International Organization Information / Research: 1995

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Prepared for Union of International Associations (Executive Council, May 1995)
See also searchable PDF version (original titles, sub-headings, order and typography); also reports 1959-2006

Organization profiles / networks

Yearbook of International Organizations: Work on the 32nd edition of this series has followed the regular pattern. At the time of writing (April 26th), editing of Volume 1 has been completed. See Annex 1 for statistics.

As indicated in previous reports, it continues to be necessary to exclude more categories of entry (and/or paragraphs from entries). The response of the publisher, discussed in previous years, is that"overflow" of any kind will have to be carried in future in the CD-ROM currently in preparation (see below). Work on Volumes 2 and 3 is on schedule for completion in May and June. Mailings for the 33rd edition
are already commencing.

Restructuring the Yearbook: At this point, no further restructuring of the Yearbook is planned until the impact of the CD-ROM
initiative is clear.

Annuaire des Organisations Internationales: The last French edition was produced in 1980 with the aid of the French Government. Discussions on the possibility of a CD-ROM based French version of the Yearbook, initiated by the French Government in 1991, have continued through to the present. Contacts have been developed with other possible partners, notably the ACCT, the Communauté française de Belgique and the Délégation de Québec.

At the time of writing, an amount of 320,000 FF has been transferred to UIA by the French Government. This represents approximately one third of the estimated amount required for the task -- if the translation is to be complete in every detail. The global budget is approximately 1 million FF. The problem is therefore what to do if the remaining two thirds cannot be obtained from some other source.

As noted above, the possibility of using machine-assisted translation has been explored (two systems have been tested) in order to reduce translation costs and to increase the speed at which the translation can be done so as to respect any CD-ROM deadlines for the English version. It is however expected that a more conventional approach will be taken.

It is appropriate to note that the problems for any subsequent edition of the French version are themselves complex:

(a) It is improbable that equivalent sums of money will be made available by the French Government for a second edition.
(b) There are major technical problems in identifying which updates to any English edition need to be translated as modifications to the French edition in order to respect the parallelism between the two language versions.

The UIA was requested to make a further presentation on the project to the Comité pour le Français dans les Organisations Internationales in Paris in February 1995. The "background document", reflecting the situation on that occasion is included here as Annex 4a.

The most sensitive issue was the manner in which the French information would be handled in relation to the English information on the CD-ROM, especially with the likelihood that the English information would be more frequently updated than the French.

A representative of the ACCT proposed In March 1995 that, in the absence of the funding required, the focus be placed on including French language texts prepared by French-speaking organizations, rather than attempting the costly "translation" of the work as a whole. This possibility is being referred to higher authority, with an intermediate meeting on 4th May 1995, to which a revised proposal was
submitted at the request of the French (see Annex 4b) in anticipation of a proactive response.

The possibility of Canadian (or Quebec) intervention (assisted by Christian de Laet) remains an active possibility. But on the basis of this suggestion, the UIA is requesting French language texts from French speaking organizations. This information will be included in the CD-ROM currently in preparation, together with partially revised information from the 1980 version. The approach will be experimental (including use of a scanner), as a means of attracting further funding, notably on the occasion of the Cotonou Summit at the end of 1995.

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