UNESCO - The Sulaymaniyah Museum inaugurated a first section of its renovated exhibition halls displaying part of its rare and precious collection of historical objects embedded with ancient scripts. The "In Writing" exhibition comes as a new milestone in the modernization project of the museum, which was initiated in 2010 with the technical support of UNESCO. The opening was also the occasion for UNESCO to reveal the Museum's new Master Plan and architectural brief.

The launch on 12 March of a Violence against Women Data Gathering and Monitoring System by the Ministry of Planning marked the successful conclusion of a joint effort by different ministries and non-governmental organizations, with the technical support of the United Nations, to establish a system to provide public and updated data to promote evidence-based planning to eradicate violence against women.

My voice can! No, my voice cannot... Youth around the globe – and Iraqi youths are no exception – think day after day about what their voices can do, and what they cannot do. In December and January, UNAMI asked Iraqi youth if they have a voice, if they can express themselves, and what they can do to make their voices heard in their local communities and across the country.

WARSAW-UNIDO, 24 February 2013 – Iraq, similarly to Poland in the nineties, is an economy undergoing economic transformation from state-regulated to private sector-led development. Recognizing this common characteristic, UNIDO organized a study tour of senior Iraqi officials and representatives from the private sector to Poland to review the Polish experience in using industrial zones, technology parks and special economic zones as instruments of economic development and change.

By Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq
26 February 2013

The heavy rains and flooding this winter, which caused severe damage to infrastructure and forced the displacement of thousands of families, especially in Salaheddine province, were a stark reminder of how destructive and dramatic an impact intensifying and more extreme weather conditions can have on a country’s economy and its citizens’ health and lives.

At a ceremony in the Khanaqeen Primary School in Erbil on 26 February, the Kurdistan Regional Government adopted comprehensive standards to ensure that primary schools across the region become ideal learning environments for children to obtain a high quality education.

Twenty-seventh session of the Governing Council/
Global Ministerial Environment Forum
18 - 22 February 2013
UNEP Headquarters, United Nations Complex, Gigiri
Nairobi, Kenya

Special high level session on Sand and Dust-storms

I feel honoured to be here with you today at this important event.
  

We came here to Nairobi from many different countries to discuss how we can make a difference.

We care about the environment.

As the political crisis and popular discontent continue to be heard across Iraq, a group of women parliamentarians have decided, in an ultimate call for peace, that it is time for them to speak with one voice to denounce the violence. Along with the State Minister for Women’s Affairs and other women leaders, female MPs launched on 5 February 2013 a national initiative, the “Iraqi Women Platform for Lasting Peace”. The project, which received technical support from UNPD and UNAMI, aims to create a mechanism to contribute to sustainable peace and development in Iraq.

By Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Iraq
“Let us never forget that what divides us is minuscule compared with what unites us.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his message to mark the “World Interfaith Harmony Week”

All over the world, the vast majority of people of faith live in harmony with their neighbours, whatever their creed, and Iraq is no exception. Dozens of young Iraqis from different neighbourhoods and faiths resolutely demonstrated it last week when they came together to mark the “World Interfaith Harmony Week” ⁽¹⁾ in Baghdad. The programme consisted of a series of visits to several holy places, including the shrines of Imam Hanifa Al-Aadham and Imam Khadum, Sayyidat Al-Najat Church and the Temple of the Sabean Mandeans.

On the occasion of World Wetlands Day on 31 January 2013, the Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (DSRSG) in Development and Humanitarian Affairs, Ms. Jacqueline Badcock, attended the ‘Iraqi Marshlands Roundtable’ and film screening at the US Embassy in Baghdad as a keynote speaker alongside a group of panellists from the Iraqi Ministry of Environment, USAID, Nature Iraq, and the Center for the Restoration of Iraqi Marshes.