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The year 2012 is an important milestone in the transition of Timor-Leste towards democracy. The country has just gone through presidential elections, the new parliament will be elected in June, and the United Nations Integrated Mission, deployed in Timor-Leste after its independence, is coming to an end. As media are indispensable elements for the consolidation of democracy, UNESCO helps build capacities of Timorese journalists and equip them with skills necessary to report on human rights issues.

23 April 2012, Islamabad. – As the world marks “Education for All Week” (23-29 April 2012), UNICEF and UNESCO are concerned that Pakistan is unlikely to meet the two education-related targets of the UN Millennium Development Goals. The theme of this year’s Education for All Week – which raises awareness of the importance of Education for All – is Early Childhood Care and Education.

A tsunami alert was issued in the Indian Ocean today following a strong earthquake off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia that triggered waves of an amplitude of up to almost one metre.

The earthquake measured 8.6 on the Richter scale, occurred 434km south-west of Banda Aceh Province in Sumatra at 08.38 UTC. It was followed by an aftershock of 8.2 at 10.43 UTC.

Islamabad, 29 Mar – Pakistan has been hosting Afghan refugees for three decades now, with currently some 1.7 million registered Afghans living in urban and rural areas of Pakistan, including women and children. Pakistan is among the top countries in the world hosting such large refugee population. To meet the basic needs, Pakistan has been facilitating provision of education services to some Afghan refugees for years. Regardless of efforts, illiteracy rate is very high among Afghan refugee children.

Baghdad, March 19 2012. The government of Iraq and UNESCO are taking a major step today towards eradicating illiteracy and improving access to education in the country. After a series of bilateral meetings, His Excellency the Minister of Education, Dr. Mohamed Temim and the UNESCO Iraq office Director Mr. Mohamed Djelid have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will enable the establishment of community learning centres (CLCs) throughout Iraq in partnership with civil society organizations.

The Government of Japan and UNESCO concluded an agreement under which USD 4.8 million will be allocated by Japan to UNESCO to support its post conflict and post disaster response in education in South Sudan, Liberia, Egypt and Libya, and Iraq and in tackling drought and famine in the Horn of Africa.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy received the 2002 UNESCO-Mandanjeet Singh Prize for Tolerance and Non-Violence today. The award was presented to her by Ryuhei Hosoya, head of the Office of the Director-General of UNESCO in Myanmar, where he is on an official visit. Mr Hosoya had met earlier with the Deputy Minister of Education, Ba Shwe and Deputy Minister of Culture Daw Sandar Khin in Nay Pyi Taw.