UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications Melissa Fleming has paid tribute to HM King Mohammed VI’s vision, on the occasion of the 42nd session of the Committee on Information, which was held Wednesday in New York and chaired by Ambassador Omar Hilale, Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
In her opening statement to the members of the Committee, Ms. Fleming quoted a large excerpt from His Majesty the King’s speech to the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals in 2010: “At the same time, we need to anticipate potential problems and start thinking about the broad lines of our action beyond 2015, so as to ensure the continuity of our endeavours and be prepared to meet new challenges. We should do this through collective action to strengthen the foundations of a global, harmonious, solidarity-based system to promote sustainable human development, in which efficient, equitable governance should play a key role so that we may offer upcoming generations a dignified life and build a future of peace, stability, progress and prosperity for all.”
Commenting the content of this Royal speech, the UN official stressed that “the foresight of His Majesty the King has been further highlighted, particularly this year, which is marked by the unprecedented crisis of Covid-19, because the pandemic has irreversibly changed our world, turned our lives upside down and exposed existing loopholes of injustice, socio-economic inequalities, fear and disinformation”.
Melissa Fleming highlighted the main activities of her Department, as well as the changes needed to adapt to the new realities triggered by Covid-19.
She shed light in this regard on one of the main new initiatives launched by the United Nations, under the leadership of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, entitled “Verified”.
The initiative is aimed at delivering trusted information, life-saving advice and stories from the best of humanity. The initiative also invites the public to help counter the spread of COVID-19 misinformation by sharing fact-based advice with their communities.
For his part, the Chair of the Committee on Information, Ambassador Hilale, underlined the importance of the fight against disinformation and its devastating consequences, while welcoming in particular the efforts of the UN Chief and the Department of Global Communications during the pandemic.
In this regard, Hilale welcomed the launch in Morocco, by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), of the “COVID 19 – AKID 2030” platform, which refers to the Sustainable Development Goals, and whose idea is to share messages of determination, confidence and hope, a need that has become especially acute in these times of confinement, stress and uncertainty.
This approach is in line with the Kingdom’s determination to promote South-South cooperation and to share its experience in combating the pandemic with other countries, he pointed out.
The Committee on Information is a subsidiary body of the General Assembly, established by the General Assembly to deal with questions relating to public information.
It is responsible for overseeing the work of the Department of Global Communications and for providing it with guidance on policies, programmes and activities of the Department.
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