Author: MIL-OSI Publisher

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Conversation on how Small Island Developing States can use the ocean to support food security, climate action and more.

This panel will explore how Small Island Developing States (SIDS) can use the ocean to support food security, climate action, disaster risk reduction, justice, and sustainable growth. Speakers will discuss key ways to scale up ocean-friendly solutions and help SIDS achieve SDG14. The session will also introduce UNDP’s new SIDS Strategy, aligned with the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda, and highlight the GEF-funded, UNDP-led Blue and Green Islands Programme.

Speakers:

Francine Pickup, UNDP Deputy Assistant Administrator, Deputy Director, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, and Head of UNDP Delegation for UNOC3

Tania Serafim Yvonne Romualdo, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Cabo Verde to the UN

Rebecca Fabrizi, UK SIDS Envoy

Fatumanava-o-Upolu III Pa’olelei Luteru, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Samoa to the UN

Moderator:
Kate Brown, Executive Director, Global Islands Partnerships (GLISPA)

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The UN Ocean Conference was from June 9-13 and focused on the transformation and solutions needed to accelerate action on the SDGs.

The Conference aimed to drive urgent action to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development. Ocean science, pollution, fishing, maritime transport, biodiversity, financing, and cooperation were among the issues to be tackled.

Organized by the UN Department of Global Communications, the SDG Media Zone takes the conversation out of the policy sphere and into the public discourse through impactful in-depth interviews and conversations on global issues that matter to people everywhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWasV0Nj6AA

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Conversation with Martin Stew, Science Correspondent, ITV News.

Antarctica is warming fast—three degrees hotter than in the 1950s—putting wildlife and the global climate at risk. It’s home to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, the only ocean current linking all major oceans. Record-low sea ice means this is the latest in winter a ship has reached Antarctica.

Scientists are studying melting glaciers, nutrient release, and underwater tsunamis caused by ice break-off. ITV News’ Science team joins the RRS David Attenborough for a month-long mission with exclusive access to British Antarctic Survey scientists.

What happens in Antarctica doesn’t stay in Antarctica—and what scientists uncover could shape our warming world’s future.

Speakers:
Martin Stew, Science Correspondent, ITV News

Moderator:
Rageh Omaar, News Anchor, ITV News
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The UN Ocean Conference was held from June 9-13, 2025, and focused on the transformation and solutions needed to accelerate action on the SDGs.

The Conference aimed to drive urgent action to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development. Ocean science, pollution, fishing, maritime transport, biodiversity, financing, and cooperation were among the issues tackled.

Organized by the UN Department of Global Communications, the SDG Media Zone takes the conversation out of the policy sphere and into the public discourse through impactful in-depth interviews and conversations on global issues that matter to people everywhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq1atoihvG0

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Women in jazz are reshaping the future of the music industry through leadership, education, and advocacy, while navigating and challenging long-standing gender barriers within the field. 

Convened during the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), the UN Office for Partnerships hosted a dedicated convening in collaboration with WBGO, a leading non-profit arts and cultural institution and jazz radio station, and JAZZ HOUSE KiDS, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and education organizations. The event featured a panel discussion and live performance, spotlighting the leadership of women in jazz as a creative force for cultural participation, artistic heritage and social change.

You can watch the full performance here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcT7G9RzEfA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqiWQwHgphg

Source: United Nations (video statements)

In its nearly 80-year history, the relevance of peacekeeping has been questioned repeatedly. In today’s complex conflict environment, UN peacekeeping is being asked to do more with less amid 25% cuts to its global personnel and finds itself at a crossroads. Should the international community find another solution to address challenges to peace? Hear from Lieutenant General Mohan Subramanian, former Force Commander of the UN Mission in South Sudan (2022–2026), who currently serves as the Director of the Office for Peacekeeping Strategic Partnership.

The ‘Invest In Peace’ video series features voices from across United Nations peace and security, highlighting how peacekeeping protects civilians and aids political solutions, and why sustained investment in peace is essential to building a safer future. Find out more: peacekeeping.un.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6vdEE-u9-s

Source: United Nations (video statements)

“The very ground I was walking on, the very place people were sleeping on at night,” the UN’s top humanitarian official said Friday, describing conditions inside overcrowded displacement shelters in Haiti as she warned the country is facing one of the most severe and rapidly deteriorating crises in the Western Hemisphere.

Edem Wosornu, Director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Crisis Response Division, said more than half the country’s population now in need of assistance and donors having funded just a fraction of last year’s appeal.

"We only received 27 percent of what we asked for last year," Wosornu said at a press briefing at UN headquarters in New York today (10 Apr), calling on the international community to meet an 880 million dollars appeal for 2026.
Wosornu said 6.4 million people – over half of Haiti’s population of roughly 11.9 to 12 million – are in need of humanitarian assistance, with 5.7 million acutely food insecure. The humanitarian community is seeking 880 million dollars to reach 4.2 million people, including a hyper-prioritized 680 million dollars plan targeting 3.3 million people.

She described Haiti as gripped by a deepening protection crisis driven by gang violence, mass displacement and widespread gender-based violence. Ninety percent of Port-au-Prince is under gang control, she said, leaving residents confined to the remaining ten percent of the city.

Wosornu also said 1.45 million people – 12 percent of the population – are currently displaced, with 2,800 people sheltering in a school built for 400 in the Labitrie neighbourhood. She said residents told her directly where she was standing was where they slept at night, describing terrible living conditions. “Vermin, roaches coming out, rashes on skin of children, people showing you things that they said, "In our homes we were fine, and here we are displaced" – the very ground I was walking on, the very place people were sleeping on at night,” Wosornu shared.
The Director also said 1,600 schools across the country remain closed due to insecurity, leaving 250,000 children without access to education – a figure she called "a big, huge deal" in a country where schooling is deeply valued.

On gender-based violence, she said 8,100 survivors were recorded last year, a 25 percent increase from the prior year, with half of reported cases involving rape and one in six survivors under the age of 18.

Wosornu concluded, “Humanitarian assistance alone cannot change the fate of the people of Haiti and the trajectory of Haiti. Political solutions – you know that – improved security, urgent, sustained investment in essential services can create solutions for the people. Haiti’s courage undeniable. Our support ever so necessary.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmnQrOGhq2A

Source: United Nations (video statements)

Edem Wosornu, Director at the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reports on a recent trip to Haiti, noting a deepening protection crisis marked by insecurity, relentless violence, mass displacement and shocking levels of gender-based violence.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oX-6mjqPFAI