Media outlets can request permanent or temporary press accreditation for their correspondents to cover the range of activities taking place at the United Nations Office at Geneva, from meetings of the Human Rights Council and peace talks to other major conferences and events.
Accredited correspondents participate in bi-weekly press briefings chaired by the UN Geneva spokesperson and attended by the spokespeople of UN specialized agencies and programmes based in Geneva. Correspondents also have access to scheduled press conferences, stakeouts and background briefings on an almost daily basis.
The UN Information Service regularly issues press releases and the meeting summaries of major meetings happening in Geneva, including the sessions of the Human Rights Council, the human rights committees, and the Conference on Disarmament.
Facilities for the media include free or rented workspaces and access to radio and television studios and services, upon availability.
The ninth edition of the annual global Measuring the Information Society Report
will be released on 15 November 2017 by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) – the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technology (ICT). The Measuring the Information Society Report (MIS) is an ITU flagship publication widely recognized as the repository of the world's most reliable and impartial global data and analysis on the state of global ICT development. It is extensively relied upon by governments, international organizations, development banks and private sector analysts and investors worldwide. The ITU ICT Development Index 2017 (IDI 2017) featured in the MIS report is a unique benchmark of the level of ICT development in countries across the world – and provides a ranking of countries. Iceland tops the IDI 2017 rankings. This annual Index is also available as an online interactive tool, with the 2017 edition of this tool being launched on the same day. The 2016 tool may be viewed here as a reference. Due to simultaneous launch by ITU’s regional offices in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the report and accompanying press release are not available as embargoed advances in this particular case. This Press Briefing, therefore, will be an opportunity to gather the topline annual trend info on technologies being implemented by countries, and to ask one of ITU’s top experts any questions you may have on the data, relevance of the trend info, impacts on SDGs, economic/social impacts of the results, state of the information and communication technology sector, etc.
Coffee and croissants will be served.
Jaroslaw Ponder, ITU Europe Regional Director Jennifer Ferguson-Mitchell, ITU Head of Media Relations
Press Conference of the Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Lethal autonomous weapons systems
Ambassador Amandeep Gill, Permanent Representative of India to the Conference on Disarmament, Chair of the Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems
Briefing by UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection VolkerTürk on his mission to Myanmar and Bangladesh
Volker Türk, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection
Press Stakeout by the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria
Press stakeout by Mr. Jan Egeland, Special Advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Syria, following the meeting of the International Syria Support Group's Humanitarian Access Task Force.
The press stakeout will be webcast live on webtv.un.org. (Please note that the live stream may not be accessible on all mobile devices.)
Concluding Observations on Australia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Jordan, Mauritius and Romania
Mr. Yuji Iwasawa (Chair) Mr. Yuval Shany (Vice-Chair) Mr. Olivier de Frouville Ms. Anja Seibert – FOHR
WMO provisional statement on the climate in 2017
The WMO report is being released on the opening day of the UN climate change negotiations in Bonn, Germany. It focusses on temperatures, extreme weather and long term indicators of climate change like sea level rise and Arctic sea ice. For the first time, the report includes input from a wide range of UN organizations on the impacts of extreme weather and climate change on health, food security, migration, etc. WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas will present the statement at the climate change conference in Bonn. The press conference in Geneva will be given by Omar Baddour, a WMO senior scientist responsible for compiling the report. The press conference will be in English, and Mr Baddour can give interviews in French and Arabic. Omar Baddour, WMO senior scientist
New UNHCR Report: “This is my Home” - Stateless Minorities and their Search for Citizenship (under embargo) (Embargoed until Friday, 3 November 00:01 GMT)
Carol Batchelor, Director, Division of International Protection, UNHCR
Melanie Khanna, Chief, Statelessness Section, Division of International Protection, UNHCR
Geneva Peace Week, 6-10 November 2017
Salman Bal, Chief Political Affairs and Partnerships Section, Office of the Director General Achim Wennmann, Executive Coordinator, Geneva Peacebuilding Platform
WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin
The World Meteorological Organization releases its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin on concentrations of CO2 and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere Petteri Taalas, WMO Secretary-General Oksana Tarasova, Chief of Atmospheric Environment Research Division
Presentation of the Review of Maritime Transport 2017
(under embargo until 25 October 2017 at 5.00 p.m. GMT, 6:00 p.m. Geneva time) Shamika Sirimanne, UNCTAD, Director, Division on Technology and Logistics Jan Hoffmann, UNCTAD, Chief of Trade Logistics Branch, Division on Technology and Logistics
