FSU College of Law Research Center Blog

UN Opens Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for Signature

The United Nations opened the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on March 30, 2007. The Convention is the first new human rights instrument of the 21st century. See the video of the press conference here: http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/pressconference/pc070330.rm

“What the Convention endeavours to do," said Don MacKay, Chairman of the committee that negotiated the treaty, "is to elaborate in detail the rights of persons with disabilities and set out a code of implementation”. Excerpt from The Convention in Brief on the Covention website: http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/convention.shtml

News story reported at the Jurist website: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/index.php?edition=full

Posted by Marin Dell

The United Nations News Centre

Visit the UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/News/ for the latest UN statements and briefings, news conferences by the Secretary-General, and news by region.  Be sure to check out News Focus, the latest news on a particular topic such as combating terrorism or the new Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon. 

Posted by Marin Dell

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) Turns 60

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) , the UN court with jurisdiction over international disputes, turned  60 on April 12, 2006.  Secretary-General Kofi Annan, celebrating the occasion in the Great Hall of Justice of the Peace Palace in The Hague, said, "Today, more than ever before, UN Member States are turning to it, not just to resolve land and maritime boundary disputes, or to complain of treaty violations, but also on matters of genocide and the use of force."  He also called upon "all States that have not yet done so to consider recognizing its compulsory jurisdiction.  So far 67 States have accepted the Court’s compulsory jurisdiction, but only one, the United Kingdom, is a Security Council permanent member."

Excerpt taken from: UN News Centre

Posted by Marin Dell

2005 World Summit Outcomes draft

The United Nations General Assembly released a draft of a document summarizing the outcomes of the 2005 World Summit on September 16.

Posted by Mary McCormick