UNIC Moscow to act as co-organizer of a session on e-Accessibility at the Conference “Equal rights – Equal Opportunities. Universal Design: new concepts and best practices”

Summer School on Human Development under the auspices of UNDP PSO, Faculty of Economics at Moscow State University and Oxford Russia Fund

Trafficking as an issue was only first publicly addressed in 1997, and knowledge about the extent and forms of trafficking in Russia has remained relatively limited. In 2000, Russia signed the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and its supplementing Protocol on Trafficking in Persons, with Russia’s ratification occurring in March 2004.

In the context where the future of the polar zone, a large percentage of Russia’s territory, gains the renewed focus of major research activities, economic and political interests, it is bound to become one of the key development priorities Russian Federation will be addressing in the near future. Most visible elements of concern include the environmental risks, the demographic trends, the livelihoods of indigenous populations, as well as issues of health and access to basic social services for population living in remote northern areas.

The informal Working Group was created at the initiative of the UN Information Center in Moscow following the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities in December 2006. The group brings together the representatives of the Government, the civil society, including organizations dealing with the problems of disability, as well as interested UN agencies and structures.

This temporary working group was formed by UN in Russia to support the preparation in 2007 of a publication that aims to contribute to analysis and advocacy of policy measures, linking healthcare, socio-political, and sociological aspects of the demographic problem.

The publication seeks to explore, highlight and synthesize in a brief and appealing format a few concrete policy considerations / recommendations that could prove useful for the Russian Government in shaping a long-term strategy to cope with the demographic problems.

Background information

Within the UN family the Joint United Nations Team on AIDS is the mechanism
allowing coordination the efforts of all UN agencies involved in response to the
HIV/AIDS problem.

Established in 1994 by a resolution of the UN Economic and Social Council and launched in January 1996, UNAIDS is guided by a Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) with representatives of 22 governments from all geographic regions, the UNAIDS Cosponsors, and five representatives of nongovernmental organizations, including associations of people living with HIV.