The Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) held its annual meeting at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine Campus, in Trinidad and Tobago, from 4 to 6 June 2009.

The meeting was hosted by the Institute of International Relations at UWI, with support from United Nations offices in Port of Spain, the United Nations Association of Trinidad and Tobago (UNATT) and the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). The United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Port of Spain provided technical advice on the substantive agenda and also mounted a book display during the meeting.  

This year’s meeting was organised into plenary and panel sessions to explore the theme, “Small, Middle, and Emerging Powers in the UN System.” The discussions addressed the contemporary impact of these powers within the UN system and the role and relevance of the UN system itself within this changing international order.  The four plenary sessions and more than 20 workshop panels considered subjects ranging from the global and interstate topics (including security, peace operations, international financial crisis, International Criminal Court, G77, Haiti, Cuba), to administration and policy (health, research, education, gender). 

The United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Port of Spain mounted an International Women's Day exhibit in the College of Science Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT) cafeteria from 3 to 20 March 2009. This year's theme for International Women's Day was “Women and men unite to end violence against women”, which is part of a year long campaign launched by the UN Secretary-General to end violence against women.

The exhibit included recent UN publications on women, gender and human rights. Other activities that continued the observance throughout the month of March included a Ministry of Community Development and Gender Affairs sports day for women and girls, which was attended by the Director of UNIC Port of Spain, who read the UN Secretary-General's message for International Women's Day before the mini marathon run.

The Ministry also launched a year long campaign on fighting violence against women in partnership with the UN System in Trinidad and Tobago.

Finally, a Take Back the Night march and rally on the University of the West Indies campus in St. Augustine, Trinidad on 13 March 2009 was organised by the UWI activist group, Consciousness Raising and was attended by the National Information Officer from UNIC Port of Spain.

The United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Port of Spain launched an exhibit of photographs and videos as part of its first time observance of the International Day International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, at the College of Science Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago (COSTAATT) City Campus on 27 January 2009.  The exhibit will move to UNIC Port of Spain where it will be open until the end of February.

Not many survivors of the Holocaust made their way to the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean states, so for some visitors to the exhibit it was a surprise to know that some of their countrymen were descendants. Students and other visitors also remarked that while they were aware of the unspeakable horrors of World War II, they were surprised to learn of the extent of it.

The images and stories of the Holocaust hopefully encourage individuals to be vigilant against intolerance, racism, xenophobia and bigotry by learning from the pain and suffering of those in the past.

“We must continue to teach our children the lessons of history's darkest chapters. That will help them do a better job than their elders in building a world of peaceful coexistence”, stated Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, in his statement for the day.

Photographs and some videos were donated to the United Nations by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.

Schools from throughout the country were represented at the Human Rights Day ceremony hosted by United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Port of Spain  at the Simon Bolivar Auditorium in Port of Spain on 10 December 2008. The ceremony was held not only in commemoration of Human Rights Day (observed annually on 10 December) but also in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948. Attendees included sixth form students, accompanied by their teachers and principals. UNIC Director Angélica Hunt presented a brief introduction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was followed by a session by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Child Protection Specialist, Milen Kidane, on the Convention on the Rights of the Child that sets international standards for the protection and promotion of children’s rights. Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, His Excellency Mr. Hans P.P.M. Horbach, also gave a brief address on the importance of human rights in the foreign policy of the Netherlands. These presentations were supported by two United Nations videos relating children’s rights stories from Ethiopia and Romania. Another highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of United Nations Certificates of Acknowledgement to some of the artists who performed at “Freedom Rain: the United Nations Concert for Human Rights and Justice”, staged by the United Nations System in Trinidad and Tobago in Chaguaramas on 25 October 2008.