“We want to thank the United Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan to have given us this resource to help in training the government of tomorrow”, said Mr. Rajiv Kr. Bora, Principal Secretary to Government of Assam, speaking at the inauguration of the UN Association’s Resource Corner within the amazing Library of the Staff College Institute at Guwahati, Assam. “It is a matter of pride for us that we have UN publications at our disposal, covering a wide variety of subjects. Officers from all services of State Government are expected to gain more knowledge about the United Nations, and its work in India However, this also enables the future civil servants and diplomats to learn about the innovative and best practices which have emerged in the world and help Assam improve its governance and service delivery.
 
UNIC Director Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman thanked the Government of Assam for this wonderful opportunity to showcase the publications of the United Nations by giving space for a UN Corner. The love of the printed word is so apparent in this region. Libraries, including this one, are in fact expanding and others are being refurbished. Computers are available here for online access but books play a more important role here. This library is also being opened to academics and scholars. State Protocol Officer Mr. Mridul Kr. Mahanta promised that the Government would provide further opportunities for such cooperation with UNIC and the Assam UN  Association (UNA).
 
From a tiny corner to a full room
The Government of Assam graciously provided new premises to the few shelves of UN publications which UNIC is offering regularly: from a corner in the reading room to its own reading room at the District Government Library in Guwahati. Mr. S. Baruah,  Divisional Commissioner Culture inaugurated the space together with UNIC Director Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman. A lot of work will be required to transform the room into a real library reading room, but already volunteers working with the Assam Chapter of the UN Association are readying themselves to meet this challenge, under the watchful eye of Mr. Aswini Sarma.
 
UNIC Director visited the Resource Centre of the UN Association of Assam in the remote village of Raha. This is run in the premises of an NGO Akanir Kabita Ghar managed by a dynamic group of senior citizens, mostly retired professors and literary writers. They see the value of providing their youth, in particular those aspiring to higher studies, with world information through UN publications. They are also part of the UNESCO Club. A small and humble endeavor which is creating an amazing ripple effect. Local media gathered to ask UNIC Director some very pertinent questions on the future employment of young people in the region and what role the UN could play. The enthusiasm about the United Nations in such a small and remote village is indeed encouragement enough for us to do whatever we can to keep their Library corner well-stocked.

Another books and publications corner was opened at the library of the prestigious school of Don Bosco, students and faculty of which came forth in large numbers to attend the event, even though school holidays had started. “We believe in reaching out to young people like you across India, informing them about the work of the UN and also seek their views and suggestions”, Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman, Director, United Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan said during the inauguration ceremony where the students performed songs and dances. “We want to create a UN knowledge hub here and that is why I am here, to connect with you, leaders of a golden tomorrow”, she added.

“We are indeed honoured that the United Nations chose our school to have a section where their publications will be displayed”, said Fr Antony Thekkel, Principal of the school. He expressed keen interest in a Model United Nations to be held at their school in the near future.

Several other schools and universities visited were very keen to provide space for UN publications in their libraries and many expressed great interest in hosting Model United Nations such as the very impressive Tezpur University which would also be happy to host experts from the United Nations who could come as visiting lecturers. The prestigious University of Guwahati will soon move its UN Corner to new premises in a brand new building.

The UN Information Centre (UNIC) Lima organized an introductory workshop for the “Youth for Tolerance” project launched today by the Friends of the UN Club.

The idea was born on 14 November 2012, during and event organized by UNIC Lima to mark the International Day for Tolerance. During the commemoration, participants from 54 schools proposed a project for the 2013 school year in which a series of activities promoting tolerance be undertaken by upper grade high school students.

With a special focus on racism and homophobia, one of the activities is the creation of a blog to exchange ideas about tolerance, racism and homophobia. Others involve training school correspondents to cover the topics and songwriting and producing audiovisual material (photographs, videos, cartoons) for a school-wide campaign promoting the value of tolerance and the rejecting racism and homophobia.

All activities will be guided by specialists in journalism, photography, music, drawing and blog management and the contributions made by the students throughout the project will be used to support future education on these topics in the coming years.

Three schools initiated the project, “Martin Esquicha Bernedo”, “Jorge Cieza Lachos” and “Santa Rosa del Sauce” from Mangomarca, in the district of San Juan de Lurigancho, with the participation of 54 school leaders.

The activity was launched within the framework of the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (21 March) and the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (25 March).  

The overall project has the support of the Outreach Division of the UN Department of Public Information.

When the Semester at Sea (SaS) programme requested the UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Yangon to talk to a group of students about “persuasion” in the work of the UN in Myanmar, it took little persuasion for the Centre to accept. 

Myanmar has been in the news for many years, for all the wrong reasons. There were, and to a large extent still exist today, concerns on its political process and human rights record.  These are issues addressed through the diplomatic efforts by the Good Offices of the Secretary-General and the visits and reports of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Myanmar. Ethnic strife is a continued worry and the country is prone to natural disasters that require large-scale response by the humanitarian community.  

Francois Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) is one of the development partners of the UN in Myanmar. The NGO uses persuasion as one of its tools to help bring women affected by HIV/AIDS, trafficked persons and street children together to find a new purpose in life.      

When the Secretary-General and his wife visited Myanmar in May 2012, Mrs. Ban paid a call on the successful project.  

A few months ago, the UN, FXB and other partners held the first-ever international rock concert in the country. With the MTV EXIT campaign and Jason Mraz, an audience of 70,000 assembled at People’s Square in Yangon.  In the shadow of the landmark Shwedagon Pagoda, they listened eagerly to Jason Mraz and learned about the dangers of human trafficking.  It was a spectacular show on the power of persuasion.

Before their arrival, the SaS students asked to stop by a project site near Yangon. So months in advance, the Centre arranged a visit to the FXB workshop on the outskirts of the city. 

However, vulnerable to Murphy’s Law, the SaS ship berthed at Yangon harbour too late in the day for the group to negotiate the rush hour traffic to the FXB workshop so the excursion had to be cancelled.     

Making the best of the situation, a dinner cum lecture was arranged at a local restaurant.

“Fresh off the boat”, the students sampled Burmese food as UNIC Yangon Information Officer Aye Win and Pansy Tun Thein from FXB spoke to them about persuasion as one of the tools used to achieve favourable outcomes.   

photo credit:

National League for Democracy

There were many stories to tell and the students listened eagerly. The lively evening ended too soon.    

When the SaS ship arrived in Yangon, it not only carried 600 students, but also one of the world’s most prominent personalities of peace, His Eminence Archbishop Desmond Tutu.      

The next day, the local papers carried a photograph of the Archbishop at prayer with fellow Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.  

The symbolism of the picture and the message of peace it carried was priceless in powerful persuasion.    

Change is coming to Myanmar. And change is the fruit grown out of the seeds of persuasion. 

Under the UN Secretary-General’s initiative “Education First” and within the larger MDG campaign, UNO Baku – Department of Public Information, (UN DPI) joined forces with International Organization for Migration (IOM) to support a five day winter camp to increase public awareness of human trafficking, stimulate information exchange and rally the Azerbaijani youth to fight it.

The workshop, led by IOM specialists and supported by the UN DPI staff, took place in Guba town that borders with the Russian Federation, one of the top destinations for human traffickers. Students representing various Baku-based universities, youth clubs and student associations gathered from 11-15 February, just in time to discuss data from the UN Report on trafficking launched on 13 February.

According to the UN Report on Trafficking in Persons, the most common form of human trafficking (79%) is sexual exploitation, women and girls account for about 75 percent of all trafficking victims detected globally and almost 20% of all trafficking victims worldwide are children.

“Taking into account that Azerbaijan is a source, transit, and destination country for all forms of human trafficking, it is crucial for us to equip young people, and girls in particular, with the right information and have them spread the word among their friends and relatives. Action should be taken to prevent this crime, and to talk about it openly, since the victims can be trapped into this modern day slavery before even realizing it,” said the UN DPI Representative in Azerbaijan, Envera Selimovic.

This training, implemented within the framework of the wider project entitled “Solidifying Awareness on Trafficking in Persons in Azerbaijan through Education,” which is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, was first in a series of several upcoming gatherings that will be devoted to human trafficking.  Since its establishment in Azerbaijan in 1996, IOM is committed to upholding human dignity and thus “it is crucial to raise awareness about this heinous crime - human trafficking, a type of crime that now affects an estimated 2.4 million people worldwide, mostly women and children,” says Saltanat Mammadova, Programme Coordinator at IOM.

Her colleague, a trainer of IOM, Fuad Dargahli added: “Here in Guba we continue with our awareness raising sessions and we are happy seeing how our participants are taking this issue seriously. We hope that they will be our relentless messengers when getting back to their schools and communities where they will hopefully gather a larger network to fight human trafficking jointly.”Joining the training on behalf of the UN DPI office, Vafa Safarli talked about the overall activities of the UN Family in Azerbaijan and youth activities in particular.

“Today’s youth are activists and promoters of change and as tomorrow’s leaders, we hope that they will take up their duties as advocates and awareness raisers seriously,” said Safarli while talking about the importance of the youth participation.  

“It is an amazing opportunity that allows us students to gain firsthand knowledge and understanding of how traffickers lure people into modern day slavery”, says Maltam Huseynova, a second year student from Baku State University. She, along with other participants, promise to use their gained knowledge, share the information obtained and be part of the larger network that combats human trafficking in Azerbaijan.