Official documents of Resolutions and Decisions of the Security Council, 2014-2015.

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.

The Index to Proceedings of the General Assembly is a bibliographic guide to the proceedings and documentation of the General Assembly. This issue covers the sixty-ninth session of the Assembly including its Main and ad hoc committees. The Index is prepared by the Dag Hammarskjeld Library, Department of Public Information, as one of the products of the United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBIS). It offers sessional information; a check-list of meetings; information on principal organs and subsidiary bodies to which members were elected or appointed; an agenda, a subject list of documents; reports of the main and procedural committees; resolutions and decisions adopted; and a voting chart of resolutions.

This report focuses on how innovation policies can expressly promote industrial development, and what lessons can be learnt from existing experiences of countries, both developing and developed. It argues that while technology and innovation are an essential component of how industries use knowledge to apply to learning, their role in fostering economic development can only be harnessed if innovation policies are clearly and coherently linked to overall industrial development goals of countries. Basing its analysis on data as well as experiences of countries, the report argues for closer coordination between innovation policies and industrial goals in order to promote technology and innovation for overall economic development.

This book serves as a directory of the Permanent Missions to the United Nations in New York, as well as a listing of their diplomatic personnel. It also includes information on Observer Offices, Specialized Agencies, and other UN organs and bodies.

The Regional State of Coast Report for the western Indian Ocean (WIO) is the first comprehensive regional synthesis to provide insights into the enormous economic potential around the WIO, the consequential demand for marine ecosystem goods and services to match the increasing human population, the pace and scale of environmental changes taking place in the region and the opportunities to avoid serious degradation in one of the world's unique and highly biodiverse oceans.

The Index to Proceedings of the Economic and Social Council is a bibliographic guide to the proceedings and documentation of the Economic and Social Council. This issue covers the 2015 session of the Council including the organizational and substantive session. The Index is divided in two parts comprising the Subject Index and Index to Speeches. The Index is prepared by the Dag Hammarskjoeld Library, Department of Public Information, as one of the products of the United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBIS).

Ending humanitarian atrocities has become as important for the United Nations as preventing interstate war. This book examines the transformation of UN operations, analysing its changing role and structure. Ramesh Thakur asks why, when and how force may be used, and argues that the growing gulf between legality and legitimacy is evidence of an eroded sense of international community. He considers the tension between the United States, with its capacity to use force and project power, and the United Nations, as the centre of the international law enforcement system. He asserts the central importance of the rule of law and a rules-based order focused on the United Nations as the foundation of a civilised system of international relations. This book will be of interest to students of the United Nations and international organisations in politics, law and international relations departments, as well as policymakers in governmental and non-governmental international organisations.

Official Records of the Financial Report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2014 and Report of the Board of Auditors for United Nations Institute for Training and Research.

Peacekeeping and the Asia-Pacific explores the politics, challenges, and future of UN peacekeeping operations from the Asia-Pacific. The first section looks at contributions from the sub-regions: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. The second section of the book looks at individual country case studies including: Australia, Solomon Islands, Japan, and Thailand. The third, and concluding, section consists of a theoretical summary on the central conceptual theme of Asian motivations for PKO contributions. This content was originally published in vols. 18:3-4 and 19:3-4 of the Journal of International Peacekeeping.

The Index to Proceedings of the Security Council is a bibliographic guide to the proceedings and documentation of the Security Council. This issue covers the seventieth year of the Council including its commissions, committees and ad hoc committees. The Index is divided in two parts comprising the Subject Index and Index to Speeches. The Index is prepared by the Dag Hammarskjld Library, Department of Public Information, as one of the products of the United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBIS).

The Index to Proceedings of the General Assembly is a bibliographic guide to the proceedings and documentation of the General Assembly. This issue covers the sixty-ninth session of the Assembly including its Main and ad hoc committees. The Index is prepared by the Dag Hammarskjeld Library, Department of Public Information, as one of the products of the United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBIS). The Index to Speeches presents reference information on all speeches presented to the General Assembly. It is subdivided into three sections: corporate names/countries, speakers and subjects.

How to respond effectively to humanitarian crises is one of the most pressing and seemingly intractable problems facing the United Nations. Martin Barber, for many years a senior UN official and with decades of humanitarian experience, here argues that the explanation for UN 'failures' or only partial successes lies not with any lack of idealism or good intentions but with the constraints placed on aid workers by ill-considered policies and poor practical application - officials are 'blinded by humanity'.Barber presents an inside story based on personal/hands-on/practical experience in Laos, Thailand, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and, finally, in Abu Dhabi where he advised the UAE government on its aid programme. He tells of internal struggles at head office and the challenges of working in the field. All the major UN activities - and headaches - are here, including refugee work, coordinating humanitarian aid, peacekeeping, the huge problem of 'de-mining', and the complex internal workings of the UN Secretariat.A personal narrative and lessons drawn from direct experience provide the frame for an examination of major questions concerning the future of humanitarian response - how effectively have international institutions discharged their responsibilities towards people affected by conflict? Specifically, how did the UN perform? And how might the UN better help such people in the 21st century? Barber analyses recent policy developments intended to improve the quality and effectiveness of the UN's work in humanitarian fields, and assesses the extent to which recent reforms are likely to make the UN a more effective partner for countries emerging from conflict. In the final chapter he highlights seven 'blind spots' whose significance has been consistently ignored or overlooked, and in each case suggests a radical new approach.

Part I of this report assesses trends and developments in regional trade and investment flows and policies in an attempt to provide the insights and information necessary to separate the cyclical from the structural aspects. Part II analyses the participation of Asia-Pacific economies in global and regional value chains. By observing how economies at different levels of development have integrated into supply chains at different speeds and to varying extents, we can cast light on those policies that influence and shape value chain participation, and hence influence future patterns of trade and investment. The particular features of participation in value chains also have an impact on the ability of countries to access foreign technology and build innovative capacity, which in turn influences structural change and future development options.

This annual report prepared by The Board provides a comprehensive account of the global drug situation, analyses trends in drug abuse and drug trafficking and suggests necessary remedial action. Divided into four parts, it covers the following topics: drugs and corruption, functioning of the international drug control system, analysis of the world situation and finally, a set of recommendations to Governments, the United Nations and other relevant international and regional organizations. A set of Annexes follows as well.

Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is rapidly transforming the way in which enterprises are interacting among each other as well as with consumers and governments. Despite important potential benefits, businesses and consumers in developing countries were for a long time slow to exploit e-commerce. As a result of changes in the evolving landscape for information and communications technologies (ICTs), this pattern is now changing, and e-commerce is growing rapidly in emerging markets and developing economies. Against this background, this publication revisits the potential opportunities and risks of e-commerce and examines how countries can benefit the most from the phenomenon in today's Information Society. Using official statistics and private sector data, it provides an up-to-date review of global and regional trends related to e-commerce in view of changes in the ICT landscape, focusing on developing countries while drawing lessons from developed countries.

In 1967, South West Africa -- which was controlled by the Republic of South Africa -- was the only remaining mandated territory from the old League of Nations that had not either gained its independence or come under trusteeship of the United Nations. The sparsely populated region became a center of international controversy and protest as it had come to be a symbol of colonialism and racism. In this study, Faye Carroll traces the twenty-year dispute between South Africa and the United Nations, carefully examining the legal, political, and moral issues involved. She also provides an introduction to the economic, political, and social conditions within South West Africa at the time.

The book delves into the exciting world of the UN with an aim to try and perceive the future of this World Body in the tumultuous times of the 21st Century. With an analytical eye towards the future, the book researches the question, 'Whether the UN, in times to come, will get further marginalized and doomed to irrelevance or will it eventually be scaled up to a status of indispensability.' The thrust of the book is to bring out very useful inputs on how the UN, which reflected the main political concerns, threats, perceptions and the distribution of power of the World War II victors in 1945, must now re-position and re-align itself in the current framework of threats, challenges, aspirations, power plays, economics and the security perceptions of the new world pegging order of the 21st Century.

The International Law Commission was established in 1947 with a view to carrying out the responsibility of the General Assembly, under article 13(1)(a) of the Charter of the United Nations, to initiate studies and make recommendations for the purpose of ... encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification. Since its first session in 1949, the Commission has considered a wide-range of topics of international law and made a number of proposals for its codification and progressive development, some of which have served as the basis for the subsequent adoption of major multilateral treaties. The Yearbook of the International Law Commission contains the official records of the Commission and is an indispensable tool for the preservation of the legislative history of the documents emanating from the Commission, as well as for the teaching, study, dissemination and wider appreciation of the efforts undertaken by the Commission in the progressive development of international law and its codification. Volume II (Part One) reproduces the edited versions of the official documents considered by the Commission at the respective annual session.

Since the United Nations (U.N.) was established in 1945, the U.S. government, including many Members of Congress, has maintained an ongoing interest in the criteria and process for membership in the United Nations and its specialized agencies. The United Nations currently has 193 member states and two observer non-member statesthe Holy See (Vatican) and "Palestine." Each of the U.N. system's 15 specialized agencieswhich are independent international intergovernmental organizations with their own constitutions, rules, and budgetshave different criteria and processes for membership. This book highlights key steps in the process for attaining membership in the United Nations and its specialized agencies. It discusses the capacities associated with U.N. membership and observer status, as well as criteria for and implications of membership.

The UN General Assembly has expressed concerns about the relatively large and growing portion of the UN budget spent on total compensation. The United States contributes 22 percent of the UN's regular budget. UN total compensation consists of salary, benefits, and allowances. Since its inception in 1945, the UN has based salaries for its professional employees on salaries for the U.S. civil service. This book examines similarities between UN and U.S. government benefits and allowances and compares their monetary values, and examines UN efforts to address concerns about the sustainability of total compensation costs.

The first purpose of the United Nations is "to maintain international peace and security." Among the chief methods employed to attain this end has been the condemnatory resolution, in which international outrage is expressed at the policies or actions of a given state. Here William W. Orbach undertakes to explore the nature of the United Nations and its role in international politics through an examination of the history of such resolutions, the reasons for condemnations, and the process by which they are enacted or rejected. He concludes that the United Nations is not an independent actor on the international stage but a microcosm of that stage, as such in a unique position to further international peace.

By some counts, Model United Nations (MUN) has become the single most popular extracurricular academic activity among high school students. More than two million high school and college students have assumed the roles of ambassador from real United Nations member countries, participated in spirited debate about the world's most pressing issues, and called, "Point of order, Mr. Chairman!" Now, in Coaching Winning Model United Nations Teams, Edward Mickolus and Joseph Brannan give MUN teachers and coaches the information they need to succeed. In this informative volume, the authors (MUN coaches themselves) provide detailed guidance for each step of the MUN path, from the first meeting in the teacher's classroom to the final days of an official MUN conference. Coaches will learn about the ins and outs of parliamentary procedure and the most effective ways to help their students draft position papers and resolutions. Most important, Mickolus and Brannan illustrate the many ways that teachers can inspire their students to take an active role in making the world a better place. By the time their students move on, MUN coaches will have instilled in them such important qualities as empathy, self-confidence, and grace under pressure. Coaching Model United Nations Teams is a fun, useful guide for teachers and coaches who are working to help develop tomorrow's leaders today. About the Author JOSEPH T. RANNAN is the faculty adviser to the George C. Marshall High School MUN team in Falls Church, Virginia. Before becoming a teacher, he served in the U.S. Navy, worked as a newspaper reporter, and was the assistant city manager for the city of Alexandria, Virginia, where he resides. DR. EDWARD MICKOLUS has written twenty books on international terrorist events and biographies of terrorists. As an undergraduate at Georgetown University, he led MUN teams to regional and national championships, and while completing his doctorate in political science, he founded and coached the Yale University MUN team and started the Yale MUN conferences. He lives in Dunn Loring, Virginia.