UNIC in cooperation with UN Association of Iran organized a workshop on MDGs for some 35 Iranian teachers on 19 August 2008. The workshop began by opening remarks of UNIC NIO Moghadam. During the one-day workshop programme officers from UNDP elaborated on MDGs 1, 8 and 7, UNICEF on MDGs 2 and 4, UNFPA on MDGs 3 and 5 as well as UNIDS officer in charge on MDG 6. UNIC provided copies of MDGs poster, Millennium Declaration, MDGs brochure and flyers in Persian while UNICEF and UNFPA also gave their promotional items to the participants.

In line with cooperation of Merited Youth Society of Iran with UNIC-Tehran and on the occasion of International Youth Day, there was a meeting of school teachers and members of NGOs in the Mehr Garden of Shiraz during which Secretary-General’s message on this occasion was distributed among the participants. Also on the same occasion, some other ceremonies were held with the participation of thousands of young people by the Merited Youth Society of Iran in Shiraz during which the United Nations Secretary-General’s message was distributed.

To mark the 60th Anniversary of the UN peacekeeping operations, UNIC in cooperation with Iranian Association for United Nations Studies (IAUNS) organized a seminar at Tehran University’s Club on 16 June 2008. UN Resident Coordinator Knut Ostby, UNIC-Director Sunil Narula, Tehran University Professor Dr. Nasrin Mossafa, Shahid Beheshti University Professor Dr. Ibrahim Beigzadeh, Imam Sadeqh University Professor Dr. Farideh Shayegan and President of IAUNS and former Chairman of UN International Law Commission (ILC), Dr. Jamshid Momtaz spoke about the role, significance, theory and kinds of peacekeeping operations undertaken by the UN in the last 60 years. UNIC Reference Assistant also held a book and poster exhibition as the side event during the conference.

On 16 June 2008, UNIC-organized a press conference for UNDP Resident Representative Knut Ostby to launch the Asia-Pacific Human Development Report entitled “Tackling Corruption, Transforming Lives” for the Iranian media.

On the occasion of the World Water Day and International Year of Sanitation 2008, UNIC in cooperation of with UNDP and RC Office organized a roundtable discussion on the sanitation in Iran on 1 June 2008. Senior government officials, experts and journalists participated in the discussion. The programme started with UNIC Director’s remarks followed by other participants’ presentations: Officer-in-Charge of Office of Studying Water and Soil Contamination of the Department of Environment Dr. Soroush Modaberi, Director General of Macro Planning of Water and Sewage of the Ministry of Energy Engineer Ali Reza Daemi, Director of Water and Sewage Centre and Professor of Water and Electricity at University of Water and Electricity Industries Dr. Galik Badalians, Programme Officer of Natural Science in the UNESCO Regional Office Ms. Nilofar Sadeghi and UNDP Programme Officer Saeid Ferdowsi. The roundtable discussion ended with a question and answer session.

UNIC-Tehran as the lead agency of the UN Communication Group, Iran, with the assistance of UN agencies located in Tehran, organized a booth during the 21st Tehran International Book Fair held from 1 to 11 May 2008. According to the authorities about 4.5 million people visited the fair. The agencies represented in the UN booth were FAO, ISDR, UNAIDS, UNAMA, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNIC, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNODC, WFP, WHO and IOM. A large amount of UN information material related to these agencies was distributed to those who visited the UN booth. The first vice president Mr. Parviz Davoodi, inaugurated the fair on 1st May. The Parliament (Majlis) speaker, Dr. Gholam Ali Hadad Adel, attended the closing session.

Following the second workshop on the subject of ‘United Nations Documents and Publications and Research Options on the UN Website’ held by the Centre for Human Rights Studies affiliated to University of Tehran in cooperation with UNIC-Tehran on 1 December, another workshop on the same subject was held by the Centre for Human Rights Studies affiliated to Mofid University at Qom in cooperation with UNIC Tehran on 11 March 2007. Graduate students studying human rights in Mofid University participated in the workshop, which was conducted by the UNIC Reference Assistant, Ms. Nazanin Ghaemmaghami-Farahani. During the workshop, Ms. Ghaemmaghami-Farahani elaborated on the definition of a document, UN documentation and how to find and retrieve UN information specifically on human rights on the UN web site, the UNIC web site, the United Nations bibliographic Information System (UNBISNET) and the Official Documents of the United Nations (ODS). She also told the participants about information materials on human rights in the UNIC library. In the afternoon session, the students were asked to use the information she had provided to locate information on the web sites that she had introduced to them. The workshop was part of the UNDP supported project on national capacity building for the promotion of human rights and it was one of the programmes to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

On the occasion of 60th Anniversary of WHO and World Health Day 2008, UNIC organized a press conference for WHO Representative Dr. Mubasher Sheikh on Saturday 5 April 2008.

UNIC-NIO Moghadam briefed some 23 teachers from district 6 of Tehran who visited UNIC-Tehran on 11 March 2008. The briefing was about UN’s history and major organs, the outcome and follow up of the World Summit, UN Reform and MDGs. Then he briefed them on UNIC-Tehran’s activities and services. The briefing was followed by a question and answer session. Copies of the Persian versions of MDG flyer, UDHR, UN Charter, 60 Ways the UN Makes a Difference were given to the teachers.

Effective 25 October 2004, as part of the UN Day celebrations on 24 October, UNIC-Tehran and UN Association of Iran started a programme of receiving groups of students from middle and high schools in Tehran regularly every Monday. The UNIC Director, the National Information Officer and the Reference Assistant brief them on the UN history and structure and description of the major organs and agencies of the UN. This is followed by a film on the UN and a question and answer session. In addition to the Farsi version of UN publications such as the Millennium Development Goals, Image and Reality and Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are given to the students. Other schools interested in participating in this programme are welcome to contact UNIC-Tehran.