Public information

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Alison Smale of the United Kingdom as the next Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, Department of Public Information.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Department of Public Information-Non-Governmental Organization Intergenerational Dialogue on the Sustainable Development Goals, in New York today:

The Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organizations Association Committee today associated 15 non-governmental organizations with the United Nations Department, bringing to 1,465 the number of working with the Department in the area of communications and outreach.

The United Nations announced today that Data for Democracy (D4D) has won the Unite Ideas Internal Displacement Event Tagging and Extraction Clustering Tool (#IDETECT) data challenge.

The United Nations Department of Public Information has launched a new animated video on the dramatic story of Yusra Mardini, a young refugee from conflict-torn Syria who achieved her dream to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the World Summit on the Information Society 2017 Forum, in Geneva on 12 June:

The United Nations has released the forty-second edition of Basic Facts about the United Nations, covering significant developments in the Organization’s global activities since 2014, including the adoption and launch of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  The colour icons of the Sustainable Development Goals are featured in the publication.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the Artificial Intelligence for Global Good Summit, in Geneva today:

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Masimba Tafirenyika of Zimbabwe as Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Pretoria, an office that provides service to South Africa.  Mr. Tafirenyika assumed his duties today.

Acting without a vote today, the Committee on Information closed its thirty-ninth session by approving a two-part draft resolution, the second of which emphasized the need to promote multilingualism, bridge the digital divide between developed and developing countries, and maintain the use of traditional media, among other topics.