‘Peace seems to be a word, a five-letter word, that is losing its value.’

Waihiga Mwaura speaks to Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General, in a broad-ranging interview about the the UN at 80, and the state of the world today. The UN is currently hosting its annual General Assembly at its headquarters in New York. Leaders, senior politicians and diplomats from all over the world are meeting there to discuss and resolve a variety of the planet’s most pressing issues.

This is the General Assembly’s 80th such gathering since the United Nations was formed. This year’s theme is ‘Better together’, and sees a renewed urgency on delivering the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: 17 interconnected global goals, first adopted by all UN member states in 2015, covering areas including ending poverty, improving health and education, and tackling climate change.

Before becoming the UN’s 5th Deputy Secretary-General, a role Ms. Mohammed took up in 2017, the Nigerian-British diplomat and politician previously served as Nigeria’s Minister for the Environment.

In this interview, she also reflects on the ‘price’ of war and how it diverts vital global attention and resources away from international development, as well as discussing the need for the UN’s Security Council to be more accountable amid growing calls to increase its size to include more member states.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Waihiga Mwaura Producers: Ben Cooper, Priscilla Ng’ethe and Lucy Sheppard Editor: Justine Lang

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(Image: Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General Credit: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General: peace as a word losing its value

The Interview