A. Narcotic Drugs (E14d)

In 1998, the General Assembly called a special session to develop the Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction and Measures to Enhance International Cooperation to Counter the World Drug Problem. The plan, which passed with overwhelming support, included a provision that its progress be reviewed in 2008 to determine how to improve this broad, multilateral strategy as it goes forward. In reviewing the impact of the action plan over the last decade, the nations will take stock of how they fared in their efforts to reduce illicit manufacture and abuse of narcotics within their borders; what steps they took to control the sale of drug precursors; their success in promoting judicial cooperation and bolstering their legal systems against corruption; what effort was made to detect and counter the practice of money laundering; how successful they were in destroying illicit crops; and what alternative economic development programs they implemented to fill the gap that drug money had previously filled. With an honest accounting of this information, nations will be better able to find ways to strengthen the system and to make enforcement of international mandates more effective, leading to an improved framework for the future.

Text of UN Guiding Principles of Drug Demand Reduction (1998): http://www.unodc.org/pdf/report_1999-01-01_1.pdf

UN Office on Drugs and Crime main website: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/index.html

Article on money laundering from International Relations Center (2001): http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol6/v6n18launder.html

Article on alternative development from Transnational Institute (2002): http://www.tni.org/detail_page.phtml?page=archives_jelsma_altdel

B. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (E14e)

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was created by the UN General Assembly in 1950 to protect and support refugees and internally displaced people at the request of the UN and/or governments. The hope is that in all cases the refugees can be assisted out of conflict safely, resettle in a new state, and ultimately able to return to their homelands if they so desire. In the last fifty years the UNHCR has been criticized for their lack of initiative concerning their timeliness and emergency plans as conflicts arise throughout the world. Each day the number of refugees around the world increase due to internal conflicts, war, and natural disasters. It has been reported that over 50 million people have been able to benefit from the aid given by the UNHCR; nonetheless currently the refugee crisis in Iraq has been stated as one of the worlds fast growing which continues to have overwhelming effects on its neighboring countries. New strides have been taken to eradicate hunger and provide basic needs as some of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals but is the UNHCR working up to their potential and what the organization was created to do?

http://www.unhcr.org/basics.html

http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/9679

http://www.the-ecentre.net/about/index.cfm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/road_to_refuge/default.stm

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/UNHCR/efdcbb67c83b1dc9b40710c33ffc3d52.htm

C. Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (E7h)

Worldwide, an estimated 38.6 million people are living with HIV, 95% of these persons live in developing countries, and Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the worst affected region in the world. Population growth, increased migration and mobility, lack of education and awareness, and life-prolonging antiretroviral drug treatments have all contributed to an increase in the number of persons living with HIV. While the world first recognized the HIV/AIDS virus in 1981, it was not until the 1990s that organizations such as the UN started to formally recognize the impact of the AIDS as not just a health problem, but as a socio-economics, productivity, children’s welfare, and development issue. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is the primary body that oversees and brings together the work and research of the global fight against AIDS. While in recent years, gains have been made in lowering the cost of effective drug treatments and in creating preventative educational programs, the UN has faced new challenges; In some parts of Africa, the number of new AIDS cases outpaces that of those being treated, AIDS now impacts areas of the world not previously affected by the virus, and some countries and cultures continue to misunderstand and stigmatize the virus.

UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic: This 43 page pdf document is an excellent resource in that it provides both a broad overview of the AIDS epidemic and country-specific information - including how the disease is spread, changes of the epidemic within various countries, and drug treatment information. This is a particularly good document to learn more about how HIV/AIDS may affect your specific country.

http://data.unaids.org/pub/GlobalReport/2006/2006_GR_CH02_en.pdf

UN Cyber School Bus Briefing Paper: This resource provides a basic introduction to HIV/AIDS, including an overview of the topic, recent progress, and outside resources (mostly web links).

http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/hiv/index.htm

Glossary of Terms: This glossary was created for youth participating in the 2006 International Conference on AIDS. This may be a helpful resource in de-coding and understanding many of the acronyms and terms you may come across in your research.

http://youth.aids2006.org/en/informed/glossary.html

AIDS in Africa: While this website focuses on AIDS in Africa, it’s “people charts” and “epidemic map” provide an easy to understand, visual presentation of the impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa and changes in drug costs, impact of AIDS on the population, etc. In addition, their “research assistant” links to articles on HIV/AIDS, divided by subject category.

http://www.aidsinafrica.net/

International Crisis Group (ICG) HIV/AIDS as a Security Issue: This document from 2001 explains the security risk of HIV/AIDS.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1&id=1831

BBC News Health Background Briefing: AIDS: This background briefing section of the BBC lists all recent news articles related to AIDS.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/background_briefings/aids/default.stm

Scenarios from Africa and Scenarios from the Sahel: Two collections of short films written by young people about how HIV/AIDS affects their lives and their communities. Click on the link to the left called “The Films.”

http://www.globaldialogues.org/homeEng.htm

D. Science and technology for development (E13b)

Bringing the benefits of technological advances to developing nations is a complex undertaking, requiring the cooperation of various UN agencies along with NGOs, national and local governments, international aid agencies, and private-sector stakeholders. The challenge of harmonizing the interests of all players in this struggle is a daunting one, made no easier by the breadth of the ground to be covered in closing the “digital divide” and channeling resources and missions in order to help the local populations derive the maximum benefit from this ambitious project. In order to continue this effort, nations will need to take note of achievements so far, lessons learned from ongoing projects, and a realistic accounting of what success is possible in the near- and long-term. The theme of the present program of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development is “Promoting the building of a people-centered development-oriented and inclusive information society.” Within that broad theme lie complex question about access to information, promoting economic development models, a balance between proprietary information and holding a monopoly on information, and how we can improve on the methods being employed so far by expanding the number of contributors and stakeholders, as well as intensifying their roles in each project.

Press Release from ECOSOC (2007): http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/ecosoc6306.doc.htm

Report of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (2007): http://stdev.unctad.org/docs/E_2007_31.pdf

Report on the implementation and follow-up to the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (2006): http://www.un.org/docs/ecosoc/meetings/2006/cs2006/SG%20report%20on%20WSIS.15June.pdf

Article on cooperation among developing nations (2005): http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/news/opeds/2005/011505_juma_newscientist.htm

Information Technology for Developing Countries, the newsletter of the IFIP Working Group: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov/ifip/wg.htm