To mark UN Day this year, UN News is taking a snapshot of just one part of world - featuring the diverse contributions made by former staff members in Brazil. The UN Country Team in Brazil is celebrating the occasion by highlighting the contributions of four former staffers who’ve all played a role in the Organisation's history: a veterinarian, an environmentalist, a sociologist, and a demographer. All of them have dedicated a large part of their lives to the UN, and believe that unity and dialogue are the best way to bring about a fairer and more sympathetic world.

Milton Thiago de Mello, Veterinarian

“The world after the pandemic will be different – the planet was forced to take a break, and a new world will come out of that”. This philosophical take on comes from a former UN staffer who has earned the right to provide a long-term view. After all, this is the second pandemic he has lived through: now 105-year-old, Milton Thiago de Mello was a small child when Spanish flu was spreading around the world, killing tens of millions of people. As well as surviving that global health crisis, Mr. Thiago de Mello lived through two world wars, and travelled to many cities and countries, working tirelessly in the service of scientific progress. His research on brucellosis, an infectious disease that affects livestock and human health, brought him to the attention of the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization (PAHO/), for whom began working in Argentina, during the year the health agency was created, in 1948.

Cristina Montenegro, environmentalist

“I paved the way for many women in the UN System” Cristina Montenegro’s international UN career spanned three decades, and by the time she retired she was the head of the UN Environment Programme () in Brazil, one of the first women in the Organisation to run an agency country office. After working at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (better known as the 1992 Earth Summit, in Rio), the environmentalist went on to serve in Mexico, before returning to Brazil to open the first UNEP country office. “We started in a period when little was said about the environment”, she reminisced. “Then we had a boost in 1992 with the Rio Conference, which strengthened the theme and institutions.”

João Carlos Alexim, veterinarian

João Carlos Alexim ran the Brazil country office for another UN agency, the International Labour Organization (). During his career, he was involved in some pioneering projects, including initiatives that advanced the fight against child labour, and improving equal opportunities and salaries for Black and women workers. “For me, the United Nations remains the fundamental organisation centre for human thought and civilization”, he says, emphasizing the values that founded the UN, which remain relevant today.

Mena Mueller, demographer

Mena Mueller’s full name is Maria Helena Fernandes da Trindade Henriques Mueller, but the preference for the shorter nickname came about whilst she was working for renowned UN official, Sérgio Vieira de Mello, during his time as the head of the emergency office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization () in Bosnia, when he participated in negotiations to end the war in the country that killed more than 97,000 people. Ms. Mueller was tasked with the complex mission of uniting the three conflicting groups (Bosnians, Croats, Serbs), with a shared cultural identity. This involved mobilising artists, journalists, activists and educators, to prove to the people of the former Yugoslavia, and the outside world, that the countries and historic cultures needed to be supported. “When we arrived in the country it was difficult to convince people that they weren't dead. Especially young people”, she says. “It was a huge job to encourage them to go on, and to find enough hope to build meaningful lives”.

To mark UN Day this year, UN News is taking a snapshot of just one part of world - featuring the diverse contributions made by former staff members in Brazil. The UN Country Team in Brazil is celebrating the occasion by highlighting the contributions of four former staffers who’ve all played a role in the Organisation's history: a veterinarian, an environmentalist, a sociologist, and a demographer. All of them have dedicated a large part of their lives to the UN, and believe that unity and dialogue are the best way to bring about a fairer and more sympathetic world.

Milton Thiago de Mello, Veterinarian

“The world after the pandemic will be different – the planet was forced to take a break, and a new world will come out of that”. This philosophical take on comes from a former UN staffer who has earned the right to provide a long-term view. After all, this is the second pandemic he has lived through: now 105-year-old, Milton Thiago de Mello was a small child when Spanish flu was spreading around the world, killing tens of millions of people. As well as surviving that global health crisis, Mr. Thiago de Mello lived through two world wars, and travelled to many cities and countries, working tirelessly in the service of scientific progress. His research on brucellosis, an infectious disease that affects livestock and human health, brought him to the attention of the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization (PAHO/), for whom began working in Argentina, during the year the health agency was created, in 1948.

Cristina Montenegro, environmentalist

“I paved the way for many women in the UN System” Cristina Montenegro’s international UN career spanned three decades, and by the time she retired she was the head of the UN Environment Programme () in Brazil, one of the first women in the Organisation to run an agency country office. After working at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (better known as the 1992 Earth Summit, in Rio), the environmentalist went on to serve in Mexico, before returning to Brazil to open the first UNEP country office. “We started in a period when little was said about the environment”, she reminisced. “Then we had a boost in 1992 with the Rio Conference, which strengthened the theme and institutions.”

João Carlos Alexim, veterinarian

João Carlos Alexim ran the Brazil country office for another UN agency, the International Labour Organization (). During his career, he was involved in some pioneering projects, including initiatives that advanced the fight against child labour, and improving equal opportunities and salaries for Black and women workers. “For me, the United Nations remains the fundamental organisation centre for human thought and civilization”, he says, emphasizing the values that founded the UN, which remain relevant today.

Mena Mueller, demographer

Mena Mueller’s full name is Maria Helena Fernandes da Trindade Henriques Mueller, but the preference for the shorter nickname came about whilst she was working for renowned UN official, Sérgio Vieira de Mello, during his time as the head of the emergency office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization () in Bosnia, when he participated in negotiations to end the war in the country that killed more than 97,000 people. Ms. Mueller was tasked with the complex mission of uniting the three conflicting groups (Bosnians, Croats, Serbs), with a shared cultural identity. This involved mobilising artists, journalists, activists and educators, to prove to the people of the former Yugoslavia, and the outside world, that the countries and historic cultures needed to be supported. “When we arrived in the country it was difficult to convince people that they weren't dead. Especially young people”, she says. “It was a huge job to encourage them to go on, and to find enough hope to build meaningful lives”.

The conflict in the DRC is on “such a massive scale”, that the country has the highest number of internally displaced in Africa, a large refugee population of 500,000, and is experiencing multiple crises, including in education, funding and healthcare, said David McLachlan-Karr, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for DRC.  He added that this had led to “repeated epidemics of cholera, measles and malaria -- indicative of weak health system”. Reporting on the humanitarian situation in DRC, the top UN official said it was time to put the country back on the “global map of need”.  

26 million food insecure 

DRC is suffering a “food insecurity crisis with 26.7 million Congolese food insecure, he pointed out.  Peoples’ “day to day” lives are “precarious, with inadequate nutritional intake,” leaving them in a “weakened condition and prone to disease” he said.  According to the Humanitarian Coordinator, there is a “protracted protection crisis,” with “inter-ethnic conflict over natural resources in both North and South Kivu and in ” which “require urgent humanitarian assistance; healthcare, food, shelter water sanitation, education for populations they are unable to access”.  The funding situation is also “very concerning,” Mr. McLachlan-Karr added. “We are over a quarter funded and it’s a year we’ve really suffered a decrease in funding, leaving us with a stark choice - who to prioritize?” 

‘No repeat’ of abuse - pledge 

Noting the recent report on  carried out by World Health Organization () staff during the UN health agency’s response to an outbreak in 2020, Mr. McLachlan-Karr said the UN Country Team's work around gender violence sexual exploitation and abuse, “points to major problems and a need for the community to step up and to scale up our prevention capacities and support to survivors in this unacceptable situation”.  He reiterated WHO's pledge that “every case and allegation will be investigated, and justice will be served”.  There will be “no repetition of what happened in the tenth Ebola crisis. We work to the highest ethical standards and will stamp out this abuse,” he added.  

‘Funding on the decline’ 

According to Mr. McLachlan-Karr, 9.6 million people are in need in the country, but due to and other crises like the situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, there is a need to “draw global attention to problems in DRC which are on the scale of Yemen and Syria”.  Warning that civilians are being increased “directly targeted” with “gender-based violence he called for additional funding, to fight the scourge.  “Funding trends are on the decline,” he added. “We’ve been funding closer to 50 per cent mark in the past 35 past years.  “Often donors make decisions in the last quarter of the year, so we could see an increase in our funding beyond 27 per cent,”, however, he warned, “we need funding for 12 months of the year to plan our programme”.   Emphasizing the difficulties of “working on a shoestring when you get funding at the end of the year” he noted that they have still assisted over 3.2 million people, 4 million with food assistance; 1.7 million with water and sanitation assistance and, 1.2 million with emergency cash transfers to access land to guarantee food security. 

The conflict in the DRC is on “such a massive scale”, that the country has the highest number of internally displaced in Africa, a large refugee population of 500,000, and is experiencing multiple crises, including in education, funding and healthcare, said David McLachlan-Karr, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for DRC.  He added that this had led to “repeated epidemics of cholera, measles and malaria -- indicative of weak health system”. Reporting on the humanitarian situation in DRC, the top UN official said it was time to put the country back on the “global map of need”.  

26 million food insecure 

DRC is suffering a “food insecurity crisis with 26.7 million Congolese food insecure, he pointed out.  Peoples’ “day to day” lives are “precarious, with inadequate nutritional intake,” leaving them in a “weakened condition and prone to disease” he said.  According to the Humanitarian Coordinator, there is a “protracted protection crisis,” with “inter-ethnic conflict over natural resources in both North and South Kivu and in ” which “require urgent humanitarian assistance; healthcare, food, shelter water sanitation, education for populations they are unable to access”.  The funding situation is also “very concerning,” Mr. McLachlan-Karr added. “We are over a quarter funded and it’s a year we’ve really suffered a decrease in funding, leaving us with a stark choice - who to prioritize?” 

‘No repeat’ of abuse - pledge 

Noting the recent report on  carried out by World Health Organization () staff during the UN health agency’s response to an outbreak in 2020, Mr. McLachlan-Karr said the UN Country Team's work around gender violence sexual exploitation and abuse, “points to major problems and a need for the community to step up and to scale up our prevention capacities and support to survivors in this unacceptable situation”.  He reiterated WHO's pledge that “every case and allegation will be investigated, and justice will be served”.  There will be “no repetition of what happened in the tenth Ebola crisis. We work to the highest ethical standards and will stamp out this abuse,” he added.  

‘Funding on the decline’ 

According to Mr. McLachlan-Karr, 9.6 million people are in need in the country, but due to and other crises like the situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, there is a need to “draw global attention to problems in DRC which are on the scale of Yemen and Syria”.  Warning that civilians are being increased “directly targeted” with “gender-based violence he called for additional funding, to fight the scourge.  “Funding trends are on the decline,” he added. “We’ve been funding closer to 50 per cent mark in the past 35 past years.  “Often donors make decisions in the last quarter of the year, so we could see an increase in our funding beyond 27 per cent,”, however, he warned, “we need funding for 12 months of the year to plan our programme”.   Emphasizing the difficulties of “working on a shoestring when you get funding at the end of the year” he noted that they have still assisted over 3.2 million people, 4 million with food assistance; 1.7 million with water and sanitation assistance and, 1.2 million with emergency cash transfers to access land to guarantee food security.