During their visit to London last week Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson were interviewed by CNN's Becky Anderson about their upcoming trip to Sudan & South Sudan, the current situation there, and what they hoped to achieve. 

“What can The Elders do that other groups and organisations, like the UN, can't do?”

As The Elders celebrate five years since Nelson Mandela founded the organisation, Desmond Tutu and Mary Robinson join Robin Lustig on BBC Radio 4’s The World Tonight to explain how the group was brought together, how they work – and what makes The Elders different.

“It is time for all who have influence on the parties, and all who bear responsibility for international peace and security, to act positively for peace.”

Writing in the Washington Post, Kofi Annan calls on the international community to support Syrians in forging their own political future by following through with the action plan and uniting to prevent further militarisation of the conflict.

"If government representatives had heard the heartfelt yearning for change, perhaps they would have given their negotiators a stronger mandate: a mandate to create the future we want and which the earth needs."

Writing for CNN, Mary Robinson echoes the frustration felt by those who had higher expectations for Rio+20 and urges people everywhere to mobilise to ensure an equitable, prosperous and sustainable future for the world.

“At a time when popular revolutions are sweeping the globe, the United States should be strengthening, not weakening, basic rules of law and principles of justice enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

Jimmy Carter writes in the New York Times that the serious human rights violations committed by the United States are undermining his nation's moral authority in international affairs.