General News

A group of 20 young Fijian farmers dream of earning enough money to support their siblings. Their plan? To farm papaya organically and to access the premium price that the organic market pays.

But they can only do this if their product is certified organic.

With the prohibitively high cost of third party organic certification, they are trying something new.

With support from the International Fund for Agricultural Organization (IFAD), these farmers are certifying themselves. And this could change the way organics are certified throughout the Pacific region.

Having female ambassadors serve as President of the Security Council sends a powerful message of empowerment, according to Lithuania’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York.

This year, for the first time in the history of the Council, a total of five female ambassadors are serving throughout the year.

In February, Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite held the rotating presidency of the UN body responsible for maintaining peace.

Young girls in India are staying away from school due to the lack of understanding about their monthly menstruation.

This lack of understanding combined with a social stigma that has been handed down over generations, means many girls feel too ashamed to go to school at all.

Up to a quarter of schoolgirls in India leave education when they reach puberty.

The UN is working with the Indian government to revise the school curriculum and in turn provide girls with a better future.

Pat Duffy reports.

Duration: 3’30”

Children and young people have things to say on environmental issues but are rarely heard.

That’s the opinion of 14 year old Kehkashan Basu, the Global Coordinator for Children and Youth at the UN’s Environmental Programme’s Major Groups Facilitating Committee.

She wants to see more youth get involved in environmental policy as she explained more to Sophie Outhwaite.

Duration: 2’31”

Nelson Mandela was a man who changed peoples’ lives by saying no to Apartheid, no to racism, discrimination and segregation, according to a young female artist who goes by the stage name “Moonspice”.

Deeply moved by the news of his death last December, Christine Aurore Costarramone- her real name- wrote a song in memory of the late South African freedom fighter.

She performed the song “Poppa Mandela” with the Soul and Hearts Band at the UN in New York during the General Assembly celebration of Nelson Mandela Day.

As the world said farewell to Nelson Mandela, attention turned to how his legacy will live on in the pursuit of achieving justice and equality for all.

The world’s most famous prisoner of conscience who resisted the former system of racial discrimination in South Africa known as apartheid, died in his native village on 5 December 2013.

Exemplifying the qualities of a true global citizen, Mandela had dedicated many years of his life to the service of others, and had been a powerful advocate in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The International Criminal Court or ICC is not primarily focused on Africa, the Court’s Spokesperson has refuted.

The 120 States that adopted the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), named 17 July as the International Day of Criminal Justice, the day on which the Statute was adopted.

This day commemorates the efforts of Court to prevent war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide over the past decade.

The volume of water used every year in the United States to drill or extract natural gas is the equivalent of a city of five  million people, a senior advisor for the UN Chief on the Sustainable Energy Initiative for All has warned.

The method known as fracking or hydraulic fracturing involves pumping gallons of water, sand and chemicals into tiny wells in the rock at high pressure, which leads to the release of the oil or natural gas.

The World Food Programme took advantage of a five-hour humanitarian truce to provide emergency food assistance to thousands of people affected by the escalation in violence and to move food stocks into position around the Gaza Strip.

WFP’s Country Director in the occupied Palestinian territories, Pablo Recalde, took part in an inter-agency mission to Gaza on Thursday, to assess the enclave’s emergency humanitarian needs.

Reem Abaza asked Mr. Recalde about the situation on the ground.

Duration: 2’21’’

Failure to provide adequate HIV services for high risk populations is holding back progress on the elimination of the virus, according to the World Health Organization.

Men who have sex with men, people in prison, people who inject drugs, sex workers and transgender people are some of the groups identified by the agency.

This key demographic is least likely to have access to prevention, testing and treatment.

Sophie Outhwaite reports.

Duration: 3'20"