United Nations Publishes Latest Edition of ‘Yearbook of the United Nations’

 

Authoritative Reference Work Available for First Time in e-Book Version

The United Nations today issued the sixty-first volume of the Yearbook of the United Nations, the most comprehensive and authoritative reference work on the activities and concerns of the Organization, covering developments in 2007.

For the first time, the Yearbook will be available in digital format for a variety of e-book readers including Kindle, iPhone/iPad, Nook, Sony e-Book Reader, and more.  The e-book edition includes full text search, bookmarking and adjustable font-size and colour, along with hyperlinked table of contents, indices and references.  The electronic edition will be available both in full text and in five individual parts, all at a lower price than the print edition.

In addition, all volumes from the first (1946-47) to the fifty-ninth (2005) edition can be accessed in full on the Yearbook website:  http://unyearbook.un.org.

“This Yearbook,” says United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the foreword, “offers a comprehensive account of the United Nations’ efforts to end violence, safeguard human rights, ensure social justice and foster greater prosperity.  I hope it proves useful to scholars and all those with an interest in our work — and that it inspires global citizens everywhere to get involved in charting a course to a better world for all.”

Published by the Department of Public Information, the 1,634-page volume provides policymakers, diplomats, researchers, academics, journalists and other readers with comprehensive and in-depth coverage of the United Nations role in the main global political, economic, social and legal developments during the year.

The Yearbook is fully indexed and includes in their entirety the texts of, and votes on, all major General Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Social Council resolutions and decisions.  Its 33 chapters deal with political and security questions; human rights; economic and social questions; legal questions; and institutional, administrative and budgetary questions.

In 2007, complex and often interconnected conflicts continued to plague the world.  Several countries faced the daunting task of bringing rebel groups into a peace process.  In July, the Security Council authorized one of its largest missions:  a first-time collaboration with the African Union in support of the Darfur Peace Agreement.  Meanwhile, aid workers in Darfur, who engaged in the world’s largest humanitarian operation, struggled to help hundreds of thousands of civilian victims.

Worldwide that year, a record number of uniformed and civilian United Nations personnel — more than 106,000 — served in 30 peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions.

In Afghanistan, the United Nations found itself dealing with increased insurgent activities, flourishing opium production, poverty and weak governance.  Despite escalating ethnic and sectarian violence in Iraq, the United Nations was able to foster human rights protection and coordinate development and reconstruction.  In Nepal, the United Nations assisted in monitoring a ceasefire between Government and rebel forces and supported the electoral process.

In Lebanon, a United Nations-supported tribunal was established to prosecute crimes related to the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.  To constrain Iran’s development of nuclear and missile technologies, the Security Council expanded its sanctions against the country by banning its arms exports and increasing financial and travel restrictions.

Acts of international terrorism were committed throughout the year, including deadly attacks in Algeria, Iraq and Pakistan, where former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and 23 others were killed in December.  The United Nations was not immune to acts of terrorism, as staff members continued to pay the highest price for their service:  an 11 December bomb attack on United Nations offices in Algiers left 17 civilian personnel dead.

Protection of human rights continued to be a priority.  In June, the Human Rights Council set up a mechanism for assessing, every four years, the human rights records of Member States, and a revised complaints procedure for individuals and groups to report human rights violations anywhere in the world.  Government repression of peaceful demonstrations in Myanmar prompted a special Human Rights Council session in October.

Eradicating poverty and achieving the other Millennium Development Goals remained major concerns in a year that represented the midpoint of efforts to attain the Goals and witnessed a global financial crisis that threatened the vitality of international development assistance.  Put most at risk, at a time when some countries were reducing poverty and seeing it decline in its extreme forms, were the world’s poor.  With their needs in mind, the Secretary-General worked with Member States to enhance development and humanitarian support.

At the outset of his term of office, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made understanding and dealing with climate change one of his top priorities.  Subsequently, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former United States Vice-President Al Gore, Jr., reported that climate change was indeed occurring, and that it was most likely caused by humans.  This conclusion made it clear that climate change presented a major global challenge, requiring the same kind of attention and action by the United Nations as that accorded to poverty, gender inequality, uneven development and terrorism.

The print edition of the Yearbook of the United Nations2007is available for $175 (Sales No. E.09.I.1 H; ISBN: 978-92-1-101226-2; eISBN: 978-92-1-054327-9; ISSN: 0082-8521) from United Nations Publications, c/o National Book Network, 15200 NBN Way, PO Box 190, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214, United States, and in bookstores.  E-book editions are available at https://unp.un.org/mobileapps.aspx and from all major e-book retailers.  For further information, tel.:  1 800 253 9646 or 1 212 963 8302, fax:  1 212 963 3489, e-mail:  publications@un.org; website: www.un.org/publications.

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For information media • not an official record