Unlearning Intolerence through Education
The call for a dialogue among civilizations has become one of the critical features of the twenty-first century. The term itself has been used to substitute and rethink the clash of civilizations, proposed by Samuel P. Huntington and adopted by some Western educators following the end of the cold war between East and West.
A New Way of Dealing With the Past: The Young Generation in Germany Sheds Its Anxiety of Xenophobia
Students in present-day Germany learn early on: there is no denying their past. History teachers tell them that what their grandparents might have been a part of during the Second World War does not apply to them directly.
Africa – A Future for Itself
How does Africa intend to deal with climate change and how can it help shape a better future for itself in the face of the coming environmental catastrophe? As concerns grow, the continent will for the first time negotiate under one umbrella in Copenhagen.
Sustainable Development And Climate Change: A Business Perspective
Twenty years after the Brundtland Report asserted it was in the common interest of all peoples and nations to establish policies for sustainable development, the pace of sustainability is finally accelerating. Notwithstanding a number of serious political and security issues that politicians are struggling to effectively address, the case for sustainability in a global context has become more apparent, and even mainstreamed in some countries, during the last few years.
Our Body, Our Earth
I remember walking through the fields of the Canadian Plains on many occasions with my father. On one occasion, we were going to pick sweet grass blades that had pink roots and a distinctively sweet smell. I observed that, prior to my father picking the first blade of sweet grass, he reached into his tobacco pouch and grabbed a pinch, laid it on the ground beside the sweet grass he was about to pick, and closed his eyes as he made his offering to Mother Earth. The sincerity of the process was completely natural in that moment.
Reproductive Health in the African Region. What Has Been Done to Improve the Situation?
Africa accounts for about one tenth of the world's population and 20 per cent of global births; yet, nearly half of the mothers who die during pregnancy and childbirth are from this region. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that poor reproductive health accounts for up to 18 per cent of the global burden of disease, and 32 per cent of the total burden of disease for women of reproductive age.
A Nuclear-Weapons-Free World: Is It Achievable?
After the worst of times, we are perhaps entering the best of times for proponents of nuclear disarmament. At long last, advocates of the elimination of nuclear weapons have reason for some guarded optimism. The road to a nuclear-weapons-free world will be long and bumpy, but those expected to take the initiative seem to have finally decided to lead. That is encouraging.
The Spectre of the Khmer Rouge over Cambodia
After 27 years of international amnesia over bringing the Khmer Rouge to justice, and following six years of intense negotiations between the United Nations and the Government of Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge tribunal, officially known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), was established in 2006. The tribunal is a UN-assisted national court, with international participation of prosecutors and judges.
ESSAY:Silent Reform Through The Global Compact
For the first time in its history, the United Nations is embracing business and civil society as vital partners in advancing its goals of international peace and development.
An Invisible Life
An Invisible Life was created by Allan Markman and Conor Hughes. Allan Markman, the art director, is Senior Designer with the Graphic Design Unit/United Nations Department of Public Information. Conor Huges, the artist is a content designer with the United Nations Department of General Assembly and Conference Management. He graduated in Cartooning from the School of Visual Arts, New York.
A Special Partnership With the UN: An Asian Perspective
The mission of the United Nations to carve out a safe, prosperous and just world from the ashes of the Second World War remains today an urgent global undertaking. For the past 61 years of its existence, the Organization's major organs contributed significantly, and greatly, to this end.
Adolescent Sexuality
The question of one's sexuality transcends religious, racial, and cultural differences. Irrespective of skin colour, gender, gods worshipped, or how different cultures portray it, people everywhere explore their sexuality. Especially during adolescence, in a bid to discover and embrace who they truly are, questions such as what is sex? and who am I as a sexual being? plague the minds of young women and men as they struggle through the years between childhood and adulthood.
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade And Slavery: The Psychic Inheritance
The Caribbean is arguably the living laboratory of the dynamism of the encounters between Africa and Europe on foreign soil, and both with the Native American who had inhabited the real estate of the Americas during periods of conquest and dehumanization and the corresponding process of struggle and resistance.
Australia's First People - Their Social and Emotional Well-being
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians make up 2.5 per cent of the Australian population and continue to suffer disproportionately from the consequences of European settlement. The life expectancy for Indigenous Australians is 10 years lower than that of other Australians; the death rates for Indigenous people are twice as high across all age groups; and intentional self-harm was the leading cause of death from external causes for Indigenous males between 2001 and 2005. Although definitive national data about the incidence and prevalence of mental health disorders among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians is not available, it is clear there are enormous disparities in mental health outcomes for Indigenous people.
The Role of Women in Making and Building Peace
Last June in Suai, a small town in Timor-Leste, I held an open day with local women and men to mark the tenth anniversary of Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security. This resolution recognizes the unique impact of conflict on women's lives and highlights their often overlooked contributions to resolving and preventing conflict. It also calls on the international community to involve women fully in every aspect of our work for peace and security.