Humanitarian Fault Lines

Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Andrew Harper, Special Advisor to the High Commissioner for Refugees on Climate Action at the United Nations. The conversation was recorded late in 2023. A big part of Andrew’s job is anticipating where climate shocks will happen so the UN has a plan in place ahead of time. He tells Jamie that climate events require a complex response, explaining that people can be dis...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Yuval Shany. He’s a lecturer in Public International Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a Senior Fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. He has published an essay titled “Unpacking Key Assumptions Underlying Legal Analyses of the 2023 Hamas-Israel War.” Jamie and Yuval spoke in early December about the conflict, with Yuval giving legal interpretation...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Tania Hary, Executive Director at Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, an Israeli not-for-profit organization which advocates for the freedom of movement of Palestinians. The conversation was recorded recently about the situation in Gaza. Tania says there’s a “deep trauma” in Israel about the attack on October 7th. She explains that views have hardened, w...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. They start by discussing the situation in Gaza, with Jamie asking what is needed to help resolve the crisis there. The conversation touches on international and humanitarian law and the importance of upholding those principles. Jamie asks Grandi if he’s worried about humanitarians losing their relevance as more cr...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Charles Petrie, a former UN assistant secretary general with more than three decades of experience in conflict and post-conflict settings. Charles’ book, The Triumph of Evil - The Rwanda Genocide and the Search for Justice, is based on his personal eye-witness accounts while working for the UN in the country during the genocide. It’s available on Amazon, at Barnes...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Ross Mountain, a senior United Nations official who was a former emergency relief coordinator and a humanitarian coordinator in the Middle East. They discuss the difficult situation in Gaza, with humanitarians working to get life saving services to people in the area. Jamie and Ross also talk about the criticism directed towards the UN, including backlash from Isr...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Reena Ghelani, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, Famine Prevention and Response Coordinator. She has over two decades of experience in the humanitarian sector, spanning across Africa and the Middle East. Jamie asks Reena about the work being done to combat global hunger. Reena explains the main causes for food insecurity, with conflict and climate di...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Sara Pantuliano, Chief Executive at ODI. The organization has their own podcast, Think Change, which discusses global issues fortnightly with leading experts. Sara is the Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Seventh Advisory Group of the UN Peacebuilding Fund and a member of UNFPA’s ICPD25 High-Level Commission. She also serves on the High-Level Group on Humanitari...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Ugochi Daniels, Deputy Director General for Operations at the International Organization for Migration in the UN. They discuss a wide variety of topics related to migration. Jamie asks her about the impact the invasion of Ukraine is having as people are pushed into different parts of Europe. There is a conversation about political difficulties, as countries change...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Hannah Rae Armstrong, a writer and policy advisor with over a decade of field based experience in North Africa and the Sahel. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Le Monde. Jamie and Hannah spoke in late August about the coup in Niger and its impact on the region. Hannah does a great job of explaining the different parties involve...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, Executive Director of the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health. She’s also had an extensive career in crisis management, which includes time at the United Nations and as an advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia. Jamie and Jemilah discussed crises in southeast Asia and the responses to those crises. He asked her about the situation in Myanmar...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with David Beasley. He served as the Executive Director of the World Food Programme from 2017 until April 2023, and he’s had a long career in U.S. politics which includes over a decade in Congress. David was the head of the WFP when it won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. The conversation focuses on the growing challenges in getting food to hungry people around the world....

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Afghan journalist Zahra Joya, who was named one of Time’s Women of the Year in 2022. She created Rukhshana Media in November 2020, the publication covers women’s issues in Afghanistan including reproductive health, sexual violence, and gender discrimination. Jamie speaks with her about the humanitarian crisis in the nation as the Taliban places restrictions on wha...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Arjun Jain, UN Principle Coordinator for the Rohingya Refugee Response, about conditions in Cox’s Bazar. The location is the site of the largest refugee camp in the world with more than 1 million Rohingya refugees. Arjun provides an overview of the situation. He gives honest answers about what’s gone right in the aid response and what needs to be better. Jamie ask...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Louise Aubin, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Niger. She gives an outlook on the humanitarian crisis in the country. Aubin tells Jamie that violence and displacement are two of the main challenges, with those displaced heavily reliant on assistance. She says education is a top priority, and she discusses working with the government to build out resources fo...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Alex de Waal. He is the Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation and a research professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is, most recently, co-author of “Sudan’s Unfinished Democracy: The promise and betrayal of a people’s revolution” (Hurst 2022). Jamie asks him about the conflict in Sudan. Alex describes how the two sides grew into this...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Gabriella Waaijman, Global Humanitarian Director of Save the Children. They discuss a variety of topics on the humanitarian sector, including how aid work has evolved over the last several decades. Gabriella explains that while there have been improvements, there is a lack of input from local organizations. She talks about how Save the Children is partnering with...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Ulrika Richardson, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiti. They discuss the complex and difficult situation in the country. The United Nations has reported an increase in violence, with more than 600 people killed in and around the capital, Port-Au-Prince, in April. Ulrika explains what’s prompting the violence and the discussions happening to try and b...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with journalist and policy analyst David Rieff, author of the seminal 2003 book A Bed For The Night. That book, and those that followed, prompted the humanitarian sector to reflect on their work and how it could be improved. Jamie speaks with David about his analysis of the humanitarian space and how it has evolved. They also discuss the United Nations, its strengths a...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Adam Abdelmoula, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Somalia. Adam gives an overview of the crisis in the country, with climate shocks and conflict creating a difficult environment. There are millions of people, including children, who are in desperate need of life saving assistance. After several years of poor rainy seasons, food insecurity is...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Jeremy Konyndyk, President of Refugees International. They go over a variety of issues in the humanitarian space. Jeremy discusses major changes he would like to see in the system, arguing local groups need a bigger seat at the table with how donor dollars are used. Jamie and Jeremy talk about current crises, including Ukraine and Yemen, and how crises today are l...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Suzanna Tkalec, Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo since July 2021. She discusses the current crisis in the eastern provinces and the challenges humanitarians face in the region. Suzanna gives an overview of the different armed groups battling in the area, including M23, and efforts to bring much needed security and stability....

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with members of Palestinian human rights organizations on issues in the region. Tensions are high between Palestians and Israelis with a noted uptick in violence in the West Bank since the start of the year. The escalation in violence in the West Bank coincides with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returning to power with an ultra right wing coalition. There are fears...

Host Jamie McGoldrick speaks with Hugo Slim, Senior Research Fellow at the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice, Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford, on a wide range of topics. They discuss crises in Haiti, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, and the challenges in providing assistance to those countries. Hugo talks about how humanitarian aid has grown over the last several decades, describing the posit...

Host Jamie McGoldrick talks with Julien Harneis, Humanitarian Coordinator in Pakistan, about efforts to provide aid to a country dealing with climate disasters and skyrocketing prices. Floods in the nation have devastated and uprooted millions of people. The value of Pakistan’s currency has fallen dramatically. Citizens are paying more for basic goods, with the cost of petrol and diesel continuing...