Taking place during the International Week of Science and Peace, which takes place this year from 6 to 10 November 2012, the 6th Latin American Conference on Social Sciences is a major item in the scientific calendar. <br /><br />It is an important event for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as for the whole of the international community committed to the idea that the social sciences have a major contribution to make to the development and implementation of development policies that are sustainable and that respect the needs of peoples and basic human rights. <br /><br/>The regional conference, which is organized by the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) with the support of UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformations (MOST) programme, aims to provoke reflection and debate on current issues confronting the social sciences by fostering critical thinking in Latin America and the Caribbean. <br /><br />Opened by the UNESCO’s Assistant Director general for the Social and Human Sciences, Mrs Pilar Alvarez-Laso, and the Executive Secretary of CLACSO, Mr. Emir Sader, the conference will comprise 12 thematic sessions ranging from climate change to poverty eradication, and including questions related to education policy, access to knowledge, civil participation of young people, migration, feminism, national economies in the context of the capitalist crisis, and the idea of the state in Latin America.<br /><br />A special session on the ideas that will shape the 2013World Social Science Report, which focuses on global environmental change, will also be organized by UNESCO and the International Social Science Council (ISSC), whilst the Executive Director of the Mexican Council of Social Sciences (COMECSO) – which translated the Spanish edition of the 2010 World Social Science Report on knowledge divides – will participate in a round table on social change, science and technology. <br /><br />Overall, the conference will include 90 round table events and debates, 10 keynote lectures and 2 international symposia involving over 200 world-renowned experts. It will take place over four days at many sites in the historical centre of Mexico, bringing together thousands of participants, including 400 representatives from universities and research centres from more than 25 countries of Latin America, North America, the Caribbean and Europe.<br /><br />Besides the UNESCO Assistant Director general for Social and Human Sciences, several other UNESCO representatives will participate in the debates as speakers, moderators or panelists, including the Executive Secretary of the UNESCO MOST programme and the Director of the UNESCO field office in Mexico.<br /><br />MOST is unique within the UN system. It is the only intergovernmental programme that aims to apply social science research to development issues, encouraging policy-oriented-research to face current global challenges, and bridging the gaps between researchers, civil society and policy-makers in order to allow them to work together, whilst respecting the individual role and place of each actor.<br /><br />In Latin America and the Caribbean, MOST works inter alia by organizing regional fora of Ministers of Social Development and gathering young social scientists in the annual MOST summer schools.<br /><br />At the international level, MOST has two current strategic priorities: social inclusion and the social dimensions of global environmental change.

Norwegian and French Committees active in the area of bioethics, alongside UNESCO's Bioethics Programme, shall gather for a one-day workshop to exchange their views. The objectve is to explore how to enhance their experience and knowledge on bioethics issues and related new challenges at the national, regional and global levels. <br /><br /><br/>Bioethics is emerging as a relatively new branch in science and technology and, while it is becoming a real challenge for most developing countries, it remains one for developed countries as well.<br /><br />At the initiative of the Norwegian Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics South East and in cooperation with the Comité de Protection des Personnes Ile de France and UNESCO's Bioethics Programme, participants and experts shall discuss experiences and challenges they face in the domain of bioethics.<br /><br />Topics such as working methods, bioethics national legislation and genetic testing in research projects will be highlighted as a main common concern for all participants. Dafna Feinholz, UNESCO’s Chief of the Bioethics team, will be presenting two major topics of UNESCO's work in bioethics:<br /><br />- Assisting bioethics committees;<br />- International standards in bioethics.<br /><br />With its Bioethics Committees Network, UNESCO is widely recognized as a leading UN agency in these areas.

The Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) is holding its 2nd Council at UNESCO Headquarters from 6 to 8 November 2012. The Council will bring together range countries and partner nations, conservation organizations, research institutions, United Nations agencies, and private supporters that are committed to the protection of great apes and their habitat in Africa and Asia. It will craft a long-term strategy that meets the demands of conserving great apes and their habitat in a rapidly changing world. It will also consider proposals suggested by the recent GRASP Strategic Review designed to make the partnership more effective, and consider reaching out to areas of government, industry, science, and research that could increase the scope and scale of GRASP’s worldwide.<br/>Launched in Durban in September 2002, Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP) is a World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) Type II Partnership which aims at lifting the threat of imminent extinction faced by gorillas (Gorilla beringei, G. gorilla), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus) and orangutans (Pongo abelii, P. pygmaeus) across their ranges in Equatorial Africa and Southeast Asia. GRASP Secretariat is provided jointly by UNESCO and UNEP.<br />The 1st Intergovernmental Meeting on Great Apes in Kinshasa in 2005 finally saw the signing of the Kinshasa Declaration and the blueprint of a framework for GRASP. There are approximately 80 GRASP partners. The GRASP Partnership is governed by a Council consisting of representatives of all the Partners, assisted by an elected Executive Committee and a Scientific Commission comprised of experts in great ape ecology and conservation. The GRASP Secretariat as the administrative and operational arm of the Partnership is provided jointly by UNEP and UNESCO. <br />

The purpose of the IGF is to maximize the opportunity for open and inclusive dialogue and the exchange of ideas; create feedback loops between the different types of sessions; create opportunities to share best practices and experiences; listen, dialogue and learn as well as identify key themes that would, in the future, benefit from the multistakeholder perspective of the IGF.<br/>UNESCO will organize three workshops and an open foum as following:<br /><br />6 November, 14:30-16:00<br />WS 126 "EURid/UNESCO World Report on IDN Deployment 2012 – opportunities and challenges associated with IDNs and online multilingualism" <br /><br />6 November, 16:30 - 18:00<br />- "Information Ethics and Internet Governance - Identity, design and preservation" <br /><br />7 November, 9:00 - 10:30<br />- "Internet privacy and freedom of expression: UNESCO launches a global survey on legal frameworks" <br /><br />8 November, 14:30 - 16:00<br />- UNESCO Open Forum "Digital preservation and multilingualism"<br /><br />For more information: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/flagship-proj....

To conclude the 40th anniversary year of the World Heritage Convention , the World Heritage Centre and the Government of Japan co-organize the "Closing Event of the Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention" in Kyoto from 6 to 8 November 2012.<br/>The event is to present to the world beyond the traditional World Heritage community the year’s activities and conclusions drawn from the regional and thematic events, which will have taken place throughout the year. Reflecting upon the founding spirit of the Convention, as well as its achievements and its evolution over the last forty years, the event is also expected to discuss the significance of the World Heritage today to humanity. The agenda is to include a series of panel discussions on some specific contemporary concerns, such as ‘World Heritage and sustainable social and economic development and sustainable tourism, with communities,’ ‘disaster prevention and recovery from disaster with communities,’ and ‘international cooperation and public and private partnerships.” Approximately 600 people are expected to participate. All the sessions are plenary.<br />In this occasion, results of two other activities commemorating the 40th anniversary will be presented. One is the one-off initiative of the Recognition of the Best Practices in World Heritage Management. The other is the launching of the book on World Heritage and Sustainable Development.<br />A youth programme is also scheduled, preceding the main event. The outcome of the youth programme will be shared at the main event.

One day symposium on the state of Nepal's photo archives will be held on the occasion of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage. <br/>Organized by Nepal Picture Library - a Photo Circle’s initiative with support of UNESCO, this symposium brings together professionals from public and private institutions as well as users of archives, collectors and researchers to discuss the challenges ahead in order to ensure the protection of visual collections and archives and its universal sharing. The event, organized on the occasion of the celebration of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2012 in Nepal, will be followed by a five-day photo exhibition “Retelling histories: Undocumented stories of the everyday Nepali woman”.

Preparatory Meeting for the 181st session of the Headquarters Committee<br/>The Headquarters Committee advises the Director-General on all questions relating to the Organization’s Headquarters

The symposium on the State of Nepal's photo archives will be followed by a five day photo exhibition of a selection of works from various collections in and around the Kathmandu valley<br/>Organized by Nepal Picture Library - a Photo Circle’s initiative in collaboration with Shanti Yuba Club of Patan Dhoka and supported by UNESCO, the five-day photo exhibition is named “Retelling histories: Undocumented stories of the everyday Nepali woman”. It aims to highlight the role of women as mothers, sisters, wives and daughters and narrate a story of their trials, tribulations and triumphs. The event, organized on the occasion of the celebration of World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 2012 in Nepal, will be preceded by a one-day symposium on the “State of Nepal’s photographic memory”.<br />

UNESCO Beirut is holding a 3 day training workshop which gives an introduction on social media campaigning and advocacy to the young civil society activists in Lebanon.<br /><br />The training will be given in Arabic by a team of trainers of the Global Platform, Action Aid, an international non-governmental organization based in Jordan.<br /><br/>The workshop will not only enhance their knowledge and skills in new communication tools and approaches but also enhance their awareness on the social impact of the climate challenge in the Arab region, by selecting cases related to the issue, a major contemporary driver of social transformation.<br /><br />As the outcome of the activity, the United Nations Development Action Framework (UNDAF) and Millennium Development Goal 7 (MDF 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability) will be promoted in Lebanon with a more skilled, better networked and thus more meaningful participation of young civil activists and journalists in environment sustainability awareness creating within a wider public in Lebanon and in the Arab region.

Rio’s Municipal Secretariat of Education and UNESCO have joined efforts to bring to Brazil and to Rio de Janeiro cutting edge research and experiences in the area of learning assessment and evaluation. <br/>Rio’s Municipal Secretariat of Education and UNESCO are partners in the commitment for the quality and equity in education in our city, and recognize that educational assessment plays an important part in achieving these goals. Thus, we have joined efforts to bring to Brazil and to Rio de Janeiro cutting edge research and experiences in the area of learning assessment and evaluation. The Seminar will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on November 8th and 9th, 2012, and it will cover mainly the following topics:<br />1. Theoretical and methodological advances and challenges of educational assessment systems.<br />2. How schools and education systems use student assessment to improve education.<br />3. Alternative models to assess the quality of education.

Nepal chapter of International PEN (called PEN Nepal) will organise a symposium on Freedom of artistic expression in Nepal under the overall authority of the Head of the UNESCO office in Kathmandu within the framework of UNESCO's Programme and Budget 2012-13, Main line of Action "Promoting an enabling environment for freedom of expression in order to foster development, democracy and dialogue for a culture of peace and non-violence".<br/>The symposium will have two sessions: the first session (inaugural) will include address by President of PEN Nepal, Chancellor of Art Academy (proposed), Resident Representative and Co-ordinator the the UNDP in Nepal (proposed) and Representative of UNESCO in Nepal and Sangita Thapa, Director of Siddhartha Art Gallery and the second session will include presentation of thematic papers by four academics.<br /> <br />The purpose of the Symposium is to provide a forum for discussion of freedom of expression in such fields as artistic expression, cinema, literature and digital media and treaties ratified by Nepal in this respect.

Co-hosted by the Rwanda Editors’ Guild and the Eastern Africa Editors’ Forum, this Conference will take place from 8 to 9 November 2012 in Kigali, Rwanda and will contribute towards the defense and promotion of media freedom and independence in Africa. It aspires to provide sustainable, credible, professional and inspirational support for African editors to uphold the highest standards of professionalism and ethics in journalism.<br/>.