Interviews

UN agencies are assisting the Sahel as it faces multiple challenges in security, governance, development and humanitarian needs.

That is the view of Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, the Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS). 

Ms Sandhu-Rojon spoke to Fatima/Erika Mendez when she was at UN Headquarters earlier this month.  She started by discussing the biggest priorities in the Sahel region right now

Around 124 million people in 51 countries were affected by acute food insecurity during the course of last year, according to the latest edition of the Global Report on Food Crises. 

Dominique Burgeon, Director of the Emergency and Rehabilitation Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that 74 million people are living in countries where conflict is having a “devastating impact” on them, as he told Murielle Saar.

Rescued from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by her mother just hours before the ceremony, Purity Oyie was forced to flee and become a pariah.

But after enduring years of separation from her family, the young Kenyan activist and role-model, is now her father’s “pride and joy,” having become the first woman in her village to graduate from college – as she told Liz Scaffidi.

Pakistani troops, police and other peacekeeping personnel have made a “major contribution” to the success of the UN’s long-running Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), which will close at the end of March after successfully completing its mandate.

That’s according to Waldemar Vrey, a South African national who serves as deputy head of UNMIL, with responsibility for handling political and rule-of-law issues. He told Doug Coffman that Pakistanis had played a “significant role” throughout.

Thousands of children in Tonga are back at school one month after Cyclone Gita slammed into the Pacific Island nation, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has reported.

Cate Heinrich, UNICEF Head of Communications in the Pacific recently returned from a visit to Tonga to see how communities are faring.

She spoke on the line to Julia Dean.

“Empowering women empowers the whole home.”

That is the view of Susan Kaaria, Senior Gender Officer and co-leader for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in NY this week for the Commission on Status of Women (CSW62), which this year is focusing on rural women.

Matt Wells spoke with her.

The situation for women in Sri Lanka is not optimal. However, grassroots organizations, such as the Women and Media Collective, are working hard to remedy that – challenging patriarchal norms and advocating for policy change.

At the UN for the Commission on the Status of Women, Programme Director Sepali Kottegoda spelled out her goal for a “feminist transformation of power relations within the country,” and spoke to UN News’s Liz Scaffidi.

“Only a few thousand” malnourished children who have been living through “hell on Earth” in Syria’s besieged suburb of east Ghouta have managed to escape so far.

That’s according to UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Regional Director for the Middle East, Geert Cappelaere, who told Mustafa Al Gamal it was “never too late” to start upholding the “sacred principle” of child protection across the country.

“If poverty had a face, it would be the face of a rural woman.”

That’s the opinion expressed by the newly appointed Vice- President at the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Cornelia Richter.

Ms Richter was at UN Headquarters this week to participate in the latest session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which is focusing on rural women.

Dianne Penn spoke to her.

All Governments should be basing environmental policies on peer-reviewed, evidence-based science, says Sir Robert Watson, Chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which will present five major reports at its upcoming plenary session in Colombia.

Omar Musni asked Sir Robert how IPBES reports seek to inform decision-making at every level.