Knowledge Products

The ocean and its resources are the lifelines of Asia and the Pacific. As a resource for the economy, livelihoods and identity for coastal communities, the condition of the ocean is inextricably linked to the pathways of sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific. Produced in line with the 76th Session of the Economic and [...]

African countries are using technology in many new ways to fight the coronavirus pandemic. This report highlights some of the best digital solutions and estimates the investments required to implement the technology on a wider scale. This paper is intended to contribute to the European Union’s response to the coronavirus. This joint EU response includes [...]

This Trade and Development Report Update by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) discusses how developing countries can build solidarity to weather the interconnected economic and public health crises. The report titled, ‘South-South Cooperation at the Time of COVID-19,’ highlights “North-South divergence” in combating the pandemic. UNCTAD points to developing countries as being [...]

By Brendan Vickers & Salamat Ali, Commonwealth Secretariat The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented health, economic and humanitarian crisis for the world’s 47 least developed countries (LDCs), including 14 Commonwealth member countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. This issue of Trade Hot Topics analyses the trade flows in medical goods that matter for the [...]

COVID-19 has affected men and women differently. Although more men have died from the pandemic, women’s mental health is taking a bigger toll, their workload at home has multiplied and their economic resources are dwindling. These effects are hard to capture, as social distancing measures have rendered traditional data collection methods impossible. In response to [...]

The latest edition of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, published today, estimates that almost 690 million people went hungry in 2019 – up by 10 million from 2018, and by nearly 60 million in five years. High costs and low affordability also mean billions cannot eat healthily or nutritiously. The [...]

The innate response to a pathogen is critical in determining the outcome of the infection. However, the interplay of different cellular responses that are activated following viral infection and their contribution to innate antiviral signalling has not been clearly established. This work shows that flaviviruses, including Dengue, Zika, West Nile and Tick-borne encephalitis viruses, activate [...]

Acknowledging the challenges posed by the foreign fighter phenomenon and the urgent need to address the needs and protect the rights of children affected by it, some Member States have requested practical guidance on how to take appropriate measures towards such children while also fulfilling their obligations under international human rights, humanitarian and refugee law. [...]

The present handbook is an initiative of Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) Working Group on Protecting Human Rights while Countering Terrorism. The handbook, and a sister pocketbook, aim to assist the Member States in strengthening the protection of human rights in border security and management in the context of counter-terrorism, especially in the screening of [...]

In July 2016, the General Assembly passed resolution 70/291, which invited Member States and regional organizations to consider the development of their own PVE Plans consistent with the United Nations Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism. To take action on this important mandate, the UNOCT organized an Inter-Agency Expert Retreat on the Development of [...]