UN Interviews

Lebanon is facing a “perfect storm of unpredictable challenges” as escalating conflict, mass displacement and shrinking humanitarian resources collide, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in the country, Imran Riza, told UN News.  Mr. Riza described a rapidly deteriorating situation in which civilians, particularly children, are paying the highest price. In just over a we...

The UN World Food Programme – WFP – has spoken of its relief that the closure of a key crossing point for aid and commercial supplies to Gaza has reopened after being shut, when Israeli and US bombs began hitting Iran. Speaking from Jerusalem, WFP’s Country Director in Palestine, Shaun Hughes, described how chronic constraints on aid delivery have kept humanitarian assistance at a “hand-to-mouth”...

The crucial Strait of Hormuz global shipping corridor marking the entrance to the Persian Gulf, is essentially closed due to the threat of strikes from Iran and elsewhere  After a tugboat assisting another vessel in the strait this morning was struck killing at least four seafarers, the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Arsenio Dominguez, told UN News on...

UN agencies are preparing to support Afghans who may return from Iran in the coming months amid rising regional tensions, a senior UN official has told UN News. Georgette Gagnon, Officer-in-Charge of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said agencies including the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration, IOM, are preparing assistance at border crossi...

Deadly violence has erupted once again across Lebanon and Israel, following the bombing of Iran by Israeli and US forces. Mass displacement in Lebanon has resulted, as thousands of people in Beirut and elsewhere flee airstrikes targeting Hezbollah militants, according to the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (UNIFIL).  Speaking from southern Lebanon, UNIFIL’s Tilak Pokharel said families...

As Ukraine entered its fifth year of full-scale invasion, millions of people are struggling every day to keep the lights on, cook and heat their homes amid extreme winter conditions. This fourth winter has been particularly harsh with 65 per cent of Ukraine's energy generation capacity methodically destroyed. Women and children are bearing the brunt of energy blackouts, which undermine their safet...

As global hunger surges to historic highs, with around 300 million people facing acute food insecurity, the World Food Programme is turning to technology, partnerships, and internal reforms to deliver aid faster and more effectively. This involves expanding school meal programmes, strengthening collaboration with countries, and using Artificial Intelligence to predict crises and target assistance,...

Nearly three billion people around the world do not have adequate housing, and the crisis is no longer limited to developing countries. Cities across Europe and North America are also facing growing affordability challenges, says UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach. Speaking to UN News’s Anshu Sharma in New Delhi, she told us poverty and inequality remain the main causes of the crisi...

At just 16 years of age, Raul John Aju already has a formidable stack of achievements under his belt. The teenager from the Indian state of Kerala runs his own company creating artificial intelligence tools, advises governments on how to use the tech, and teaches students how to engage with it in their professional and personal lives. His prodigious activities have earned him the moniker “AI Kid o...

Set up in May 1948, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, UNTSO was the first ever peacekeeping operation established by the UN.  In an interview with UN News, Major General Patrick Gauchat, Head of Mission and Chief of Staff, explained the mission has evolved since it was first established to monitor ceasefires and support peace agreements in the aftermath of world war.  Wo...

As repatriation efforts for Burundian refugees from Tanzania accelerate, concerns are growing over reports of coercive measures, shelter demolitions and mistreatment during the return process, amid warnings that some refugees may still need international protection. Bahia Egeh, External Relations Officer with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, stressed that returns under the tripartite agreement with B...

As artificial intelligence reshapes global agriculture, questions remain about who truly benefits from this technological shift. In this interview with Anshu Sharma from UN News, Brenda Gunde, Global Lead for ICT4D (Information Communication Technology for Development) at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), explains how emerging digital tools can support smallholder farmers...

According to the World Bank, the real AI revolution in developing countries isn’t coming from flashy mega‑models, but from small, low‑cost tools that solve local problems. Mahesh Uttamchandani, the organisation’s Regional Practice Director for Digital and AI inEast Asia and Pacific and South Asia, sat down with Anshu Sharma from UN News during the India AI Impact Summit, and explained that these s...

As the India AI Impact Summit, the first of its kind in the Global South, enters its final days, UN News has been talking to some of the senior UN officials who have made the trip to New Delhi. One of them is Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who has been meeting with world leaders and the heads of technology companies. When he sat down with our colleague Anshu Sharma, Mr....

In Sudan, the conflict between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has plunged the country into widespread bloodshed and humanitarian catastrophe.  The devastating civil war began in April 2023 and is expanding beyond the western Darfur region into central Kordofan, taking its toll on civilians and particularly the most vulnerable, including children. Eva Hinds,...

India’s AI Impact Summit – the first of its kind in the Global South – is underway in New Delhi, and the United Nations has a significant presence at the event, with over 30 side events planned over the week. The main message from the UN is that access to, and development of, AI tools ne eds to be democratised beyond the handful of major economies that are currently driving the technology. Amandee...

Since the declaration of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on 10 October 2025, the United Nations’ main concern has been — and remains — the urgent scaling up of humanitarian aid. And while the long-awaited reopening of the Rafah crossing at the start of this month raised hopes, it has also been marked by delays and reports of mistreatment of Palestinians, according to aid organizations, with no...

Politics used to be a battle over competing ideas, but now it’s become a very real fight “between identities”: that’s according to Valentina Grippo, an Italian Member of Parliament and delegate to the UN-affiliated Inter-Parliamentary Union, or IPU, which met at UN Headquarters this week in New York.   A majority of MPs worldwide are facing threats and abuse from voters, according to a n...

As wars drag on across continents and conflicts grow more complex, children continue to bear the heaviest and most heartbreaking cost. Marking 30 years since the United Nations first established its mandate to protect children caught in war, Vanessa Frazier, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, is sounding the alarm, and calling for renewed global co...

As Holocaust remembrance increasingly moves into digital spaces shaped by artificial intelligence, virtual worlds and interactive media, experts are calling for stronger global coordination to ensure ethical, sustainable and responsible memory work. Speaking at UN Headquarters around International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Professor Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden stressed that no single institu...

The head of the police component of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), Mamouma Ouédraogo – appointed late last year – was at UN Headquarters in the past few days, taking part in the Police Week. The gathering reunites senior police officers from peacekeeping operations and staffers from the UN’s special political missions.  In an interview with UN N...

Ukraine is facing one of its most severe winters since the war began, with attacks on critical infrastructure leaving hundreds of thousands of families without heating or electricity as temperatures fall below minus 20 degrees Celsius. Speaking to UN News, UNICEF’s Chief of Field Operations in Ukraine, Kenan Madi, warned that children continue to bear the brunt of the crisis, particularly in major...

Catherine Mootian was just twelve years old when she underwent female genital mutilation (FGM), a moment that changed her life forever. Growing up in Kenya’s Maasai community, she was told the cut marked her transition into womanhood. But years later, that painful experience became the driving force behind her mission to protect other girls from the same fate. Today, Ms. Mootian is the founder and...

The UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUSCO, says it is ready to support a ceasefire between the Congolese authorities and the M23 armed group, following an announcement by Qatar that it will deploy a first monitoring team under the Doha peace initiative. M23, also known as the March 23 Movement, is an armed group operating in eastern DRC that has seized key towns,...

As the UN system continues to grapple with financial constraints, international police officers serving at peacekeeping missions are responding to the challenge. The UN Police Division is making plans to deploy smaller specialised teams in some field settings, where necessary, who will still “achieve more” despite their reduced numbers.  That’s according to UN Police Adviser Faisal Shahkar, w...