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This issue of SHSviews covers topical issues from January to March 2009: 

Social and Human Sciences within National Commissions for UNESCO: Focus on Lebanon [PDF]

After the Philippines, Canada, Malawi and Cuba, SHSviews goes, this trimester, to Lebanon where, in 1948, UNESCO’s Member States adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which made UNESCO the first agency of the United Nations system to recognize these fundamental rights. In this dossier:

• 60 years of commitment towards peace and human rights
• 1 question to… Johanna Hawari Bourgély
• Promote peace and democracy through genuine intercultural dialogue
• From local to international, the debate on the ethical challenges of scientific progress
• 3 questions to… Waddah N. Nasr
• Encourage the autonomy of young people, the builders of the Lebanon of today and tomorrow
• Promote human rights with the Associated Schools of UNESCO
• For further reading

8 March 2009: International Women’s Day [PDF]

Several articles in this issue of SHSviews are devoted to the activities set up in favour of women’s rights by the UNESCO Social and Human Sciences Sector.

• An interview with the former President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IUP), Italian deputy Pier Ferdinando Casini, in which he underlines the importance of increasing the position of women in national parliaments since he believes that their participation in politics is changing political priorities all over the world.
• An article on two important meetings for women of the Great Lakes region of Africa, which will take place in Mombasa (Kenya), early April 2009, emphasizing how urgent it is to take action against violence towards women.
• The report on a conference on women’s participation in politics in the Caucasus, which took place in Derbent, in the Republic of Dagestan (Russian Federation).
• SHSviews n°23 also reports on two events, organized in Mongolia and Qatar, against violence towards women, as part of the 60th birthday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

21 March 2009: International Day against Racism [PDF]

Four pages are dedicated to UNESCO’s action against racism and discrimination.

• It gives the floor to Lilian Thuram and four young people from Germany and Sweden to talk about the project « Youth Voices against Racism » initiated by UNESCO, the European Coalition of Cities against Racism (ECCAR) and FC Barcelona.
• It gives the current news on other regional coalitions created by UNESCO for Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, and gives more details on the actions led by the towns of Edmonton and Windsor (Canada).
• SHSviews n°23 also provides a first assessment of UNESCO’s role in the implementation of the plan of action that was adopted in Durban (South Africa) in 2001, just before the important conference that will examine the progress of this plan of action, set to take place in Geneva (Switzerland) at the beginning of April.

Also in this issue [PDF]:

Editorial
Crisis [n.], from the Greek Krisis (decision), by Pierre Sané, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences

Promoting Principles, Practices and Ethical Norms

• Ethics is about acting morally and thinking about risk: three questions for the President of COMEST
• Ethics of science: mobilization in Africa
• Support for the installation of 4 African Bioethics Committees
• "Redbioetica": Congress in Córdoba
• Ethics and Bioethics: universal concepts?
• Tools: 4 new volumes in the series Perspectives on Ethics of Science and Technology in Asia and the Pacific

Contributing to the Dialogue of Civilizations and Cultures

• Closure of the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• 3rd International Conference in Cairo: between rhetoric and reality of human rights
• Meeting in Rabat on cultural rights in the Maghreb and Egypt
• Lauren Child named UNESCO Artist for Peace
• Debates on the concept of human security in Cairo and Tashkent
• Poverty: UNESCO advocates for human rights in Manama
• And provides training courses in Africa

Directing Research for Action in the Service of Populations

• Forums of Ministers of Development: The crisis on the agenda
• Partnership FLACSO/UNESCO
• Africa adopts a social policy framework
• Renewal of the Scientific Advisory Committee of MOST
• Market(s), society(ies), and future of mankind
• “Intermediate” towns: a new UNESCO Chair in Spain
• City Professionals: the MOST network in Quito
• Global radio marathon for migrants
• Let’s give cities a human face!

Publications

• The rights of women and Michel Foucault headlined in the ISSJ
• A compilation of texts on Human Rights
• Decrypting words of racism in Latin America
• Human Security: a book to capture a complex idea
• Concrete examples to make the right to the city a reality

Readers’ Forum
“Is Feminism Humanism?”, by Arnaud Drouet

Back Cover

• African governments united against the use of drugs in sport
• 100 countries ratify the Anti-Doping Convention
• Calendar for January to April 2009