NSA WHA71 English

20, AVENUE APPIA – CH-1211 GENEVA 27 – SWITZERLAND – TEL CENTRAL +41 22 791 2111 – FAX CENTRAL +41 22 791 3111 – WWW.WHO.INT
Tel. direct:
Fax direct:
E-mail:
In reply please
refer to: GBS W3/87/1(71)
Your reference:
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) presents his compliments
to the non-State actors in official relations with WHO and has the honour to inform them that the
Seventy-first World Health Assembly will be convened at 09:30 on Monday, 21 May 2018, in
the Palais des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland, and is pleased to invite them to appoint a
representative or representatives to attend. The name and address of the person or persons
appointed should be communicated to the Secretariat no later than 7 May 2018.
… The provisional agenda for this Health Assembly, as prepared by the Executive Board at its
142nd session, is enclosed. The Board decided that the Seventy-first World Health Assembly
should close no later than Saturday, 26 May 2018.
In line with ongoing efforts to streamline the registration process, online registration is
now required for the Health Assembly. Registration can be initiated as of 9 April 2018 by going
to the following link: http://extranet.who.int/bpmext/meetingregistration.aspx, using the
following username: whauser, and password: Nekifo13.
Instructions for online registration are available for downloading from the Governance
website (http://www.who.int/governance/registration/en/index.html).
Starting late March 2018, documents for the Seventy-first World Health Assembly can be
accessed on the Internet through the WHO website (http://www.who.int/gb/).
The Director-General of the World Health Organization takes this opportunity to renew to
the non-State actors in official relations with WHO the assurance of his highest consideration.
GENEVA, 2 April 2018
… ENCLS: Document A71/1
Document GBS/NSA/WHA/18.3
Example of credentials
WHA/18.3
Seventy-first World Health Assembly, 21–26 May 2018
United Nations, Palais des Nations, Geneva
Practical information for representatives of non-State actors
in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO)
Date and place of the Health Assembly
1. The Seventy-first World Health Assembly will open in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday,
21 May 2018, at 09:30; it will close on Saturday, 26 May 2018. The Health Assembly will be held in
the Palais des Nations, located near Place des Nations and Avenue de la Paix, and is most easily
reached by the entrance gate on the Route de Pregny.
Access
2. Only those delegates that show a valid WHA badge will be given access to the WHO
headquarters, the Palais des Nations, the Health Assembly, and the shuttle bus from the Palais des
Nations to WHO. Non-State actors representatives are encouraged to wear their badges at all times,
whether at WHO or the UN Palais des Nations.
Registration and collection of official WHA badges
Registration
3. Online registration is required for the World Health Assembly. To that end, the invitation
letter to the Health Assembly provides a link to the WHO Governing Bodies Meeting Registration
System, as well as a username and password that will give access to the system. Each non-State actor
must designate a focal point to be responsible for registering the entity’s delegation in the system, and
giving their representatives copies of the invitation and enclosures as well as the entity’s letter of
credentials.
4. Online registration requires each non-State actor to upload a copy of its credentials, that is, a
signed response to the invitation on the entity’s letterhead indicating the name of the head of the
delegation, the name(s) of the other representatives, function of each delegate in the non-State actor
itself and, where appropriate, in an affiliated entity. In accordance with the submitted delegate
information, official WHA badges will be prepared in advance. Registration should be completed by
7 May 2018.
5. Instructions for the online registration system are available on the Governance website
at http://www.who.int/governance/registration/en/index.html. Queries concerning the system can be
addressed by email to supportregistration@who.int or by telephone +41 22 791 2111.
6. As of January 2015, for security reasons, all delegates will be required to wear photo ID
badges in order to access the meeting room. For this reason, during the online registration process, the
Focal Point will be asked to upload a passport style photograph of each member of the delegation.
7. Guidance on the nature of the image required, and brief instructions on how to upload and
resize an existing image you may have, are both available on WHO
website: http://www.who.int/governance/en/.
8. An example of credentials is attached for ease of reference.
9. Registered representatives of non-State actors appear in the official WHO records as
participants. Kindly note that during registration you are required to provide the affiliation of each of
your delegates. While the non-State actors are invited to appoint a representative or representatives to
attend the Assembly, you are kindly requested to avoid a disproportionate representation at the
meetings.
GBS/NSA/WHA/18.3
– 2 –
Collection of badges
10. Upon arrival at WHO headquarters, delegates should proceed to the Reception desk which
will be open from Thursday, 17 May to Saturday 26 May 2018 at WHO headquarters.
11. At the Reception desk delegates should show their letter of credentials, proof of identity, for
example, passport and the staff will provide a copy of a personal data form. In exchange for the
completed form, delegates receive an official WHO Health Assembly badge.
Visa
12. Non-State actors representatives that require a visa to enter Switzerland must obtain a
Schengen visa from the Swiss embassy or consulate in, or closest to, their country of residence; it
cannot be obtained from the embassy of another Schengen country. Delivery of a Schengen visa takes
between 7 and 21 days, so any visa application should be lodged well in advance of the expected date
of travel. It is recommended that participants apply for a Schengen visa Type C, which entitles the
holder to visit or transit other Schengen states, including neighbouring France. Applicants for a
Schengen visa must attach a support letter to their applications. Requests for a visa support letter
should be addressed as soon as possible to nonstateactors@who.int and include:
Name on passport:
Title:
Nationality:
Birth date:
Passport no:
Issue date:
Expiry date:
Please note that visa applications made in several different places will be rejected.
WHA documentation
13. As they become available, documents for the Health Assembly are posted on the WHO
website: http://www.who.int/gb/. During the Health Assembly documents are prepared in packets on a
daily basis according to the official languages of WHO: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and
Spanish. If you do not want all the documents in the language of your choice, please consult the
meeting agenda which gives the document numbers for each item; a copy of the document(s) you are
interested in can thus be requested by document number and by preferred language. The document
distribution service is located close to the Inquiry Office at the Palais des Nations.
14. Useful documents are the “Guide for delegates to the World Health Assembly” which contains,
inter alia, details of the organization of the Health Assembly and practical tips about transport,
restaurants and telephone calls; and the daily “Journal” which contains the tentative programme of
work of the Health Assembly, as well as information about WHO technical briefings and other
meetings.
Seating
15. Seating is reserved in galleries for non-State actors in official relations. For the Plenary, the
seating space is located on the 5th floor, which may be reached by using the lifts close to Doors 13 and 15.
For Committees A and B seating has been reserved in the wings of the rooms.
GBS/NSA/WHA/18.3
– 3 –
Non-Sate actors statements at the Health Assembly
16. Non-State actors in official relations with WHO may request to speak in a WHO Governing
Body meeting, for example before Committee A or B of the World Health Assembly, under a
technical item in which the non-State actor has a particular expertise. The following process applies to
such requests:
• Request should be addressed to the chairperson of the relevant Committee and refer to the
agenda item number and title under which the statement is to be made. It should include the
name of the non-State actor, the name of the registered representative who will deliver the
statement, and contact information.
• Non-State actors wishing to have their name placed on the list of speakers for making a
statement should notify the Secretariat of Partnerships and non-State actors Department (PNA)
by email (nsastatements@who.int) latest by 08:00 am of the day of the meeting in question.
While every attempt is made to keep non-State actors informed of the status of their requests,
it is the responsibility of the non-State actor to verify with PNA Secretariat that the request
has been received. PNA will inform the Chairperson of the meeting of the names of the
non-State actors wishing to make a statement. The statements will be made only at the
invitation of the Chairperson.
• Statements should contain substantive comments directly relevant to the agenda item and the
document prepared for the item. Please ensure the accuracy of the technical components. The
titles of individuals, organizations and/or specific doctrines are expected to be correct and
there should be no obvious spelling/grammatical errors. Statements should be limited to about
300 words (1960 characters) which should not take longer than two minutes to deliver. A
footnote with a link to the non-Sate actors website for further information is allowed.
• Statements are expected not to raise issues of purely political nature that are unrelated to the
topic, and should not contain any inappropriate or offensive reference to Member States. The
nomenclature used to refer to Member States, or areas of Member States, must follow that of
the United Nations. In case of doubt, please consult nsastatements@who.int.
• Statements longer than 300 words or those that do not follow the process described in this
note will not be allowed to be posted on the website or can be withdrawn at the WHO’s
Secretariat’s sole discretion.
• Non-State actors have the possibility to submit their statements in advance of the debate for
the Secretariat to post on a dedicated website. This will enable them to make their views
known before the debates. For that purpose, the entity is invited to register
at https://extranet.who.int/nonstateactorsstatements/. Once the registration form has been
submitted, a confirmation of the approval will be sent to the email address provided, after
which it is possible to log on and submit a statement for posting. The statements are posted
for a limited time, and will not be retained on the website thereafter.
• If the non-State actor decides not to post the statement on the dedicated website, its
representative is invited to send a copy to nsastatements@who.int prior to its delivery.
• The summary records of the Health Assembly, which will be published after the meetings,
will reflect only those statements that were made during the working sessions.
GBS/NSA/WHA/18.3
– 4 –
Speaking in front of a Committee
17. It is important that the representatives who will be making the statements follow the debate on
the relevant agenda item. Shortly before the delegates of Member States have finished speaking on the
item, the non-State actor representative should move into the allocated “Speakers” seat in the
Committee Room. Please consult the seating plan to see where it is. If the “Speakers” seat is occupied,
please request a member of the WHO Secretariat for help finding a seat. It is the responsibility of the
non-State actor to ensure their presence in the Committee Room for the item.
18. In order to gain an idea of when an item will be discussed during the Health Assembly and in
which Committee, please consult the “Journal” which sets out the schedule for the day. However,
please be aware that schedules may change according to the dynamics of the debate; thus
representatives are strongly urged to follow the relevant debate so as to be informed of any change in
schedule. In case of delays, to facilitate the scheduling of the meetings, the Chairperson may decide to
limit the number of statements to be delivered under an agenda item.
19. Should it not be possible for the non-State actor speaker to be present, he or she may arrange
for someone else who is on the list of delegates of the same non-State actor as the original speaker and
has registered and collected his or her badge, to deliver the statement. Please note that in those cases
where a non-State actor has not been able to nominate another person to make the statement, it is not
possible for the statement otherwise to be presented to the Health Assembly or appear in a written
form in the records of the Health Assembly.
Non-State actor document display near the Non-State actors Liaison Office
20. Non-State actors in official relations may display examples of their documentation and
literature either on tables or on poster boards that will be available in the display area outside the
Non-State actors Liaison Office, at the Palais des Nations. Please note, however, that WHO reserves
the right to withdraw materials. Unless specific arrangements have been made with staff in the Liaison
Office for collection before the last day of the Assembly, the documents and literature will be recycled.
21. Please do not place documents, leaflets and other information material in the areas
surrounding the meeting rooms or where WHO displays have been erected.
Non-State actors Office
22. An office (the number will appear in the “Guide for delegates to the World Health Assembly”)
will be made available for the use of non-State actors on a first-come, first-served basis during the
Health Assembly. It will be equipped with paper, computers, printers and telephones (for local calls).
You may use the computers for word processing and access to the Internet. Photocopying machines
will also be available free of charge for copying documents in reasonable quantities.
Side events
23. There will be a conference room available for non-State actors wishing to organize a side
event during the Health Assembly from 22–25 May 2018. Non-State actors are encouraged to consider
jointly organizing side-events and preference will be given to side events. “cosponsored” by several
non-State actors in official relations with WHO and which are related to one of the technical agenda
items in the provisional agenda. A non-State actor may submit or cosponsor a maximum of two
proposals. In other words, each non-State actor may only associate itself with a total of two proposals.
GBS/NSA/WHA/18.3
– 5 –
24. If the number of applications exceeds the number of openings available for the side-events for
non-State actors in official relations, priority consideration will be given to applications proposed by
non-State actors that did not organize a side-event in the last two years (2016–2017), provided that the
content and relevance of the proposed side-event fulfils the elements outlined above.
25. The capacity of the conference room for side-events is approximately 110 persons. The side-
events can take place during the weekdays, from 18:00 to 20:00. While the room for the side events
will be made available free-of-charge, any catering and interpretation services involve costs. The non-
State actors organizing side events will be responsible for any costs incurred.
26. Non-State actors should refrain from inviting entities that are not in official relations with
WHO to co-organize side events.
27. Non-State actors cannot book rooms for side-events at the Palais des Nations through any
other channels than WHO during the World Health Assembly. For side-events to be organized outside
the Palais des Nations, WHO cannot provide any assistance.
28. An invitation to submit an application to organize a side event was sent to non-State actors in
official relations 6 March 2018. Only the applications that are complete and returned by
6 April 2018 will be taken into consideration. Any additional queries related to organizing side-events
at the Seventy-first session of the World Health Assembly, can be sent to nonstateactors@who.int.
Mail and messages
29. Mail and messages for participants at the Health Assembly are deposited at the WHO Inquiry
Office. The Office is located in the hall between Doors 13 and 15 at the Palais des Nations. It is open
from 07:00 on the first day of the Health Assembly, remaining open during normal working hours for
the duration of the Health Assembly. Please check regularly for mail and messages. Likewise,
non-State actors may leave messages and mail there for other Health Assembly participants.
Non-State actors Liaison Office
30. Information about the location etc. of the Office will appear in the Guide for delegates to the
World Health Assembly.
31. For enquiries about non-Sate actors participation in the Health Assembly, except registration,
please send an email to nonstateactors@who.int.
GBS/NSA/WHA/18.3
NGO letterhead
World Health Organization
The Director
Department for Governing Bodies and External Relations
20 Avenue Appia
1211 Geneva 27
Date
Dear Mr Armstrong,
Please find below the names of our representatives who will attend the Sixty-first World Health
Assembly, which will be held from 21 to 26 May 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Ms X. Smith
Business title
Affiliation (name of the NGO in official relations or its member organization, a branch, subsidiary or
division, whichever applies to the delegate)
Dr D. Thompson
Business title
Affiliation (name of the NGO in official relations or its member organization, a branch, subsidiary or
division, whichever applies to the delegate)
With best regards,
Name, signature and title of a senior official