Claim: Shireen Mazari shared pictures of a UN meeting in Geneva with Pakistani officials, saying that the attendance was “pathetic”, with mostly Pakistani officials attending the meeting.
Fact: The pictures Shireen Mazari shared were misleading. UN web TV and official tweets from the UNDP Twitter account show a fuller meeting room and several members of the UN participating in the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan, co-hosted by the Government of Pakistan and the United Nations.
On 9 January 2023, Shireen Mazari tweeted misleading images of the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan, co-hosted by the Government of Pakistan and the United Nations on 9 January 2023. This conference was called in to explore meaningful and concrete interventions which would help Pakistan to build long-term climate resilience and adapt to the ongoing environmental crises.
Fact or Fiction?
The United Nations Development Program broadcasted a video recording of the full meeting on the official UN web TV website, which clearly shows a large room full of people. Representatives of the Asian Infrastructure & Investment Bank, the Royal Humanitarian Foundation, the European Investment Bank, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Canada, South Korea, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees were among some who spoke at the meeting.
Screenshot taken from the official UN web TV website.
The UNDP also shared an aerial photo of the meeting on Twitter, showing a room with a significantly greater number of people present in the audience compared to the photographs shared by Shireen Mazari.
https://twitter.com/UNDP_Pakistan/status/1612383855054299136
Virality
Shireen Mazari’s tweet was shared with 7,155,475 followers on Twitter and received over 19,000 interactions.
Conclusion: The International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan, co-hosted by the Government of Pakistan and the United Nations was not as sparsely attended as Shireen Mazari claimed.