Awake at Night podcast

What does it take to be a United Nations worker in some of the world’s most difficult and dangerous locations?

How are UN humanitarians, human rights advocates, prosecutors, development experts, climate leaders and peacekeepers improving our world?
Stationed in all reaches of the world and witness to suffering and atrocities, how are they helping people and coping themselves?
To find out, Melissa Fleming meets them.

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Season Eleven

Yacoub stands in the middle of a highway. Many journalist microphones at his face and a group of people in the distance behind wearing red jackets

“[Serving refugees] is not a job, it's a mission, and there's always fire in the belly that keeps you wanting to do more, but also never giving up. This is the UNHCR I joined. ”

Yacoub El Hillo spent more than thirty years serving refugees and displaced people in some of the world’s worst conflict zones. But when cataclysmic war erupted in his hometown of Khartoum, Sudan, the Regional Director for Africa at the United Nations Development Coordination Office (DCO) had to help his own family flee the violence.

“I don't think there's any home in Khartoum that was spared … the assumption is that everything is gone.”

Having served in more than 16 duty stations, from Liberia to Syria, Somalia and Afghanistan, Yacoub El Hillo has rarely seen any conflict as devastating as the one currently decimating Sudan. In this episode, he reflects on the scale of the human suffering there, looks back on a rich and varied career with the UN, and shares why all nations deserve a chance to strive for a brighter future.

Yacoub El Hillo :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming
group photo of Georgette standing amid women and all are wearing the veil

“[W]e need to support their courage, their resilience, their need to survive...and their rights.”

With her background in human rights law, Georgette Gagnon was once said to represent the conscience of war. Currently serving as the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, she has been devastated by the sweeping loss of rights for women and girls there.

“You used to see across the country hundreds of girls going to school... Now, of course, you don't see that, and it's heartbreaking. It's such a huge loss for the entire society,” she says.

Afghanistan has one of the highest numbers of people in need of humanitarian support, and drastic cuts to humanitarian assistance affect access to critical care for millions. In this episode, Georgette Gagnon shares her hopes and fears for a country close to her heart, and reflects on a career serving in some of the world’s toughest places, from Syria to Sudan and Libya.

Georgette Gagnon :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming
standing next to an African man and making a fist bump

“Peace agreements don't last forever … peace itself doesn't last forever. Democracy is not something that can be taken for granted. These are all issues which require kind of constant engagement by people of good intent.”

As a young white activist in South Africa, Nicholas Haysom risked detention to oppose the apartheid regime, later working alongside Nelson Mandela. Now Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan and Head of the United Nations Mission there, he is still striving tirelessly in pursuit of peace and human rights.

“The lesson of [Nelson] Mandela is not just being a nice person, it's perseverance in your ideals. It'll change the world.”

After a long and varied career, Nicholas (Fink) Haysom is supporting recovery and resilience in South Sudan, the UN’s newest member state. In this episode, he reflects on helping the world’s youngest nation build a better future, on why thorny negotiations are always necessary to move on from any civil war, and on why lasting peace should never be taken for granted.

Nicholas Haysom :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming
Gonzalo sits on a couch next to a woman wearing a veil who is speaking to him and to another woman

“Something happened to me in those hours that we spent in that orphanage, because I remember that on the plane back ... I told my father...I don't want to be a writer for sure. Second, I don't want to be a translator or an interpreter. I want to do humanitarian work.”

Rather than follow in the footsteps of his late father, a Nobel-prize winning writer, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa opted instead to serve humanity. Now the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ Representative to Syria, he just witnessed a historic end to 14 years of conflict and crisis.

“There were these long, long lines of cars of Syrian refugees coming back from Lebanon. So many of them stopped the car the moment that they entered Syria, they got out of the car, they kissed the ground … saying we are so happy to be back in this new Syria.”

The fall of the Assad regime has brought fresh hope for millions of displaced Syrians. Yet with a lack of housing, services and jobs still preventing most from returning, the UN is calling for action to support returnees. In this episode, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa looks back on a career full of seismic turning points, and reflects on the painful sacrifices of a life spent in service.

Gonzalo Vargas Llosa :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming