the small island nations as “large ocean nations,” she outlined to Heyi Zou some of the pressing challenges ahead as global warming continues.

Audio credit: Heyi Zou, UN News
Photo: Coastal erosion is seen on a beach near Grenville in Grenada, a Caribbean island. NOOR/Kadir van Lohuizen

Time to ‘change the tide’ in the Caribbean says regional climate expert

It’s World Water Day, and we’re bringing you a double-bill for this edition of our UN Podcast Classics series, kicking off with the legendary actor, Marlon Brando.

In 1956, the Oscar-winning star of On the Waterfront, became UN Radio’s front man on water; narrating the story of how the UN Technical Assistance Administration brought a “pure, sweet, flowing” supply to one Bolivian village.

As the International Decade for Action on water for sustainable development gets under way here at the UN, we also look back at the 1950s struggle to provide access to clean running water in El Salvador.

You’ll find these stories, along with dozens of other unique and unusual radio stories, in our Audiovisual Library archive, at unmultimedia.org/avlibrary.

Photo: Marlon Brando speaks at UNICEF's New York Headquarters about the desperate needs of many of the world's children. (file) Credit: UNICEF/UN0157660/Speiser

For the UN, Marlon Brando highlights “life and death” value of fresh water

As the World Health Organization (WHO) turns 70 this weekend (7 April), this edition of our Podcast Classics series from UN News turns back the clock 60 years to bring you “Ten Steps Forward”, a UN Radio programme looking at WHO’s first decade, narrated by British stage and screen actor Michael Redgrave.

You can find a wealth of other audio, film and video by going to www.unmultimedia.org/avlibrary/.

MUSIC CREDITS:
“Gravity” by Borrtex.
“Naive” by Sergey Cheremisinov.

Photo: Michael Redgrave, the celebrated British actor, at UN Radio studios, United Nations Headquarters in New York. (October 1956) Credit: UN Photo/Albert Fox

Podcast Classics: The ‘fight against time’ towards healthier living for all

They were two of the 20th Century’s biggest stars of stage and screen, and when it came to the World Health Organization’s campaign to tackle two of the biggest killers of the post-war era, they answered the call.

Singing legend, Frank Sinatra, lent his golden voice to WHO for a UN Radio story in 1959, about upgrading medical care in Indonesia, while Hollywood great, Edward G. Robinson, went in search of the “murderess” malaria, in northern Lebanon, and beyond.

As we mark World Immunization Week, and World Malaria Day, for this latest Podcast Classic from UN News, we also catch up on where the world stands now in the fight against diseases like malaria and polio, with a senior WHO official.

Music Credits: ‘Stardust’, by U.S. Army Blues

Audio Credit:  Matt Wells and Omar Musni

Photo: Pictured here is Dr. Luigi Mara (Italy) of the World Health Organization’s anti-malaria project in Iraq, part of the WHO world-wide campaign to eradicate malaria everywhere. Dr. Mara is examining stagnant water to find out the types of mosquito larvae harboured there. May 1958, Kurdistan, Iraq.

Podcast Classics: Frank Sinatra and Edward G. Robinson join the UN fight against polio and malaria

Russian-born actor, filmmaker and photographer Yul Brynner was appointed a special consultant to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, in 1959. As we mark World Refugee Day, this edition of Podcast Classics features UN Radio's "Pattern of Our Lives”, for which he called on fellow Hollywood stars to recount the true-life experiences of refugees.

Music credits: “Our Names Engraved” and “The Zeppelin” by Blue Dot Sessions.

Photo: Actor Yul Brynner in the UN Radio studio at United Nations Headquarters in New York, 20 May 1960. Credit: UN Photo/ MB.

Podcast Classics: World famous voices weave the ‘pattern’ of refugee lives for UNHCR

Climate activist Greta Thunberg's remarks at 2019 Climate Action Summit, at UN Headquarters in New York, on 23 September 2019. 

Photo Credit: UN Photo/Cia Pak

CLIP - Climate activist Greta Thunberg's remarks at the Climate Action Summit at UN HQ in NY

- UN Mission in Afghanistan supports child sex abuse allegations
- Thousands of children killed by measles in DR Congo
- Eat the Mediterranean way: UN food agency
Audio credit: Conor Lennon/ UN News
Photo: UNAMA / Ebrahim Papal

News in Brief - 27 November 2019 - Afghan paedophiles, DRC Measles, FAO healthy diet

The Security Council on Tuesday voted to end the hybrid UN-African Union civilian support operation for Darfur, UNAMID, beginning the drawdown on 1 January.
It marks the end of a force that can withdraw, knowing that government is now “in the right hands”, according to the UN Joint Special Representative, Jeremiah Mamabolo, although as he tells UN News in this exclusive interview it does not mean the UN is leaving.
A new assistance mission UNITAMS, will continue to support peacebuilding efforts, with most of the violence that killed some 300,000 in Darfur, and displaced millions now apparently over.
Mr. Mamabolo begin by telling Abdelmonem Makki of our UN News Arabic team what UNAMID had achieved since 2007, beyond fulfilling its core mandate of keeping civilians safe.
Audio credit: Abdelmonem Makki, UN News Arabic
Photo credit: Jeremiah Mamabolo pictured - UNAMID

New Sudan government ‘acceptable to the people’ paves way for UNAMID drawdown

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