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Contributors | Mirva Lempiainen

Mirva Lempiainen is a freelance writer based in New York. She writes extensively for Finnish media and has a degree from the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism.

Which Is the First Nation to Make Internet Access a Right?

By Mirva Lempiainen | Aug 08, 2011

HELSINKI -- Finland may function virtually in the dark during the long winter months, but it is the first country in the world to see the light in ensuring that Internet access becomes a basic right for its citizens.

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In Guatemala, HIV Infections Rise for Women

By Mirva Lempiainen | Jun 06, 2011

GUATEMALA CITY -- Mary Guzmán is a 50-year-old mother of three adult daughters in this city high in the mountains. She has long black hair, brown eyes and a friendly smile. She is also HIV-positive.

Guzmán received her diagnosis five years ago, when she was tested after her husband died at the local hospital from what turned out to be AIDS-related complications.

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Awake Before Dawn, Scanning the News for His Boss

By Mirva Lempiainen | Apr 20, 2011

At 4:30 a.m., when many New Yorkers might still be sound asleep, Martin Nesirky is starting his day. His early wake-up call is related to the time that his boss, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, gets up.

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Flies on the Wall, Fitted With Fine-Tuned Antennas

By Mirva Lempiainen | Dec 06, 2010

Penelope MacDonnell is one of the first people to find out about major international agreements. She hears top political secrets and regularly speaks in high-profile meetings.

Does she hack for WikiLeaks? Could she be a diplomat? MacDonnell is an interpreter at the UN - “a fly on the wall,” as she calls herself, listening very closely.

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Meet the Ambassador: Jarmo Viinanen of Finland

By Mirva Lempiainen | Jan 02, 2010

Finland's permanent mission to the UN recently sponsored a fund-raiser at the Finland Center in New York to support the work of the Panzi Hospital in the South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the UN has its largest peacekeeping mission. In interviews, Finland’s Ambassador Jarmo Viinanen talks about the situation in Congo, violence against women in general, gender equality issues in Finland and the country’s efforts in Haiti after the earthquake last week.

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Meet the Ambassador: Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed of the Maldives

By Mirva Lempiainen | Nov 18, 2009

Ambassador Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed of the Maldives represents a low-lying nation of 1,200 islands near Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean. It is at the forefront of climate change, with its survival threatened by rising sea levels. The newly appointed ambassador discussed his nation’s problems with Mirva Lempiainen.

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