United Nations

This website provides some history about the World Conference on Human Rights and links to official documents including the final conference report and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. The site also includes reports from related regional meetings as well as information about the Vienna +5 review and follow-up mechanisms to the World Conference on Human Rights.

This is the official web site of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). This hybrid court was set up jointly by an agreement between the government of Sierra Leone and th United Nations signed in January 2000. The SCSL is mandated to apply principles of international and Sierra Leonean law and to try individuals indicted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law. Of particular interest to WHRR users is the emerging jurisprudence on sexual violence and sexual slavery, including the new count of "forced marriage".

This is the official Web Site locator for the UN system of organizations. It provides a fully searchable "Alphabetic Index of Websites of the United Nations System of Organizations".

This is the home page of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Although the site is not limited to women's rights, it is fully searchable and has some very useful features. For example, there is a link to a map of the United Nations sytem under "Structure" at the left hand side of the home page. This map sets out the main bodies of the United Nations and provides links to elevant information for each body.

The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues was established by a declaration of the Economic and Social Council in 2000. The mandate of the forum includes facilitating the interaction of indigenous peoples with the United Nations. Activities of the forum include providing advice and recommendations to the Economic and Social Council, raising awareness, and disseminating information on Indigenous issues. The website contains comprehensive resources from official UN documents to State and NGO reports to the annual sessions of the forum.

This website provides information on the promotion of gender equality by the United Nations Development Program. Many of the resources address some of the key areas of work for UNDP, including poverty reduction. Resources on the website include toolkits on incorporating a gender perspective into development policies. The site contains links to working papers and conference papers addressing different aspects of gender and development. The site also contains a list of links to other relevant websites.

The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) aims to lead and support an expanded response to the AIDS epidemic through initiatives to prevent transmission, provide care for infected persons, assist vulnerable communities and alleviate the broad impact of the epidemic. The website contains many resources relevant to women, which can be listed through a keyword search for gender. Resources include reports on various issues concerning women, speeches, fact sheets and press releases. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - HIV/AIDS, International]

The United Nations Population Fund assists developing countries, countries with economies in transition and other countries address reproductive health and population issues. The agency's website provides information and access to documents on a number of reproductive health and population issues including reproductive health, gender equality, human rights, adolescents and youth, safe motherhood and preventing the spread of HIV. [Descriptors: Reproductive Rights - Overview, International]

The website of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) contains extensive information and resources including detailed reports, news releases and links to relevant documents of international law. A separate page highlights the relevant information focusing exclusively on refugee women. The site also monitors recent developments in refugee situations in the news section and provides detailed statistics. (Please note that a number of relevant UNHCR resources are annotated separately on the Women's Human Rights Resources database).

This website provides information about the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance which was held in Durban, South African in 2001. The site includes updates on follow-up meetings, offical documents from the conference, information about the participation of non-governmental organization, and links to "issues in focus" which includes a focus on the gender dimensions of racial discrimination.