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United Nations Research Guide

Guide to information created by the UN and the UN Family of Organizations. Grateful acknowledgement to Jim Church, University of California Berkeley Libraries, whose work is the basis for this guide.

United Nations Humanitarian Relief Information

United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Chief UN office for coordination of humanitarian affairs, within the UN and other international agencies, especially for emergencies and natural disasters.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The United Nations Refugee Agency. Includes many online books, papers and statistics. 

World Food Programme (WFP). The United Nations Food Agency. World's largest international food aid organization, dedicated to combating hunger during severe food shortages.

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Focal point in the UN system for the coordination of disaster risk reduction.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Includes a section on emergency relief operations. See also the FAO Global Information and Early Warning System.

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. Includes section on mitigation of marine related disasters.

International Fund for Agricultural Development. Specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries.

Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit. United Nations mechanism to coordinate the international response to environmental emergencies and natural disasters.

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). The UN AIDS agency. See the section on HIV/AIDS in Emergency Settings.

United Nations Capital Development Fund. Investment fund for Least Developed Countries to help reduce poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). United Nations children's agency. See the section for publications on children and emergencies.

United Nations Development Programme Disaster Reduction Unit. See also UNDP Publications on Disasters.

United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. UN agency charged with reducing human, social, economic and environmental losses due to natural hazards.

United Nations Millennium Development Goals Web Site. Outlines the background, objectives and progress to date of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals. 

United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries. UN Office for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States.

United Nations Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee. UN committee mandated to address human rights, social development, refugees, advancement of women, indigenous peoples, and more. 

World Health Organization. Activities, reports, news and events in WHO programmes and offices working on the health-related aspects of disasters.

Humanitarian Data Exchange.  An open platform for sharing data with the goal to make humanitarian data easy to find and use for analysis. Launched in July 2014, HDX has been accessed by users in over 200 countries and territories.

United Nations Books on Humanitarian Relief