United nations regional information centre

United Nations Regional Information Centre The United Nations Regiona l Information Centre (UNR IC) is one of 63 United Nations Information Centres (UNICs) around the world. Their main

task is to spread the UN message, raise awareness and create understanding of issues relating to the United Nations' objectives. UNRIC serves the Western European Region by providing and disseminating UN information material, UN reports and documents, press kits, posters, fact sheets and brochures. The intention is to reach out to all segments of society and therefore the UNRIC Reference Library is open to all inquiries about the UN via telephone, e-mail and

post. UN documents and publications are available in English, French and Spanish, but some material is also available in other European languages.

United Nations Regiona l Information Centre United Nations Regiona l Information Centre

UNRIC Logo Abbreviation UNRIC Formation

2004

Type

Information centre

Head

Deborah Seward

Parent organization

UN Secretariat

We b s i t e

unric.org

UNRIC maintains websites in 13 languages of the region: Danish, English, French, Finnish, German, Greek, Icelandic, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish and Spanish. Each version presents basic information on the UN, its structure, goals, main documents, affiliated agencies, employment/internship opportunities and main areas of work. Moreover, it gives information about the most important UN related events,

activities and international observances, as well as the programs of UNRIC and the UN family in the region.

UNRIC organizes information projects or campaigns with key partners, including governments, the media, NGOs, educational institutions and local authorities.

Countries served Since 1 January 2004, the new United Nations Regional Information Centre (UNRIC) in

Brussels provides information services to the following Western European countries: Andorra, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Holy See, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Sweden, United Kingdom and Spain.

It replaced the UN information centres of Athens, Bonn, Brussels, Copenhagen, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Paris and

Rome which were closed down on 31 December 2003, following a decision of the fiftyeighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.[1] UNRIC also cooperates with European Union institutions in the field of information.

Another multinational UNIC in the EU is the United Nations Information Service Vienna.

Desk O�cers The main duty of a Desk Officer

is the promotion of the UN system and its work in the country/countries of her/his responsibility. For example, this can be achieved through the implementation of information campaigns, the dissemination of information materials and the publication of op-eds written by UN officials.

A Desk Officer is also responsible for arranging interviews, organizing press conferences and briefings and for monitoring the press

coverage of UN issues.

The duties of a Desk Officer include the production of print information materials and the cooperation with key civil society partners at the national and regional level.

Reference library The UNRIC library maintains a collection of UN documents and publications in English, French and Spanish, as well as general information material about the work of the United

Nations. The Library provides reference services via e-mail or telephone and is open to the public.

Campaigns and projects CoolPlanet2009 Cool Planet 2009 is the UN’s European information campaign on climate change.

The CoolPlanet website is the centrepiece of UNRIC’s campaign, geared at generating interest and

involvement in climate change issues in Europe and to mobilize citizens in support of a new climate agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009. The Wall of Events on the website is a marketplace for European ideas, innovations and projects. You can post your own climate initiatives and see what others are doing in Europe.

The web page was launched on 26 February 2006 by the Prime Minister of Iceland

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir on behalf of the Prime Ministers of the five Nordic countries at the Nordic Globalization Forum at the Blue Lagoon in Iceland.

Coolplanet2009 has joined forces with numerous so-called Cool Friends and Partners, such as Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Good Planet, the Icelandic rock band Sigur Rós, Björk’s NGO Náttúra and the three chairwomen of the Road to Copenhagen: Margot Wallström, Vice President of

the European Commission, Gro Harlem Brundtland, UN Special Envoy on Climate Change and Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland.

CoolPlanet2009 is the European branch of the global UN campaign Seal the Deal.

CoolPlanet is also promoting the Seal the Deal in Europe through the concept “Wear Seal the Deal� in partnership with the Belgian designer Jean-Paul Knott. The concept features downloadable Seal the Deal

campaign tools based on a doit-yourself philosophy and includes Seal the Deal postcards, pins and T-shirts.

Seal the Deal 2009 The UN-led global campaign Seal the Deal seeks to encourage governments to successfully conclude a fair, balanced and effective climate agreement at the Copenhagen climate conference from 7–18 December 2009. The campaign was launched on 5 June 2009,

World Environment Day. The Seal the Deal campaign aims to raise awareness on climate change and to emphasize that public pressure from around the globe is important to make politicians reach a deal by the time the meeting ends on December 18.

To gather public support the Seal the Deal campaign encourages users to sign an online global petition which will be presented to world leaders.

The petition will serve as a

reminder that world leaders must negotiate a fair, balanced and effective agreement in Copenhagen, and that they must seal a deal to power green growth, protect our planet and build a more sustainable, prosperous global economy that will benefit all nations and all people.

Human Rights Education Human Rights Education is an UNRIC campaign that began in

2009 to celebrate the International Year for Learning Human Rights. The web-based campaign is to be a marketplace of ideas for teachers and students where they can download and access material, exchange experiences about teaching and studying human rights, and find contacts, links, partners as well as a wide variety of other practical and relevant information.

Cartooning for Peace The power and the responsibility of political cartooning was illustrated by the Prophet Mohammad cartoon debacle and the controversial cartoon exhibition on the Holocaust in Iran.

Conceived by the French cartoonist Plantu, ‘Cartooning for Peace’ was born on 16 October 2006 at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Twelve of the most renowned

political cartoonists from all over the world participated in a two-day conference to help us ‘Unlearn intolerance.’ The conference was accompanied by an exhibition. A movement was born.

Development Policy Forum The Development Policy Forum (DPF) is a partnership between the Brussels-based think tank ‘Friends of Europe,’ the World Bank, the United Nations, the

Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).

Support also comes from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and an association with the European Commission Directorate General for Development and Relations with African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP).

The goal of the partnership is to systematically address forthcoming challenges in the area of development policy through lively debates and written analyses.

The aims of the DPF are to: Raise awareness of development issues; Promote debate on topical and interlinked political, economic and social matters; Bring together political authorities, members of

national, international and European development organisations, commentators and business representatives to discuss and debate development questions.

CINE-ONU CINE-ONU is an event organized by UNRIC on a regular basis (once a month, in general). It is open to the public and it is one of the most successful initiatives of UNRIC in Brussels. Its success has grown over the past few years

and it is expected that in the near future it will reach an even larger audience. CINE-ONU involves the screening of a film relevant to a specific UN issue, followed by a debate with reputed speakers - either connected to the film, to the issue in question, or to both.

Often, CINE-ONU is organized to raise awareness of a UN International Day and the issues involved (for example the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women). CINE-ONUs are

announced around two weeks in advance, via an internal mailing list, on-line platforms promoting similar events and/ or by putting up posters in universities and cultural centres. The purpose of CINEONU is to raise awareness and spark debate on UN-specific issues. Moreover, it often offers the opportunity to its participants to see premieres of highly acclaimed documentaries and address questions to senior UN officials or other personalities.

UNRIC Magazine UNRIC Magazine provides an overview of UN-related events that are taking place in Western Europe (UNRIC Activities). It also contains opinion pieces written by senior UN officials, interview of the month, background material on recent major UN initiatives, an article from one of the staff members at UNRIC, new appointments and report launches. A new edition of the magazine is published every month.

UN international days and observances

January 27 January

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

February 4 February

World Cancer Day [WHO]

20 February

World Day of Social Justice

21 February

International Mother Language Day

March 8 March 21 March

International Women's Day International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination / World Poetry Day [UNESCO]

22 March

World Water Day

23 March

World Meteorological Day

24 March

World Tuberculosis Day [WHO]

25 March

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

April 2 April 4 April

World Autism Awareness Day International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action

7 April

World Health Day

22 April

International Mother Earth Day

23 April

World Book and Copyright Day

25 April

World Malaria Day [WHO]

26 April

World Intellectual Property Day [WIPO]

28 April

World Day for Safety and Health at Work [ILO]

May 3 May 8–9 May

World Press Freedom Day Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War

9–10 May

World Migratory Bird Day [UNEP]

15 May

International Day of Families

17 May

21 May

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development

22 May

International Day for Biological Diversity

29 May

International Day of UN Peacekeepers

31 May

World No-Tobacco Day

June 4 June

International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression

5 June

World Environment Day

8 June

World Oceans Day

12 June

World Day Against Child Labour

14 June

World Blood Donor Day

17 June

World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought

20 June

World Refugee Day

23 June

United Nations Public Service Day

26 June

26 June

International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

July First Saturday

International Day of Cooperatives

11 July

World Population Day

18 July

Nelson Mandela International Day

August 9 August

International Day of the World's Indigenous People

12 August

International Youth Day

19 August

World Humanitarian Day

23 August

International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

September 8 September

International Literacy Day

10 September World Suicide Prevention Day [WHO] 12 September United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation 15 September International Day of Democracy 16 September

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer

21 September International Day of Peace 27 September World Tourism Day [WTO] 28 September World Rabies Day [WHO] 29 September World Heart Day [WHO] Last week

World Maritime Day

October First Monday

World Habitat Day

1 October

International Day of Older Persons

2 October

International Day of Non-Violence

5 October

World Teachers' Day

Second Wednesday Second Thursday

International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction

World Sight Day [WHO]

9 October

World Post Day

10 October

World Mental Health Day

15 October

International Day of Rural Women

16 October

World Food Day

17 October

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

24 October

United Nations Day

24 October

World Development Information Day

27 October

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage [UNESCO]

November 6 November

10 November 14 November

International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict World Science Day for Peace and Development [UNESCO] World Diabetes Day

Third Thursday World Philosophy Day [UNESCO] Third Sunday

World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims

16 November

International Day for Tolerance

19 November

World Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Day [WHO]

20 November

Universal Children’s Day

20 November

Africa Industrialization Day

21 November

World Television Day

25 November

29 November

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

December 1 December

World AIDS Day

2 December

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

3 December

International Day of Persons with Disabilities

5 December 7 December

International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development International Civil Aviation Day

9 December

International Anti-Corruption Day

10 December

Human Rights Day

11 December

International Mountain Day

18 December

International Migrants Day

20 December

International Human Solidarity Day

References 1. http://www.anue.org

/en/content/unric

External links Official website

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