Interviews

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.

Tanzania has submitted an application to add 150 miles to the 200 miles of the area that is under its control in the ocean.

Under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea, a coastal state is entitled to make such a claim in order to exploit natural resources including fish, minerals and off-shore oil reserves.

Tanzania’s submission was presented by Anna Tibaijuka, Tanzania’s Minister of Land, Housing and Human Settlement.

An explosion at a refugee camp in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on Thursday has killed up to 7 people according to initial reports.

The blast came just hours after the UN had escorted a group of local and foreign journalists to view a feeding centre there.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility.

Dianne Penn spoke to Ari Gaitanis from the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA) who accompanied the journalists.

Duration: 2’19

The international community is making progress on protecting people from genocide and other crimes.

That’s according to the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect.

Edward Luck says the agreement signed by heads of state and government in 2005 has made a difference.

Daniel Dickinson has been talking to Mr Luck about the responsibility states have towards protecting their citizens.

Duration: 3'17