September 2012
25 posts
World Heart Day
World Heart Day is celebrated every last Saturday of September. In partnership with WHO, the World Heart Federation organizes awareness events in more than 100 countries - including health checks, organized walks, runs and fitness sessions, public talks, stage shows, scientific forums, exhibitions, concerts, carnivals and sports tournaments.
For more information see:
World Maritime Day 2012: IMO: One hundred years after the Titanic
The World Maritime Day is celebrated during the last week of September. In his message for the day the Secretary General says: “A century after the Titanic was lost in the icy waters of the North Atlantic, the IMO is striving to ensure continual improvement in safety at sea. Its work is as important now as ever”
Fore more information on the day se:
UN General Assembly resolutions
World Tourism Day: Tourism & Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development
World Tourism Day (WTD) is commemorated each year on 27 September. This year, the day is being held under the theme Tourism & Sustainable Energy: Powering Sustainable Development. Official celebrations will take place in Maspalomas, Spain (September 27).
Key documents:
Agreement between the United Nations and the World Tourism Organization (A/RES/58/232)
Implementation of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism (A/65/275)
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Resolutions and Decisions
General debate : 67th session
The General Assembly general debate begins this morning with the theme: “Adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations by peaceful means”. Most Member States will have a representative speaking, commenting on issues of individual, national and wider international relevance.
- Follow the speeches live through UN Webcast.
- Texts of speeches are available through the general debate website.
Politically speaking:Bulletin of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs
UN activities in peacemaking, preventive diplomacy and related fields are profiled in Politically Speaking, the newsletter of the United Nations Department of Political Affairs. This current issue addressed issues in Libya, Mali Myanmar amongst others.
Previous issues are available from the DPA website.
See official documents and reports of the SG on the Department of Political Affairs from the library online catalogue.
High-level Meeting on the Rule of Law
The High-level Meeting of the 67th Session of the General Assembly is taking place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York today, 24 September 2012. The High-level Meeting will address the topic of the rule of law at the national and international levels.
According to the UN, the rule of law is a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, including the State itself, are held accountable to publicly promulgated laws which are equally and fairly enforced, independently adjudicated, and consistent with international human rights standards.
A report of the Secretary-General A/66/749 in preparation of the High-level Meeting was submitted to the General Assembly in March 2012, as requested in the resolution A/RES/66/102.
UN Resources:
Draft Declaration of the High Level Meeting
Reports of the Secretary-General
Photo: UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras.
HIV AIDS 2012 Progress reports submitted by countries
Countries of the world have submitted official Progress reports to the UNAIDS Secretariat for the monitoring of progress towards the targets set in the 2011 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS. Each report is presented exactly as submitted by the country, without editing or other alteration. These submissions will form the basis of the UN Secretary-General’s report to the General Assembly as well as the 2012 End of Year Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic.
More reports on AIDS are available at:
Secretary General’s Reports:http://goo.gl/A2O29
Resolutions and Decions: http://goo.gl/8Uwzz
More information on UNAIDS:http://www.unaids.org/en/aboutunaids/
2012 UNAIDS Report: Together We Will End Aids.
According to this 2012 UNAIDS Report entitled: “Together We Will End Aids” The global community has made great progress in responding to the AIDS epidemic. More people than ever are receiving treatment, care and support. According to the report, the prevention revolution is delivering dramatic results while science is offering new hope.
More reports on AIDS are available at:
MDG Gap Task Force Report 2012
The Secretary-General launched the 2012 MDG Gap Task Force Report at UN Headquarters in New York yesterday, 20 September. In his address, he notes that “It is clear that we need a stronger global partnership to achieve the MDGs by the 2015 deadline.”
The Task Force Report, issued ahead of the annual high-level General Assembly meetings next week, notes that after reaching a peak in 2010, the volume of official development assistance fell almost three per cent in 2011.
It warns that with no apparent commitment by donor governments to reverse the trend, it is possible that fewer of the MDGs will be reached in fewer countries by the 2015 deadline.
According to the Report, to meet the UN target of 0.7 per cent of donor country gross national income, total overseas development assistance (ODA) should more than double to about $300 billion (in 2011 dollars), thus leaving a delivery gap of $167 billion against that commitment. Least developed countries should receive about one-fourth of this amount.
Figure 1. ODA of DAC members in 2000, 2009, 2010, 2011 (percentage of GNI)
International Day of Peace 21 September: Sustainable peace for a sustainable future
Each year the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on 21 September. The General Assembly by the General Assembly Resolution A/RES/36/67 and reinforced by Resolution A/RES/55/282 declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples.
The Secretary General’s message is available at:
http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/2012/sgmessage.shtml
See the International Peace Day’s page for more information.
Children and Armed Conflict
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
The Security Council met today at its 6838th meeting to discuss the Report of the Secretary-General on Children and armed conflict, S/2012/261 and the letter dated 6 September 2012 from the Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, S/2012/685.
The President drew attention to the text of a draft resolution contained in document S/2012/713.
The Council proceeded to vote on the draft resolution S/2012/713 before it.
Decision: The draft resolution S/2012/713 received 11 votes in favour, none against and four abstentions (Azerbaijan, China, Pakistan and the Russian Federation) and was adopted as resolution 2068 (2012).
UN Resources:
- Security Council Meetings
- General Assembly Meetings
- Reports of the Secretary General
- Committee on the Rights of the Child meetings
- Committee on the Rights of the Child Reports
- Most notable, is a library for better document searching.
Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic
The Commission of Inquiry on Syria presented to the Human Rights Council its latest report on the situation in Syria.
Read: Full Text report
Other UN reports on Syria are available at:
Born Free and Equal
The UN Human Rights Office has released a new publication entitled “Born Free and Equal”. The publication provides information on sexual orientation and gender identity in international human rights law. The 60-page booklet is designed as a tool for States, to help them better understand the nature of their obligations and the steps required to meet them, as well as for civil society activists, human rights defenders and others seeking to hold Governments to account for breaches of international human rights law.
More publications on Human Rights are available form the UN Human Rights Publications Website.
2012 World Drug Report
The 2012 World Drug Report provides an overview of recent trends and the drug situation in terms of production, trafficking and consumption and the consequences
of illicit drug use. It also presents a long-term perspective on the characteristics and evolution of the drug problem and the main factors that shaped it and concludes with an analysis of the driving factors that shaped the evolution of the drug problem, including a brief outlook for its likely future direction.
Previous reports are available from the UNODC Publications page.
Opening of the General Assembly- 67th session
The 67th session of the General Assembly officially opened yesterday, 18 September 2012. The President of the General Assembly, Mr Vuk Jeremić of Serbia opened the session with an urgent call for cooperation to tackle the economic and political uncertainty which is being experienced in many parts of the world and ensure there are peaceful solutions to international disputes.
In addition to the general debate which will begin on 25 September, a number of High-level meetings will also take place in the coming two weeks:
High-level Meetings of the 67th Session (2012)- 24 September – High-level Meeting on the Rule of Law
- 24 September – High-level Meeting on sustainable energy for all
- 25 September – Opening of the General Debate
- 27 September – High Level Meeting on Scaling Up Nutrition
- 28 September – High Level Meeting on Countering Nuclear Terrorism
- 1 October – High Level Meeting “Fifteen years of the Chemical Weapons Convention: Celebrating success. Committing to the future”
Additional resources:
Photo # 526122 : Vuk Jeremić (centre), President of the 67th session of the General Assembly, addresses the Assembly’s first meeting of the session. He is flanked by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) and Jean-Jacques Graisse, Acting Head for General Assembly and Conference Management.
18 September 2012
United Nations, New York
United Nations world water development report 4: managing water under uncertainty and risk
This fourth edition of the World Water Development Report is the product of synergy within the United Nations system, in particular the United Nations World Water Assessment Programme hosted by UNESCO. It shines a spotlight on water use, analyses the question of managing water under uncertainty, and addresses gender issues throughout. The result is a call to action – to strengthen mechanisms of global coordination, to improve national institutions and to weave the two levels more tightly together.
Previous reports are available from the UNESCO publications database.
Security Council report on sanctions in Afghanistan
The first report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team established pursuant to resolution 1526 (2004) has been released. It has been transmitted by letter from the chair of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolution 1988 (2011), Peter Wittig to the President of the Security Council.
The present report, the first that the Analytical Support and Sanctions
Implementation Monitoring Team has written for the Security Council Committee
established pursuant to resolution 1988 (2011), looks at implementation of the new
sanctions regime.
The report looks at the political situation in Afghanistan as at the end of March
2012 and considers the challenges to implementation of the three sanctions measures. It considers what exemptions might be needed to allow listed individuals to take part in an Afghan peace and reconciliation process. The Team believes that, although the Committee could make some adjustments to its guidelines, it is too soon to make recommendations to the Security Council for more fundamental change.
UN Resources
Earlier Reports of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team
Security Council Resolutions on the Situation in Afghanistan
Secretary-General Report’s on the Situation in Afghanistan
Non-UN Resources
International Literacy Day
The International Literacy Day is observed on 8th September. The theme of International Literacy Day 2012 is Literacy and Peace. For over 40 years now, UNESCO has been celebrating International Literacy Day by reminding the international community that literacy is a human right and the foundation of all learning.
More information on the day is available from the UNESCO page.
62nd volume of the Yearbook of the United Nations issued
The 62nd volume of the Yearbook of the United Nations, which covers the activities of the Organization in 2008 was issued today.
With its comprehensive coverage of political and security matters, human rights issues, economic and social questions, legal issues, and institutional, administrative and budgetary matters, the Yearbook of the United Nations is the most authoritative reference work available on the activities and concerns of the Organization.
This latest volume highlights attention given by the United Nations in 2008 - a year that marked the sixtieth anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping - to conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Georgian province of Abkhazia and the Sudan, along with the challenges posed by the food security crisis, climate change, natural disasters, piracy and terrorism. It includes details on how how how, in a year that also marked the midway point towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, the General Assembly, as the global financial crisis brought the world economy to the brink of recession, held a high-level event to help ensure that the Goals remained on track.
Further details can be found on the UN Publications website. Earlier volumes of the Yearbook of the United Nations are freely available on their website.
