The UN Climate Change Conference (2-13 December 2019) #COP25 in Madrid started today, less than a week after the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) issued its annual Emissions Gap Report. The report found that the world is not doing enough to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which hit a new high of 55.3 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2018.

2019 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the General Assembly’s adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which has become the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history and has helped transform children’s lives around the world.

“Breathe with Me", a public art action for the world, conceived and executed by Jeppe Hein with ART 2030, invites people to paint their individual breath onto large canvases in the shape of vertical blue lines, one for every exhale, raising awareness that the air we breathe is part of our connected world and climate.

The outcomes of five high-level events taking place at UN Headquarters in New York this week: the Climate Action Summit (23 September); the High-level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (23 September); the SDG Summit (24-25 September); the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development (26 September); and the

International Literacy Day (8 September), proclaimed by UNESCO in 1966 and endorsed by Economic and Social Council resolution 1276(LIII) in 1967, aimed to remind the international community of the importance of literacy for individuals, communities and societies. Since then, the concept of literacy has evolved.

Researchers and scholars along with other users of the Yearbook of the United Nations will be glad to know that 2015 and 2016 Pre-press material is now available, featuring detailed and hyperlinked chapter outlines for their respective topics. The 2015 Pre-press includes outlines for all Political and security questions, Human rights, Economic and social questions, Legal questions, and Institutional, administrative and budgetary questions chapters.

The Yearbook of the United Nations, 2014 (Volume 68) will be available in print in early October 2019. It is already available on the Yearbook website.

A new addition to the Yearbook of the United Nations website is the Special Edition of the Yearbook of the United Nations: UN Fiftieth Anniversary, 1945-1995, which captures through narrative and key historical documents the major issues and highlights of the first fifty years of United Nations history and provides a context for present and future challenges.

United Nations Day (24 October) marks the entry into force in 1945 of the United Nations Charter. On 31 October 1947, the UN General Assembly, by resolution (168 ((II)), declared that the Day would be devoted to raising awareness of the goals and achievements of the Organization and gaining support for its work.

Researchers and scholars and other users of the Yearbook of the United Nations will be glad to know that the 2014 Pre-press is now featuring first proofs of chapters as they become available, replacing the detailed and hyperlinked chapter outlines for their respective topics.