“I've seen horrible things. I've seen massacres. Human suffering. These are not easy sights to see. The best way I found to deal with that is just to be determined to fix it in some fashion.”

UN Humanitarian Coordinator and Resident Coordinator for Yemen David Gressly has seen some of the worst of man's inhumanity to man during a career of more than 40 years in peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance and development. In this episode, he talks with podcast host Melissa Fleming about what has driven him to devote his life to helping the most vulnerable in some of the most fragile places on earth.

With more than 20 million people in need of assistance and a seven-year ongoing war, Yemen is among the world's worst humanitarian crises. But it’s not just conflict that threatens the Yemeni people. As David explains, every three days someone is injured or even killed by landmines or unexploded ordnance. During this eye-opening conversation, David shares his concerns about the dire situation in Yemen and the likelihood of being able to sustain the humanitarian response in the year ahead. 

:: David Gressly interviewed by Melissa Fleming

"We're talking about children sometimes, about babies… We're talking about women at very vulnerable ages. We're also talking about men that desperately seek employment and find their hands into criminal gangs that would exploit them for sexual purposes to any other purposes."

Ilias Chatzis heads the team fighting human trafficking and migrant smuggling at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. In this episode, he joins podcast host Melissa Fleming to talk about how a man who grew up on a Greek island came to have a burning sense of justice and a crime-fighting career of more than 25 years.

In this conversation, Ilias describes how reports about online abuse of children and sexual predation of women have surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and how criminals are always adapting to new technologies to exploit their victims.

:: Ilias Chatzis interviewed by Melissa Fleming

"We took around seven children back to the UNICEF compound here in Kabul… there was a little boy called Mudares [... Mudares] said 'when I go up high, I feel I can reach the stars and I want one from my mother.' It was a reminder for us all just to keep going for the children of Afghanistan -- because if Mudares can look to the stars, we can all look to the stars and do better.” 

Sam Mort, UNICEF’s Chief of Communications in Afghanistan, speaks to Melissa from Kabul shortly after the Taliban’s takeover. Sam, along with other UN colleagues, has remained in Afghanistan to help the country’s people as they face a worsening humanitarian situation. She tells stirring stories of loss, reunification and reaching to the stars for hope.

“I see a bravery in Afghanistan's girls and women that I haven't seen anywhere else, because the fears and the threats are real and they acknowledge it. And they move forward,” she says. 

:: Sam Mort interviewed by Melissa Fleming

"We know that whenever you have these sort of atrocity crimes that happened here [Bosnia and Herzegovina], they're often preceded by hate."

Ingrid Macdonald is the UN Resident Coordinator in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is tasked with spearheading the UN’s efforts to support development in a country still deeply scarred by ethnic divisions and the legacy of war and the 1995 genocide at Srebrenica. Ingrid, who was raised in a small New Zealand mining town, has a long record of working in humanitarian, development and human rights jobs around the world.

Since relocating to Sarajevo in early 2020, just as COVID-19 was taking hold across the world, Ingrid has been focused on finding ways to bring divided communities together as well as tackle hate speech and genocide denial, just 26 years after Bosnian Serb forces massacred 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica. In this episode, she talks about the challenges she faced in many of her roles and her vivid memories of trying to advocate for the vulnerable, including her time helping women in Afghanistan.

:: Ingrid Macdonald interviewed by Melissa Fleming

“When I could no longer pursue the dream of being an artist because my hands became too weak to hold a pencil, I needed [...] a new dream [...] that is, in itself, a gift to be able to [...] change direction and ask yourself, what else? That I still have my spirit. I still have my mind and I still have a deep desire and yearning for an extraordinary life. And I still want to be of service to humanity and the world.” 

Eddie Ndopu is an award-winning disability activist from South Africa and one of 17 UN advocates for the SDGs. Diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy and given only 5 years to live, he is now 30 and has dedicated his life to ensure that the voices of those at greatest risk of being left behind are being amplified and heard worldwide. 

Eddie recounts his difficult daily challenges, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how his mother sacrificed so much to make his life possible. He talks about his big dream: to be the first physically disabled person in outer space and to address the UN from there. 

:: Eddie Ndopu interviewed by Melissa Fleming

“The women and the girls of Afghanistan have earned the right to be heard, to take their place in society openly, as they have done behind the scenes for decades, if not centuries." Nada Al-Nashif, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, has been serving the UN for almost 30 years.

Nada experienced one of the darkest days in the UN’s history. On 19 August 2003, a truck packed with a tonne of explosives blew up the UN’s headquarters in Baghdad, killing 22 colleagues, including the UN’s Special Representative for Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello.

“It's hard to accept but you need to because you cannot keep asking ‘Why was I there? Why me? Why not me?’” she says. Nada explains how her own injuries act as a constant reminder of human vulnerability and the blessing of having survived to tell the story. 

:: Nada Al-Nashif interviewed by Melissa Fleming

“Going to space will become like taking a plane today; working in space, living in space, having a one-week holiday in space.”

Simonetta Di Pippo is the Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs. Trained as an Astrophysicist in her native Italy, Di Pippo was the first female director of the European Space Agency. Since then, her work has been integral in using space for our common wellbeing here on Earth - from monitoring soil and water through meteorological data so farmers can grow healthier crops to tracking climate change using satellites. Simonetta shares her passion for space being preserved as a global common benefiting all humanity and on the importance of ensuring peace in outer space.

:: Simonetta Di Pippo interviewed by Melissa Fleming

"If anything works for women, in any country, it is most likely to work for most people. If you want to address the majority of the people who really need you, target women."

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is the Executive Director of UN Women. Phumzile shares anecdotes about her friendship with Mandela and describes the formative issues behind her leadership of women’s rights and drive for investment in gender equality that culminate in the Generation Equality Forum. These insights inform the combination of innovative alliances across generations, feminist and youth movements, civil society, philanthropy, governments and the private sector that promise accelerated change for the women and girls who need it most.

"I mean, I always say I remember, as a young person, I used to have a T-shirt, which said, ‘victory or death.’ And I think about it now I'm like, ‘What was I thinking?’ "

:: Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka interviewed by Melissa Fleming

"I understand the people I speak to in my current job, because I've been in their shoes: I've been arbitrarily detained. I've experienced enforced disappearance.”

Michelle Bachelet was the first female President of Chile for the Socialist Party of Chile (2006–10; 2014–18). She is now the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Michelle shares the harrowing stories of how she and her mother were taken to a clandestine detention centre; her exile in Australia and East Germany; her motivations to study medicine and return to Chile and why, despite everything, she remains a prisoner of hope.

"We may not be all responsible for the past, but we are responsible for the future."

:: Michelle Bachelet interviewed by Melissa Fleming

"I could have gone on a Kindertransport to London, where the British were ready to receive 10,000 Jewish children. But I'm the only child, [and my mother is a] widow. She said, ‘No, we’re going to stick together’. So it was a matter of trying to find ways to get out of hell. [...] And strangely enough, at that time in 1938, Hitler just wanted the Jews out. But there was no place to go. At the Évian conference, we heard many, many nations saying, ‘We cannot afford to take in so many refugees’"

Rabbi Arthur Schneier is a Holocaust survivor and a human rights activist. He shares harrowing memories of his childhood. Many of his family members were murdered. Yet, through his daily life, his diplomatic work, and his Appeal of Conscience Foundation, Rabbi Arthur Schneier is working hard to make the world a better, more tolerant place. He has dedicated a lifetime to promoting peace, reconciliation, and inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue. He fights for remembrance but also for religious freedom and human rights.

UN Secretary General António Guterres has called him "an inspiration for the world and for the United Nations."

:: Rabbi Arthur Schneier interviewed by Melissa Fleming