many of the young people are under the for grip of power but the truth is new children should be encouraged to take to the streets this kind of bones those who don't like the child to be such that that's just not something for the social services to consider in relation to this and even when we think about the sinister forces that are behind some of these young people taken to the streets on the element of their plan that could be considered child abuse also stephen and others like him have an uphill battle on that says andrew simmons al jazeera of just. plain stories now iran is saying the electrical blackout at a nuclear facility was a terrorist act the government earlier said the incident at the natanz facility was a problem with the electrical grid feeding at the site feeding the site power's out across workshops and underground enrichment also the incident came

a day after the country announced advanced new equipment and head of further talks about possibly reviving the 2050 nuclear deal iran is now edging need to national tolmach energy agency or i.a.e.a. to take action as a bag is intact ron. this seems to be an admission from iran that this was some sort of attack and the head of iran's atomic organization has come out and said that this act was carried out by those that oppose iran's progress in the nuclear industry and it was shows a failure of those that oppose iran's negotiations to have those sanctions lifted he said that iran condemns the act and he urged the international community and the international atomic energy agency to confront what he called nuclear terrorism you also said iran reserves the right to act against those that carried out this act and those that ordered it. in our headlines the number of corona virus infections in india has hit a new record high for the 6th day in a row 152000 new cases and 839 deaths were reported on sunday the high single day

death toll in 5 months in several states are now warning of vaccine shortages in the coming days but india's health ministers accuse state governments of fear mongering voters in kyrgyzstan of granted the president's sweeping new powers in a referendum it's something new president side there has been pushing for changes ghonim the power to appoint judges but it also shrinks the country's parliament while allowing the president to run again and ukraine is saying one of its soldiers has been killed and another seriously wounded in shelling from russian backed separatists in the east of the country this is the latest incident and rising tensions along the russia ukraine border with verbal threats this week from both nations those that lines this hour they'll be more news later on talk to his era is next.

and. you see. she's been recognized as one of the world's greatest female leaders united nations deputy secretary general i mean i'm hommage has risen from humble beginnings in nigeria to become the un's most powerful woman. for more than 30 years she's worked hard to shine a light on the developmental challenges facing our world particularly women and girls prior to joining the un i mean a mohammad served under 3 nigerian presidents as an advisor and minister of the environment as deputy secretary general she's been instrumental in setting and

promoting the implementation of the un's ambitious sustainable development goals i mean a mohammed has been a strong voice for women's rights at a time when there are concerns that. could wipe out decades of progress made towards gender equality in areas like employment education physical and mental health. the global health crisis has led to an increase in gender based violence from the u.k. to the u.s. australia and kenya violence against women is on the rise in nearly every country and has been made worse by knock down restrictions and the covert 1000 vaccination campaigns are once again highlighting global inequalities and the profound disparities in wealth health and education between rich and poor countries. so what can be done to build

a fair and safe world for women after the strike on any justices of the pandemic the deputy secretary general of the united nations i mean i'm humming it talks to al-jazeera. i mean i'm mohammed deputy secretary general of the united nations thank you for talking to al jazeera thank you so much for having me i mean i'm mohammad what is the greatest challenge of being a woman in today's world. living up to the high expectations of leadership and delivering on what is important for the other half of humanity that has so far been ignored in the past decades so yes it's living it's living the reality of expectations and trying to make sure that we deliver so what we heard there was from the deputy secretary general of the united nations now we want to hear from ameena mohammad who grew up with 4 sisters has 4 daughters

a granddaughter what do you teach them about the world we live in as women well 1st of all the opportunity but those opportunities will not come easily because they're not in a position where their rights and equality is a norm and that's what we're fighting for but i also teach them the value of them as human beings 1st and then as women and partners of men and boys and society and really the values that we hold strong in our communities in our societies that give women a high place in life i actually also teach my sons the same thing i know how to how to value their mothers their sisters their friends that are women and girls so what is it like for you tell us about your experience what is it like for you as a woman. a muslim woman of color navigating the holds of the united nations

the world's most powerful international body it has to be a bit difficult it is tough but i think 1st things 1st i'm extremely proud to be a woman of color but as a muslim i think that's the 1st thing is to be comfortable in your own skin and to to project that so that the rest of the millions of women in fact millions of women that are not in that position see you as a sign of possibilities of opportunities of hope and so every day that's what i strive to do is to keep the positive side going that there is hope that there is a struggle that we can fight this we can we can overcome the many obstacles whether it is gender based violence sitting in a leadership position and once you claim that space to keep the space education health all of the issues that you know the day to day the so when you say it's tough what do you mean how tough is it being the most powerful woman at the united

nations. well it i think on a day to day basis it is the decisions that you need to take to gain the respect of the position of leadership that you have been given in the case of the united nations i'm fortunate with the secretary general because here's our feminist in chief but it is about opening spaces for other women and not to be seen as token and that because i'm a woman i'm only speaking about women at the table no i'm speaking about the side of the table that is empty and the women have to be there so i am struggling with cultural and behavioral norms that you have to overcome for people to see the value of women's leadership capacities expertise just as any other man that has have the same opportunity deputy secretary general many of the issues affecting and holding back women existed before covert 19 like. endemic violence which is causing

a wave of anger around the world to date recently very recently in fact turkey withdrew from the east stumble convention the international treaty to combat violence against women perhaps under pressure from conservatives who argue the convention harms traditional family values and advocates for community so what is your reaction 1st and is your organization the united nations the only global agency doing enough when in 2021 countries are abandoning international cords designed to protect women. but i think these 2 questions 1st it was regrettable the decision of turkey to withdraw from the istanbul convention that does not stop us reaching out to try to encourage them to come back in again because temple complexion is an important instrument that brings the world together so no matter what a country is doing internally to protect women and ensure that they don't suffer

and live in fear of violence the international community coming together acts more pressure to get it right for everyone and if turkey is succeeding in protecting its women and reducing violence against something to point to 0 then they are an integral part of the success story and so but part numbers of all the numbers. the numbers i mean i'm ahmed's don't really show that that is the case i mean according to the world health organization at least 38 percent of women in turkey subject to domestic violence activists say cases could be far higher as time is size in turkey often find a suicide so who is to blame a judiciary says i don't know about you so. all the more reason why turkey should be in the convention because this is only going to get them to the or if you're part of a collective that can do that and so we really do. have the government of turkey to come back into the convention and i. i believe the secretary general and your mom

has spoken to it the other question you asked are we doing enough absolutely i think that we could do more but we are all in the various conventions the tools the country level work that we do the programming for many of the many of the programs that we put in place for instance we do have the spotlight initiative with the european union across many regions that goes from femicide to gender based violence to early marriage so these are issues that we are dealing with on a day to day basis is it happening fast or not at the scale that it needs to happen absolutely not we need to do so much more which is why international women's day was so important to us this year and underscoring the importance of it and and c.s.w. i think you agree with me when when when i say that tackling violence against women and girls is very much about changing mindsets and shifting the underlying social and cultural norms that perpetuate violence against women so how do we do that i

mean how do we change mindsets while also considering important issues like culture and religion and traditions as well you know fully as a survivor of gender based violence let me tell you it's not government that is going to stop a woman being in that position it is about the cultural norms and the social norms so it is about each of us individually saying no and 0 tolerance it is about our religious leaders our tradition our traditional rulers our mothers it is a community in a society effort to do that it is young people who decide that they don't want a life where there is you know violence and fear in their community but that's not to say that we don't have to have the enabling environment that when that happens there should be implications for it so for instance for me a lot that is put in place when a man perpetuates violence in his home it is not the woman that goes to look for. sanctity to somewhere else it is about the man being removed from the home until he

can best come back into that home and that community and not you know not not have a woman living in fear of it so there are many parts there is the lord's that have to happen there is the cultural so it is an all of society all of government what i do believe now needs to happen is every government needs to put it in place an emergency response to gender based violence in their countries i mean a mohammed you talked about yourself being a survivor of gender based violence violence and black women and other minority women are not only at greater risk but are also more likely to be sidelined and ignored when they report via violence and there's this argument being made of whether you can disentangle racism and misao jimmy what are your thoughts on well i mean the good news is that things like apartheid a racism is alive and kicking and we have seen protests across the world that have demonstrated that and we do need to make to make sure that we bring an end to it it

is complex it is not it is not a a one size fits all it happens it happens and manifests itself differently in different circumstances and so we have to be proactively anti-racist right but why has it been so difficult to think why has it been so difficult to strengthen this global anti-racism discourse and what can global institutions like the united nations do better in this trying to change this. well i think the 1st thing that we international institutions have to do is walk the talk in what they do internally they must have policies and they must actually demonstrate that these processes and the way that we live we don't tolerate it we reject it because it actually is you know for us it's not part of our core values now in doing that when we get into countries then we have to work with those countries to identify what some of those root causes are way the blind spots are there are many i mean unconscious bias is

everywhere and to deal with them to deal with the behavior to deal with the culture to deal to deal with nations who you know implicitly have this and the way in which they do business is racism an issue within the united nations system i think like with every institution it is and we are addressing that now with a process that is being put together from our country offices all the way through our agencies and the secretary it it is over a year into that process we have of course had feedback where it is where it is happening where it is unacceptable and where we are putting in the checks and balances to make sure that we change the culture and that we make sure people are protected and don't go through what we stand against let's let's come back to the issue of women and the coronavirus pandemic many gains the united nations has said many gains have been made around women's rights in the past few decades but the pandemic could now wipe out those gains 25 years of progress towards gender

equality this is certainly very concerning what are going to be the long term effects of the pandemic on women and their wellbeing and what should be the most urgent issue that we need to address now one in 2015 fully we put in the sustainable development goals the 2030 agenda and women were central part of this in every goal not just go 5 that we have and that's the measures that we use when we see the. covert exacerbating our progress towards yesterday's it has put women out of work it is the burden of the front line workers it is excluding them from education as education was locked down and very few could get online it gender based violence in which we saw in some cases 3 times hold so what do we do about that i think we have to underpin 5 key areas that we must in reinforce through the stimulus packages that are being supported and where they're not calling for

financing for that to have targeted expenditures on equal rights on representation on economic inclusion informal to form on gender based violence and of course i think a real focus on what are we going to do now to leapfrog the opportunities that covert brings about intergenerational transition and paying more attention to young people especially young women you talked about the s.t.g. stare and i wonder whether the un is failing in achieving some of these s. t. g.'s especially those around women's health and their sexual and reproductive rights because of the politicization of women's health when we talk about reproductive rights for example it's discussed in terms of morality very often some countries have made inroads and others haven't so how do you as the highest ranking woman at the united nations deal with the politicization of women's issues especially when it comes to things like a health i think you have to break it down to basic rights i mean the politics

should have no place in the rights that women have around their body and the choices that they make and i think we have to begin to push back and to simplify this basic task which is a basic human right and happens to be a woman's right i think once you start to fail on those rights you fail on all of them and it is great to see u.s. leadership with come on harris was talking about democracy and the risks to democracy and its. stepping back and how critical women are going to be at the center of that so every day it is about reinforcing those rights that we have around sexual reproductive and health and what that means in where the gaps are that we need to fill and this needs to be across the aisle issues this is not an issue for one party or another for want opposition or another it is about women it is about their rights over their bodies and the choices that they make and it is

a fight at the end of the at the end of the day it's about our humanity you mention the sustainable development goals of course you have been the polar bear i really have been a the figurehead really promoting the sustainable development goals and lists 17 goals lofty goals including eliminating poverty hunger ensuring eco equitable quality education gender equality climate action of course and they came with a huge price tag $2.00 to $33000000.00 that was even before the pandemic was a reality now the situation i mean these goals are they still attainable even after the pandemic which which one is going to be the most difficult to achieve well they came as a package and so i see that you know we are perhaps most at risk of losing traction on the gender goal because it is a goal that matters to all of those and when we see the investments in the other goals we don't see the investments that need to be targeted towards women and girls and so i think the biggest challenge here is to see the investments that go in how

do we measure the results it should not just be the results of whether health care and health systems are running but is the impact of those health care services happening in the lives of women and girls and the same through the whole agenda this is an opportunity now that we have with kogut as we look at the stimulus packages as we try to recover better it's the responses that we have now that will determine the quality of that build back better we have more girls in school but those girls in school. will they have opportunity to digital skills etc etc what about the climate targets i mean mohamed they seem to be way off target the un has held countless meetings and summits on climate change but it doesn't seem the actions being taken today will be enough to forestall the direct impacts of climate change well we have a huge year ahead of us this is a year of nature this is where commitments need to be made by each and every government on their end dc's it's where the opportunity again of the covert

response can be the green and the blue transitions and we are pushing that we are actually seeing a lot of traction on the net 0 commitments we are over 65 percent that that's a huge percentage of where we were last year we still have a way to go we are incredibly confident that as we go into the meetings of the g 7 the g 20 our spring meetings and the number of international conferences that we have where the world comes to make more commitments that we will maybe make amends if they make the commitments countries make the commitments but very often they don't follow follow through with the commitments well you're right there is a reality where people are slipping back and there is still the aspiration every day we work at closing that gap now i can say to you that commitments don't necessarily mean just the commitment towards the net 0 of 2050 but it is also how much of your money now will be spent in the bank for instance on the world bank for instance of adaptation that matters to developing countries we want to see 5050 on

that is that happening you can see that by the results of the the disbursements that happens from the bank so i think much more concrete asks about what we expect from the climate agenda and we're seeing that already investments in the great green wall across the for help because there is a big issue there how we are going to create a more stable and peaceful environment without investing in the great green wall the economic potentials of brains the energy transitions that can happen it doesn't happen that commitments we can follow fully not not. words but items but sadly deputy secretary general a lot of countries right now coming change is really not their priority their priority is how to deal with this corona virus pandemic and one of the injustices of this pandemic has been the nec ready of vaccine distribution which has become a key part really of the conversation in the fight against global pandemic the u.n. secretary general has said himself that no one is safe unless we're all safe but covert 19 as we've seen is breeding nationalism and it's you know worrying

certainly and damaging this vaccine nationalism that we're seeing so what is a solution to equitable vaccine distribution is a call that's initiative of course but this that's been really slow especially for african countries you're absolutely right 1st to say we don't we're not going to address climate separately from equity and vaccines we can't move ahead with any recovery that is global and inclusive unless we address the issue of that scenes what has happened with vaccine nationalism is a moral blight on our international community it should not happen this is a wand global public good in this global pandemic that we should all get behind we haven't and we have to do better at that and this is why b.s.t. the secretary general asked for a global plan in which the g 20 can get behind with the resources addressing the productivity and that you can produce this not just in wealthy countries but in countries around the world building that. we saw today india and south africa

trying to wave intellectual property rights on uncovered 1000 back scenes but they've failed so far and of course that alone wouldn't solve the issue of vaccine distribution but again it's highlighting trade obstacles related to public health how do we deal with that well number one we have an amazing woman that's just taken office so let's not say we've failed i'm sure that she's going to be up front and center on this having been the chair of gabby and understanding what the pitfalls are and the challenges we don't give up on. those there are still people's lives to save the vaccine needs to be in every country equally and it has to be there urgently and that's what we work towards ok i want to talk to you about nigeria your home country not a day goes by. not a week goes by i have to say without news of school children being kidnapped and particularly girls of course i mean they are not family is that a number of levels you've served your country in the past you've served as minister

of the environment if you were in a position of leadership in nigeria today what would you do differently to address this issue i think it's very complex to have a one response on so tonight when i was minister of environment the issues of. conflict where in the niger delta with the militants and injustices and exclusion from the economy they were books or harassment again it was injustice it is criminality we will have no hope and so no alternative what would i do i would try to address what these injustices are that are the root causes of what communities themselves in the end turn to and that we see this proliferation of conflict in all its were in all its ramifications so there must be a real targeting of resources to make sure that young people have an alternative to conflict and violence and that they have a they have a future in their country that must happen better governance to ensure that resources go to people young people jobs women on the other hand we have to

strengthen our security systems and leadership across security networks to make sure that they are also inclusive but they also uphold the law and the rights of people in discharging their duties i mean a mohammed year long and distinguished career has seen you work across a private sector a civil society both nationally in nigeria region in africa the united nations what is next for mena mohammed yes those who. right at nations just to be a really great grandmother and an inspiration to young people and go back to work at the community level i mean i've always thought that that is the best place to be so you're not interested in entering the political scene in nigeria i've always been really i've always been best appointed and not elected i think i think that space is for other women who can do so much better and i would be very happy to support them and get behind them and make sure that there is you know the 1st woman president in nigeria and i think that

a i would look at it would be better off with a female president. i do absolutely absolutely nigeria with a woman president it would be great to see about the united nations and yet what about the united nations in its 75 year history still no secretary general female secretary general i mean they are of course 40 percent well women 9 in the u.n. system but at the top there's still not a woman the u.n. should be leading by example should it not be it should and time will come when that will happen it is an absolute no brainer that there will be a woman at the helm of this institution in years to come and sooner rather than later i mean a mohamed the deputy secretary general of the united nations think you very much for talking to you. thank you so much for having me.

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documentaries and in-depth news reports. subscribe to you chief forward slash al-jazeera english. although i'm maryam namazie and nandan our main story this hour iran says the electrical blackout to a nuclear facility was a terrorist act earlier the government said the incidents in a towns facility was a problem with the electrical quit feeding the site power was out across workshops and on the ground enrichment ols the incident came a day after the country announced advanced new equipment and added more talks about reviving the 2050 nuclear deal i said beg is in teheran.