United Nations

Non-tariff measures are generally defined as policy measures other than ordinary customs tariffs that can potentially have an economic effect on international trade in goods, changing quantities traded, or prices or both. Since this definition is broad, a detailed classification is of critical importance so as to better identify and distinguish among the various forms of non-tariff measures. The classification of non-tariff measures presented here is a taxonomy of all those measures considered relevant in international trade today. It builds on an old UNCTAD classification known as the Coding System of Trade Control Measures and was developed by several international organizations forming what is called the MAST group (Multi-Agency Support Team) set up to support the Group of Eminent Persons on Non-tariff Barriers established by the Secretary General of UNCTAD in 2006. The MAST team discussed and proposed this classification, and is composed of: FAO, IMF, ITC, OECD, UNCTAD, UNIDO, World Bank and WTO. The classification is seen as evolving and should adapt to the reality of international trade and data collection needs.

The study focuses on the economic cost of the Israeli occupation of Area C, which accounts for about 60 per cent of the total area of the occupied West Bank. While the occupation also imposes significant restrictions on Palestinian economic activity in Areas A and B, it imposes more restrictions in Area C. This report estimates the cost of these additional restrictions on economic activities in Area C, outside the settlements. The economic cost is estimated by applying an innovative, well-established methodology that uses nighttime luminosity (NTL), captured by satellite sensors over a span of time, to estimate levels of economic activity. Occupation fragments the geography and economy of the West Bank, disfiguring Areas A and B and C and rendering them like a jigsaw the pieces of which no longer fit together. These areas, broken down by a complex multi-layered control system, are deprived of much more than their unity. How can the losses entailed by restrictions and territorial fragmentation be assessed? And what is the economic cost of depriving Palestinian producers of Area C, the only contiguous part of the West Bank? This study aims to answer both questions by estimating part of this cost.

This publication sheds light on the impact of the Israeli restrictions on the economy of the West Bank and the socioeconomic conditions of its households for the period 1998-2019, with special focus on the impact of the restrictions imposed by occupation in the aftermath of the second Intifada. It provides an overview of the Israeli restrictions and measures during the second Intifada and the post Intifada period. It then considers a counterfactual (alternative) growth path for the West Bank from the year 2000 onwards, to give some indication of the range of the potential economic growth that could have been realized if the restrictions imposed upon the outbreak of the Intifada had not occurred -or the economic costs in terms of GDP loss. It applies the empirical best prediction (EBP) method of Molina, Rao and Datta (2015) to combine the strengths of household surveys and censuses in order to estimate the poverty headcount and other indicators, which in turn allows for an assessment of the impact of the second Intifada using poverty gap and depth indicators. Finally, the study provides a set of recommendations and conclusions for the occupying power, Palestinian policymakers, the international community, and development partners.

The study addresses the leakage of Palestinian fiscal revenue to Israel and provide up-to-date data on the sources of losses of Palestinian fiscal resources. It explains that the fiscal costs are part of the overall economic costs caused by occupation and consists of two components: (i) Palestinian fiscal leakage to Israel under the PER, and (ii) other fiscal losses that are not leaked to Israel but caused by policies and measures imposed under the prolonged occupation.

This section builds upon recommendations 255 to 266 of the first section, which address the obligations of directors of an individual company in the period approaching insolvency. Focusing on the nature of the obligations and the steps that might be taken to discharge those obligations (as established in recommendations 255 and 256), this section proposes how those recommendations could be revised for application to directors1 in the context of enterprise groups. Recommendations 257 to 266 of the first section continue to apply in the enterprise group context, however cross references in those recommendations to recommendations 255 and 256 should be read for the purposes of this additional section as references to recommendations 267 and 268 contained in this section. Additional recommendations (recommendations 269 and 270) have been included in this section to address the situation where a director is appointed to, or holds a managerial or executive position in, more than one enterprise group member and a conflict arises in discharging the obligations owed to the different members. This section should be read in conjunction with the first section and also in conjunction with part three of the Legislative Guide. In addition, in 2019, UNCITRAL adopted a legislative text, the “UNCITRAL Model Law on Enterprise Group Insolvency”, which seeks to facilitate insolvency proceedings for enterprise groups. That text and its accompanying Guide to Enactment provide a framework that is intended to streamline the conduct of such proceedings and assist in the development of a group insolvency solution, including by providing a regime for cross-border recognition of group insolvency solutions and the relief that might be needed to support their development. That Model Law and its accompanying Guide to Enactment provide information that will prove useful to the directors and other office holders that are the focus of this section.

The purpose of these guidelines is to help delegations in the process of preparing draft resolutions and decisions, principally in the General Assembly and the Main Committees, as prescribed in the Charter of the United Nations and the rules of procedure of the General Assembly.

This publication presents statistics and analysis on the status of women and men in the world, highlighting the current situation and changes over time. The report is the sixth in the series which has been published every five years, as called for in the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. This edition emphasizes that progress towards the goal of gender equality has been made in the last two decades in most areas of concern, although uneven and at low pace. Through a life cycle approach, the publication reveals the challenges and opportunities faced by women during their different stages of life and based on where they reside. The different trajectories of women and men are highlighted in the statistical findings of the analysis undertaken in eight chapters of the report, each representing a broad area of concern: population and families, health, education, work, power and decision-making, violence against women, environment and poverty.

(Arabic language)The Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016) is an updated version of the original UN Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions of 1991 (commonly known as the Minnesota Protocol). The revised Protocol establishes detailed procedures for crime-scene investigations, interviews of suspects and witnesses, the excavation of graves, post-mortem examinations, and the analysis of skeletal remains. Such investigations, along with subsequent accountability processes, play a vital role in upholding the right to life. The new Protocol is an indispensable tool to guide investigations into suspicious deaths, ensure accountability for violations of the right to life, and bring truth and justice to the families of victims. It is aimed at police officers, medical practitioners, lawyers, judicial officers, NGOs and others involved in death investigations, setting a common standard of performance in the investigation of potentially unlawful death.

This taxonomy has been prepared by the secretariat of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) to map the main legal issues relating to emerging digital technologies in trade. It covers the key topics of artificial intelligence, data, digital assets, online platforms, and distributed ledger systems. For each topic, the taxonomy defines key concepts, explores the actors, legal relationships and legal issues involved, and appraises the application of existing legislative texts developed by UNCITRAL. The publication supports the central and coordinating role of UNCITRAL within the United Nations system in addressing legal issues related to the digital economy, and is designed to guide future legislative projects aimed at enabling digital trade.

The 2018 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report: The Thread that Binds - Volunteerism and Community Resilience is a United Nations flagship publication that presents new evidence on the role of volunteerism in strengthening community resilience. It finds that communities value volunteerism because it enables them to create collective strategies for dealing with diverse economic, social and environmental challenges. At the same time, unless appropriately supported by wider actors, volunteering can be exclusive and burdensome for some groups. Alone, communities have limited capacities and resources to adapt to emerging and future risks. The report explores how governments and development actors can best engage with volunteerism to nurture its most beneficial characteristics while mitigating against potential harms to the most vulnerable. In doing so, the report is an important contribution to the evidence base on inclusive, citizen-led approaches to resilience-building.

This report centres on the unfinished business of our time: delivering on the promise of gender equality, securing the human rights of women and girls and ensuring that their fundamental freedoms are fully realized. To address the empowerment of all women and girls and gender equality, the human development approach, rooted in capabilities, provides a conceptual framework. It pivots on enlarging opportunities for all people, equally. As progress towards gender equality stalls, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have joined forces to expand measures that guide national and international policy action, research and advocacy on the empowerment of all women and girls and gender equality. The result of this collaboration is the twin experimental gender indices in this report. The first, the new Women’s Empowerment Index, focuses on measuring women’s power and freedoms to make choices and seize opportunities in life. It is the first UN gender index to include violence against women and girls as a standalone dimension. The second, the Global Gender Parity Index, assesses the gender gap across four dimensions of human development: health, education, inclusion and decisionmaking. Together, they provide a more complete picture of countries’ progress towards women’s empowerment and gender equality. These indices are a key contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) stock-taking moment at the 2023 SDG Summit and a means of furthering efforts to achieve SDG 5 on gender equality.

The perishable nature of most fruits and vegetables means that loss and waste of products can be high. The problem of waste, in particular, has received much attention in recent years because of its impact on the environment. The Code of Good Practice It has been drawn up by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to provide guidance to the sector on how to reduce losses and waste. The Code sets out measures to be taken at the stages in the value chain before the fruit and vegetables reach the consumer, i.e. from harvest to retail. It contains actions and measures that public and private stakeholders are advised to take or put in place. It is aimed at strengthening the work already being done in this area by many food supply-chain actors. The Code consists of four distinct chapters which focus on the major segments of the fruit and vegetable supply chain – producers, traders, transporters and retailers. The chapters can be used individually. It is complemented by five annexes and a select list of reading matter that describes in detail the processes that regulate fruit and vegetables during growth, maturation, ripening and senescence and the best handling and storage practices.