As youth today are the world leaders of tomorrow, UN Information Centre (UNIC) Colombo saw the importance of teaching students about the UN and its good work. 

On 30 April, UNIC conducted a UN awareness programme for Middle school students at NICE International School, Negambo. Mrs. Roshani C. Madurapperuma, Vice Principal of the school introduced UNIC’s Ms.  Kumari Wickrmasinghe, who described the history of the UN and highlighted the structure and the work of the Organization globally and locally. 

In the group, students discussed vital world issues, such as child labour, discrimination, health issues, terrorism, natural disasters, violence against women, poverty, ageing, environmental pollution and global warming.

In order to “Unite in action” the students proposed that the UN create more treaties and that the Member States implement them. They agreed that UN was an efficient Organization in solving world problems, however, they stressed that the UN should have more power when it comes to environment protection, disarmament and maintaining international peace and security. 

The UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Colombo, at the request of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Bangkok and the UN Resident Coordinator's Office in Colombo, jointly launched ESCAP's flagship publication with the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) IPS at the Institute in Colombo.

Policy makers were present at the launch, as were academics, researchers and representatives from public/private sector. The event was also well attended by the media.
 
Professor W. D. Lakshman, a senior economist in the country and IPS Sri Lanka Chairman was the Chief Guest. Dr. Shuvojit Banerjee, Economic Affairs Officer of UN-ESCAP Bangkok introduced the Survey and Dr. Saman Kelegama, Executive Secretary of the IPS made a presentation with special focus on Sri Lanka’s economy.

Mrs. Razina Bilgrami, Country Director a.i., UNDP Sri Lanka represented the UN system in Colombo while Dr. Fredrick Abeyratne welcomed the gathering on behalf of UNIC, giving a brief introduction to UNIC’s mandate.
 
It received wide coverage both in the print and electronic media throughout Sri Lanka. UNIC Colombo arranged the participation of 20 media organizations and several senior Government officials as well as academia from the field of economics.

ESCAP declared it as a successful launch.

The UN Information Office Almaty and Turan University organized a discussion to celebrate the International Day of Human Space Flight with about 20 students ages 19-24 from Turan and SDU Universities in Almaty.

The importance of space exploration as well as its history in Kazakhstan were highlighted.  Two Kazakh cosmonauts, Tokhtar Aubakirov and Talgat Musabayev, started their cosmic journeys from the same Cosmodrome Baikonur (Baykonyr), located in the southern part of the country. This is also the place from where the first human space flight was launched.  

During the discussion, which also included the most recent activities of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, students expressed their pride regarding the historical legacy of their country’s contribution to space exploration. They also shared their expectations and wishes for the future development of the national cosmic industry and international space cooperation. 

An interesting part of the discussion was related to the latest achievements in the field of communications, such as the Internet and connectivity, which, directly related to space exploration, are not only extremely fast, but also limitless and accessible nearly everywhere.

Iskander Mombekov, a fourth year student at Turan University, expressed his sincere hope that “one day the modern technologies will make it possible for me to take a flight into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome as well, becoming Kazakhstan’s third cosmonaut.”

Maria  Zhumabayeva, a first year student at Turan University wished Kazakhstan to “become one of the cosmic superpowers in the new era in space exploration.” 

The event concluded with a flashmob.

MTV interview with Sushma Kapoor, Deputy Representative of UN Women for Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka interviewed

The UN Information Centre (UNIC) Colombo organized a press briefing on behalf of UN Women to mark 2013 International Women’s Day.  

The briefing served to present recommendations made by the regional consultations of the South Asia Core Group on Gender Responsive Labour Migration Management that was supported by UN Women Offices for Bhutan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and India today in Colombo.  

The consultations, which hosted 90 participants from 11 countries from South Asia and the Gulf region, proposed specific policy measures to address the challenges faced by women migrant workers. 

Resulting from a 2-day dialogue among Government representatives, international organizations, experts, policymakers, civil society, recruiting Agents associations, and women migrant workers, five points were highlighted.

Media was informed of the recommendations that included: 1. Better data to document and acknowledge the contributions of women migrant workers; 2. Better information and support services to prepare migrant women workers for their travel abroad; 3. A mechanism to promote collaboration among Governments in the South region to ensure; 4. Better working conditions for women migrant workers; and 5. Integrated response to any cases of violence against women, including throughout the entire Migration cycle of Pre-departure, In-transit and Return Migration.

Twenty-five media personnel were in attendance and it was televised throughout the evening via news bulletins. UNIC also arranged and distributed translations from English to Sinhala and Tamil to the respective newspapers.