“Now as a father with two girls, I just can't imagine the anguish that my mother went through … I wonder how many sleepless nights she had.”

Alfred Orono’s childhood came to an abrupt end when he was recruited as a soldier in Uganda, when he was just 11 years old. Now Chief of Child Protection at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), he draws on his own experience as a child soldier to help young people find a peaceful way forward.

“I work with children who, when I look at them, I know exactly what's going on in their minds. I know how they feel. And I'm part of the solution to their problems.”

Every year, thousands of children are recruited by warring parties around the world. Yet their troubles rarely end after the conflict is over. Having suffered violence, abuse, and exploitation, many struggle to rebuild their lives. In this episode of Awake at Night, Alfred Orono reflects on his own experience, the hope it gives to former child soldiers, and on living life without regrets.

“I got such a feeling of outrage, healthy outrage, proactive outrage, which I still feel now.”

Staffan de Mistura has dedicated his life to making a difference. Now the Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Western Sahara, he spent a large part of his 48-year career at the UN striving for an end to some of the most intractable conflicts of modern times.  

“I have no regrets. I would have never chosen another type of job. I think you can [make a difference] even in the worst-case scenario - always.”

From Syria and Afghanistan to Sudan and Iraq, the seasoned diplomat is known for bringing creative thinking to the negotiating table even when others have lost hope. In this episode of Awake at Night with Melissa Fleming, Staffan de Mistura reflects on harnessing constructive outrage as a driving force, on his determination in the face of despair, and why at 75, he isn’t ready to retire just yet.

How is the life of a young child in Kenya interlinked with the life of a Swedish man who'd lost his son in a road accident? And also linked to the life of a woman who had lost her parents in the Holocaust, though she herself survived? In this episode of Awake at Night, we hear from Chris Mburu, UN Resident Coordinator in the Republic of Congo, as he reflects on his path out of poverty, the transformational power of development, and the ripple effect of small acts of kindness.

From a barefoot child barely affording school, to a young graduate of Harvard Law, Chris, now a human rights lawyer, did not forget the act of kindness that set him on his path. He is working on giving back.

Chris Mburu speaks about the story of his life, the role that key figures such as his mother, Hilde Back and Sven Magnusson played in his journey, and the surprising revelation that Hollywood uncovered for him by way of the 2010 acclaimed Emmy-winning documentary "A Small Act".

The world leaders who congregated in Sharm El Sheik for the first two days of COP27 have left and, whilst the climate negotiators get to work, the thematic days of the conference have begun. Wednesday was finance day, with a host of side events around the pavilions discussing the often thorny issues surrounding climate finance. It was also the day that former US Vice-President Al Gore launched a project to provide accurate, granular emissions date, and revealed that, in many cases, emissions are much higher than previously reported. Conor Lennon and Laura cover all this and more, on today’s COP27 podcast.

Nearly four decades on from the adoption of the UN Convention against Torture, there is evidence that it is still taking place in all regions of the world, even though it’s a recognized international crime. On this week’s episode of The Lid Is On, two independent human rights experts speak about their attempts to convince countries to end the practice. They explain that, in some countries and regions, torture is still seen thought to be a useful or acceptable part of interrogations, even though it has been shown to be ineffective.

Most people are familiar with the phenomenon of refugees, those forced to flee their country of origin, because of fear of persecution or because of armed conflict or natural disaster. Internally displaced persons don’t cross international boundaries but find it necessary to relocate to a different region of their country. On today’s episode of The Lid Is On, Conor Lennon met with Cecilia Jimenez-Damary – the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons – on the link between conflict and the climate crisis, which is increasingly causing people to search for safety.

Research by the ILO and the WHO has found that billions of working days – and billions of dollars – are lost every year because of work-related mental health issues. What are the psychosocial risks associated with modern workplaces, and can we make mentally healthy workplaces the new norm? In this episode of the Future of Work Podcast, Susanna Harkonen, WHO’s Pan-European working group on workplace mental health, and Nina Hedegaard Nielsen, occupational health and safety at The Danish Confederation of Professional Associations, explore how we can improve psychosocial health and safety at work.

In this episode of The Lid Is On, Jennifer Bramlette from the UN Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED), and Adam Hadley from Tech Against Terrorism, a public-private partnership, join Conor Lennon to talk about the pervasive threat posed by the use of online technology by terror groups, and how Governments can fight back.

For the next 5 episodes of Technology for Good, ITU is focusing on technological challenges and opportunities through the eyes of some incredible and inspirational women in tech, in the run up to and during the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, or PP-22. This major event will gather policymakers from ITU’s 193 member states to take decisions that will shape the future of technology, making it greener, more gender and youth inclusive and more accessible to everyone on our planet.

Sometimes, we might unintentionally trigger a harmful narrative on migration. In this episode of the UN Human Rights podcast, #StandUp4HumanRights, we focus on how migration is not one-dimensional and why telling individual stories of migration, which reflect all dimensions of people, can help avoid perpetuating harmful narratives.

Meet Musician Austin Zhang who uses the power of music, harmonizing his saxophone jazz melodies with a recording of his mother’s own story of migration, to accentuate the emotions of her story.

“I had to share my mother's story and just to give people that perspective of that side of life and how real it is for many people to this day,” he said. “It was very important to me and also just the gratitude that I have for her and her journey.”

While consumers' expectations of where prices are going are something that economists have been tracking for a long time, understanding how those expectations are formed provides valuable insight toward controlling inflation. New research by economists Carlo Pizzinelli (IMF), Peter Andre (Briq Institute), Christopher Roth (University of Cologne), and Johannes Wohlfart (University of Copenhagen) shows a surprising divide between what experts think and consumers believe drives inflation and other economic trends. Carlo Pizzinelli is the author of an article in the latest Finance and Development based on the study. In this IMF podcast, Pizzinelli sits down with Journalist Rhoda Metcalfe to discuss how the collective consumer mind influences economic policy. Transcript

Carlo Pizzinelli is an economist in the IMF Research Department.

On September 7, the UN marked the third International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies. However, the skies are far from clear of air pollution. Only a month ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that practically all the air we breathe is polluted, and that it’s killing around seven million people every year.

Conor Lennon from UN News spoke to Martina Otto and Nathan Borgford-Parnell from the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, which is hosted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). They discussed the evolving science surrounding the issue, the extent to which air pollution is improving – if at all – and why international collaboration is essential, if the number of annual deaths is to be addressed.

Music: Ketsa, Within the Earth
Audio Credit: UN News/ Conor Lennon
Photo Credit: Unsplash/Malcolm Lightbody

More than 40.3 million people are still in modern slavery, including 24.9 million in forced labour. It means 5.4 victims of modern slavery for every 1,000 people in the world. 1 in 4 victims of modern slavery are children.

That social injustice is at the heart of Wagner Moura’s commitment and activism to put an end to forced labour and child labour. The award-winning actor and ILO Goodwill Ambassador (50 for Freedom campaign) grew up in a very poor area in the northeast of Brazil. He saw first-hand the negative impacts of forced labour on a family, a community, a country.

“I think that education is the foundation for any sort of social change in the world,” Wagner Moura said.

Today he continues to put his time and energy to urge governments to enact and enforce legislation, protect their population, and end slavery in our lifetime.

Where does his passion for fighting slavery come from? Find out in this episode of ILO's The Future of Work Podcast.

“I found it fascinating as a leader […] to be in an environment of collective fear […] people naturally go to a place of great horror […] yet you're trying to buffer it yourself, because you've got to function […] The second point is the ego of leadership […] you've got to be very careful that you're not letting the ego [... drive] you past the point of really solid judgement and solid reflection.”

Deborah Lyons knows how to keep a cool head in a crisis. In August 2021, when the Taliban seized power, in her former role as Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Deborah was responsible for ensuring the safety of staff across the country, among them many women. Since returning to power, the Taliban have severely curtailed women’s rights. Millions of women and girls are now excluded from work and school, contrary to initial assurances from Afghanistan’s new leaders. In this episode, Deborah Lyons reflects on the tragedy facing Afghan women, the trauma of the Taliban takeover, and what it takes to lead in turbulent times.

"We were surrounded by the Islamic State. And we had no weapons even to fight. We had nothing. We were left alone." Adiba Qasim has shown extraordinary courage and resilience. She narrowly escaped when her village was stormed by Islamic State militants who killed and enslaved thousands of Yazidis. This is her story.

Returning to northern Iraq in 2015, Adiba threw herself into humanitarian work, aiding survivors who had been enslaved by the militants. In this special bitesize episode she reflects on the horrors she witnessed, on battling survivors’ guilt, and on her motivation to help others.