This Background Note documents the evolution of the international responses to the uprising in Syria from March 2011 to June 2012. This includes the reactions of international bodies such as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), as well as key individual countries. On 12 June 2012 the...

This paper considers the positions of US and Israeli leaders, the current negotiations, and the possible drivers for a military strike against Iran. Over the last six months, the prospects of an Israeli preemptive strike against the Iranian nuclear weapons program have been much discussed. The Iranian nuclear program is an important issue for Australia...

Pinkwashing is "the attempt by a state or people to highlight its treatment of gays to show how progressive it is, in turn covering up human rights violations from which it wishes to detract attention‟ (Ryan 2012). It has repeatedly been used by western powers, for example, as a way to construct themselves as "superior‟...

This document contains information on the state of conservation of properties inscribed on the World Heritage List, including the Great Barrier Reef, for discussion by the World Heritage Committee at their meeting in June-July 2012. The World Heritage Committee is requested to review the reports on the state of conservation of properties contained in this...

Online media, global TV and social networks played a significant role in the Arab Spring and will be important factors in determining its future direction, argues this report. A positive contribution of the media to the consolidation of democratic systems requires a dismantling of the old media order, a reform of journalistic institutions, and a...