FORTY-FOURTH VOLUME OF UNITED NATIONS YEARBOOK ISSUED

Press Release
PI/1159

FORTY-FOURTH VOLUME OF UNITED NATIONS YEARBOOK ISSUED

NEW YORK, 23 July (UN Yearbook Section, DPI) -- With the publication of the forty-fourth volume of the Yearbook of the United Nations, the backlog resulting from the General Assembly decision to concentrate on the production of current editions has been eliminated. The 1,214-page reference book covers all major activities of the United Nations and its family of organizations during 1990. The Yearbook is an invaluable tool for anyone seeking in-depth information about the United Nations system. With the publication of the 1990 edition, 50 consecutive editions -- covering the years from 1946 through 1996 -- are now available.

Work is currently under way on the 1997 and 1998 editions of the Yearbook. The 1988 backlog edition was published in 1994, and the 1989 volume in 1997. The backlog project was financed by Kluwer Law International of The Hague, Netherlands, which published the Yearbook for and on behalf of the United Nations.

As the primary comprehensive and authoritative publication on the work of the Organization, the Yearbook is widely used by diplomats, government officials, scholars, writers, journalists, teachers, students and others with a serious interest in international affairs who seek readily available information about the United Nations. Fully indexed, the Yearbook reproduces in their entirety the texts of all major General Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Social Council resolutions, and contains detailed information on reports and meetings of United Nations bodies.

The 1990 volume of the Yearbook, with a foreword by former Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, consists of 54 chapters relating to: political and security questions, regional questions, economic and social questions, trusteeship and decolonization issues, legal questions and intergovernmental organizations related to the United Nations.

This volume of the Yearbook details the many activities of the Organization and its organs, programmes and bodies as they are carried out in all corners of the globe. Among the year's events highlighted in this edition are: the independence of Namibia; international action against the apartheid system in South Africa; Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; and United Nations efforts to secure peace in Cambodia, Central America and the Middle East.

Among United Nations achievements chronicled in this Yearbook are: the historic World Summit for Children and the entry into force of the Convention

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on the Rights of the Child; the adoption of the International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries; the first five-year review and appraisal of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women; the convening of the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders; and the observance of International Literacy Year.

The 1990 Yearbook also gives an overview of United Nations involvement in development efforts worldwide, action to alleviate the critical economic situation in Africa and the suffering of millions of refugees and displaced persons, as well as United Nations humanitarian and emergency assistance activities. Important economic issues discussed at a special session of the General Assembly and the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries are also detailed. In other areas, this Yearbook includes reports on the Second World Climate Conference, the General Assembly's seventeenth special session on international cooperation against illicit drug production and trafficking, and activities related to the United Nations Decade of International Law (1990-1999).

The availability of fifty Yearbook volumes -- from 1946 through 1996 -- will enhance the work of researchers of all kinds everywhere who require a comprehensive account of the activities of the United Nations since its origins.

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Note: The 1990 Yearbook -- (ISBN 90-411-1043-7; United Nations Publication Sales No. E.98.I.16) -- will be available soon in the United Nations Bookshop, Room GA-32, United Nations, New York, NY 10017, U.S.A. It will also be available at the United Nations Bookshop, Door 40, Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland.

This and other volumes of the Yearbook of the United Nations may also be obtained in North and South America from Kluwer Law International, 675 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A., and in all other countries from Kluwer Law International, P.O. Box 85889, 2508 CN The Hague, Netherlands. The retail price is $150.