Latest data this week from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, reflects the highest civilian 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.

Interviews

Latest shocking casualty data from Afghanistan could easily get worse

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

Traffickers have taken advantage of COVID crisis, new UN study shows

The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed progress towards gender equality and put women in a dire and vulnerable situation in many parts of the world, according to the World Health Organization’s Assistant Director-General.

Women’s leadership key to reach gender equality, recover progress lost to COVID: top WHO official

Rape is widespread all over the world, and all countries, as well as the UN, need to do more to improve legislation to improve conviction rates and protect women, Dubravka Šimonović, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, has told UN News.

Rape laws need to be improved in all countries: independent UN rights expert

As the world continues to battle COVID-19, yoga offers a “unique” way to destress and boost immunity, allowing the mind and body to connect in a state of “cellular quiet”. That’s according to Doctor Krishna Raman, who’s taking part in a major International Day of Yoga event on Monday, organized by the Indian mission to the UN. He spoke to UN News’s Sachin Gaur, and explained his work on integrating Western medicine with yoga, and how the practice helps support wider social well-being.

International Yoga Day: Connecting body and mind to boost immunity

In recognition of their efforts to raise awareness about the reality of climate change in the Czech Republic, the UN Information Centre in Prague, awarded the “The Facts on Climate” group its annual Climate Communication Prize, for 2020.

Czech the facts: the youth organization spreading the word about the climate crisis

When Lieutenant Colonel Ján Hric took command of what’s known as Sector 4 in the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, UNFICYP, he realized that he had “big boots to fill”.  He quickly learned that there were multiple layers involved in carrying out peacekeeping work in such a “broad international environment”.

Filling ‘big boots’ at the UN’s Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus

The Cabo Delgado region of Mozambique has been plagued by insecurity since 2017, but this year has seen “multiple crises” impact the population there, after militant extremists overran the area around Pemba, killing dozens and displacing a third of the population. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is one of the UN agencies providing relief on the ground, and in an interview with UN News while he’s assessing conditions there this week, Regional Director, Mohamed Malick Fall, said he’s most concerned about nearly 2,000 unaccompanied or separated children, whose survival is on the line. He spoke to Alexandre Soares, of our Portuguese team.

Mozambique: Children with ‘fear in their eyes’ need urgent protection and support - UNICEF

In just a matter of two months, India’s second wave of COVID-19 infections overwhelmed the second most populous nation in the world, with 100,000 deaths recorded during May. Behind the massive health crisis lurks an unprecedented threat to the job and food security of millions. UN News’s Anshu Sharma spoke to World Food Programme (WFP) Representative and Country Director to India, Bishow Parajuli, for an overview of measures being taken to help the country recover.

Amid India’s COVID battle, a new wave of poverty and hunger

The world will recover from the economic shock of the COVID pandemic, the International Labour Organization (or ILO) said on Wednesday in a new report, but only if poorer nations receive some financial assistance to get back on their feet. In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, ILO chief Guy Ryder, explains that unlike the last global financial crisis in 2008-9, that affected mainly wealthier countries, the current downturn has hit developing nations hardest.

Global economic crisis from COVID shows scale of rebuilding

Aid workers are usually sufficiently prepared to overcome whatever challenges they face, but what about a volcanic eruption? That’s what happened to the UN refugee agency’s (UNHCR) team in Goma, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, when lava started pouring from Mount Nyiragongo on 22 May. To talk about the experience from Goma, here’s Jackie Keegan, head of the agency’s office in the city, speaking to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.

How the DR Congo volcano emergency gave new insight to humanitarian management

With some 1.8 billion people between the ages of 10 and 24 around the globe, young people have a “key role” to play in forging lasting peace agreements, according to UN Youth Envoy, Jayathma Wickramanayake. They’re important to maintaining peace and security in communities, and to “building social cohesion”, she explained in an interview with UN News. She began by explaining to Liz Scaffidi how the youth, peace and security agenda has evolved.

Peacebuilding not possible, without involving young people: UN Youth Envoy

An estimated 160,000 people in Gaza now face going hungry as the escalation of violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and across the border into Israel, continues into its second week, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday. In addition to seeing that they get enough to eat, another priority for the agency’s Country Director in Palestine, Samer AbdelJaber, is making sure that his aid team stays safe, as he explains to UN News’s Daniel Johnson.

In Gaza, even the aid teams are in harm’s way, says UN food programme

As India confronts a devastating second wave of COVID-19 infections, with some 300,000 cases a day, securing essential oxygen equipment is “the need of the hour”.  That’s the message from Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, Representative of the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in the country, who spoke to our colleague Anshu Sharma in Delhi.

‘Social vaccination’ still critical amid India COVID-19 crisis, UNICEF says

The United Nations has deployed all the personnel and resources at its disposal to help Indians deal with the deadly surge in COVID-19 that has seen more than 300,000 reported new cases per day, for almost two weeks now, and left many hospitals overwhelmed. That’s according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) India Representative, Dr. Roderico Ofrin, speaking exclusively to UN News, who told Anshu Sharma that tried and trust methods of bringing down the numbers would surely work, if India can get “ahead of the game”.

UN has ‘all hands on deck’ across India to help save lives amid deadly COVID surge

UN News interviews a wide range of people from senior news-making officials at Headquarters in New York, to advocates and beneficiaries from across the world who have a stake in helping the UN go about its often life-saving work in the field.

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