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Podcast The Lid is On

UN News

Focus on the Future: Peace, out

The risk of the world’s major powers engaging in conflict  is at its highest level since the Cold War, and the possibility of nuclear war breaking out is greater today than it has been for several decades.

On the final episode of Focus on the Future, Conor Lennon and Ben Malor from UN News concentrate on international peace and security, and how the Pact for the Future could help to reduce tensions.

Audio
22'55"
UN News

Focus on the Future: Ascending the Summit

Crippling debt burdens are holding many African countries back: some  of them are paying more on repayments than on health, education and infrastructure.

On today’s show Conor Lennon is joined by Sachin Gaur from the UN News Hindi Unit, to cover the events focused on sustainable development and rethinking the entire international financial architecture. The big question is, how we can make it fairer?

Also, star wattage has been lighting up Headquarters. Edward Norton and Meryl Streep were among the artistic talents at HQ, advocating for the environment and Afghan women.

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24'40"
UN News/ Julia Foxen

The power of our choices: from war-torn childhood to Nobel Peace Prize nominee

A Ugandan man, some of whose family and friends were abducted in the East African country, tells the story of his journey from war-torn childhood to becoming the youngest ever African nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Victor Ochen grew up in northern Uganda at a time when the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA, was terrorising the region with violent abductions, forced child soldier recruitment, and widespread atrocities against civilians.

For 21 years the focus of his life was survival, struggling to find enough to eat in a variety of internal displacement camps.

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17'8"
UN OCHA Yemen

Giving voice to Yemen’s voiceless: Jamie McGoldrick reflects on two years in charge of the UN’s humanitarian effort

This year’s UN Response Plan for Yemen, describes the war-torn country as “the worst man-made humanitarian crisis” in the world, with more than 22 million people – around three-quarters of the total population – in need of help.

Over the past few years, it’s the voice of Humanitarian Coordinator Jamie McGoldrick, that has been drawing the world’s attention the most loudly, and the most often, to Yemen’s plight.

Audio
26'57"
UN News/Matt Wells

Podcast: UN “will save the world”: still passionate for peace at 90

He was one of the UN’s very first staff members, and 72 years on, Robert Kaminker is still advocating for peace and the power of the organization to ultimately “save the world”.

Although he retired in the early 1980s, his enthusiasm for explaining how the UN works and can help people everywhere lead better lives, never waned.

At 90, he is still hosting a weekly radio show in his native France, called “L’ONU vous concerne”, which translates as “The UN Matters”.

Audio
23'45"
UN News/Runa A.

Podcast: Japanese pioneer reflects on her first “business trip” to space

Astronaut Chiaki Mukai broke all the way through Earth’s stratosphere to become the first Japanese woman in space.

For this latest edition of our podcast series, The Lid Is On, she sat down with Dianne Penn at the recent High Level Forum on Space, held in Dubai and organized by the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) together with the United Arab Emirates Space Agency.

Audio
25'12"

Podcast: Peacekeeping and protection in South Sudan

Defending the vulnerable from attack is one of the important duties of a UN peacekeeper, but what do you do when you come across a secret safe that may contain weapons, hidden away in a camp designed to protect civilians?

That’s one of the real-life dilemmas facing a UN police patrol in this latest edition of our podcast series from UN News, The Lid Is On.

Audio
21'11"