United Nations

This page highlights some of the current parliamentary material available on the United Nations (UN). This includes select committee reports, briefing papers on current legislation and other subjects produced by the parliamentary research services, and the latest Early Day Motions put down by MPs.

Standard Notes

Date	Description
11.06.2013	In brief: Mali - political and security developments
	Mali is scheduled to hold presidential elections on 28 July 2013. Malian soldiers recently launched military operations to establish some semblance of state authority over Kidal in the north ahead of the elections, so that they can argue that they are fair and credible. Negotiations with the Tuareg nationalist MNLA and other stakeholders are under way in Burkina Faso and there are hopeful signs that a peaceful resolution can be agreed. The key issue is whether the MNLA will agree to be disarmed and, if so, on what basis.
13.05.2013	Rwanda: recent political and security developments
	Paul Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Front remain in a dominant position domestically, with parliamentary elections due in September 2013 and presidential elections set for 2017. President Kagame has indicated that he may step down then. But criticism continues of the government's intolerance of open dissent. Rwanda's role in in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo remains controversial too and there is virtually complete consensus across the international community that it has been providing support to rebel groups, including most recently M23.
01.03.2013	In brief: The Arms Trade Treaty - trying again
	This note surveys the state of the UN-based negotiations on an Arms Trade Treaty, which were due to be completed at a conference in New York in July 2012, but which were unable to reach agreement on a final text. However, the UN General Assembly has agreed to convene a further UN Conference in March 2013. One way or another, the odds favour a treaty being agreed next year.
05.02.2013	The crisis in Mali: current military action and upholding humanitarian law
	This note describes the current military intervention in Mali, led by France, which began on 11 January as a reaction to the southward advance of militant Islamist armed groups with links to al-Qaeda. It also looks at the intervention in the context of upholding humanitarian law.
20.12.2012	Sri Lanka since the end of the civil war
	Sri Lanka's civil war ended in May 2009. Since then President Mohinda Rajapakse has consolidated his power at home but has been unable to shake off international controversy about alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity by the security forces during the final phase of the conflict. There are also grave doubts about whether the govermment is willing to promote the kind of regional autonomy that many observers believe is essential to avoiding renewed conflict in the longer-term.

Research Papers

Date	Description
20.03.2009	Geneva Conventions and United Nations Personnel (Protocols) Bill [HL] (Bill 69 of 2008-09)
	This short Bill is intended to amend two UK Acts to enable the Government to ratify two international agreements protecting military medical personnel and humanitarian workers. In line with the protocols, the Bill would firstly sanction and protect the 'red crystal' as a new symbol to protect humanitarian personnel in armed conflict instead of (or in addition to) the existing red cross or red crescent; and secondly extend the definition of protected UN workers to include those delivering humanitarian, political or development assistance in peacebuilding operations and those delivering emergency humanitarian protection.
17.06.2008	Reinventing humanitarian intervention: Two cheers for the Responsibility to Protect?
	Reinventing humanitarian intervention: Two cheers for the Responsibility to Protect? House of Commons Library Research Paper 08/55.
13.03.2003	Iraq: Developments since UN Security Council Resolution 1441
	Iraq: developments since UN Security Council Resolution 1441. House of Commons Library Research Paper 03/22
21.11.2002	Iraq and UN Security Council Resolution 1441
	Iraq and UN Security Council Resolution 1441. House of Commons Library Research Paper 02/64.

Early Day Motions

Date	Description
01.11.2011	PALESTINIAN MEMBERSHIP OF UNESCO
	That this House welcomes the admission of Palestine to full membership of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
15.09.2011	UN SUMMIT ON NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
	That this House notes the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon's statement that non-communicable diseases (NCD) represent a `public health emergency in slow motion'; welcomes the decision ...
06.09.2011	UN REPORT ON GAZA FLOTILLA ATTACK
	That this House registers its condemnation of Israel following the publication on 1 September of a United Nations report which declared that the death of nine people on a Turkish vessel, ...
05.09.2011	PALESTINIAN MEMBERSHIP OF THE UNITED NATIONS
	That this House recalls the target set by President Obama last year of welcoming `a new member of the United Nations - an independent sovereign state of Palestine' by September 2011, ...
25.01.2011	RECOGNITION OF BANGLA AS AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED NATIONS
	That this House welcomes the ongoing campaign initiated by Bangladeshis in the United Kingdom to have Bangla, which is the fifth most spoken language in the world, recognised as an ...

Lords Library Notes

Date	Description
19.11.2012	Debate on 22 November: Successor Framework to the Millennium Development Goals
	This Library Note provides background reading on the successor framework to the Millennium Development Goals.
23.01.2009	Geneva Conventions and United Nations Personnel (Protocols) Bill [HL]. LLN 2009/001
	Geneva Conventions and United Nations Personnel (Protocols) Bill [HL]. House of Lords Library Note 2009/001