- Capacity building of NGOs in Yazd Province Workshop
The capacity building workshop in Yazd Province was held by UNA-Iran and with the cooperation of the Organization for Defending Victims of Violence towards the Cluster Project on the Promotion of Human Rights and Further Access to Justice on 4 July 2008 and hosted by Post Graduates Premier Talent Association of Yazd Province. This workshop discussed and reviewed subjects such as the UN system, Human Rights Council structure and activities, preservation of peace mechanisms and the MDG.
- MDG Education Course for Education and Training Teachers and School Heads – 1st Stage
With the cooperation of UNIC, UNA-Iran organised a series of education courses on the “Introduction to the MDG” for Education and Training Teachers and Schools heads, in three stages and with the participation of 120 individuals. The first stage of this education course was held in one day on 19 August 2008 for 35 Education and Training Teachers and School Heads. In this course which was held with the aim of promoting UN culture, experts from specialized agencies of the UN described the 8 MDG, and their achievement process in Iran.
In this framework objectives such as the eradication of hunger and poverty, creation of global partnership for development, the realization of universal basic education, reduction of child mortality rates, promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, improvement of maternity health, combating the spread of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases, safeguarding the sustainability of the environment were discussed and reviewed.
- Education Course on the Requirements and Documentation of the Sustainable Environmental Management System (ISO-14001)
This course was designed for the presentation of the concepts and principles of sustainable environmental management system and their role in safeguarding and controlling sustainable development. The said course was on the requirements of the environmental management and based on IS0-14001 standards, and the course concentrated on its defining and function towards sustainable development.
This course was held with the participation of environmental management and environmental engineering MS graduated, on 17-18 December 2008, for 16 hours and with the aim of introduction of the concepts and principles of sustainable environmental management, introduction of the participants to principles and terminologies of environmental management system, review of the appearance of environmental mentality, discussion on the conventional dimensions of environmental management, introduction of the participants to the ISO-14000 standards collective and the defining of the requirements of ISO-14001, review of the requirements for environmental system documentation and possible structures, and facilitation of a single view to reach development in sustainable environmental management system.
- Commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
With the cooperation of UNIC, in a collective effort, UNA-Iran commemorated this international day with the participation of secondary school students. In this framework, the UN Secretary General’s message for the day was read in a number of Tehran secondary schools.
- The First Sitting on the Social Accountability of Companies in Achieving the MDG
The First Sitting on the Social Accountability of Companies in Achieving the MDG was held with the participation of 30 directors and top experts of the great economic collectives of Iran in June 2008, at the UNA-Iran headquarters. In this sitting which was held with the cooperation of UNIC, the MDG, and international treaties of the UN regarding the social responsibility of companies in achieving the MDG was discussed.
In this sitting which was totally coordinated and the brainstorming method was used, the participants gave their views on the main theme of the sitting.
- Participation in the 7th Session of the Human Rights Council
The 7th Session of the Human Rights Council was held on 3-28 March 2008 in Palais des Nations in Geneva. In its three working weeks, UNA-Iran held meetings with thematic rapporteurs of the Council and representatives from international organizations and NGOs, some of which are as follows: meeting with the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, the secretary of the Forced Disappearances Group, Special Rapporteur on Torture. UNA-Iran also participated in a number of sidelines meetings of the Session which were: Review of the human rights situation in Iraq, review of the human rights situation of women with a concentration on forced and premature marriages of girls, technical sitting on the defamation of religion and technical sitting on the role of good governance in the promotion of human rights.
- Participation in the 9th Session of the Human Rights Council
The 9th Session of the Human Rights Council was held on 8-26 September 2008 in Palais des Nations in Geneva.
UNA-Iran was one of the partners of the Capacity building of Civil Society Organizations of Iran, through which human rights education course was held for a group of Iranian NGOs representatives. In this course, the representatives were introduced to UN structures, especially the Human Rights Council. A number of sittings were held with international organizations based in Geneva in this education course, which were: the ICRC, UNCHR, UNICEF and UNESCO specialised working groups. In the sidelines of the Session, UNA-Iran participated in a number of sidelines meetings such as: technical sitting on gender equality, gender justice and empowerment of women, the sitting of the Council president with NGOs.
- Participation in the 61st Annual DPI/NGOs Conference
The 61st Annual DPI/NGOs Conference was held on 3-5 September 2008 coinciding with the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The overall theme of this conference was “reiteration on human rights for all: 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” which had been arranged with the participation of the NGOs Section Executive Committee, UNDPI, UNESCO and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the French Government.
Also in this Conference, five roundtables were held on human rights subjects and the representative of UNA-Iran participated in a number of them. In the main Conference one of the debates was human rights, education and learning where the experiences of UNA-Iran was welcomed.