Bringing together approximately thirty journalists on 24 February 2009, the UN DPI Office in Azerbaijan organized a film screening and briefing to update Azberbaijani journalists on ongoing UN activities and to inform them about global UN priorities as well as various events to be organized by the UN DPI Office in Azerbaijan in 2009. This gathering was a continuation of a larger 2009 awareness-raising campaign in Azerbaijan which started with the national broadcast of “2008 Year in Review” documentary and a series of sessions with students at Baku-based universities.

The UN DPI Office in Azerbaijan, along with various UN agencies in Azerbaijan, will be organizing nine roundtables regarding the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) throughout 2009 focusing on communications and information sharing. Pursuing the objective of reaching out to a wide spectrum of audiences, including development practitioners, government, civil society and the mainstream media, the goal is to achieve a broader understanding of the MDGs by generating increased media coverage and putting the MDGs in the spotlight.

For a complete report on this briefing for journalists, please visit the website of the UN DPI Office in Azerbaijan.

To mark the first World Day of Social Justice, 20 February 2009, the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in New Delhi, in collaboration with the West Bengal Correctional Services, organized a series of events in Kolkata with prisoners and prison authorities.

The highlight of the Day’s observances was a dance drama, Valmiki Pratibha, which traced the journey of Ratnakar from a dreaded bandit to a holy sage. The ballet was performed by 50-60 prisoners – both men and women currently lodged in Kolkata jails - who were granted special permission to venture out of the prison walls to the prestigious Rabindra Sadan theatre where they performed to a packed audience. The spectacular show by the prisoners was the outcome of a unique “culture therapy” programme offered to inmates across the state of West Bengal which aims to bring about the psychological rehabilitation of prisoners and enhance their feeling of self-worth through art, dance, music and theatre. UNIC Director Shalini Dewan was a guest of honour at the performance.

On 20 February 2009, the United Nations Information Office (UNO) in Yerevan and the Department of Romance and Germanic Philology of Yerevan State University arranged a round-table discussion to mark International Mother Language Day.

The panelists of the event held at Yerevan State University were the Dean of the Department of Romance and Germanic Philology, the UNO/DPI Officer-in-Charge and the Head of the Language Unit affiliated with the Ministry of Education and Science. Participants were professors from the Department of Armenian Philology and Department of Romance and Germanic Philology, as well as university students and several journalists.

The Dean raised the role of mother languages in our global world. The DPI Officer-in-Charge provided background information about the observance. She also read excerpts from Mr. Kiyo Akasaka’s statement of the Day. Mr. Akasaka is the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information at the United Nations.
The Head of the Language Unit stated his concerns about the purity and inadequate usage of the Armenian language in public events, on public TV and in the Parliament.  

To launch a series of awareness-raising engagements in Azerbaijan in 2009, the UN DPI Office in Azerbaijan conducted a series of briefings for university students. The focus of the briefings, which were held on 16 - 20 February 2009, was a screening of the United Nations documentary "2008 Year in Review", a twelve-minute documentary of the UN's work worldwide in 2008, enriched by comments from world leaders as well as individual short stories of victims of natural disasters and conflicts.

The first briefing session was held at Khazar University, on 16, 17 and 20 February 2009. Three sessions were organized on three campuses of the university located in different corners of the capital. Each session brought together approximately 50 students specializing in economics, law and political science. In addition to the film screening, UN DPI Office in Azerbaijan's interns gave presentations on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in English and Azerbaijani.

The presentations were followed by interactive discussions between the students and UN DPI Office in Azerbaijan's representative, who responded to questions regarding the UN's role in general and in Azerbaijan in particular, while emphasizing the importance of the implementation of the MDGs from communication and information standpoints. 

Similar sessions were held at Western University, Azerbaijan State University of Languages and Baku State University. For a complete report on these briefings, please visit the website of the UN DPI Office in Azerbaijan.

Watch the United Nations documentary "2008 Year in Review" on the United Nations YouTube channel