Thursday, 5 July 2007
'The Oxford Handbook on the UN' launched in London and Europe at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The UK launch of 'The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations' took place on 5 July and was hosted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in its beautiful Locarno Rooms. Chaired by Lord Hannay, the event featured a speech by new FCO Minister Sir Mark Malloch Brown and presentations by Professor Sir Adam Roberts, Ambassador Nick Thorne and Dr Ngaire Woods. Professor Tom Weiss and Sam Daws made closing remarks.

Click here for an outline of the UK launch event and biographies of the speakers, as well details on how to the order the Handbook at a 30% discount.

Watch the London launch event online by clicking on the links below (to view them you need Realplayer)

• Introductory remarks: Sir Mark Malloch Brown, FCO Minister
• Professor Sir Adam Roberts on the UN's peace and security role
• Ambassador Nick Thorne on the UN Human Rights Council
• Dr Ngaire Woods on the UN and the IFIs
• Closing remarks from the Handbook's editors, Tom Weiss and Sam Daws
• Question-and-answer session

The publication of the Handbook has now been commemorated at high-level events on both sides of the Atlantic. On 6 June, in New York, UN Deputy Secretary-General Dr Asha-Rose Migiro launched the book to a large international audience at the opening of the 20th anniversary conference of the Academic Council on the UN System. Ambassador Karen Pierce of the UK Mission to the UN also generously hosted a dinner for 70 people at her residence to mark the book's publication; and the UN bookshop organised a special roundtable and book signing for permanent missions, NGOs and UN Secretariat staff. The UN launch was chaired by DPI Under-Secretary-General Kiyo Akasaka.

The Handbook, edited by UNA-UK’s Executive Director Sam Daws and Professor Tom Weiss, Director of the Ralph Bunche Institute in New York, contains a foreword by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and chapters by 47 of the world’s leading experts on the work of the organisation.

Photos from the Handbook's launch at the FCO:

scroll through the photos here

all photos © UNA-UK/JABpromotions, 2007