When you think of a border, you think guards, passport controls, fences, bits of barbed wire maybe. In the northern Costa Rican department of Upala, bordering with Nicaragua, you will find none of that.

UNAIDS and the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) have signed a cooperation agreement to work together in addressing HIV-related discrimination. Cooperation activities will focus on creating enabling legal environments that support access to health and promote non-discrimination for vulnerable populations living with and affected by HIV.

Deputy United Nations Secretary General Jan Eliasson has offered a robust defense of the rule of law in a speech to IDLO during a visit to Rome. “We want to create a stronger basis for our [the UN's] work,” he told the audience, which included Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, the World Food Programme’s Ertharin Cousin and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of UN Women.

IDLO and Kuwait have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), in what both parties say is a milestone in their three-decade-old relationship. The document provides a framework for the Organization to support a variety of legal and administrative processes in the country, from building the capacity of state lawyers to enhancing transparency in procurement.