UN News Interviews - 2024

Thousands of families in Gaza were once again on the move on Monday after Israel issued new evacuation orders around Khan Younis.

The UN Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA continues to assist people across the embattled enclave, where “no place is safe” after 10 months of war, according to Communications Director Juliette Touma.

She spoke to UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki about UNRWA’s work in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported a shocking rise in the number of youngsters killed since October.

Ms. Touma began by speaking about how a UN convoy was hit by heavy shooting while en route to Gaza City on Sunday. Although no casualties were reported, one of the cars was very badly damaged.

Audio credit: Abdelmonem Makki, UN News
Photo credit: Trucks transport food aid into northern Gaza (file). © WFP/Ali Jadallah

UNRWA stresses need to protect humanitarians after convoy hit in Gaza

The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World provides an annual update on global progress made towards achieving the 2030 goal of zero hunger.
This year’s report shows that more than 700 million people experienced hunger in 2023 and nearly one third of the global population, or approximately 2.33 billion people, face moderate or severe food insecurity – a figure that has remained virtually unchanged over the past three years.
Despite some improvements since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, sharp regional disparities persist, according to Máximo Torero, chief economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), who spoke to Laura Quiñones.

Audio credit: Laura Quiñones
Photo credit: UN/Srdjan Slavkovic

Achieving food security for all, today and tomorrow

With temperature records set month after month, more people globally find themselves working in warmer conditions. 
Some 2.4 billion workers – over 70 per cent of the global workforce – are exposed to extreme heat while on the job, according to a new report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).
The report shows that unlike in the 1950s, when heat exposure was a hazard in certain professions or sectors, today almost anybody can suffer heat stroke at work.  
Balint Nafradi, occupational safety and hazard data expert at ILO, spoke to UN News’ Anton Uspensky about the report’s key findings and the laws that are being adopted based on the agency’s recommendations.
He also shared advice on how to work safely in the heat, including for athletes and staff at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Over 70 per cent of global labour force working in extreme heat

The international community should act now to prevent widespread famine from taking hold in Sudan, the head of the UN humanitarian affairs office in the country said on Monday. 

Justin Brady was speaking just days after experts confirmed famine was present in parts of North Darfur state following more than a year of war between the Sudanese Army and rival military, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). 

He told UN News’s Khaled Mohammed that although humanitarians are doing their best to support vulnerable people, “we need the resources, political leverage, and advocacy to make the parties come to the table and end this war.” 

Audio credit: Khaled Mohammed, UN News
Photo credit:  Justin Brady, Head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan.

Sudan: Ceasefire critical to reach desperate people following famine declaration

The UN continues to monitor fast-moving developments in Bangladesh after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country on Monday following weeks of student protests that left hundreds dead. 

Young people took to the streets to demand an end to a quota system for civil servant jobs, which was later withdrawn. 

To find out more about the crisis, UN News’s Anshu Sharma in Delhi spoke to the UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, Gwyn Lewis, who said the mood in the country is hopeful, with “a sense of opportunity”. 

Ms. Lewis also expressed hopes for a new interim government - which will reportedly be led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus - while noting the critical role the UN plays in issues such as bolstering constitutional justice and supporting institutional reform. 

Audio credit: Anshu Sharma, UN News - Delhi
Photo caption: Gwyn Lewis, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh.
Photo credit: UN Bangladesh

Bangladesh crisis: UN supporting efforts to build a brighter future for all

The World Food Programme’s (WFP) Spokesperson in Sudan says the world “cannot give up hope” of averting widespread famine across the war-torn country, despite evidence of it spreading on the ground in Darfur and increasing problems accessing those in desperate need who are caught between rival armies.
Leni Kinzli told UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki that international action now could avert many deaths, including for around 90,000 facing catastrophic hunger in the devastated capital, Khartoum.

Audio credit: Abdelmonem Makki, UN News
Photo credit: UNMISS/Radio Miraya

Sudan: UN ‘can prevent many deaths’ if aid access is restored

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and partners are preparing to launch a campaign this month to vaccinate thousands of children in Gaza against polio after the disease was detected in sewage samples in two locations.

Boys and girls caught in the war wonder when the fighting will end, said UNICEF communications officer Salim Owais, who spent eight days in the enclave.
Mr. Owais visited several hospitals where he met children suffering from various diseases and war injuries amid the ongoing lack of doctors, medicines and equipment.

Speaking from Deir Al-Balah, he told UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki that “the picture is really grim in Gaza in general, but in a different way in hospitals.” 

Audio credit: Abdelmonem Makki, UN News
Audio duration: 6'58"
Photo credit: Patients transferred to hospitals in south Gaza by a UN Mission (file). © WHO

Destruction, suffering and displacement in Gaza ‘way beyond what you can imagine’: UNICEF officer

The recent confirmation of famine at the Zamzam camp in Sudan is “also a canary in a coal mine”, the new Representative of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in the country has warned.

Sheldon Yett said the situation is an indication that “terrible things” are happening there. 

He also recalled that food security experts report conditions are “equally bad” at more than a dozen other locations across the country, where rival militaries have been battling for more than a year.

Speaking from Port Sudan, Mr. Yett told UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki that despite access constraints, insecurity and other challenges, UNICEF and partners are bringing supplies to Zamzam camp “every day”, but not enough food is getting in.

UNICEF ‘using every possible means’ to get food to children facing famine in Sudan

Acute malnutrition is rapidly increasing among young children in Government-controlled areas in Yemen, UN agencies and partners warned in a report published this week. 

The ongoing conflict between Government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and Houthi rebels, is driving the surge, along with other factors such as economic collapse, displacement and social disruption.

The report warned that all 117 districts in Government-controlled areas surveyed will experience “serious” levels of malnutrition or worse during the lean season from July to October.  The situation has been further compounded by recent flooding. 

To find out more, UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki spoke to Peter Hawkins, x UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative to Yemen, who spoke from the capital, Sana’a. 

Audio credit: Abdelmonem Makki, UN News
Audio duration: 9'08"
Photo caption: Food insecure families in Lahj, Yemen, are supported by the UN World Food Programme (WFP). 
Photo credit: © WFP/Hebatallah Munassar

Yemen: Malnutrition expected to ‘increase significantly’ during current lean season

Civilians in Lebanon - particularly in the volatile south - are grappling with constant threats of violence, high levels of displacement and economic deprivation, as the standoff between Israel and Hezbollah militants continues in the shadow of the Gaza war.

Fadel Saleh, from the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) in Lebanon, told UN News that tens of thousands of people are unable to access basic services such as water facilities – while crucial civilian infrastructure such as markets and farms have been severely damaged amidst the cross-border exchange of fire.

He told Khaled Mohamed any “uncontrolled conflict” that erupts could impact up to a million people, while “controlled conflict” will still affect 250,000, calling for a major increase in humanitarian funding for Lebanon. 

Audio credit: Khaled Mohamed, UN News
Audio duration: 8'4"
Photo caption: Fadel Saleh, Humanitarian Affairs Officer-OCHA Lebanon.
Photo credit: OCHA/Lebanon

Lebanon: Humanitarian coordinator urges more funding to meet civilian needs

The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Wednesday condemned Israel’s military escalation in the occupied West Bank, calling for attacks by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to stop, along with settler violence and the forcible transfer of Palestinians.

Ajith Sunghay, Head of OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told UN News that as the situation deteriorates even further - against the backdrop of war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza - people live in fear”.

He told Abdelmonem Makki a large number of settlers are entering Palestinian communities in the West Bank to attack herders or farmers, and “we’re seeing more and more backing of the IDF of settlers”.

Audio Credit: Abdelmonem Makki, UN News
Photo: Tulkarm in the northern West Bank was bombed in April 2024. (file) © UNRWA

West Bank: ‘Constant fear’ amid soaring Israeli settler violence

The fighting hasn’t stopped in Gaza but that hasn’t prevented tens of thousands of parents from making sure that their children are given the first of two polio vaccines.

The UN-led initiative helped 15,000 youngsters in one school-turned-shelter in central Deir Al-Balah on Monday, according to Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson for the UN agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA.

Here she is speaking to UN News's Daniel Johnson, describing the challenge of rolling out the campaign where to be successful, 90 per cent of Gaza’s children under 10 will need to be vaccinated – right now, and again in four weeks.

Gaza polio vaccination day two - UNRWA spokesperson Louise Wateridge from Nuseirat

Superbugs – or bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics – continue to be a major worry for the medical community and health authorities, because if they emerge and spread globally, life-saving drugs will no longer work.

As part of the global effort to prevent such antimicrobial resistance, the UN World Health Organization on Tuesday launched the first-ever guidance for manufacturers of antibiotics on what to do with their wastewater.
The guidance has been developed in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and its launch is timed ahead of the UN General Assembly high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance on 26 September.

With more, here’s Kate Medlicott, Team lead of sanitation and wastewater in the UN health agency’s Department of Climate, Environment and Health, who Daniel Johnson caught up with in Geneva.

Audio Credit: Daniel Johnson, UN News
Photo Credit: Dr Valeria Gigante

First ever guidance issued on antibiotic pollution to fight rise of superbugs

Some 4.5 million children are not attending school in Yemen, where Government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, and Houthi rebels have been at war for a decade. 

Peter Hawkins, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative in Yemen, said the “catastrophic situation” is a “time bomb” as the country could possibly have a generation of citizens who are unable to read and write.

He told UN News’s Khaled Mohamed that UNICEF has been working to rehabilitate damaged schools and to support teachers and children in returning to the classroom, especially girls, though he acknowledged it is not enough.

 But first, Mr. Hawkins refuted recent “baseless” Houthi allegations that UN agencies and partners have been colluding to destroy Yemen’s education system.

Audio credit: Khaled Mohamed, UN News
Audio duration: 8'16"
Photo caption: Children in Amran, Yemen, enter a UNICEF-supported child protection centre.
Photo credit: © UNICEF/Ali Alsunaidar
Photo caption:

UNICEF working to avert education ‘time bomb’ in Yemen

More work needs to be done to ensure the success of the multinational security support mission which has deployed to Haiti to help the national police address chronic levels of violence and instability. That’s according to Bob Rae, Canada’s Ambassador to the UN and the newly elected president of the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

The mission, which is not a UN peacekeeping operation, began deploying in June and has experienced some notable gains including shifting the area of operation of some of the gang activity in the capital Port-au-Prince away from two key hospitals and the main port.

But, talking to UN News’s Cristina Silveiro following a visit to the Caribbean island nation, Mr. Rae said it was impossible to say the country “had turned a corner”.

Audio Credit: Cristina Silveiro, UN News
Photo Credit: © UNOCHA/Giles Clarke

‘Work to be done’ to ensure Haiti security support mission can make progress

Over half a million people have been severely impacted by unprecedented flooding and windstorms in Yemen.

The UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) has been working in the hardest-hit areas providing emergency shelter, cash assistance, and clean water.

But the agency is facing significant challenges, including limited resources and ongoing conflict, which complicates relief efforts, according to Matt Huber, IOM’s Acting Chief of Mission in Yemen

Talking to UN News’s Abdelmonem Makki, Mr. Huber said that IOM has just launched a $13.3 million appeal to scale up its response to meet the growing needs in the country. 

Audio Credit: Abdelmonem Makki, UN News
Photo Credit: UNHCR/YDF

IOM seeks $13.3 million to scale up response in Yemen

Amid the brutal war in Gaza and fears of famine, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is providing Palestinian livestock holders with veterinary kits to keep their animals healthy and disease-free.

This is just one example of the UN agency’s work to ensure food security and economic stability in conflict zones, including the West Bank, Ukraine and Sudan.

To find out more about these efforts, UN News’s Nancy Sarkis in Geneva spoke to FAO Deputy Director Beth Bechdol. 

Audio Credit: Nancy Sarkis, UN News
Photo Credit: UN Geneva/Srdan Slavkovic

Agricultural assistance is key to feed hungry people in war zones: FAO

A series of crises is making it difficult for Haiti’s most vulnerable farming households to work their land, recover from natural weather events and build their livelihoods according to a senior representative of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Extreme weather, including hurricanes, as well as the effects of climate change and now rampant insecurity have dramatically impacted successive growing seasons leaving around five million Haitians hungry.

The Caribbean island nation of 11 million people is largely rural and agriculture employs about half of the workforce.

FAO’s director of emergencies, Rein Paulsen, has visited Haiti and spoke from the capital Port-au-Prince to UN News’ Daniel Dickinson at about a farming community he visited in Grande Anse in the southwest of the country.

Audio Credit: Daniel Dickinson, UN News
Photo Credit: WFP Haiti/Theresa Piorr

Haiti: Successive crises limit time for recovery of vulnerable farming households

Amid intensifying strikes either side of the Israel-Lebanon border linked to the war in Gaza, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that some 1,500 people are still in hospital from this week’s extraordinary attack on mobile communication devices, reportedly targeting the Hezbollah armed group. 

Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar, the UN health agency’s Representative in Lebanon, said that almost 3,000 injured people were rushed to hospitals after the pager and walkie-talkie explosions. Medical teams struggled to handle the massive influx of patients in the country where the “tension is increasing every day”, said the WHO official.

He spoke to UN News’s Nancy Sarkis.

Audio Credit: Nancy Sarkis, UN News

Lebanon crisis: UN health agency ‘committed’ to offering support

Haiti is facing a “catastrophic and cataclysmic” human rights situation according to the UN’s designated expert on rights issues in the Caribbean island nation, William O’Neill.

Attacks by gangs, executions, kidnappings for ransom, violence against women – including  rape – as well as corruption, inmates dying in jail and a paralyzed judicial system, are just some of the rights challenges the country is facing. 

And now Haitians are becoming frustrated at the slow pace of international efforts, particularly the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission, to help the country to combat these problems, according to Mr. O’Neill. 

The human rights expert has just finished a 12-day mission to Haiti.
Daniel Dickinson spoke to him from the capital Port-au-Prince and began by asking how ordinary Haitians are coping. 

Audio credit: Daniel Dickinson, UN News
Photo credit: OHCHR/William O'Neill

Haiti facing ‘cataclysmic’ human rights situation

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UN News Interviews - 2024

United Nations News