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.
Amidst ongoing armed conflict in Sudan, where millions of civilians are left displaced and food insecure, Deputy Executive Director for the World Food Programme (WFP), Carl Skau, visited the nation where he said a window of opportunity to reach civilians is rapidly closing as the rainy season approaches.Â
Mr. Skau noted that the Sudanese want to see an end to the conflict. He further warned that famine may be approaching and WFP is currently only able to reach about 30 per cent of about 18 million acutely food-insecure people.
WFPâs Leni Kinzli asked Mr. Skau about his visit and he said that internally displaced people (IDPs) are desperate for basic needs and want to return to their homes.Â
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly developing and raising concerns on the battlefield, particularly lethal autonomous weapons systems, commonly known as âkiller robotsâ.
The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) works to increase understanding of the risks and implications of AI for international peace and security.Â
UN Newsâs Sachin Gaur spoke to Shimona Mohan, UNIDIR Associate Researcher, who focuses on the intersection of gender, disarmament and emerging technologies such as AI.
A breakthrough in Libya cannot be achieved if leaders continue to monopolise the political process, the outgoing head of the UN mission in the country, UNSMIL, has said.
Libya has remained mired in deep crisis since the postponement of national elections, originally planned for December 2021.
UN Special Representative Abdoulaye Bathily called on leaders to âhave a sense of historyâ and âthink about the future of their countryâ, pointing to their long-standing impasse.
Before leaving office, he sat down with UN Newsâs Khaled Mohammed to discuss the stalemate, the dire situation of citizens and renewed geopolitical interest in Libya, including due to the wars in Ukraine and Sudan.
Rescue efforts continue in Afghanistan following deadly flash floods in three northeastern provinces this past weekend.
The Resident Representative of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Stephen Rodriques, said that so far, 180 deaths have been confirmed and nearly 9,000 homes have been damaged or completely destroyed.Â
The UN has deployed just over 20 teams to the region to conduct a joint assessment alongside partners and the de-facto authorities.
UN Newsâ Anshu Sharma asked him about challenges to the relief efforts and plans for longer-term support. Â
Two arson attacks which followed weeks of protests forced UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA to temporarily close its compound in East Jerusalem on Thursday.
The developments are part of a wider campaign to undermine the agency, said Senior Communications Manager Jonathan Fowler.
UN Newsâs Ezzat El-Ferri asked him about these incidents, intimidation of UNRWA staff, and their commitment to stay and deliver amid the war in Gaza and rising violence in the West Bank.
Amid intensified settlement building and the increased use of war tactics by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the number of casualties and injuries in the West Bank are now the highest on record, said the head of the UN human rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory on Wednesday.
Ajith Sunghay, told Anton Uspensky of UN News that âwhatever happens in Gaza has a massive impact on the West Bankâ while violations of Palestiniansâ rights have intensified at the hands of âemboldenedâ settlers.
Despite the risk of new strikes in Rafah, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners continue to establish field hospitals and get services back online at the shattered Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis.
 Dr. Ahmed Dahir, Team Lead with the WHO office in Gaza, told UN Newsâs Khaled Mohamed that conditions have reached an âunprecedented emergency levelâ.
Dr. Dahir is currently in Rafah and has been describing the âcrucial stepsâ being taken to prepare for any large-scale Israeli military operations in the coming hours.
Kenya remains on high alert as Tropical Cyclone Hidaya threatens to dump more torrential rains on East African countries, which recently emerged from three years of historic drought.Â
The heavy rains have caused deadly flooding and landslides that have killed nearly 400 people across the region since March.Â
The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Kenya, Stephen Jackson, has been calling for a âpush on resilienceâ as extreme weather events intensify due to climate change.Â
UN Newsâs Thelma Nadzua began by asking him about the UNâs ongoing support to the Government as the rains continue.Â
More than a year of fighting between Sudanâs rival militaries has the countryâs people on the verge of famine and uprooted huge numbers caught up in the crossfire.
Now, thereâs a new threat - unexploded weapons littering Sudanâs towns and cities, where people have received little training about the very real dangers of these lethal devices.
Mohammad Sediq Rashid, Chief of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in the country, tells UN Newsâs Nancy Sarkis this deadly kind of warfare is new to Sudanese and with access to the capital getting easier, civilians are not waiting for crucial mine clearance to happen.
After more than a year of brutal fighting between rival militaries across Sudan, the last Government-held stronghold in Darfur of El Fasher is in danger of slipping into famine unless rebel fighters end their siege.
Thatâs according to the UNâs Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator Toby Harward who told UN News that if the fighting for control continues it will trigger revenge attacks across Darfur and a slide into the atrocities that unfolded there two decades ago.
Abdelmonem Makki began by asking him to describe the latest situation in El Fasher.
Since the 1950s, 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced, seven billion tonnes of which have become potentially toxic waste. If no action is taken, plastic pollution could triple by 2060.Â
Itâs in our oceans, our rivers and overall plastic pollution represents âa huge problemâ says Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the international negotiating committee secretariat (INC) focused on curbing the scourge, which met earlier this week on the road to what it is hoped will be an historic treaty next year.
Following the latest round of talks in Ottawa, Canada, âwe are exactly where we need to be,â Ms. Mathur-Filipp told UN Newsâ Anton Uspensky, reflecting on the latest negotiations, and important steps that lie ahead.Â
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