United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland and is a member of the United Nations Development Group.The UNHCR has won two Nobel Peace Prizes, once in 1954 and again in 1981.
 High Commissioner - António Guterres, Portugal (2005–present)

Org type	Programme
Acronyms	UNHCR
Head	António Guterres
Status	Active
Established	December 14, 1950
Website	UNHCR.org
Parent org	United Nations

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO; pronounced /juːˈnɛskoʊ/) is a specialized agency of the United Nations. Its stated purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and the human rights along with fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the UN Charter. It is the heir of the League of Nations' International Commission on Intellectual Cooperation.

UNESCO has 193 Member States and seven Associate Members. Most of the field offices are "cluster" offices covering three or more countries; there are also national and regional offices. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information.

Projects sponsored by UNESCO include literacy, technical, and teacher-training programmes; international science programmes; the promotion of independent media and freedom of the press; regional and cultural history projects; the promotion of cultural diversity; international cooperation agreements to secure the world cultural and natural heritage (World Heritage Sites) and to preserve human rights, and attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide. It is also a member of the United Nations Development Group.

Inter Parliamentary Union

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) (French: L'Union Interparlementaire (UIP)) is an international organization established in 1889 by William Randal Cremer (United Kingdom) and Frédéric Passy (France). It was the first permanent forum for political multilateral negotiations. Initially, the organization was for individual parliamentarians, but has since transformed into an international organization of the parliaments of sovereign states. The national parliaments of 157 countries are members of the IPU, and nine regional parliamentary assemblies are associate members. The IPU has permanent observer status at the United Nations.

History

Leading personalities of the IPU have received eight Nobel Peace Prizes:

• 1901: Frédéric Passy (France)
• 1902: Albert Gobat (Switzerland)
• 1903: William Randal Cremer (United Kingdom)
• 1908: Fredrik Bajer (Denmark)
• 1909: August Marie Francois Beernaert (Belgium)
• 1913: Henri La Fontaine (Belgium)
• 1921: Christian Lange (Norway)
• 1927: Ferdinand Buisson (France)

The organisation's initial objective was the arbitration of conflicts. The IPU played an important part in setting up the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Over time, its mission has evolved towards the promotion of democracy and inter-parliamentary dialogue. The IPU has worked for establishment of institutions at the inter-governmental level, including the United Nations, an organization with which it cooperates and with which it has permanent observer status.

Map of IPU member states

Numerous bodies have expressed interest in the possibility of transforming the IPU into a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, among them the Committee for a Democratic UN, the German Bundestag and the Socialist International. The Liberal International also considers this as an option.
The headquarters of the union have been moved several times since its inception. Locations:

• 1892–1911: Bern (Switzerland)
• 1911–1914: Brussels (Belgium)
• 1914–1920: Oslo (Norway)
• 1921 – permanent in Geneva (Switzerland)

Members and organization

Members

• International parliamentary assemblies may be admitted by the Governing Council as Associate Members
• Every Parliament constituted in conformity with the laws of a sovereign State whose population it represents and on whose territory it functions may request affiliation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The decision to admit or readmit a Parliament shall be taken by the Governing Council.

It is the duty of the Members of the Union to submit the resolutions of the Union within their respective Parliament, in the most appropriate form; to communicate them to the Government; to stimulate their implementation and to inform the Secretariat of the Union, as often and fully as possible, particularly in its annual reports, as to the steps taken and the results obtained.

Associate members

The participating parliamentary assemblies other than national parliaments are the following:

Name	Related organization
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe	CoE
European Parliament	EU
Latin American Parliament	none
Andean Parliament	CAN
Central American Parliament	SICA
East African Legislative Assembly	EAC
Transitional Arab Parliament	AL
Inter-Parliamentary Committee of the West African Economic and Monetary Union	UEMOA
Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States	ECOWAS

Organs

Headquarters of the IPU in Geneva (2010)

The organs of the Inter-Parliamentary Union are:

• the Assembly, meets twice a year. The Assembly shall be composed of parliamentarians designated as delegates by the Members of the Union. The Assembly is assisted in its work by Standing Committees, whose number and terms of reference are determined by the Governing Council; Standing Committees shall normally prepare reports and draft resolutions for the Assembly. No one delegate may record more than ten votes.

• the Governing Council. The Governing Council shall normally hold two sessions a year. The Governing Council shall be composed of three representatives from each Member of the Union. The term of office of a member of the Governing Council shall last from one Assembly to the next and all the members of the Governing Council must be sitting members of Parliament. The Governing Council shall elect the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union for a period of three years. It elects the members of the Executive Committee and appoints the Secretary General of the Union.

• the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee shall be composed of the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, fifteen members belonging to different Parliaments (elected by the Governing Council; not less than twelve shall be elected from among the members of the Governing Council) and the President of the Coordinating Committee of the Meeting of Women Parliamentarians. The fifteen elected seats will be assigned to the geopolitical groups. Only parliamentarians from States where women have both the right to vote and the right to stand for election are eligible to the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee shall be the administrative organ of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

• and the Secretariat. The Secretariat of the Union comprises the totality of the staff of the organisation under the direction of the Secretary General of the Union.

The Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments shall be a consultative body of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Elected to posts

• President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union is Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab (Namibia), elected to this post for a three-year mandate on 15 October 2008 at the 183rd session of the Governing Council of the IPU in Geneva.
• Secretary General of the Union: Mr. Anders B. Johnsson (Sweden), elected to this post in 1998 for an initial four year mandate. He has since been re-elected twice and is currently serving his third term.
• Standing Committee on democracy and human rights. President: Mr. E. Rodriguez Zavaleta (Peru), Latin American Group.
• Committee on human rights of parliamentarians. President: Ms. S. Carstairs (Canada), expiry of term April 2011.
• On April 17, 2008, Senator Pia Cayetano (Philippines) was elected for a 2 year term, president of the Committee of Women Parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) during its 118th General Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa. As the first Filipino and Asian to head it, she ran unopposed and takes over from Uruguay's Monica Xavier.

Amendments to the Statutes

Any proposal to amend the Statutes shall be submitted in writing to the Secretariat of the Union at least three months before the meeting of the Assembly. The Secretariat will immediately communicate all such proposals to the Members of the Union. The consideration of such proposed amendments shall be automatically placed on the agenda of the Assembly.
Any sub-amendments shall be submitted in writing to the Secretariat of the Union at least six weeks before the meeting of the Assembly. The Secretariat will immediately communicate all such sub-amendments to the Members of the Union.
After hearing the opinion of the Governing Council, expressed through a simple majority vote, the Assembly shall decide on such proposals by a two-thirds majority vote.

The IPU and the United Nations

The IPU marked the 50th anniversary of the United Nations by holding a special session in the General Assembly Hall before the start of the session, where they planned for closer cooperation with the United Nations. The General Assembly Resolution passed during that session requested the Secretary-General to put this into action.An agreement was signed between the IPU and the Secretary-General on 24 July 1996 and subsequently ratified by a General Assembly Resolution, where the United Nations recognizes IPU as the world organization of parliaments. Pursuant to this resolution, the Secretary-General submitted a report which was noted with appreciation by the General Assembly, who requested further strengthening of cooperation and another report. This report detailed the measures that had been taken, including opening a liaison office in New York, and cooperation on issues such land-mines and the promotion of representative democracy. Following an entire morning of debate the General Assembly passed a resolution which simply stated that it "looks forward to continued close cooperation".
The following year (1999) the Secretary-General reported on an increased number of areas of cooperation, the issue was debated for an entire afternoon (interrupted by a minute of silence held for tribute to Vazgen Sargsyan, the Prime Minister of Armenia who had just at that time been killed by gunmen) and passed a resolution requesting the IPU be allowed to address the Millennium General Assembly directly.
Following another report, and another half-day debate, the General Assembly welcomed the IPU declaration entitled "The Parliamentary vision for international cooperation at the dawn of the third millennium" and called for the Secretary-General to explore new and further ways in which the relationship could be strengthened.
On 19 November 2002 the IPU was granted observer status to the General Assembly
In the Resolution 59/19, Cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the UN General Assembly takes note of the recommendations in regard to engaging parliamentarians more systematically in the work of the United Nations.
The final declaration of the Second World Conference of Speakers of Parliament, hosted at United Nations headquarters, took place in September 2005, was entitled Bridging the democracy gap in international relations: A stronger role for parliament.
In the Resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly, 61/6, Cooperation between the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union, in 27 November 2006, it calls for the further development of the annual parliamentary hearing at the United Nations and other specialized parliamentary meetings in the context of major United Nations meetings as joint United Nations-Inter-Parliamentary Union events.
Every year during the fall session of the General Assembly the IPU organises a Parliamentary Hearing. A resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the IPU allowed for circulation of official IPU documents in the General Assembly.
UN and the IPU cooperate closely in various fields, in particular peace and security, economic and social development, international law, human rights, and democracy and gender issues, but IPU has not obtained the status of UN General Assembly subsidiary organ.

Asian Aid

Asian Aid is a non-profit Christian charity organisation that works to provide sponsorship of poverty-stricken children from India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Founded in 1966, Asian Aid is an accredited, supporting ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Based out of Wauchope, New South Wales, Australia, Asian Aid is a signatory of the ACFID code for non-government organisations and has a supporting branch in the USA.

Without hope, what do we have?

There is no future, nothing to look forward to. No reason to wake up in the morning. No reason to plan. No reason to daydream. No reason to care for yourself - or for others. The world is grey.
At Asian Aid, we believe that hope is something everybody has a right to.
Hope can take many forms. Sometimes it's a gentle hand to hold. Sometimes it's a steaming bowl of rice and vegetables. It can be sign language for the voiceless or deaf, or braille for the sightless. Hope can be a warm blanket at night, and sometimes it comes straight out of a school textbook. It can even grow in a vegetable garden.
We believe in God's promise in Jeremiah 29:11. "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"
But we also believe it is our responsibility to spread seeds of hope wherever we can, regardless of race, religion, or gender.
Hope changes lives, and that's why we believe it's the best gift we can give. 

Academy of European Law

The Academy of European Law (known by the German acronym ERA for “Europäische Rechtsakademie”) is an international centre for training and debate for lawyers. A public foundation based in Trier, Germany, its objective is to promote the awareness, understanding and good practice of European law.

 

Profile

Through conferences, seminars, study visits, language courses and e-learning projects, many of them multilingual, ERA enables legal practitioners to gain a wider and deeper knowledge of the diverse aspects of European law. Attendees at the events, taking place at the Academy’s conference centre in Trier, in Brussels and other European cities, include judges, prosecutors, lawyers in private practice, notaries, in-house counsel, law enforcement officers, lawyers in public administration and other legal practitioners. The Academy also provides a forum for the discussion of proposals and developments of legal policy at European level and thus contributes to creating a pan-European public sphere.

History

The Academy’s genesis was closely associated with the accelerating pace of European integration and the completion of the internal market. In 1990, the European Parliament recommended that the European Commission invest in a centre for the continuing education of lawyers in order to improve the consistent application of European law. In 1991 the Parliament endorsed a proposal drawn up by a number of MEPs and politicians from Luxembourg and the German Land of Rhineland-Palatinate to establish an Academy of European Law in Trier, Germany, close to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The Academy was set up in 1992 as a public foundation. The founding patrons were the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Land of Rhineland-Palatinate and the City of Trier. They were soon joined by the other German Länder, the federal state of Germany and, from 2000 on, by other Member States of the European Union. Today, 23 EU Member States are patrons of the Academy.

Structure

The Academy’s training events are designed and implemented by an international team of lawyers divided into four sections: European private law, European business law, European criminal law and European public law. Speakers are drawn from a Europe-wide network of experts, leading professionals and lawmakers. Besides revenue from its conferences, publications and interest on foundation capital, a significant share of the Academy’s budget is made up of support from the European Union and the Land of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Former European Commission president Jacques Santer is the president of the Academy’s Governing Board, which is responsible for fundamental policy decisions and approval of the budget. Pauliine Koskelo, President of the Supreme Court of Finland, is chairwoman of its Board of Trustees. Klaus-Heiner Lehne MEP is chairman of its Executive Board. The Academy’s director is Wolfgang Heusel.

Andean Community of Nations

The Andean Community (Spanish: Comunidad Andina, CAN) is a customs union comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact until 1996 and came into existence with the signing of the Cartagena Agreement in 1969. Its headquarters are located in Lima, Peru.


The Andean Community has 98 million inhabitants living in an area of 4,700,000 square kilometers, whose Gross Domestic Product amounted to US$745.3 billion in 2005, including Venezuela, (who was a member at that time). It's estimated GDP PPP for 2011 amounts to US$902.86 billion, excluding Venezuela.

1. Freddy Ehlers Zurita (Ecuador), (2007–2010)
2. Adalid Contreras Baspineiro (Bolivia), (2010–present)

Membership

Member states

The original Andean Pact was founded in 1969 by Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In 1973, the pact gained its sixth member, Venezuela. In 1976, however, its membership was again reduced to five when Chile withdrew. Venezuela announced its withdrawal in 2006, reducing the Andean Community to four member states.
Recently, with the new cooperation agreement with Mercosur, the Andean Community gained four new associate members: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. These four Mercosur members were granted associate membership by the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in an enlarged session with the Commission (of the Andean Community) on July 7, 2005. This moves reciprocates the actions of Mercosur which granted associate membership to all the Andean Community nations by virtue of the Economic Complementarity Agreements (Free Trade agreements) signed between the CAN and individual Mercosur members.

African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) is a group of countries (currently 79: 48 African, 16 Caribbean and 15 Pacific), created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. The group's main objectives are sustainable development and poverty reduction within its member states, as well as their greater integration into the world's economy. All of the member states, except Cuba are signatories to the Cotonou Agreement with the European Union.
The Cotonou Agreement (signed in Cotonou, Benin in June 2000) is the successor to the Lomé Conventions. One of the major differences from the Lomé Convention is that the partnership is extended to new actors such as civil society, private sector, trade unions and local authorities. These will be involved in consultations and planning of national development strategies, provided with access to financial resources and involved in the implementation of programmes.
Many small island developing states are ACP states; the fourth Lomé Convention was revised in 1995 in Mauritius and gives special attention to island countries in this agreement.