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New York: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will continue to support the work of national human rights institutions and their efforts to ensure that international human rights laws are incorporated into domestic legislation, the agency's head has said.

While the recession has been severe, Switzerland has weathered the global downturn relatively well. In spite of its openness and large financial sector, Switzerland has been less affected by the crisis and the decline in world trade than most of its neighbors. Supportive policies, strong balance sheets, the lack of a boom-bust real estate and credit cycle, and a muted reaction of employment to growth, have enabled domestic demand to cushion the extent of the downturn.

New York: Investment reforms and international cooperation are among the ingredients necessary to procure the finances needed to push ahead with development in poorer countries, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said.

New York: Women farmers are often the chief executives of their rural areas and supporting their economic development is crucial for economic growth and poverty reduction, a senior United Nations official has said ahead of an international conference on women's empowerment.

New York: Afghans overtook Iraqis as the nationality with the largest number of asylum applicants in 2009, according to a report issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

New York: The United Nations will select two international experts to serve in Afghanistan's election complaints commission ahead of legislative polls scheduled in September, the newly-appointed head of the UN mission in the country has said.

New York: The United Nations is working with Iraqi officials to make State-owned businesses more market-oriented and less reliant on the Government.

New York: For the first time since it adopted the 1951 Refugee Convention almost two decades ago, the Republic of Korea (ROK) has granted a recognized refugee citizenship, in a move hailed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In 2009, following a decade of economic decline and hyperinflation during 2007-08, economic policies in Zimbabwe improved significantly. The multi-currency system adopted in early 2009 helped restore price stability, restart financial intermediation, and impose fiscal discipline by precluding the option of budget deficit monetization. Budget revenue increased significantly, which helped finance improved delivery of public services, while the fiscal position was broadly balanced. Price and exchange system liberalization improved allocation of resources and availability of goods in the domestic markets. In response to better policies, short-term capital inflows and FDI increased in 2009. All these positive steps have supported a nascent economic recovery.

Every government in India in the past three decades has tried to push through some whimsical law or policy which shatters the democratic consensus, violates Constitutional values and offends the citizen's conscience. In 1984-85, Rajiv Gandhi committed a blunder in the Shah Bano case and then opened the gates of the Babri Masjid to Hindu communalists. This eventually catapulted the Bharatiya Janata Party into power. In 1991-92, Narasimha Rao presided over the economy's neoliberal transformation and the razing of the Babri mosque.