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Awake at Night podcast

What does it take to be a United Nations worker in some of the world¡¯s most difficult and dangerous locations?

How are UN humanitarians, human rights advocates, prosecutors, development experts, climate leaders and peacekeepers improving our world?
Stationed in all reaches of the world and witness to suffering and atrocities, how are they helping people and coping themselves?
To find out, Melissa Fleming meets them.

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Nicholas Haysom, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan and Head of the United Nations Mission there (UNMISS)

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Season Eleven

standing next to an African man and making a fist bump

¡°Peace agreements don't last forever ¡­ peace itself doesn't last forever. Democracy is not something that can be taken for granted. These are all issues which require kind of constant engagement by people of good intent.¡±

As a young white activist in South Africa, Nicholas Haysom risked detention to oppose the apartheid regime, later working alongside Nelson Mandela. Now Special Representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan and Head of the United Nations Mission there, he is still striving tirelessly in pursuit of peace and human rights.

¡°The lesson of [Nelson] Mandela is not just being a nice person, it's perseverance in your ideals. It'll change the world.¡±

After a long and varied career, Nicholas (Fink) Haysom is supporting recovery and resilience in South Sudan, the UN¡¯s newest member state. In this episode, he reflects on helping the world¡¯s youngest nation build a better future, on why thorny negotiations are always necessary to move on from any civil war, and on why lasting peace should never be taken for granted.

Nicholas Haysom :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming
Gonzalo sits on a couch next to a woman wearing a veil who is speaking to him and to another woman

¡°Something happened to me in those hours that we spent in that orphanage, because I remember that on the plane back ... I told my father...I don't want to be a writer for sure. Second, I don't want to be a translator or an interpreter. I want to do humanitarian work.¡±

Rather than follow in the footsteps of his late father, a Nobel-prize winning writer, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa opted instead to serve humanity. Now the UN High Commissioner for Refugees¡¯ Representative to Syria, he just witnessed a historic end to 14 years of conflict and crisis.

¡°There were these long, long lines of cars of Syrian refugees coming back from Lebanon. So many of them stopped the car the moment that they entered Syria, they got out of the car, they kissed the ground ¡­ saying we are so happy to be back in this new Syria.¡±

The fall of the Assad regime has brought fresh hope for millions of displaced Syrians. Yet with a lack of housing, services and jobs still preventing most from returning, the UN is calling for action to support returnees. In this episode, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa looks back on a career full of seismic turning points, and reflects on the painful sacrifices of a life spent in service.

Gonzalo Vargas Llosa :: interviewed by Melissa Fleming