This year is the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations (UN60). In order to commemorate this year, the United Nations System in Pakistan published a book entitled "The United Nations and Pakistan - A history of cooperation for humanity" to highlight the cooperation between the United Nations and Pakistan including Pakistan's active contribution to UN peacekeeping operations.
The UN Resident Coordinator, Mr Jan Vandemoortele, presented a copy of the book to the chief guest, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Makhdum Khurso Bakhtyar, in the launching ceremony held at the UN Information Centre in Islamabad. Also present in the ceremony were contributors of articles to the book including the former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr Inamul Haque, and a lady from Poonch who survived the earthquake.
This book contains messages of the President of Pakistan, UN Secretary-General, Foreign Minister and the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations and UN goodwill ambassadors from Pakistan. There are also articles by former Pakistani peacekeepers and the history of activities and achievements of UN agencies since their arrivals in Pakistan.
The launching of this book was initially planned for United Nations Day, i.e. 24 October 2005. But the earthquake disaster of 8 October obliged the UN System to delay the launch, and to revise the messages by the President, UN Secretary-General and the Foreign Minister in accordance with the relief operations undertaken jointly by the United Nations and the people and the Government of Pakistan.
The launching ceremony of the book was followed by the presentation of UN Recognition Awards 2005, which is normally held on UN Day. As the presentation ceremony of the UN Recognition Award could not take place due to the earthquake, it was combined with the book launch.
It is a tradition that the UN System in Pakistan presents an award to an individual or a NGO who made remarkable contributions to the work of UN agencies in Pakistan. This year, two NGOs won the Awards. They were the All Women Advancement and Resource Development (AWARD) of Islamabad, and the Women Welfare Organisation Poonch (WWOP).
The UN Resident Coordinator presented the Awards to Ms Maimoona Noor, Chief
Executive and founder of AWARD and Syeda Najma Shakur, founder of WWOP. After
the presentation, Ms Noor and Ms Shakur thanked the United Nations System in
Pakistan for the recognition of their work at the grass-roots level.
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