Interviews

Safeguarding livestock diversity is the objective of the latest version of an online database launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The goal is to help countries better monitor and manage animal breeds at risk of extinction: something which could threaten access to food but also sustainable development in rural areas.

FAO estimates that around 25 percent of the world’s local farm animal breeds run the risk of being wiped out, such as the Inyambo cattle in Rwanda and the H’mong pig in Vietnam.

A new high-level board to advise the UN chief on mediation efforts around the world is aiming to turn the focus away from talk of “hybrid wars” to “hybrid peace-building.”

That’s according to the former President of Finland, Tarja Halonen, who is one of the 18 leading international members of the panel, which was set up by Secretary-General António Guterres in September.

Three leaders in “South-South Cooperation”, together with $33 million in contributions, are helping 15 of the least developed countries in the world move ahead with achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

India, Brazil, and South Africa - three nations from different economies and different continents - launched the latest IBSA Fund report on Monday, which helps developing countries advance their goals, in partnership with the UN.

Bangladesh - already one of the largest troop-contributing countries to UN peacekeeping missions around the world - would like to send more troops, despite the increasing dangers they face.

That’s the view of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister’s National Defence and Security Adviser, who led his country’s delegation to the recent UN Peacekeeping Ministerial Conference, in Vancouver, Canada.

With a 16-day global campaign in full swing to end violence against women and girls, transforming the human rights situation in Sudan's turbulent Darfur region, requires clear and distinctive definitions of sexual violence and adultery.

That’s according to the Human Rights Section Chief for the region’s UN mission, UNAMID, Isha Dyfan, who explained that separating these two societal issues encourages women to come forward with accounts of sexual violence, without fear of being accused of adultery.

Promoting young people’s access to land was among the objectives of a four-day conference held in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, earlier this month.

The event sought to deepen knowledge about land policy on the continent and to support the African Union’s declaration of 2017 as the Year of Youth.

If Africa’s young people are not supported in becoming the leaders of tomorrow, they will be “detractors” of those in power today.

That’s the opinion of Robert Ladu Luki, Chairperson of the National Land Commission in South Sudan.

He was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, recently for a UN-backed conference that looked at young people’s access to land.

It’s going to be a “long road to recovery” for the hurricane-struck Caribbean islands of Dominica and Barbuda, despite a successful pledging conference at UN Headquarters this week.

That’s the view of Stephen O’Malley, UN Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, who attended the conference where pledges worth more than $2 billion were made, including loans and debt relief.

A team of doctors, nurses and technicians plays a “lifesaving role” in South Sudan according to a senior Jordanian doctor in the UN Peacekeeping Mission there, UNMISS.

The UNMISS medical team cares for around 17,000 military, police and civilian staff across the country as well as on occasions South Sudanese civilians.

Major Doctor Zaidoun Al-Rawashdeh is a Jordanian national who has served in UN peacekeeping missions in four countries; Haiti, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and now South Sudan.

More than 500 students came to UN Headquarters in New York this month to mark the 70^th anniversary of the publication of the diary of Anne Frank and celebrate the “deep connection” they feel with the young Holocaust victim.

Her famous diary written as she and her family hid from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic, has inspired several generations since World War Two, and is a testament to the need for greater cultural understanding and respect for diversity.