UNRIC Library Newsletter - October 2007

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NEW WEBSITES WITHIN THE UN SYSTEM

UN in General

United Nations Day – 24 October 2007
English: http://www.un.org/events/unday/2007/
French: http://www.un.org/french/events/unday/2007/
Spanish: http://www.un.org/spanish/events/unday/2007/

60 ans d'histoire de l'UNESCO
http://www.unesco.org/archives/Archives/files/actes_FINAL_web.pdf
This symposium took place on the occasion of the Organization's 60th anniversary in November 2005. The Proceedings with communications by more than eighty historians, anthropologists, philosophers and other scholars and students are now available on line in French; the English version will be published soon.

IAEA - 50 years
http://www.iaea.org/About/Timeline/index.html
This year International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) celebrates its 50th anniversary. Online interactive timeline presents the milestone events in the Agency's history.

Launch of the International Year of the Potato 2008
English, French, Spanish: http://www.potato2008.org/

Security Council Reform
English, French, Spanish: http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/61/47(SUPP)
The report of the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters related to the Security Council has been issued (A/61/47). This is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly dealing with Security Council reform. The report includes annexes containing reports on consultations on Security Council reform.

UN News Focus: Myanmar
http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusRel.asp?infocusID=134&Body=Myanmar&Body1=

Peace & Security

United Nations Peacekeeping Operations – Background Note: 30 September 2007 (DPI/1634/Rev.76)
English: http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/bnote.htm
French: http://www.un.org/french/peace/peace/bnote.htm

United Nations Political and Peacekeeping Missions – Background Note: 30 September 2007 (DPI/2166/Rev.51)
English: http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/dpko/ppbm.pdf
French: http://www.un.org/french/peace/peace/ppbmf.pdf

Economic & Social Development

Fortress Europe and the Iraqi "intruders": Iraqi asylum-seekers and the EU, 2003-2007 (UNHCR)
Introduction: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/AMMF-77ZG3H?OpenDocument
Report: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/AMMF-77ZG3H/$File/Full_Report.pdf

Global Education Digest 2007: Comparing Education Statistics Across the World (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UIS)
http://www.uis.unesco.org/template/pdf/ged/2007/EN_web2.pdf
The education budget of a single country like France, Germany, Italy or the United Kingdom outweighs education spending across the entire sub-Saharan African region.

Sending Money Home: Worldwide Remittance Flows to Developing Countries (IFAD report)
http://www.ifad.org/events/remittances/maps/brochure.pdf
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has issued a new report on remittances, money sent by migrant workers back to their home countries. According to the report, an estimated 150 million migrants worldwide sent more than US$300 billion to their families in developing countries during 2006, typically US$100, US$200 or US$300 at a time, through more than 1.5 billion separate financial transactions.

WHO MIND – new website
http://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/en/
Despite their significant magnitude and devastating impact, mental health
problems fail to be properly recognized and addressed by countries all
over the world. Visit the newly launched WHO MIND website to learn what WHO is doing to change the situation and improve the lives of people with mental disorders worldwide.

World Investment Report 2007: Transnational Corporations, Extractive Industries and development (UNCTAD)
Report: http://www.unctad.org/Templates/webflyer.asp?docid=9001&intItemID=
4361&lang=1&mode=downloads
French overview: http://www.unctad.org/fr/docs/wir2007overview_fr.pdf
Spanish overview: http://www.unctad.org/sp/docs/wir2007overview_sp.pdf
The seventeenth report analyses the latest trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) and puts a special focus in 2007 on the role of transnational corporations in the extraction of oil, gas, and metal minerals.

Human Rights

From Exclusion to Equality: Realizing the rights of persons with disabilities - Handbook for Parliamentarians on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol  
http://www.ohchr.org/english/about/publications/docs/ExclusionEqualityDisabilities.pdf
The Handbook was jointly prepared by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Note on International Protection - Report by the High Commissioner for Refugees
Press release: http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/4703c3234.html  
Report in English, French & Spanish: http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/AC.96/1038
While the report noted some bright spots on the horizon with more than 700,000 refugees able to return home last year, broadly positive resettlement trends and an increase in the number of resettlement countries, UNHCR was concerned about the growth of a class of persons becoming "untouchables" for resettlement countries.

Will you listen? Young voices from conflict zones
http://www.unicef.org/voy/media/Will_You_Listen_090607.pdf
In 1996, a UN report “The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children”, the Machel study (A/51/306), brought the issues faced by children in armed conflict to the world's attention. Ten years later, the Machel Strategic Review (http://www.un.org/children/conflict/english/machel10.html) has been convened.
UNICEF and the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict have launched a youth report that compiles the views and recommendations of some 1,700 children and young people in 92 countries.