The Social Development Division and the Statistics Division of ESCAP are co-organizing an Expert Group Meeting on Gender Statistics and the Use of Violence Against Women Indicators in Support of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Beijing Platform for Action, to be held from 1 - 3 October 2008 at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) in Bangkok. The meeting aims to promote collaboration between national statistical offices and national women’s offices to develop and use statistics for appropriate policymaking and to reduce gaps in the implementation of both the CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action. The issue of violence against women will be particularly highlighted.  The meeting will encourage governments to look into ways to further develop and use gender statistics - especially violence against women indicators - and determine appropriate methodologies for data collection and increase their use in policy formulation. 

ESCAP, in cooperation with the Embassy of India, will observe the International Day of Non-Violence on 2 October at the UN Conference Centre (UNCC), Bangkok. The ceremony will feature remarks by Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the ESCAP, Noeleen Heyzer, and Indian Ambassador Latha Reddy. There will also be a short film on the life and work of Mahatma Gandhi and the laying of a garland on the statue of Gandhi that resides in the UNCC.

The Information and Communications and Disaster Risk Reduction Division of ESCAP, jointly with the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR), the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), are organizing an observance of the International Day for Disaster Reduction on 8 October 2008 in Bangkok at UN Conference Centre. The event will be held in conjunction with the ASEAN Day for Disaster Management. The joint regional commemoration will include a panel discussion on “Community safety and disaster resilient infrastructures in the Asia Pacific region” with school and hospital safety as its focus. The awards for a regional children’s drawing competition, "Community Safety: Hospital, School and House of My Dream", will also be given.
 

The Regional Consultation for the Development Cooperation Forum: Triangular and South-South cooperation will be jointly organized by the Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division of ESCAP, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the UNDP South-South Cooperation Unit on 21-22 October in Bangkok. It is the first of the series of regional preparatory consultations which DESA intends to hold in the run-up to the Development Cooperation Forum of ECOSOC to be held in 2010. This meeting will highlight triangular cooperation – that between developing countries with financial support from the North or from international organizations. The meeting is expected to be attended by a wide range of stakeholders, including senior policymakers, government focal points for South-South cooperation, representatives from civil society and officials from United Nations and donor agencies active in the Asian and Pacific region.
 

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Trade and Investment Division of ESCAP are jointly organizing the WIPO/ESCAP High-level Regional Round Table on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Trade, scheduled to be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 22 to 24 October 2008. The round table is part of a joint WIPO/ESCAP event, held annually, on IPR and trade which aims to raise awareness and knowledge, and promote regional policy dialogue and cooperation in the area of trade- and investment-related intellectual property issues. The event is a follow-up to the successful WIPO/ESCAP high-level forum on the same topic, held in Macao, China, in July 2007.
 

The United Nations Day will be marked this year in Bangkok by a joint exhibition by the UN family at CentralWorld, the biggest shopping complex in the capital. The exhibition, from 23 to 26 October, will take as its theme “Dignity and Justice for All of Us”, highlighting the fact that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and that human rights permeate all aspects of the work of the UN. The official UN Day ceremony will take place on 24 October at the UN Conference Centre.
 

The Transport Division of ESCAP will convene an Expert Group Meeting on Improving Road Safety on the Asian Highway on 27-29 October 2008. Participants will review progress in achieving the goals contained in the Ministerial Declaration on Improving Road Safety in Asia and the Pacific. They will also discuss methods for investment prioritization of road safety engineering measures and regional and national road safety goals, targets and indicators. The meeting is also intended to provide inputs to the first global high-level conference on road safety, to be hosted by the Russian Federation in 2009.