Interviews

From conserving marine biodiversity to awareness raising and seafood consumption, Associação Natureza Portugal, or ANP, runs several projects that are contributing to a healthier ocean. Based in the coastal city of Lisbon, Portugal, the non-governmental organization works in line with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Ahead of the UN Ocean Conference, which is taking place there at the end of June, UN News’ Ana Carmo spoke on the phone with ANP’s Director of Conservation and Policy, Catarina Grilo, and Nuno Barros, a specialist in Ocean and Fisheries. She starts by asking them how co-managing small-scale fisheries can contribute to ocean health.

Governments should recruit more women into their national forces so that they can serve at UN field operations, an award-winning peacekeeper from Zimbabwe has said.  Major Winnet Zharare is the recipient of the 2021 Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award, presented by the UN Secretary-General during a ceremony on Thursday in observation of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.  Major Zharare spent 17 months at the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) where she championed gender parity within her own ranks, but also among local military counterparts and in host communities.  Ben Malor of UN News asked the former UN military observer about her experience there, the benefit of having “wicked” parents, and the importance of encouraging more women to work for the cause of peace. 

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the consequences of the war have been devastating for many millions of people in then country. Many of those forced to flee left behind friends and communities, their homes, belongings, and jobs. The UN's Nathalie Minard spoke to Ukrainian refugees in neighbouring Poland, to find out how cash transfers from the UN are helping them, and why the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) considers cash to be the most efficient way to help vulnerable people.  

The head of the UN weather agency, WMO, has told UN News that with the cost of renewable energy falling, and new investment from the private sector, we have the tools to limit global warming to the globally-agreed limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius. WMO chief Petteri Taalas, was speaking on Wednesday, as the State of the Climate 2021 report showed that new records were set last year for four out of seven key climate change indicators, despite some progress in recent years. Daniel Johnson in Geneva asked Mr. Taalas to outline the report’s main findings.

Two and a half years into the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be tempting to think that for many of us, the worst is over. The reality is that the fallout from the coronavirus could last a decade, and not only in the health sector, scientists have said in a new UN-backed report. To ensure that we’re better prepared for the next global shock, governments everywhere need to take stock of the vulnerabilities that have been exposed nationally - and internationally - by the pandemic, as UN News’ Daniel Johnson hears now, from Mami Mizutori, head of the UN Office of Disaster Risk Reduction, Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization and first, Peter Gluckman, who’s President of the International Science Council.

As if there weren’t enough problems to worry about down here on earth, there is a growing number of threats to global peace in outer space too, which is why UN-led talks are underway all this week in Geneva to find common ground on cosmic security. Chairing the first open-ended working group on reducing space threats, veteran Chilean diplomat Hellmut Lagos explained to UN News’s Daniel Johnson why space matters to us all, and what Member States are most concerned about.

As the war in Ukraine grinds on, the work of UN investigators has continued, with the harrowing task of gathering testimonies and evidence of potential war crimes. To date, the deaths of more than 3,300 civilians have been painstakingly confirmed by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, which readily admits that the actual number will likely be many thousands more. In an interview with UN News, the Head of the mission, Matilda Bogner, gives an overview of the investigation’s progress since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. 

If you like political cartoons, chances are that you’ve come across the work of Patrick Chappatte, in leading international newspapers and journals. In addition to his prolific output, Mr. Chappate is also president of the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation; to coincide with World Press Freedom Day 2022 on 3 May, it’s unveiled a new exhibition in Geneva, featuring drawings by other top illustrators who take great risks to stand up to authority. Here he is now, explaining to UN News’s Daniel Johnson how the challenges to a free press seem to be proliferating – and why it’s so important to push back against those who would stifle free speech.

“We can’t afford not to invest in prevention and peacebuilding” – that’s the view of newly-minted UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support, Elizabeth Spehar. In an interview with UN News, she gave the example of the effectiveness of the Peacebuilding Fund in the Gambia, where UN agencies have supported nationwide consultations on truth and reconciliation. One beneficiary testified that Gambians “now aspire to live in peace in this country.” Ms. Spehar spoke at length to Liz Scaffidi, about the critical importance of building peace and her role in making that happen.

Demonstrating the wide-ranging consequences of the climate crisis, the UN Human Rights Council has appointed the first-ever Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the context of Climate Change. Ian Fry, who is of Australian and Tuvalu heritage, teaches environmental policy at the Australian National University in Canberra. As UN Special Rapporteur, he will be tasked with studying how climate change affects the full enjoyment of human rights, and recommend ways to prevent these effects. In an interview with the UN’s Julia Dean, Mr. Fry explained why the Human Rights Council created his new role.