Interviews

For the past 66 years, UN Radio has stayed true to its mission of informing the world’s populations.

It has come a long way from the days when it started in 1945, in a makeshift studio in Lake Success, a village outside New York City.

While the technology UN Radio is using has changed, its goals have not.

It continues to promote the universal ideals of the United Nations including peace, respect for human rights, gender equality and international law.

Forests cover one-quarter of the Earth’s land surface. They help preserve agricultural land, protect water resources and even stave off natural disasters.

And more than a billion people worldwide depend on forests for their livelihoods. The vital role of forests was celebrated during the International Year of Forests, which concludes this month.

Dianne Penn spoke with Dr. Mary Menton, a Research Fellow at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Lima, Peru, who focuses on the Amazon.

Togo says it will do everything it can to make sure a positive solution is found to the ongoing conflict in Syria.

The West African country takes over the presidency of the UN Security Council on Wednesday and is responsible for pushing forward discussions on the Arab state.

The Council has yet to decide what action to take over Syria, where it’s estimated over 5000 people have been killed in the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Daniel Dickinson asked Kodjo Menan, the Togolese Ambassador to the UN, how Togo will handle Syria.

It’s 2012 and still roughly 800 million people in Asia and the Pacific lack access to electricity.

Meanwhile, two billion people in the region still use wood, charcoal or other traditional fuels for heating and cooking. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) says there’s a clear link between poor access to modern energy sources and poverty.

Dianne Penn spoke to Martin Krause who heads UNDP’s Environment, Climate & Energy team, which is based in Bangkok, to find out why they want this picture to change.

A documentary film celebrating the life of the late Jewish prodigy, Petr Ginz, murdered during the Holocaust, will soon go global.

Using Petr’s art and writings, The Last Flight of Petr Ginz will help teach teenagers worldwide about how destructive hatred and prejudice are.

Nazism led to the extermination of 6 million Jews in concentration camps between 1933 and 1945.

More than a million and a half were children. The film highlights a novel Petr wrote at 12, an allegory about the Nazi party.

After 17 years, the United Nations flag is flying again in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

The United Nations Political Office for Somalia on Wednesday officially relocated from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi to Mogadishu. 

The United Nations says the move shows its strong commitment to work with the Somali people and their leaders to build peace, political stability and a hopeful future.

The top United Nations envoy for Somalia Augustine Mahiga has been speaking to Alice Kariuki about the relocation.

Duration: 3’04”

Increased anti-piracy measures by shipping companies and the intervention by navies have led to a drop in the number of successful pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia in 2011.

But, according to the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) around 200 seafarers are still being held hostage by Somali pirates.

The London-based organization’s new Secretary-General, Koji Sekimizu, has been in New York to discuss anti-piracy measures with the UN chief, Ban Ki-moon

An archive of interviews with some of the personalities behind crucial moments in UN history is now available online.

The Oral History Collection Website features nearly 200 interviews recorded over the past 25 years with former UN Secretary-Generals, diplomats, journalists, and others who witnessed events ranging from the founding of the United Nations to conflicts the organization has monitored.

An agreement over the future reunification of Cyprus could move a step closer at talks that are due to get underway on Monday outside New York City.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 with Turkish Cypriots controlling the northern third of the island and the Republic of Cyprus composed mostly of Greeks Cypriots in the remaining land.

Ethnic strife between the two communities engulfed the Mediterranean island in 1964.

The UN has been supporting a political solution for over four decades.

Over the past six years there has been a rise in the number of think tanks in developing countries, including some African nations. And although their number is still relatively small, the analysis and research they provide on key issues, including national security, help governments and civil society in formulating policies.

James G. McGann heads the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania in the USA. It compiles an annual report ranking thousands of think tanks globally, the latest of which was launched on Wednesday at the United Nations.