FIFTY-THIRD VOLUME OF UNITED NATIONS YEARBOOK PUBLISHED COVERING ORGANIZATION’S MAJOR ACTIVITIES IN 1999

FIFTY-THIRD VOLUME OF UNITED NATIONS YEARBOOK PUBLISHED

COVERING ORGANIZATION’S MAJOR ACTIVITIES IN 1999

The fifty-third volume of the "Yearbook of the United Nations"covering  1999has been published by the Department of Public Information.  This 1,500-page reference work covers all major activities of the United Nations system in 1999.  It is the primary comprehensive and authoritative reference work on the United Nations and is widely used by diplomats, government officials, scholars, journalists and others with a serious interest in international and United Nations affairs.

The 1999 edition provides an overview of the whole range of activities undertaken by the United Nations to address major global challenges.  Its  52 chapters are divided into six parts:  political and security questions; human rights; economic and social questions; legal questions; institutional, administrative and budgetary questions; and intergovernmental organizations related to the United Nations.  It is fully indexed and reproduces in their entirety the texts of, and votes on, all major General Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Social Council resolutions and decisions.

Among the important developments covered are:  the major conflicts in East Timor and Kosovo and the establishment of United Nations administrations in those territories;the outbreak of full-scale war between Eritrea and Ethiopia; and the adoption of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism by the General Assembly.

Also described are the continuing efforts of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to implement his programme of managerial reform.

The Yearbook provides extensive coverage of complex political and military situations in which the United Nations was involved during 1999, including the implementation of the peace agreements in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its endeavours to find solutions to conflicts in Afghanistan, Angola, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Tajikistan, among others.  It also describes the ongoing work of the 21 United Nations peacekeeping operations deployed worldwide. 

The 1999 edition also chronicles the Organization’s efforts to promote and protect human rights through various instruments and mechanisms and its investigations of alleged human rights violations throughout the world.

As 1999 was a year fraught with humanitarian emergencies caused by both conflicts and natural disasters, the Yearbookhighlights the work of the Office of

the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which was concerned with the fate of over 22 million refugees and displaced persons, and of the other United Nations humanitarian assistance programmes, including the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance.

United Nations work in the economic and social field is covered comprehensively in the 1999 Yearbook, including important issues related to globalization as it affects development policy, international economic cooperation, international trade, the environment, and international crime and corruption.  Details are also provided of the two special sessions of the General Assembly held in 1999 to carry out five-year reviews of the outcomes of two international conferences -— on the sustainable development of small island developing States and on population and development.  The volume further describes the adoption of an Optional Protocol (a complaints procedure) to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which celebrated its twentieth anniversary during the year, and the work of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations International Drug Control Programme and the United Nations Children’s Fund, among other activities.

In the area of international law, the Yearbook provides information on the adoption of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, the entry into force of the 1997 Mine-ban Convention and the proceedings of the International Court of Justice and of the two international tribunals created by the United Nations to prosecute war criminals -— one for the former Yugoslavia and the other for Rwanda. 

Overall, the coverage of United Nations activities and events as presented in the 1999 Yearbookprovides a comprehensive picture of how international cooperation is working to better the lives of the Organization’s membership, which rose to 188 during the year, and its global constituency, which was estimated to have reached 6 billion on 12 October.

                The "Yearbook of the United Nations 1999" will soon be available for     $150 (Sales No. E.01.I.4, ISBN 92-1-100856-5) from United Nations Publications, Two United Nations Plaza, Room DC2-853, Dept. PRES, New York, NY 10017, USA.   Tel: 800-253-9646 or 212-963-8302, fax: 212-963-3489, e-mail: publications@un.org;  or Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland.  Tel: 41-22-917-2614,   fax: 41-22-917-0027, e-mail: unpubli@unog.ch;http://www.un.org.publications.

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