Pakistan appreciates United Nations for launching UN Khabarnama (UN Newsletter) in Urdu

NEW YORK, Mar 30 (SABAH): Ambassador Aamir Khan, Deputy Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations made a statement at the informal briefing by the Under Secretary General, Ms. Melissa Flemming to the member states of the Committee on Information (COI).

Pakistan aligned its stance with the statement of G77 and China. The briefing was held to discuss activities of the Department of Global Communication, particularly in the context of the global Code of Conduct and the issues of Informal Integrity on Digital Platforms.

Ambassador Amir Khan, the Deputy Permanent Representative, in his statement noted with appreciation the work of the Department of Global Communication in developing a global code of conduct proposed by the Secretary General to promote integrity in public information. While appreciating the advances in new technologies, particularly in digital technologies, he expressed his concerns about the capacity building issues, given the digital divide that many developing countries are facing.

He also expressed his concern over the challenges regarding disinformation, that includes Islamophobia, Xenophobia, discrimination and hate speech are all important elements which need to feed in all those discussions.

Ambassador Aamir Khan further emphasized on the crucial need for building technology resourcefulness and access to factual and trustworthy information to combat disinformation. “This is an important meeting which will help us to assess how the rapid pace of advances in new technologies is impacting the world of information, as well as to understand what steps are needed to address the challenges and risks,” he said, adding on how it is important “to delineate what actions are necessary to chart a best way forward.” “The global Code of Conduct proposed by the Secretary General is a good way forward that provides us a roadmap for member states deliberation” said Ambassador Khan. He appreciated the developments carried out for multilingualism by the Department of Global Communications (DGC) such as the launch of a United Nations website in Urdu, known as “UN Khabarnama” (United Nations Newsletter), which has been reaching millions of people worldwide. In this regard he appreciated the coverage of Climate related disasters such as devastating floods in Pakistan in particular the solidarity visits of the Secretary General to Pakistan.

Ambassador Aamir Khan reiterated Pakistan’s support to the Department of Global Communications and assured of full cooperation during the course of the upcoming Sessions of the Committee.