“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

“What we're seeing is the desperation out there in the hospitals [...] At the same time [...] a group of young doctors have set up centres where they run oxygen therapy [...] hotels have been converted into oxygen wards for people who need that to be able to breathe properly.”

Yasmin Ali Haque has worked for UNICEF for almost 25 years and is now the UNICEF Representative in India. She describes the current situation there: COVID is bringing communities together, but it is also driving some of the world’s poorest families back to negative coping mechanisms such as a returning rise in child marriage.

“I think it's really about how do we all together ride this wave? Because already there's been talk about India being hit by a third wave. We're not even over the second wave yet. ”

Yasmin also worked in Sri Lanka when the devastating tsunami hit in 2004. She shares her memories of that event and of growing up in a repartition camp in Bangladesh during the Indo-Pakistan war in the 1970s.

:: Yasmin Ali Haque interviewed by Melissa Fleming

“I returned from Bangladesh...and sent all of my dresses for dry cleaning. I have not worn these dresses again. I can't wear them. There's too much pain...because I came out and I was wet with all the women crying. I like to open the wardrobe and remind myself of the survivors at all times. They are my moral compass and I have to keep fighting for them. This is what keeps me going.”

Pramila Patten, the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, is working tirelessly to advocate on behalf of the victims for accountability and justice.

"When you talk to Yazidi women, they tell you they want justice and reparations, in addition to support services [...] Whether it is Iraq [...] Nigeria [...] Somalia or Sudan [...] And for me, that is very frustrating that so far, for example, where sexual violence is used as a tactic of terrorism, no single person belonging to Boko Haram or ISIS has been prosecuted for sexual violence. They are getting prosecuted under the counter terrorism legislation, but not for sexual violence."

:: Pramila Patten interviewed by Melissa Fleming

“[There are] two iconic images of the 20th century: Diana walking through the minefield in body armour and then with a little girl who lost a leg to a mine. I was proud to...highlight the incredible work that's been done by deminers around the world by hosting that visit.”

Paul Heslop is the Head of the UN Mine Action Team in Afghanistan and has been clearing mines in conflict zones for nearly 30 years. He shares the remarkable progress deminers have made in removing explosive devices across the globe with Mozambique (his first post back in ‘94) declaring itself mine-free 2 years ago. Paul also recounts his time as a field officer for the Halo Trust when Princess Diana came to visit a minefield in Angola where he was working back in 1997. He recalls that epochal moment and how his quick thinking led to the non-profit gaining huge worldwide exposure through the iconic photographs of the trip.

:: Paul Heslop interviewed by Melissa Fleming

"And then they shipped me over to Buchanan, which was completely rebel controlled areas. No government, no army over there. And we were, we were actually guarded by child soldiers."

Aboubacar Kampo is UNICEF’s Director of Health Programmes but he has also worked as a physician and surgeon in some of the world’s most complex emergency zones: Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan... In one instance, at a time when he was working in the ER wards of Chad, the government was forced to share beds between the rebel forces.

"Initially, we thought we could separate them between the different rooms. But then we also had females in one of the rooms... we can't kick them out just because of them. So they had to share beds, then you realise, you know, most of them, they actually know each other! You can see them talking among themselves."

:: Aboubacar Kampo interviewed by Melissa Fleming

"She was held at gunpoint and taken away and we were told that unless a certain amount of money was going to be paid or a certain number of jobs were going to be allocated, they were going to shoot her."

David Shearer is UN Secretary General's Special Representative for South Sudan and head of UNMISS. He's also served in other crisis areas. David shares his career stories from the nerve-wracking negotiations to release his wife from gunpoint in Somalia, to his incredible work entering behind Sri Lankan government lines to deliver exam papers to its schools.

On COVID in South Sudan he said "if you take the experience of Ebola in West Africa a few years ago, Ebola killed about 11,000 people in West Africa. But [...] what they found was that far more people died of other diseases: malaria, diarrhoea, tuberculosis, whatever, because they weren't being treated in the health centres [...] so the invisible death rate was way higher than the very visible death rate from Ebola. So one of the things that we were determined to do here was to make sure that the health centres continue to function."

:: David Shearer interviewed by Melissa Fleming