Reasonable progress has been made so far drawing down the UN’s former peacekeeping mission in Darfur, UNAMID, and cooperation on the part of the Sudanese Government has been “excellent”. 

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When COVID-19 locked down Cambodia last year, people with HIV were afraid that they would lose lifesaving access to regular supplies of anti-retroviral drugs.

Fortunately, that never happened, thanks to a successful new medicines distribution scheme – and a little bit of help from social media platforms too – as UNAIDS country director Vladanka Andreeva told UN News’s Daniel Johnson.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

In this week’s show, we’re getting the latest expert advice from the UN health agency on what to make of clotting concerns surrounding COVID vaccines. We’ll also hear about a mounting death toll among protesters in Myanmar and calls from UN rights chief for targeted sanctions… and we’ll be highlighting a good news story from Cambodia, thanks to UNAIDS, where the agency has had to innovate to respond to the challenges facing people with HIV during the pandemic. 

With Daniel Johnson and Solange Behoteguy-Cortes, from UN Geneva. 

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

Teenager Amineh Abou Kerech left Syria in 2012, one year into the decade-long conflict which has devastated the country.

She reads her poem for UN News.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

In this week’s show, we’re covering the disastrous impact of COVID-19 in DPR Korea (widely known as North Korea) as told to the Human Rights Council; violence in South Sudan that’s the worst since the onset of the civil war in December 2013 – and, we’ll hear about war photographer Giles Clarke’s moving portrait campaign showing some of Yemen’s displaced millions, in partnership with OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 

With Daniel Johnson, Solange Behoteguy-Cortes and Alpha Diallo from UN Geneva.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

After 10 years of war in Syria, there are likely tens of thousands of detainees across the country, held by the Government and opposition groups – a traumatic waiting game for the families unsure of their fate. 

In an interview with UN News’s Daniel Johnson, rights investigator Hanny Megally from the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, explains what steps the international community is taking to try to resolve the situation – and what obstacles it still faces. 

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

Attacks on schools in northeast Nigeria and elsewhere are “a way of life” and their impact is “devastating” on children’s mental health. 

Despite the dangers, boys and girls are returning in their thousands to places that were previously in the grip of Boko Haram extremists, according to UN Children’s Fund UNICEF. 

UN News’s Daniel Johnson spoke to the agency’s representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins.  

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

This week we cover the top stories from across the UN, including: an update on COVID-19 variants from the World Health Organization (WHO), an alert over a new Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a the first-ever woman chief of the World Trade Organization (WTO) who hails from Africa – another groundbreaker. 

Stay with us too for an interview with top rights expert Fionnuala Ni Alouain, who throws light on the miserable situation for thousands of mainly women and children with links to ISIL extremists who are stuck in camps in Syria’s northeast … and not forgetting a very welcome appearance from regular guests Solange Behoteguy-Cortes and Alpha Diallo.  

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

When Halina Wolloh was four, her grandfather hid her from the Nazi regime – behind a stack of textiles. 

When her father decided to move the family from the Warsaw Ghetto, she learned The Lord’s Prayer in Polish, in case her identity was questioned.

Having previously participated in a UN Holocaust remembrance event, Mrs. Wolloh sat down with Natalie Hutchison to detail her testimony in this edition of In Their Words: Surviving the Holocaust. Finding Hope about how, even in the darkest of times, expressions of humanity emerge.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

From India’s Maharashtra state, super educator Ranjitsinh Disale was awarded a $1 million Global Teacher Prize for his exceptional impact on the lives of hundreds of students, especially girls.  

Recognized for going above and beyond, he changed the way parents perceive education and innovated classrooms to engage students and spark their interests. This extraordinary teacher even had a hand in helping to call off underage marriages.  

Speaking to UN News’ Anshu Sharma, Mr. Disale began by telling what it means for him to have received this accolade.  

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

Some cancer patients are at higher risk from COVID-related illness or even death, but the World Health Organization’s (WHO) advice is clear: do not stay away from going to see your doctor if you need treatment or a professional diagnosis.

In an interview with Daniel Johnson, the UN health agency’s Dr André Ilbawi from WHO’s Department of Noncommunicable Diseases, explains how the coronavirus has had a “profound” impact on cancer care everywhere.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

JHGC Collection, Johannesburg

Now aged 94, Veronica Phillips asks herself why, and how, she survived the Holocaust whilst some six million other Jews did not. 
The appalling treatment she endured, designed to kill Jews and other groups systematically targeted under the Nazi regime, caused her to suffer eight miscarriages. 

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

The work of the UN and its partners never stops against human traffickers in West and Central Africa, who force people to risk their lives on dangerous journeys across the Sahara Desert and Mediterranean Sea. In this interview, UNHCR Special Envoy Vincent Cochetel tells UN News’s Daniel Johnson about the many ways the agency helps vulnerable people in the Sahel. 

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

Vered Kater knew from childhood that she would become a nurse. Not due to any special knowledge of the profession, but a desire to provide to others the type of intense care that delivered her from the Holocaust.

She speaks to Natalie Hutchison for this edition of In Their Words: Surviving the Holocaust. Finding hope from her home in Jerusalem, with a message of warning on discrimination that goes unchallenged.

This post was originally published on Radio Free.

India has embarked on one of the largest COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in the world, with more than 2,600 vaccinators and nearly half a million team members trained. 

That’s according to Dr. Roderico H. Ofrin, Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in India, which is one of the main UN agencies supporting the government-led drive. 

This post was originally published on Radio Free.