United Nations

La Guía de prácticas, adoptada por la CNUDMI el 1 de julio de 2009, ofrece información a los profesionales de la insolvencia y a los jueces sobre aspectos prácticos de la cooperación y la comunicación en casos de insolvencia transfronteriza. La información se basa en una descripción de la experiencia registrada y de las prácticas seguidas, centrándose en la utilización y la negociación de los acuerdos transfronterizos. Además, en la Guía se presenta un análisis de más de 39 acuerdos, celebrados aproximadamente durante el último decenio, entre los que figuran acuerdos escritos aprobados por tribunales y acuerdos verbales concertados entre las partes. La Guía de prácticas contiene una serie de cláusulas modelo con las que se pretende explicar la forma en que se han abordado, o podrían abordarse, distintas cuestiones, aunque no se pretende que sirvan de disposiciones modelo para su incorporación directa a un acuerdo transfronterizo.

This Innocenti Insight examines the social dynamics of the abandonment of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in five countries, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal and the Sudan, and seeks to inform policies and programmes aimed at ending the practice. The experiences from the five countries documented in this Innocenti Insight provide evidence that the abandonment of FGM/C is possible when programmes and policies address the complex social dynamics associated with the practice and challenge established gender relationships and existing assumptions and stereotypes. This publication concludes with reflections on the remaining challenges of FGM/C abandonment and offers recommendations for future research and programme interventions.

Earthquakes, droughts, floods, and storms are natural hazards, but unnatural disasters are the deaths and damages that result from human acts of omission and commission. Every disaster is unique, but each exposes actions-by individuals and governments at different levels-that, had they been different, would have resulted in fewer deaths and less damage. Prevention is possible, and this book examines what it takes to do this cost-effectively. It looks at disasters primarily through an economic lens. Economists emphasize self-interest to explain how people choose the amount of prevention, insurance, and coping. But lenses can distort as well as sharpen images, so the book also draws from other disciplines: psychology to examine how people may misperceive risks, political science to understand voting patterns, and nutrition science to see how stunting in children after a disaster impairs cognitive abilities and productivity as adults much later. Peering into the future, it shows that while urbanization and climate change will increase exposure to hazards, vulnerability can be reduced if cities are better managed. This book will be of interest to government officials, urban planners, relief agencies, NGOs, donors, and other development practitioners .

The international drug control system is one of the oldest consensus-based multilateral systems in existence. While the use of psychoactive substances itself extends back many centuries, today's international drug control system is rooted in efforts made a century ago to address the largest substance abuse problem the world has ever faced: the Chinese opium epidemic. The present volume is not a diplomatic history, it aims only to present the basic development of the modern drug control system: why and how it arose, how it impacted drug production and consumption and its legacy for present and future international drug control efforts.

This volume contains information on the international trade for individual commodities (3 to digit SITC groups) up to the reporting year 2008 and eleven world trade tables covering trade values and indices. The information for 2008 contained in the commodity trade profiles is based on data provided by 139 countries (areas), representing 95% of world trade of 2008. For more detailed and current data on individual countries and commodities, please visit UN Comtrade (http://comtrade.un.org), a United Nations database featuring detailed imports and exports statistics as reported by the statistical authorities of close to 200 countries or areas.

Official Records of the Report of the Human Rights Council.

This issue of the Bulletin of Information and Communications Technology for Development in Western Asia contains a review and analysis of the status of information society in the ESCWA region four years after the World Summit for Information Technology, through a Follow-up of the implementation of the recommendations, resolutions and action plans adopted by the Summit, and of relevant regional and national strategies and action plans. This issue contains also an analysis of the statistical errors committed in measuring the information society and their impact on the accuracy of ICT indicators. It presents also a review of the efforts aimed at integrating women in the information society, and progress achieved in updating the Regional Action Plan for Building the Information Society in Western Asia.

Official Records of the Report of the Executive Committee of the programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

This evaluation assessed the performance, results and strategic positioning of UNDP’s Regional Programme for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, 2006 to 2010. The evaluation found that the programme in general, and the RBEC Regional Service Centre in Bratislava in particular, are extremely important for fulfilling the RBEC mission in the region. But it also noted that the combination of projects, activities and services implemented by the regional programme is beyond what is traditionally called a “programme”. The evaluation team recognized that the Bratislava Regional Centre has a strong capacity and In-depth expertise in most UNDP priority areas and is a unique source of knowledge and advice for the country offices. It also noted that the programme is being implemented in a fast changing region and in the complex environment of implementing the UNDP regionalization policy.

Now in its Thirty- first edition, the United Nations Disarmament Yearbook serves as an authoritative chronicle of international efforts to control or eliminate the world’s most deadly weapons, over the course of the previous calendar year. It is designed as a handy reference tool for diplomats, researchers, educators and the interested public. It comprises succinct accounts of the year’s developments, explanations of the voting in the First Committee, an index and extensive appendices.

The study of CzechInvest, the leading and most prestigious investment and business development agency in the Czech Republic, seeks to describe and analyse the principles underlying the promotion of investment, restructuring and innovation in a country that has undergone a fundamental transformation of its economic, social and political operations in the last 18 years. The country is and interesting example for countries facing the challenges of growing openness to globalized markets and the need to restructure their international exchange patterns and institutional arrangements. The report shows how restructuring policies were channeled through the investment promotion agency with a flexible adjusting and ""trial & error"" approach to design policy instruments and to changes in the real world, while facing the dangers of corruption, bureaucracy and political capture.

Implementing the environmental, social, and economic policies necessary to achieve the Millennium Development Goals implies considerable financial resources. It also raises the complex question of how the resources can be deployed to greatest effect. Too often resources come pre-labeled or pre-packaged. A ‘thematic’ problem is identified and measures are designed and resources assigned to deal with it. This can be the case for health, education, agriculture, sanitation or a wide range of single issues. This publication shares the experience of UNCDF and others in designing and implementing performance-based grants. The piloting of performance-based grant systems demonstrates how local catalytic capital can be deployed to bring about real improvements in local development and poverty reduction by encouraging local governments to improve their capacity and focus on results.

Adopted by UNCITRAL on 1 July 2009, the publication provides information for insolvency practitioners and judges on practical aspects of cooperation and communication in cross-border insolvency cases. The information is based upon a description of collected experience and practice, focusing on the use and negotiation of cross-border agreements. It provides an analysis of more than 39 agreements, ranging from written agreements approved by courts to oral arrangement between parties to the proceedings that have been entered into over the last decade or so. It illustrates how the resolution of issues and conflicts that might arise in cross-border insolvency cases could be facilitated by cross-border cooperation, and includes a number of sample clauses to illustrate how different issues have been, or might be, addressed. It also includes summaries of the cases in which the cross-border agreements that form the basis of the analysis were used.

Adopted by UNCITRAL on 1 July 2009, the publication provides information for insolvency practitioners and judges on practical aspects of cooperation and communication in cross-border insolvency cases. The information is based upon a description of collected experience and practice, focusing on the use and negotiation of cross-border agreements. It provides an analysis of more than 39 agreements, ranging from written agreements approved by courts to oral arrangement between parties to the proceedings that have been entered into over the last decade or so. It illustrates how the resolution of issues and conflicts that might arise in cross-border insolvency cases could be facilitated by cross-border cooperation, and includes a number of sample clauses to illustrate how different issues have been, or might be, addressed. It also includes summaries of the cases in which the cross-border agreements that form the basis of the analysis were used.

International arbitration has been the most commonly used method for the settlement of international investment disputes. However, other forms of dispute settlements are, to date, only rarely used in practice. Taking into consideration that international arbitration does have a distinct set of disadvantages and is generally costly, this paper presents alternative approaches to the settlement of investment disputes as well as approaches states can take to avoid and prevent investment disputes from arising in the first place.

The global economic crisis has put an end to a period of worldwide expansion and halted the integration of Latin America and developing Asia with the international economy. Current and expected economic weakness in the advanced economies has led us to look elsewhere for sources of growth. Emerging economies in Asia and Latin America have increased their contributions to world production, finance, and trade in the past decades. In doing so, the two regions have deepened their economic ties with significant implications for the recovery of their respective economies. This paper discusses the impact of the crisis on the commercial patterns inside and outside the Forum for East Asia Latin American Cooperation (FEALAC) bloc.

This report delineates governments’ views and policies concerning population and development. In particular, it itemises policies in the areas of population size and growth, population age structure, fertility and family planning, health and mortality, spatial distribution and internal migration, and international migration. Preparation of the publication was facilitated by the cooperation of member states and non-member states of the United Nations, the regional commissions, and the agencies, funds and programmes of the UN system.

Official records of the Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.