Note to Correspondents

The ninth anniversary of the bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, and the fourth World Humanitarian Day, will be observed on Friday, 17 August, at a brief ceremony to be held at 10 a.m. in the public lobby of the General Assembly Building, in front of the memorial plaque located outside the Meditation Room.

A photo exhibition titled “Right Before Your Eyes” and presented by PhotoPhilanthropy, will open to the public in the Visitors Lobby on Wednesday, 14 August and will remain on display until 10 September.

An exhibition of the best press photographs of 2011, selected at the fifty-fifth annual World Press Photo Contest in Amsterdam, will open on Wednesday, 15 August 2012 in the Main Gallery of the Visitors Lobby at United Nations Headquarters and remain on display until 28 August.

The United Nations General Assembly will mark Nelson Mandela International Day with an informal meeting tomorrow, honouring the leader’s contributions to democracy, racial justice and reconciliation.

The United Nations Academic Impact is launching a lunch-time discussion forum at Headquarters to stimulate wide-ranging discussion of current issues and global responses. Called “ Point Counter-Point”, the discussion will take the form of a debate, with panellists arguing in favour of a motion or against, and an audience opinion tally taken to see if the arguments have been able to change minds.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will open a photo exhibition entitled “In Search of Solidarity: The State of the World’s Refugees 2012” in the main gallery of the Visitors Lobby on Wednesday, 20 June, at 6 p.m. It will be on display through 7 August.

In acknowledgement of the United Nations Public Service Day, 44 public organizations from 29 countries will receive international recognition for excellence in public service on 25 June.

The graduation ceremony for the Class of 2012 of the United Nations International School (UNIS) will take place at 4 pm on Thursday, 31 May 2012, in the United Nations General Assembly Hall. Susan Rice, United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations, will be the guest speaker.

The United Nations Department of Public Information will partner with the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance New York to examine the issues that led to mass murder during the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia and current efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice. Organized by The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme, the round table discussion will take place on Wednesday, 30 May, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Museum.

The United Nations Academic Impact and the Albany Law School will jointly host a symposium on “Sustainability in Developing Nations: Opportunities for Public-Private Partnerships” at the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium at United Nations Headquarters on 16 May 2012.