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

Sep 23, 2025

Amina Mohammed, the UN Deputy Secretary-General and former Nigerian Minister for the Environment, shares her insights on global peace and development. She expresses concern over the devaluation of the term 'peace' and discusses the UN's challenges during its 80th General Assembly. Amina emphasizes the need for Security Council reforms to enhance accountability and African representation, while also highlighting the importance of persistent negotiation for progress. She reflects on the UN's successes and the urgency of addressing global crises through collaborative efforts.

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INSIGHT

Recommit To Peace At UNGA

Amina Mohammed urges leaders at the UNGA to recommit to peace and make it central, not a side story.
She calls for dialogue, ceasefires and investments in negotiated outcomes to protect suffering populations.

INSIGHT

Peace Losing Its Value

Mohammed warns the world spends 'trillions on war and peanuts on peace' and peace is losing its value.
She urges leaders to reflect personally and listen to citizens demanding accountability.

INSIGHT

Member States Drive UN Effectiveness

Mohammed says the UN's paralysis often stems from member-state leadership failures, not just the secretariat.
She highlights that the veto and Security Council paralysis are now subject to public scrutiny by the General Assembly.

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‘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)