On June 19, the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN, in partnership with the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), organized a panel on Humanitarian response and Information technologies at the UN Headquarters.

Bridging the technology, innovation, development, human rights and humanitarian agendas, the panel discussed the role of social media and emerging information and communications technologies in engaging populations affected by crisis in humanitarian response actions.

In his opening remarks, Mher Margaryan, Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of Armenia to the UN, highlighted that effective community engagement remains an important priority in overall coordination of humanitarian response. He noted that the UN system should do more to engage affected populations and support those who amplify their voices.

The panel, moderated by Lara Setrakian, CEO, Co-Founder of News Deeply, included Alexandra Sicotte-Lévesque, a representative of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Andrej Verity, a representative of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Panelists discussed the ways, in which digital technologies can help improve and consolidate the work of humanitarian actors, how their impact on the ground can be assessed in terms of the quality and effectiveness. The travel blogger and journalist Alexander Lapshin who, while presenting his case, reflected on instances of attacks, threats and intimidation against journalists and media activists, as well as attempts to politicize the issue of access to conflict zones.

The panel brought together representatives of the UN member states, UN agencies, academia, as well as a large number of civil society representatives.