Giving a voice to young people

Monique Coleman was appointed the first UN Youth Champion for the International Year of Youth, kicked off in August 2010 and culminating in the High-level Meeting on Youth on 25-26 July. Touring the world, she has strived to ensure that young people’s initiatives are not neglected or overlooked. “The most important thing to me is to put actions to our words,” says Monique in an interview for DESA News. Read more

Assessing progress towards the MDGs

Released on 7 July, the Millennium Development Goals Report 2011 will present the most updated assessment of progress towards the MDGs. It will be a key resource for the political debates at ECOSOC and the General Assembly in September, when Member States will assess what has worked and what needs to be done to bridge existing gaps. Read more

Debating education, human rights and conflict

67 million children around the world are not in primary schools. About 53 per cent are girls and around 28 million of these children live in conflict-affected countries. In some places, human rights are violated, depriving boys and girls of basic education. On 4 July, the webcast debate “Face to Face” on “Education, human rights and conflict” will address these issues. Read more

Technical Report

Launch of the World Economic and Social Survey 2011: The Great Green Technological Transformation

The report to be released in Geneva on 5 July, states that over the next 40 years, $1.9 trillion per year will be needed for incremental investments in green technologies. At least one half or $1.1 trillion per year, of the required investments will need to be made in developing countries to meet their rapidly increasing food and energy demand through the application of green technologies.

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The following staff members were promoted in June:

Xinxin Cai, Team Assistant, Division for Public Administration and Development Management

Daphnis Novoa, Information Technology Assistant, Division for Sustainable Development

Carol Pollack, Social Affairs Officer, Division for Social Policy and Development

Goings

The following staff member retired in June:

Marilyn El-Shahawi, Editorial Assistant, Population Division