Interviews

South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela and other musicians rehearsed on Sunday in preparation for the first International Jazz Day which is being celebrated on Monday, 30 April.

The day was proclaimed by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 2011.

UNESCO says it is intended to raise awareness of the virtues of jazz as an educational tool and a force for peace, unity, dialogue and enhanced cooperation among people.

UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock says jazz is a universal language that does not need translation.

The legendary musician is taking part in a special concert, along with several other big name performers to mark the first International Jazz Day on 30 April.

Mr. Hancock is one of a number of musicians performing at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York.

Around the world, men are being mobilised to stand up against gender inequality.

From taxi drivers in Kenya, to student activists in India and refugees in Uganda, all have pledged to confront gender inequality in their communities.

They’re part of a pilot project known as the Mobilising Men Initiative, which is led by the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and supported by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

Timor-Leste saw a great deal of violence during the political crisis in 2006, but this year the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is looking forward to a largely peaceful electoral process.

Finn Reske-Nielsen, Deputy Special Representative for the Secretary General says UNDP has been helping the country gear up for March’s presidential election, as well as June’s parliamentary polls.

He also says that the departure of the UN peacekeeping mission to Timor-Leste does present a challenge, but one that can be overcome.

Preparations are underway for a first ever summit in South Africa in June to create partnerships between the various nations and the diaspora communities around the world.

As part of these efforts, the African Union recently organized a gathering of lawmakers from Africa and the diaspora in New York.

The meeting, which was facilitated by the Office of the United Nations Special Adviser on Africa, brought together lawmakers, experts and scholars from Africa and the African diaspora.

Forget dot com (.com) soon it will be dot anything you can think of and with that will come a lot of cybersquatting and other domain name disputes.

The UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is already responsible for the protection of intellectual property throughout the world. WIPO will now resolve disputes involving rights to a domain name.

It was given this new role by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is allowing the new array of Internet domain endings.

Thousands of children in Chad will die of malnutrition if assistance is not provided on time, warns the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Chad is one of the countries in the Sahel region which is facing a serious food crisis as a result of chronic drought, poor harvests and rising food prices.

UNICEF says the severe food and nutrition crisis in Chad is expected to continue at least until the end of the hunger season in October this year.

Uzbekistan is adopting a child-friendly approach to increase the number of children attending pre-school, according to UNICEF.

The schools are trying to create a safe, inclusive, engaging environment that operates in the best interest of every child.

Pre-school enrolment remains low, with less than 20 per cent of children between the ages of 3 and 5 attending pre-school.

Duration:  2'28"

Actress and activist, Mia Farrow, has been in Chad in Africa to encourage more people to have polio vaccinations.

The number of people catching polio in the central African country is on the increase and is second only to Pakistan in terms of new cases.

Ms Farrow has been a long-time Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.

Daniel Dickinson asked her on the line to N’Djamena, the capital of Chad, what her trip had achieved.

Duration: 2’56”

The gap must be bridged between the business community and environmental groups to work towards a more sustainable future.

To do this there needs to be a cultural shift according to John Hickox, who leads KPMG's climate change and sustainability practice in the Americas. The global audit tax and advisory firm is holding a three day conference in New York to bring both sides together to come up with a workable plan in advance of the Rio +20 summit conference.