United Nations

The present report contains an outline of the actions that the International Narcotics Control Board has undertaken pursuant to the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly at its twentieth session, in 1998. As shown in this repot, the goals that the General Assembly set in 1998 continue to be equally relevant and important in 2008 as they were then. In addition, new challenges to international drug control have surfaced, meaning more must be done to meet those goals.

The Dossier focuses on one of the most compelling issues to be addressed in this century—resolving deadly conflict. It explores what we are doing as a human community to address such conflict and what we should be doing as the decade progresses. It highlights the fact that on one hand, there is a vibrant community of agencies and organizations working in the field of peacebuilding, but on the other hand, there is no overarching structure, little cohesion and extensive fragmentation in the field. The Dossier also advances the idea that the UN can play a much greater role in peacebuilding than currently acknowledged.

This international compendium of national demographic statistics is designed to supply basic statistical data on 230 countries or areas for such users as demographers, economists, public-health workers and sociologists. The Demographic Yearbook 2006 is the fifty-eighth in a series published by the United Nations. It contains general tables including a world summary of selected demographic statistics, statistics on the size, distribution and trends in national population, natality, foetal, infant, maternal and general mortality as well as nuptiality and divorce.

The Bulletin includes statistical data and indicators on the international trade in goods of ESCWA member countries, based primarily on national sources, with additional material provided by secondary sources. Data presented includes summary tables on overall trade, trends and share of the region in total world trade as well as data on intraregional trade and on the direction of trade of ESCWA member countries with other countries and regions during the period 2003 to 2007. This bilingual publication contains information in Arabic and English.

In this case, The Court finds that the United States of America has breached its obligations to Mr. Avena and 50 other Mexican nationals and to Mexico under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. This series contains the reports of the decisions of the Court in both the English and the French texts.

Success has been hard to attain in recent years in multilateral disarmament and arms control work. Besides political problems, obstacles to progress can be the unintended consequences of past practice, or they can stem from the complex challenges those involved must deal with. Aspects of multilateral disarmament practice compound cognitive challenges that individuals face in managing their perceptions and interactions with others. While there is no way to ensure success in disarmament endeavours, multilateral practitioners can improve the chances by recognizing and harnessing cognitive diversity, as humanitarian perspectives in disarmament processes have shown. This book discusses practical suggestions to help achieve this.

This report finds that although there are some successes, African countries are still experiencing enormous difficulties in achieving the macroeconomic convergence criteria set by their RECs, such as targets on inflation, debt-GDP ratio, and deficit-GDP ratio. The assessment also indicates that despite some financial developments, African financial market activities remain shallow, with capital markets characterized by low capitalization and liquidity. The report also provides policymakers with recommendations on how to deepen monetary and financial integration on the continent and create an enabling macroeconomic environment for the continent.

This annual review identifies the main developments in world maritime transport and provides world-wide statistical data. It takes a look at supply/demand equilibrium in containerized shipping, shipbuilding and shipscrapping, the development of ports, privatization and freight markets among other relevant areas. It also presents extracts of the United Nations Code of Conduct as it relates to the areas discussed.

This training manual intends to enhance the understanding of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) based approach to disability measurement. It provides an overview of the ICF framework as well as guidelines on how to operationalize the underlying concepts of functioning and disability into data collection, dissemination and analysis. This publication benefits not only statisticians but also a wide range of national and international users of data on disability. It is hoped, that the manual will assist in stimulating more disability data collection in accordance with international standards and data dissemination for both national and international disability policy analysis, formulation and evaluation worldwide.

The project was launched in support of post-tsunami and earthquakes recovery efforts of affected and vulnerable communities in South-East Asia. This paper summarizes the project outcomes and consolidates the experiences and lessons learned from governments in the region. It also presents comparative analyses of project outcomes and integration of key recommendations. Moreover, it intends to facilitate the adoption of local experiences elsewhere in the region and to promote meaningful partnerships.

This document reviews the literature on the relationship between agricultural trade policy reform and poverty, and the results of recent detailed simulation studies applied to economies in the ESCAP region. It then uses the GTAP model to evaluate the possible impacts of the most recently proposed modality for agricultural trade reform under Doha on the economies of the ESCAP region. It compares the results to a benchmark of comprehensive agricultural trade reform and finds that the current proposal does not imply significant cuts to applied tariffs, and has very modest overall effects on welfare.

Many developing countries are looking to tourism as a potentially promising avenue for economic and human development, and foreign direct investment (FDI) is one of the routes through which they can carry out tourism. The study highlights the main findings with respect to the development impacts of foreign direct investment in tourism (TFDI) in five East and South African countries – Botswana, Kenya, Mauritius, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania on income, employment, technology and skills transfer, wages and linkages, as well as the social and environmental impacts among others. It also examines the salient policies that are in place, identifying those that have hindered and promoted TFDI.

The study examines policy options relating to the establishment and further development of inland logistics centres and dry ports with an international role. It provides the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) secretariat with a solid base to engage in further research and analysis in this area, in order to present countries with policy options in developing inland logistics centres and dry ports. It examines at the extent to which the concept of a seaport can be applied inland. The publication also developed a cluster concept applied to industry, in particular to the logistics and port industry. It also provides governments and industry with an initial step to by to step process to evaluate the potential of future logistics centres and dry ports.

The UNDP Crisis Prevention and Recovery Report 2008 titled “Post-conflict Economic Recovery: Enabling Local Ingenuity,” is a comprehensive analysis focusing on three critical factors: the importance of local ingenuity to guide recovery, the state’s role in promoting this ingenuity, and the policies needed to rebuild battered economies and reduce the risk of conflict recurrence. The study cites examples of countries that have succeeded in rekindling Post-conflict economies and those that continue-flounder, discussing the foundations that are so vital to foster post-conflict economic recovery.

Population ageing has become an increasing concern for governments in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region. In most countries, the period which has seen the highest proportion of working-age population, the time of the so-called “demographic bonus” is gradually coming to an end. While the degree and timing of this process may vary greatly, the change is common to all countries, posing challenges as well as holding opportunities. In 2007, UNECE member states took stock of the implementation of the commitments made in 2002 when they adopted the Regional Implementation Strategy (RIS) for the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA). To review the situation five years on and to identify priorities for the future, the Government of Spain and the UNECE organized a Ministerial Conference on Ageing in Spain in 2007. The volume includes the material presented and adopted at the Conference.

The United Nations Documents Index provides information on documents and publications issued by United Nations offices worldwide. The information is presented in nine sections covering the areas of documents and publications, official records, sales publications, United Nations maps included in UN documents, United Nations sheet maps, United Nations document series symbols, author index, title index and subject index. The index is a two part set.

With decreasing demand in the traditional markets in the United States, Europe, Japan and Canada for apparels, the new book Clothing Demand From Emerging Markets: An Opportunity For LDC Supplier launched by International Trade Centre comes at an opportune time. It gives in-depth markets insight for suppliers, apparel manufacturers in the countries like India, China, Malaysia, Brazil and South Africa to do business among themselves, and at the same time least developed countries to have trade ties with these countries.

The ADR Republic of the Congo covered the period from 2004-2007 and has supported the process of developing the new country programme 2009-2013. The evaluation report concludes that the UNDP has made judicious decisions in the selection of its areas of intervention but it is now time to question the pertinence of continuing post-conflict type of activities beyond the current programme cycle. The evaluation recommends that the next country programme should build upon the demonstrated comparative advantages of UNDP in the Congo, namely its support for good governance, its pro-poor and community development approach, its regional approach to environmental issues and its strong advocacy capability. It should gradually phase out activities directly related to the post-conflict period and peace building should become the underlying theme for most activities.

The main purpose of this evaluation was to access United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP's) positioning and contributions to managing environment and energy for sustainable development. The scope of the evaluation covered all programmatic and operational aspects of the environment and energy in all UNDP's geographic regions and at the global, regional and country levels.