This annual report of the United Nations Committee on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) submitted to the General Assembly covers the Fifty-second session (8–19 July 2019).

In a rapidly urbanizing and globalized world, cities have been the epicentres of COVID-19 (coronavirus). The virus has spread to virtually all parts of the world; first, among globally connected cities, then through community transmission and from the city to the countryside. This report shows that the intrinsic value of sustainable urbanization can and should be harnessed for the wellbeing of all. It provides evidence and policy analysis of the value of urbanization from an economic, social and environmental perspective. It also explores the role of innovation and technology, local governments, targeted investments and the effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda in fostering the value of sustainable urbanization.

This year marks the start of the Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It is a critical period to advance a shared vision and accelerate responses to the world's gravest challenges - from eliminating poverty and hunger to reversing climate change. Yet, in only a brief period of time, the precipitous spread of the novel coronavirus turned a public health emergency into one of the worst international crises of our lifetimes, changing the world as we know it. Now, due to COVID-19, an unprecedented health, economic and social crisis is threatening lives and livelihoods, making the achievement of Goals even more challenging.

This Policy Note assembles analysis on different angles of the COVID-19 crisis and the challenges and opportunities it presents for development policy and multilateralism. It addresses, among other issues: new ways of designing the relationship between governments and private actors that puts public interest at the centre; principles and concrete ideas for a multilateral response to COVID-19 as well as for a new multilateralism going forward; and how to respond to COVID-19 in a context of severe inequalities, including gender-based inequalities.

Opposite pages bear duplicate numbering

Opposite pages bear duplicate numbering

The Security Council, the all-powerful UN body for maintaining world peace, remains mired in its World War II origins. The victors, the US, Russia, China, Britain, and France, continue to control it with their permanent membership and the veto. Their confrontations emasculated the Council during the Cold War and their cooperation spawned questionable military actions thereafter. The book traces the origins of international security cooperation and scrutinizes the moorings of the Security Council's powers in international law. It critiques the permanent five's manipulation of the Council to aggressively strengthen their global dominance and legitimise their exercise of power. Their doctrines and actions in countries like Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Libya have hindered the Council's evolution as a responsible body which has the trust of a globalising world. This book is an essential read for practitioners and scholars to understand the Security Council and the failure to reform it.

Law and Practice of the United Nations: Documents and Commentary combines primary materials with expert commentary demonstrating the interaction between law and practice in the UN organization, as well as the possibilities and limitations of multilateral institutions in general. Each chapter begins with a short introductory essay describing how the documents that ensue illustrate a set of legal, institutional, and political issues relevant to the practice of diplomacy and the development of public international law through the United Nations. Each chapter also includes questions to guide discussion of the primary materials, and a brief bibliography to facilitate further research on the subject. This second edition addresses the most challenging issues confronting the United Nations and the global community today, from terrorism to climate change, from poverty to nuclear proliferation. New features include hypothetical fact scenarios to test the understanding of concepts in each chapter. This edition contains expanded author commentary, while maintaining the focus on primary materials. Such materials enable a realistic presentation of the work of international diplomacy: the negotiation, interpretation and application of such texts are an important part of what actually takes place at the United Nations and other international organizations. This work is ideal for courses on the United Nations or International Organizations, taught in both law and international relations programs.

This is the official report of the United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Programme submitted to the General Assembly on its fourth session in Nairobi (11-15 March 2019).

This ECLAC annual report sets out and analyses the main foreign direct investment (FDI) trends in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. In the region, FDI inflows were up (by 13.2%) year on year for the first time in five years, at US 184.287 billion. This performance is explained by higher flows into just a few countries, however, mainly Brazil and Mexico. Moreover, it does not reflect equity investment, but higher inflows in the form of intercompany loans and, to a lesser extent, reinvestment of earnings. Manufactures and services were the sectors receiving most equity, although there was a slight rise in investment in natural resource sectors compared with 2018

Opposite pages bear duplicate numbering

This is the official report to the General Assembly of the Committee on Contributions on its seventy-ninth session dated 3 to 21 June 2019.

Graduation is the process through which least developed countries (LDCs) cease to be members of the LDC category, in recognition of their advances in development. In principle, it marks a shift from dependency to a greater degree of self-sufficiency and emergence from the development "traps" which beset LDCs. However, the loss of access to international support measures (ISMs) tied to LDC status at graduation can give rise to important economic costs, including an estimated 3-4 per cent of export revenues in the case of trade preferences. During the 45 years since the establishment of the LDC category, only four countries have graduated from LDC status; and the Report's projections indicate that the target of half of the LDCs graduating by 2020 is unlikely to be met. This partly reflects the inadequacy of the existing ISMs. The projections also suggest a fundamental shift in the composition of the group, which by 2025 will consist almost entirely of African countries and include only one small-island economy. The Report argues that graduation should be viewed as part of a longer and broader development process, and emphasizes the need for "graduation with momentum" - an approach which goes beyond fulfilment of the statistical criteria for graduation to lay the foundations for future development. This means prioritizing structural transformation of the economy, development of productive capacities, upgrading technology and raising productivity. The Report highlights several policy areas essential to achieve "graduation with momentum" - rural transformation, industrial policy, science, technology and innovation policy, finance and macroeconomic policy, employment generation and women's empowerment. It calls on the international community to contribute by fulfilling their commitments in areas such as aid and technology. It also suggests possible revisions to the graduation criteria to reflect more appropriately issues such as structural transformation, environmental sustainability and gender equality.

This directory lists competent national authorities empowered to issue certificates and authorization for the import and export of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances; and competent national authorities empowered to regulate or enforce national controls over precursors and essential chemicals; International bodies that might assist national competent authorities in case no authority is listed for a given country or region, or in case contact cannot be established with the listed authorities. The directory also includes contact details of national competent authorities or international bodies and is issued annually. Introductory texts in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

The relationship between populism and democracy is contested among scholars. While some propose that populism is inherently harmful for democracy because it is anti-pluralist and confrontational, others argue that populism can reinvigorate worn-out democracies in need of greater popular participation. In A Dynamic Theory of Populism in Power, Julio F. Carrion advances this debate by examining the empirical relationship between populism in power and democracy. Does populism in power always lead to regime change, that is, the demise of democracy? The answer is no. The impact of populism on democracy depends on the variety of populism in power: the worst outcomes in democratic governance are found under unconstrained populism. Carrion presents the permissive and productive conditions for why and how populism becomes unconstrained, as well as a dynamic theory of change that shows how the late victories of populists build on early ones, resulting in greater power asymmetries. A Dynamic Theory of Populism in Power provides an analysis of five Latin American populist presidencies, all located in the Andes. In four of them (Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela), populism became unconstrained and regime change followed. In one case, Colombia, populism in power was successfully contained and democracy survived. The concluding chapter places the Andean cases in comparative perspective and discusses how unconstrained populism in other cases (Nicaragua and Hungary) also led to the end of electoral democracy. Where populism in power was constrained (Honduras and the United States), regime change did not materialize. Carrion advances a theory of populism in power that helps us understand how democracies transition into non-democracies. To that extent, the book illuminates the processes of democratic erosion in our time.

The Security Council, the all-powerful UN body for maintaining world peace, remains mired in its World War II origins. The victors, the US, Russia, China, Britain, and France, continue to control it with their permanent membership and the veto. Their confrontations emasculated the Council during the Cold War and their cooperation spawned questionable military actions thereafter. The book traces the origins of international security cooperation and scrutinizes the moorings of the Security Council's powers in international law. It critiques the permanent five's manipulation of the Council to aggressively strengthen their global dominance and legitimise their exercise of power. Their doctrines and actions in countries like Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Libya have hindered the Council's evolution as a responsible body which has the trust of a globalising world. This book is an essential read for practitioners and scholars to understand the Security Council and the failure to reform it.

How can international organizations (IOs) like the United Nations (UN) and their implementing partners be held accountable if their actions and policies violate fundamental human rights? This book provides a new conceptual framework to study pluralist accountability, whereby third parties hold IOs and their implementing partners accountable for human rights violations. Based on a rich study of UN-mandated operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo, the EU Troika's austerity policy, and Global Public-Private Health Partnerships in India, this book analyzes how competition and human rights vulnerability shape the evolution of pluralist accountability in response to diverse human rights violations, such as human trafficking, the violation of the rights of detainees, economic rights, and the right to consent in clinical trials. While highlighting the importance of alternative accountability mechanisms for legitimacy of IOs, this book also argues that pluralist accountability should not be regarded as a panacea for IOs' legitimacy problems, as it is often less legalized and might cause multiple accountability disorder.

Official Records of the Report of the International Law Commission Sixty-seventh session 2 May-10 June and 4 July-12 August 2016

During the first decade of the twenty-first century, the rising demand for peacekeepers saw the United Nations (UN) operate at a historically unprecedented tempo, with increases in the number and size of missions as well as in the scope and complexity of their mandates. The need to deploy over 120,000 UN peacekeepers and the demands placed upon them in the field have threatened to outstrip the willingness and to some extent capacity of the UN's Member States. This situation raised the questions of why states contribute forces to UN missions and, conversely, what factors inhibit them from doing more? Providing Peacekeepers answers these questions. After summarizing the challenges confronting the UN in its force generation efforts, the book develops a new framework for analyzing UN peacekeeping contributions in light of the evidence presented in sixteen case study chapters which examine the experiences of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Ghana, Nepal, Uruguay, Brazil, Turkey, South Africa, and Japan. The book concludes by offering recommendations for how the UN might develop new strategies for force generation so as to meet the foreseeable challenges of twenty-first century peacekeeping and improve the quantity and quality of its uniformed peacekeepers.

An ethnography on early-career workers facing job insecurity at the United Nations. This ethnography focuses on the work and lifeworld at the United Nations in Geneva and Vienna. By emphasizing the perspectives of entry-level workers, this book addresses the increasing flexibility and job insecurity for those at the beginning of their potential UN careers. It explores questions such as: How do career aspirants reconcile their narratives with the organization's image built over the past decades? How can we understand institutional power and individual agency through the lens of ritual theory and the theory of social orders? This study finally examines the entangled discourses around privilege and prestige on the one hand and the precarity and vulnerability of a growing number of UN workers on the other hand. It shows that these phenomena are not contractionary but two sides of the coin. Using the UN as an example, the study considers mechanisms of flexible and unstable work environments in times of cognitive and affective capitalism.

Standards and regulations are an integral, if easily overlooked, part of our daily life. They determine whether a plug fits into a socket, whether food is safe for human consumption or whether a bank is allowed to take deposits. They are also an indispensable part of international trade. Using new evidence from ITC databases, this report reveals how standards and regulations are holding SME competitiveness back, but crucially, what SMEs and other stakeholders can do to make standards and regulations work for, and not against, SMEs. In this report, advice targeted at SME managers is presented, as well as how Trade and Investment Support Institutions and policymakers can influence the business environment to boost competitiveness, and integration into global markets

The United Nations in International History argues for a new way of examining the history of this central global institution by integrating more traditional diplomacy between states with new trends in transnational and cultural history to explore the organization and its role in 20th- and 21st-century history. Amy Sayward looks at the origins of the U.N. before examining a range of organizations and players in the United Nations system and analysing its international work in the key arenas of diplomacy, social & economic development programs, peace-keeping, and human rights. This volume provides a concise introduction to the broad array of international work done by the United Nations, synthesizes the existing interdisciplinary literature, and highlights areas in need of further research, making it ideal for students and beginning researchers.

This report includes an updated overview of recent trends on production, trafficking and consumption of key illicit drugs as well as highlighting a thematic area of concern. It maintains a global overview of the baseline data and estimates on drug demand and supply and provides a reference point on the drug situation worldwide. Other parts will be more analytical and will look in depth at few specific topics. Issues which will be highlighted in analysing new trends were selected on the basis of available research findings discussed within RAB and other internal and external stakeholders, including the members of the WDR Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC)The thematic focus of the 2017 edition is on the links that exist between drugs, terrorism, corruption, transnational organised crime and illicit financial flows.

The thirty-fourth issue of the Statistical Abstract of the Arab Region presents time series statistics and indicators on economic and social issues in all fourteen Arab Region member countries. The Abstract is divided into twelve chapters addressing the following topics: population; labour force; education and illiteracy; health; gender equality; national accounts; energy; industry; transport; foreign trade; financial statistics and prices; and information and communications technology. Data contained in the Abstract were primarily collected from national statistical sources in the Arab Region, either through responses to questionnaires or from statistical abstracts and bulletins issued by official authorities in member countries. The Abstract also relies on data issued by international organizations and agencies, with priority given to United Nations sources.

Osho thrusts his sword into the heart of the matter of what we collectively call "Human Rights." One of the struggles we face as human beings is how to cope with, how to bring light to, how to dissolve the roots of the perverse and incomprehensible horrors -- physical, psychological, spiritual -- that we seem capable of inflicting on one another. What are the roots of wars, of torture, of murder and hatred and our all-too-easy dehumanization of the "other"? He quotes the language of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to expose the hollowness of the words. Why is our human reality on this planet so far off from these beautifully worded declarations? Osho exposes the hypocrisy and the vested interests that underlie the core of that document and so many others like it. But he doesn't stop there. He challenges us to create a new language, a new narrative, a transformative and liberating vision of what it means to treat one another with awareness, with love, and with respect. In our individual lives, as in the lives and generations of our society, there is a revolution, a transformation that happens alongside each change that happens in consciousness -- individual and collective -- as our technology continues to bring us (potentially) all together into a "global village." And alongside it, the change in consciousness that is now required of us, as a common humanity living on a smallish and rather beautiful, sacred planet. To see ourselves as God's creation, if you will. Or Gaia, or whatever term of oneness most appeals to you. This small volume is an opening to the revolution in consciousness that is so urgently needed for our times.