THE WEEK AHEAD AT THE UNITED NATIONS:

THE EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE (14/13)

2-7 April 2013 (and beyond)

This document is for planning purposes only and is subject to change. Please check also our website for latest changes http://www.unric.org or call +32 2 788 84 71 + 32 476 215 485

VIP Visits

Christopher Ross, UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Western Sahara: North Africa

(till 3 April). Andris Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Development: Samoa (3 April). The UN Secretary-General: San Marino, Andorra and Monaco (till 4 April); Madrid (4-7 April);

The Hague (7-8 April). Connie Hedegaard and Štefan Füle, respectively EU Commissioners for Climate Action/

Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy: Morocco (4 April). Marc Bichler, UNCDF Exceutive Secretary, Brussels (till 5 April) Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy: St. Petersburg (5 April).

Lakshmi Puri, Acting Head of UN Women: Brussels (9 April)

----------------------------------------------

Tuesday, 2 April Rwanda assumes the monthly rotating Presidency of the Security Council (Reporting and Mandate Cycles: http://www.un.org/en/sc/inc/pages/pdf/sccycles.pdf pages22-26) World Autism Awareness Day http://www.un.org/en/events/autismday/ Brussels: exhibition: “Landmines: Treacherous Weapons” (open to the public till 28 June). http://www.klm-mra.be/klm-new/engels/main01.php?id=../danger-mines/mines-en Geneva: OHCHR -Ad Hoc Committee on the elaboration of complementary standards to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (till 12 April). New York: Substantive session of the Disarmament Commission (till 19 April). http://www.un.org/disarmament/HomePage/DisarmamentCommission/UNDiscom.shtml Port of Spain: Six MEPs will join their Caribbean counterparts to discuss on economic cooperation as well as to monitor and review the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement with Cariforum (till 5 April). Pretoria: Three MEPs will travel to Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town. On the agenda: Strategic Partnership, freedom of speech, EU development cooperation, global economic and financial situation, immigration and developments in the South Africa's mining sector and trade (SADC EPA) (till 5 April).

Yangon: A Delegation of MEPs will meet representatives of several human rights NGOs, MPs, and other official representatives. The MEPs will also meet UN representatives and the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (till 6 April). Wednesday, 3 April Brasilia: A delegation of the EP Foreign Affairs Committee visits Brazil. Ongoing negotiations on the EU-MERCOSUR association agreement will be at the heart of MEPs' meetings (till 5 April). Thursday, 4 April Int. Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action http://www.un.org/en/events/mineawarenessday/background.shtml Frankfurt: Governing Council meeting of the ECB. Madrid: The UN Secretary-General will launch an event for the 1,000 days of action for the Millennium Development Goals (see information below on 5 April). While in Madrid, he will participate in the UN Chief Executives Board meetings. Mexico: G20 Speakers Consultation. Vice-President Othmar Karas will represent the European Parliament at the fourth consultative meeting of G20 parliamentary speakers and will take the floor on "Financial System Reform and Combating Corruption" (till 5 April). Paris: OECD Annual Conference of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (till 5 April). -Global Forum on Development: Innovative Approaches to Poverty Reduction, Social Cohesion and Progress in the 21st Century, organised by the Development Co-operation Directorate and the Development Centre. http://www.oecd.org/site/oecdgfd/discusspost15.htm Friday,5 April MDG Momentum – 1,000 Days of Action, observed by the UN System and UN Agencies worldwide, marking the milestone of 1,000 days until the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target date in 2015 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ Madrid: UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (till 6 April). St. Petersburg: Baltic Sea States Conference on Environmental Protection (till 6 April). http://balticsummit.ru/?eng Saturday,6 April Marseille: Summit of Speakers of the Parliaments of the Union for the Mediterranean. The EP President Martin Schulz will take part in this first summit convened on his initiative. Sunday, 7 April Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Rwanda Genocide http://www.un.org/preventgenocide/rwanda/commemoration.shtml World Health Day: "Hypertension" http://www.who.int/world-health-day/en/

And beyond: Other dates to pin 8 April Brussels: EESC Hearing "Towards Smart and Sustainable Agricultural Water Use in Europe".http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.events-and-activities-shaped-by-water Geneva: Committee on Enforced Disappearances (till 19 April). Istanbul: UN Forum on Forests (till 19 April). http://www.un.org/esa/forests New York: Ad Hoc Committee established by General Assembly resolution 51/210 on a draft comprehensive convention on international terrorism (till 12 April). http://www.un.org/law/terrorism/ Oslo: ILO’s European regional meeting (till 11 April). http://www.ilo.org/global/meetings-and-events/regional-meetings/europe-and-central-asia/erm-9/lang--en/index.htm

Rome: IFAD, Executive Board (till 12 April). The Hague: Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to Review the Operation of the Convention (till 19 April). The UN Secretary-General will attend the opening session. Vienna: Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Legal Subcommittee (till19 April). 9 April Brussels: -Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - preparatory meeting of donors. Hosted by the EU Commission (till 10 April), it will be combined with a pledging dinner with EU Commissioner Andris Piebalgs to shore up private sector contributions for the Fund. The preparatory meeting is to path the way for the Global Fund’s pledging conference for the period 2014-2016 which will be held this autumn under the chairmanship of the UNSG Ban Ki-moon. -To mark the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Ciné-ONU and the US mission to the EU invite you to the screening of “Traces of the Trade” A Story from the Deep North http://www.unric.org/en/cine-onu Geneva: ECE, 65th session (till 11 April). http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/commission/2013/Draft_programme_27_March.pdf 10 April Brussels: Conference; Time for Plan B: Positive Effects of Gender Sensitive and Environmental Policies http://www.guengl.eu/news/article/events/time-for-plan-b-positive-effects-of-gender-sensitive-and-environmental-poli London: G8 Foreign Ministers Meeting (till 11 April). https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/g8-uk-presidency-foreign-ministers-meeting-progress-report

Paris: UNESCO, Executive Board (till 25 April). 11 April Brussels: Conference: The Arctic melt: A wake up call, NOT a business opportunity! http://www.greens-efa.eu/the-arctic-melt-9341.html 12 April Int. Day of Human Space Flight http://www.un.org/en/events/humanspaceflightday Dublin: -Eurogroup. -Informal Meeting of ECOFIN EU Ministers (till 13 April). 15 April Geneva: -Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (till 19 April). http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/Session9.aspx -Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (till 26 April). http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cmw/ Montreal: ICAO, Committee (till 3 May). Strasbourg: European Parliament Plenary (till 18 April). 17 April Dublin: Informal meeting of EU Trade Ministers (till 18 April). 18 April Washington: G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting (till 19 April). 19 April Vienna: Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (till 26 April). Washington D.C.: Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (till 21 April). http://www.imf.org/external/spring/2013/index.htm 22 April Int. Mother Earth Day http://www.un.org/en/events/motherearthday/ Dublin: Informal Meeting of EU Ministers for Environment and Energy (till 24 April). Geneva: Second NPT Preparatory Committee (till 3 May). Luxembourg: - General and Foreign Affairs EU Councils (till 23 April). -Agriculture and Fisheries EU Council (AGRI FISH) (till 23 April).

New York: -Special high-level meetings of the Economic and Social Council with the Bretton Woods institutions, the World Trade Organization and UNCTAD. -Commission on Population and Development (till 26 April). -Committee on Information (till 2 May). Rome: FAO, Council (till 26 April). 23 April World Book and Copyright Day http://www.unesco.org/culture/bookday Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei): ASEAN Summit (till 25 April). Dublin: - Informal Meeting of EU Ministers for Environment. - Informal Meeting of EU Ministers for Energy (till 24 April). 25 April World Malaria Day [WHO] http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/worldmalariaday/ Paris: Third Annual High-Level G20 Anti-Corruption Conference for Governments and Business, jointly organised by the Russian Presidency of the G20, the OECD and supported by the UNODC. http://www.oecd.org/corruption/anti-bribery/g20-anticorruption-2013.htm 26 April World Intellectual Property Day [WIPO] http://www.wipo.int/ip-outreach/en/ipday/ 28 April World Day for Safety and Health at Work "The Prevention of Occupational Diseases" http://www.ilo.org/safework/events/safeday/lang--en/index.htm

29 April Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare http://www.un.org/en/events/chemwarfareday Addis Ababa: United Nations African Meeting on the Question of Palestine (till 30 April). 30 April International Jazz Day http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/jazz-day

--------------------------------------------

UN Campaigns, Competitions, Apps and Games

For a more complete list of Competitions, Mobile Apps, Campaigns and Games visit: http://www.unric.org/en/competitions-campaigns-mobile-apps-a-games

MDG Momentum – 1,000 Days of Action (5 April)

MDG Momentum – 1,000 Days of Action will be observed by the UN System and UN Agencies worldwide, marking the milestone of 1,000 days until the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target date in 2015. Planned online and offline events will highlight that the MDGs are the most successful global anti-poverty push in history and that the world now has 1,000 days to accelerate action. More information on events and social media materials will be promoted on the UN MDG gateway starting Tuesday, 2 April. The agreed hashtag for the 1,000 Days moment will be #MDGmomentum.

Innovate Your Future campaign (ECOSOC)

ECOSOC launched Innovate Your Future - a major online campaign aimed at bringing the voices of youth into the important discussions and decisions of the Council ahead of its annual meeting in July. Youth are invited to share their ideas and thoughts on how science, technology and culture can help shape a sustainable world on the ECOSOC Facebook page. Just launched is also a Thunderclap page, asking people across the globe to help empower youth to sustain the planet.

 

“WORK4YOUTH” photo contest (ILO) http://www.unric.org/en/competitions The ILO Youth Employment Programme has launched a photo contest focusing on young people at work. The objective of the contest is to highlight the challenges young people face in the workplace, as well as innovative ideas to address them. Photos submitted by participants should capture youth at work The submission deadline is 15 April, 2013 UPU - 2013 International letter-writing competition for young people http://www.unric.org/en/competitions The theme is: "Write someone a letter explaining why water is a precious resource". The 2013 theme ties in with the International Decade for Action "Water for Life" 2005–2015. Water serves a multitude of different purposes, and it is vital that we preserve this precious natural resource. Access to water is essential to ensuring the health and well-being of humans and the protection of nature. Young people up to the age of 15 years may take part in the competition. The submission deadline is 30 April, 2013

---------------------------