New UN websites & publications
UN in General
Global impact of war in Ukraine: Billions of people face the greatest cost-of-living crisis in a generation / UN Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance, Brief No.2, 8 June 2022
https://news.un.org/pages/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/GCRG_2nd-Brief_Jun8_2022_FINAL.pdf
see also: Act now to end food, energy and finance crisis, Guterres urges world leaders (8 June 2022) – https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/06/1119962
English: https://www.un.org/en/conferences/ocean2022
French: https://www.un.org/fr/conferences/ocean2022
Spanish: https://www.un.org/es/conferences/ocean2022
Portuguese: https://www.un.org/pt/conferences/ocean2022
The Ocean Conference, co-hosted by the Governments of Kenya and Portugal, comes at a critical time as the world is seeking to address many of the deep-rooted problems of our societies laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic and which will require major structural transformations and common shared solutions that are anchored in the SDGs. To mobilize action, the Conference will seek to propel much needed science-based innovative solutions aimed at starting a new chapter of global ocean action.
English: https://unric.org/en/info-point-library/un-research-guides/
French: https://unric.org/fr/ressources/documentation/guides-de-recherche/
Spanish: https://unric.org/es/recursos/guias-de-investigacion/
We have updated our special page on UN Research Guides / LibGuides / Biblioguías, issued by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, UN Archives New York, UN Library & Archives Geneva, UN Library Vienna, The World Bank/IMF Library Network, Knowledge and Library Services Section of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Library of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Library & Archives of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Maritime Knowledge Centre (MKC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Links to our UNRIC Library Backgrounders are also included. Currently there are ca. 300 different topics available in English, 85 in French and ca. 100 in Spanish.
English: https://www.un.org/en/hate-speech
French: https://www.un.org/fr/hate-speech
Hate speech incites violence and undermines social cohesion and tolerance. The devastating effect of hatred is sadly nothing new. However, its scale and impact are nowadays amplified by new technologies of communication, to the point that hate speech – including online – has become one of the most frequent methods for spreading divisive rhetoric and ideologies on a global scale and threatening peace.
The United Nations has a long history of mobilizing the world against hatred of all kinds to defend human rights and advance the rule of law. The impact of hate speech cuts across numerous existing United Nations areas of focus, from human rights protection and prevention of atrocity crimes to sustaining peace and achieving gender equality and supporting children and youth.
Because fighting hate, discrimination, racism and inequality is at the core of United Nations principles and work, the Organization is working to confront hate speech at every turn. This principle is enshrined in the United Nations Charter, in the international human rights framework and in the global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
see also: UNRIC Library Backgrounder – Combat Misinformation; Selected Online Resources on Misinformation, Disinformation and Hate Speech
https://unric.org/en/unric-library-backgrounder-combat-misinformation/
Français : https://shop.un.org/books/united-nations-guide-model-un-f-95030
Anglais : https://shop.un.org/books/united-nations-guide-model-un-89410
Les simulations de modèle Nations Unies (MONU) sont des exercices de grande popularité pour ceux qui souhaitent en savoir plus sur les Nations Unies. Des centaines de milliers d’étudiants dans le monde participent chaque année à des simulations, à tous les niveaux, de l’école à l’université. De nombreux dirigeants actuels dans les domaines du droit, du service public, des affaires, des sciences humaines et des arts ont participé à de telles simulations en tant qu’étudiants. Certains Modèles ONU cependant ne suivent pas toujours le règlement intérieur et les pratiques de l’ONU. Ce livre est conçu pour aider les futurs étudiants et enseignants lors de simulations MONU concernant les aspects pratiques de l’organisation et de la participation à des MONU qui soient proches et conformes au fonctionnement réel de l’ONU.
www.unesco.org
Through the launch of its new portal, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation aims to better explain what it is and what it does. With its new visual identity and simplified architecture, this portal offers a completely redesigned user experience to tackle issues related to accessibility and transparency whilst also taking into consideration new types of use. From an editorial perspective, UNESCO’s work is now batched in eight themes: Education, Culture, Natural Sciences, Ocean, Social and Human Sciences, Communication and Information, as well as the two priorities on Africa and Gender Equality. Each programme is presented on a summary page, accompanied by informative articles in which the user can learn about the latest news or even hear about stories of workers on the ground and experiences of UNESCO beneficiaries.
Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
Adding fuel to the fire? Inequality and the spread of COVID-19 (DESA Working Paper No. 178)
https://desapublications.un.org/file/980/download
The pandemic has progressed differently across the world. Using monthly data on COVID-19 cases and fatalities, we evaluate whether income inequality is an important factor in explaining cross-country differences in the spread and mortality of the virus. The results show that income inequality is positively correlated with the number of COVID-19 cases. Higher income inequality is associated with a more rapid spread of the virus and an increase in the number of cases, indirectly increasing mortality rates as well. Also, higher levels of inequality are associated with reduced effectiveness of social distancing measures in containing new infections. Thus, elevated inequalities place societies in a more vulnerable position to confront this pandemic, and more unequal countries would need more robust public responses to contain the spread of the virus.
COVID-19 and the State of Global Mobility in 2021 (IOM / MPI)
https://publications.iom.int/books/covid-19-and-state-global-mobility-2021
Economic Report on Africa/ERA 2021: Addressing Poverty and Vulnerability in Africa during the COVID-19 Pandemic (UNECA)
https://repository.uneca.org/bitstream/handle/10855/47592/ERA%202021%20En%20%28b12002963%29.pdf
https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ditcted2022d2_en.pdf
The impact of COVID-19 on trade in biodiversity-based products, such as coffee, cosmetics and honey, has been both positive and negative, according to an UNCTAD study published on 3 May 2022. The study based on a survey of more than 300 biodiversity stakeholders, shows that the pandemic’s effects have varied greatly across regions, countries and sectors. Positive impacts from the pandemic were reported by a higher share of respondents from the private sector supporting or implementing UNCTAD’s BioTrade Principles and Criteria. BioTrade is when a product or service sourced from biodiversity is commercialized and traded in a way that respects people and nature. It can be a positive force to protect biodiversity. About 73% of the survey’s respondents said they support or implement BioTrade principles.
The Next Normal: The changing Workplace in Africa – Ten Trends from the COVID-19 Pandemic that are Shaping Workplaces in Africa (ILO)
https://www.ilo.org/actemp/publications/WCMS_844770/lang–en/index.htm
This new ILO report finds that while Africa has been hit hard by the COVID pandemic, workers and enterprises have responded to the challenges with great resilience and adaptability. However, the pandemic has fundamentally altered where and how people work, upending many long-standing norms and practices. Enterprises and workers have made many changes, often out of necessity, though they have regularly brought unexpected improvements in productivity or working conditions. The report, released on 12 May 2022, identified key trends across the continent. Perhaps no single trend has defined the pandemic era more than the shift from physical to remote work. Thirty-six percent of workers in the surveyed enterprises worked remotely during the pandemic. Not surprisingly, remote work was more common amongst certain groups of workers, suggesting that a person’s job type and the sector of the economy in which they work also determines how they work – both now and in the future. Looking ahead, the future looks more hybrid rather than fully remote (with only 4 per cent of enterprises indicating that they would transition to a fully remote workplace).
Rethinking risks in times of COVID-19: Understanding and managing cascading and systemic risks: lessons from COVID-19 (UNU-EHS / UNDRR)
https://www.undrr.org/rethinking-risk-times-covid-19
https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/news22_e/heal_03jun22_e.pdf
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the upsides and downsides of international trade in medical goods and services. Open trade can increase access to medical goods and services, improve quality, and reduce costs. But excessive concentration of production, restrictive trade policies, supply chain disruptions, and regulatory divergence can jeopardize the ability of public health systems to respond to pandemics and other health crises. A new joint report from the World Bank Group and the World Trade Organization studies how trade in medical goods and services contributes to global health security and proposes ways to improve trade policies and international trade cooperation for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
Understanding and managing cascading and systemic risks: Lessons from COVID-19 (UNDRR)
https://www.undrr.org/publication/understanding-and-managing-cascading-and-systemic-risks-lessons-covid-19
WHO compilation of innovative concepts to communicate science during the COVID-19 pandemic
https://www.who.int/teams/epi-win/scicom-compilation
The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the importance of translating science in a timely and accessible manner to different audiences. As the pandemic progressed, the evidence evolved and resulted in changing public health recommendations. In times of such high uncertainty, people require answers to how to best protect themselves and their close ones. Journalists, health care workers, religious leaders, teachers, parents and others played an instrumental role in translating science to their communities. Likewise, researchers were key to communicate their findings and explain the underlying scientific process to various audiences. Throughout the pandemic, individuals and organizations designed innovative concepts to distill the latest science and make it meaningful and understandable to their respective communities. WHO has compiled case studies to showcase the creative yet rigorous approach of several science communication initiatives worldwide. The examples were collected through an open call that received 78 submissions. All examples were reviewed by two members of the WHO science translation team and analysed as regards to their (i) scientific accuracy, (ii) innovation factor, (iii) consideration of gender, equity and human rights aspects, and (iv) evaluation of their impact. Selected submissions were consequently written up as case studies in close collaboration with the originators of the initiatives. The launch features the 20 most highly rated good practice examples including initiatives directed at the health workforce, media representatives, researchers and the public including older people and children and adolescents. Featured examples showcase the impressive creativity with which science communicators make the science behind COVID-19 more accessible, understandable and meaningful to their audiences. The cases range from serious games and chatbots to evidence summary platforms and animation videos.
Economic Growth and Sustainable Development
Action Plan for a Sustainable Planet in the Digital Age
https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/38482/CODES_ActionPlan.pdf
A UN-backed coalition of 1,000 stakeholders from over 100 countries launched on 2 June 2022 an Action Plan to steer digitalization towards accelerating environmentally and socially sustainable development. The Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES) aims to help reorient and prioritize the application of digital technologies to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and address the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution and waste. The flagship CODES Action Plan, launched during the Stockholm+50 international environmental meeting, proposes a comprehensive and strategic approach to embed sustainability in all aspects of digitalization. This includes building globally inclusive processes to define standards and governance frameworks for digital sustainability, allocating the necessary resources and infrastructure, and identifying opportunities to reduce potential harms or risks from digitalization.
Approaches to Measuring Social Exclusion (UNECE)
https://unece.org/statistics/publications/approaches-measuring-social-exclusion
Circularity concepts in forest-based industries (UNECE / FAO)
https://unece.org/info/publications/pub/367742
Drought in Numbers, 2022 (UNCCD)
English & French: https://www.unccd.int/resources/publications/drought-numbers
Global climate indicators, risks and the Sustainable Development Goals, visually mapped (UNDRR)
https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/global-climate-indicators-risks-and-sustainable-development-goals-visually-mapped
There is emerging scientific literature on climate change, risk and policy action. However, the interdisciplinary nature of the research has resulted in difficulties for stakeholders to quickly and easily find information on climate change as it relates to ecosystems, populations and development. We present a mapping tool that connects the seven World Meteorological Organization (WMO) state of the climate indicators to climate change impacts and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The WMO indicators were chosen for their clarity, relevance for a range of audiences, and ability to be updated using internationally agreed and published methods with open access and high-quality data. Each indicator represents key aspects of the climate system linked to various associated risks identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the academic community. Systemically mapping the relationships between the WMO climate indicators and related risks to show how climate can affect the achievement of specific SDGs, with clear visual representations, provides stakeholders with a new tool to better grasp the interconnected and complex nature of how climate change threatens sustainable development.
Global Parliamentary Report 2022: Public engagement in the work of parliament (UNDP / IPU)
English, French & Spanish: https://www.ipu.org/resources/publications/reports/2022-03/global-parliamentary-report-2022
https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/354357
A new report published on 16 May 2022 by WHO and UNICEF reveals that more than 2.5 billion people need one or more assistive products, such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, or apps that support communication and cognition. Yet nearly one billion of them are denied access, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, where access can be as low as 3% of the need for these life-changing products. The report presents evidence for the first time on the global need for and access to assistive products and provides a series of recommendations to expand availability and access, raise awareness of the need, and implement inclusion policies to improve the lives of millions of people.
ILO Monitor on the World of Work, 9th edition
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—dcomm/—publ/documents/publication/wcms_845642.pdf
Multiple global crises are causing a marked deterioration in the global labour market recovery, with increasing inequalities within and between countries, according to a new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO). The 9th edition of the ILO Monitor on the World of Work, finds that after significant gains during the last quarter of 2021, the number of hours worked globally dropped in the first quarter of 2022, to 3.8 per cent below the pre-crisis benchmark (fourth quarter of 2019). This is equivalent to a deficit of 112 million full-time jobs. This represents a significant downgrading of figures published by the ILO in January 2022. Multiple new and interconnected global crises, including inflation (especially in energy and food prices), financial turbulence, potential debt distress, and global supply chain disruption – exacerbated by war in Ukraine – means there is a growing risk of a further deterioration in hours worked in 2022, as well as a broader impact on global labour markets in the months to come. The Russian aggression against Ukraine is already affecting labour markets in Ukraine and beyond, as detailed in a recent ILO brief. The report also finds that a great and growing divergence between richer and poorer economies continues to characterize the recovery. While high-income countries experienced a recovery in hours worked, low- and lower-middle-income economies suffered setbacks in the first quarter of the year with a 3.6 and 5.7 per cent gap respectively when compared to the pre-crisis benchmark. These diverging trends are likely to worsen in the second quarter of 2022.
The impact of the Ukraine crisis on the world of work: Initial assessments (ILO Brief)
https://www.ilo.org/europe/publications/WCMS_844295/lang–en/index.htm
An estimated 4.8 million jobs have been lost in Ukraine since the start of the Russian aggression, according to a new brief by the International Labour Organization (ILO), released on 11 May 2022. The study estimates that if hostilities were to escalate employment losses would increase to seven million. However, if the fighting was to cease immediately a rapid recovery would be possible, with the return of 3.4 million jobs. This would reduce employment losses to 8.9 per cent, according to the brief.
The Impact of the War in Ukraine on Sustainable Development in Africa (UNDP)
https://www.undp.org/africa/publications/impact-war-ukraine-sustainable-development-africa
Inequality in the Arab Region: A Ticking Time Bomb (ESCWA)
https://www.unescwa.org/publications/inequality-arab-region-ticking-time-bomb
https://www.unicef-irc.org/places-and-spaces
The majority of wealthy countries are creating unhealthy, dangerous and noxious conditions for children across the world, according to the latest Report Card published on 24 May 2022 by UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti. It compares how 39 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and European Union (EU) fare in providing healthy environments for children. The report features indicators such as exposure to harmful pollutants including toxic air, pesticides, damp and lead; access to light, green spaces and safe roads; and countries’ contributions to the climate crisis, consumption of resources, and the dumping of e-waste. The report states that if everybody in the world consumed resources at the rate people do in OECD and EU countries, the equivalent of 3.3 earths would be needed to keep up with consumption levels. If everyone were to consume resources at the rate at which people in Canada, Luxembourg and the United States do, at least five earths would be needed. While Spain, Ireland and Portugal feature at the top of the league table overall, all OECD and EU countries are failing to provide healthy environments for all children across all indicators. Some of the wealthiest countries, including Australia, Belgium, Canada and the United States, have a severe and widespread impact on global environments – based on CO2 emissions, e-waste and overall consumptions of resources per capita – and also rank low overall on creating a healthy environment for children within their borders. In contrast, the least wealthy OECD and EU countries in Latin America and Europe have a much lower impact on the wider world.
Long-term future trends and scenarios: impacts on the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals Report of the Secretary-General (E/2022/58, 4 May 2022)
English, French & Spanish: https://undocs.org/E/2022/58
“Summary: The present report serves to inform the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council in July 2022. It complements the report of the Secretary-General on the theme of the 2022 session of the Council (E/2022/57). It is aimed at supporting policymakers in looking beyond today’s crises and emergencies and reflecting on scenarios on how the world can reach the Sustainable Development Goals and its climate change objectives. It responds to the General Assembly mandate for the high-level segment of the Council. It builds on the call of the Secretary-General, in his statement presenting Our Common Agenda, that we must make full use of our unprecedented capacity to predict and model the impact of policy decisions over time.”
Mental health and Climate Change: Policy Brief (WHO)
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240045125
Climate change poses serious risks to mental health and well-being, concludes a new WHO policy brief, launched on 3 June 2022 at the Stockholm+50 conference. The Organization is therefore urging countries to include mental health support in their response to the climate crisis, citing examples where a few pioneering countries have done this effectively. The findings concur with a recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in February this year. The IPPC revealed that rapidly increasing climate change poses a rising threat to mental health and psychosocial well-being; from emotional distress to anxiety, depression, grief, and suicidal behaviour.
Migration and the SDGs: Measuring Progress – An Edited Volume (IOM)
https://publications.iom.int/books/migration-and-sdgs-measuring-progress-edited-volume
IOM’s new edited volume “Migration and the SDGs: Measuring Progress” explores migration trends within the SDGs and the impact of the 2030 Agenda on migration data. Further, the report brings together and examines for the first time data on all indicators under Target 10.7, taking stock of what the international community has learned on how to conceptualise and monitor safe, orderly and regular and responsible migration. The publication contains contributions from the International Labour Organization (ILO), the World Bank, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNICEF, World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and others.
Nursing and Midwifery Global Community of Practice (WHO)
https://nursingandmidwiferyglobal.org
Video: https://youtu.be/s_B0QARwM7E
On International Nurses Day, 12th May, the WHO Chief Nursing Office is officially launching a Nursing and Midwifery Global Community of Practice – a network for nurses, midwives and stakeholders to connect, communicate and collaborate. Everyone is encouraged to become a member of this growing network to share and learn from one another and from experts in their specialty areas.
Out of the Blue: The Value of Seagrasses to the Environment and to People (UNEP)
Report in English, Summary in English, French & Spanish, e-book version: https://www.unep.org/resources/report/out-blue-value-seagrasses-environment-and-people
https://www.wipo.int/publications/en/details.jsp?id=4604
Over the next decade, transforming the transportation sector to put it on a Net Zero pathway will require a combination of technological innovation, government and corporate decision-making, and adapted customer behavior. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by transportation, a sector responsible for almost 24 percent of direct carbon dioxide emissions from fuel combustion is crucial. This WIPO Patent Landscape Report provides early observations on patenting activity together with complementary information from online news, press releases and corporate financial reporting in the field of hydrogen fuel cells in transportation.
Repercussions in Latin America and the Caribbean of the war in Ukraine: how should the region face this new crisis? (ECLAC)
English: https://bit.ly/3xb7KF9
Spanish: https://bit.ly/3GUaGdA
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) released a new policy brief on 6 June 2022 that analyzes the war in Ukraine’s economic and social effects on the region and provides recommendations to countries on how to address them. According to the United Nations regional organization, the region’s economies face a difficult scenario in 2022 in an external context of uncertainty, inflation (particularly in food and energy), and a deceleration of economic activity and trade.According to ECLAC’s report, the region confronts domestic contexts marked by a sharp economic slowdown, rising inflation and a slow and incomplete recovery of labor markets, which will increase poverty and extreme poverty levels. As a result, 7.8 million people are forecast to join the 86.4 million others whose food security is already at risk.
Six Big Questions for the global economic recovery: The UN High-level Advisory Board Q&A Compendium
https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/hlab-ii_qa_compendium_final.pdf
https://library.wmo.int/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=22080
Four key climate change indicators – greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification – set new records in 2021. This is yet another clear sign that human activities are causing planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean, and in the atmosphere, with harmful and long-lasting ramifications for sustainable development and ecosystems, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Extreme weather – the day-to-day “face” of climate change – led to hundreds of billions of dollars in economic losses and wreaked a heavy toll on human lives and well-being and triggered shocks for food and water security and displacement that have accentuated in 2022. The WMO State of the Global Climate in 2021 report confirmed that the past seven years have been the warmest seven years on record. 2021 was “only” one of the seven warmest because of a La Niña event at the start and end of the year. This had a temporary cooling effect but did not reverse the overall trend of rising temperatures. The average global temperature in 2021 was about 1.11 (± 0.13) °C above the pre-industrial level.
Tobacco: Poisoning our planet (WHO)
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240051287
Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report 2022
https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/tracking-sdg7–the-energy-progress-report-2022
https://unece.org/innovation-matters-podcast-series
Innovation Matters is a new UNECE podcast series that explores how innovation, or experimentation with ideas to create value, is changing our world and could drive progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in the UNECE region and beyond.
Valuing, restoring and managing presumed drylands: Cerrado, Miombo–Mopane woodlands and the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (FAO)
https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cc0110en
World Economic Situation and Prospects as of mid-2022 (UN/DESA)
https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/world-economic-situation-and-prospects-as-of-mid-2022/
The war in Ukraine has upended the fragile economic recovery from the pandemic, triggering a devastating humanitarian crisis in Europe, increasing food and commodity prices and globally exacerbating inflationary pressures, says the latest United Nations forecast released on 18 May 2022. According to the World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) as of mid-2022, the global economy is now projected to grow by only 3.1 per cent in 2022, down from the 4.0 per cent growth forecast released in January 2022. Global inflation is projected to increase to 6.7 per cent in 2022, twice the average of 2.9 per cent during 2010–2020, with sharp rises in food and energy prices. The downgrades in growth prospects are broad-based, including the world’s largest economies, — the United States, China and the European Union — and the majority of other developed and developing economies. The growth prospects are weakening particularly in commodity-importing developing economies, driven by higher energy and food prices. The outlook is compounded by worsening food insecurity, especially in Africa.
WTO data portal
English, French & Spanish: https://data.wto.org/
The new portal allows users to navigate a wide range of WTO databases covering trade in goods, services, dispute settlement, environmental measures, trade-related intellectual property rights and more. One of the databases is the “WTO Stats portal“, which allows users to access and download time series statistics on trade in goods and services on an annual, quarterly and monthly basis. It also contains market access indicators providing information on governments’ bound, applied and preferential tariffs as well as non-tariff information and other indicators. The data portal will be regularly updated to take account of new systems and updates.
International Peace and Security
Concept note for the Security Council open debate on conflict and food security, 19 May 2022
English, French & Spanish: https://undocs.org/S/2022/391
The Security Council held an open debate on conflict and food security on 19 May 2022. In order to help to steer the discussion on the subject, the United States – Security Council President in May 2022, has prepared this concept note.
For information on food insecurity – UNRIC Library Backgrounder:
https://unric.org/en/unric-library-backgrounder-food-insecurity/
Concept note for the Arria-formula meeting on the theme “Protection of journalists”
English, French & Spanish: https://undocs.org/S/2022/406
Ireland organized an Arria -formula meeting on the theme “Protection of journalists” on 24 May 2022. In order to guide the discussions on this topic, Ireland has prepared this concept note.
Concept note for the Security Council high-level open debate on the theme “Strengthening accountability and justice for serious violations of international law”
English, French & Spanish: https://undocs.org/S/2022/418
The Security Council held a high-level open debate on the theme “Strengthening accountability and justice for serious violations of international law”, under the item “Maintenance of international peace and security” on 2 June 2022. In order to guide the discussions on this topic, Albania, Security Council President in June 2022, has prepared this concept note.
Stress Testing the UN’s Regional Prevention Approaches (UNU/CPR)
http://collections.unu.edu/eserv/UNU:8780/UNUCPR_StressTesting.pdf
UN Women’s engagement in support of counter terrorism and prevention of violent extremism
Publication in English & French: https://bit.ly/3zbf9XF
Programmatic note in English & French: https://bit.ly/3PXkWWv
This publication addresses the importance of having a proactive gender-responsive framework for countering terrorism (CT) and preventing violent extremism (PVE). UN Women’s gender-responsive framework is grounded in human rights frameworks and applies the principles of conflict sensitivity. UN Women’s support focuses on capacity building, inclusive processes, and people-centric approaches to CT and PVE, and it seeks a whole-of-government and whole-of-society engagement. However, there are normative, policy-related, programmatic challenges and risks attached to counter-terrorism and PVE engagement. UN Women’s agenda in upholding and promoting women’s rights within this complex and dynamic thematic area can only be advanced by responding to these challenges and risks. This publication offers guidance to UN Women’s community of practice to carry out due diligence, measures that respond to challenges identified, and most importantly, to support risk-aware decision-making at all levels. As such, and drawing on the discussions from the community of practice virtual workshop and analysis undertaken of UN Women’s engagement in counter-terrorism and prevention of violent extremism at all levels, the policy brief review makes recommendations for UN Women’s community of practice to consider in future relevant programming and policy support.
Human Rights
From Pilots toward Policies: Utilizing Online Data for Preventing Violent Extremism and Addressing Hate Speech (UNDP, 13 May 2022)
Policy Brief: https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2022-05/UNDP-Policy-Brief-Utilizing-Online-Data-for-PVE-and-Addressing-Hate-Speech.pdf
Guidance Note: https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2022-05/UNDP-Guidance-Note-Risk-Informed-Utilization-of-Online-Data-for-PVE-and-Addressing-Hate-Speech.pdf
Humanitarian Affairs
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/341858/9789240029354-eng.pdf
Why, What, Where, Who, When, and How? The Red Book extracts from references and summarizes the most relevant sections from existing guidelines, manuals, and recommendations published by medical and humanitarian authorities from around the globe, including the World Health Organization (WHO), other UN agencies/bodies, 3 MSF, the International Committee of the Red Cross, NGOs, 4 other agencies/organizations, and the SPHERE standards. These references, while not exhaustive, will help guide medical teams to make principled, patient-focused humanitarian decisions.
Stronger Data, Brighter Futures: Protecting children on the move with data and evidence (IOM, OECD, UNHCR, UNICEF)
https://data.unicef.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IDAC_Stronger-Data-Brighter-Futures.pdf
UNICEF Child Alert, May 2022 – Severe wasting: An overlooked child survival emergency
https://www.unicef.org/media/120346/file/Wasting%20child%20alert.pdf
Justice and International Law
https://bit.ly/3N8WmzT
The purpose of the Guidebook is to provide police and civil prosecutors, and relevant investigative agencies, with guidance to support the successful prosecution of incidents involving the deliberate use of a chemical or biological agents. The Guidebook aims to provide awareness and insight into the current and emerging challenges related to the investigation and prosecution of such crimes.
Drug Control, Crime Prevention and Counter-terrorism
Animals in Danger: Vita and Scooter on a mission (UNODC)
https://www.unodc.org/res/environment-climate/education-raising-awareness_html/Vita-Scooter_English_LR_Spread.pdf
Exploitation and Abuse: The Scale and Scope of Human Trafficking in South Eastern Europe (UNODC)
https://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/Exploitation_and_Abuse.pdf
Migrants on their way from Asia to Europe are being forced to work in the construction, agriculture, and hospitality sectors by human traffickers who abuse their irregular status and fear of deportation. Children, often exploited by their own family members, are compelled to commit crimes that include pickpocketing, robbery, and drug dealing, while others are sexually exploited online as traffickers take advantage of the increased use of the internet and social media platforms. These are some of the issues explored in a new report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on the scale and scope of human trafficking in South Eastern Europe (SEE).
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