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✔✔ Information on the daily subsistence allowance (DSA) paid to members for
their time attending the session;
✔✔ Information on supplementary health insurance while in Geneva.
Two months before each session, the secretariat sends an e-mail to all members
with information relating to the upcoming session, including the programme of
work, other documentation, and reminders about travel and hotel arrangements.
Members make their own travel arrangements and hotel bookings. To this end,
members should contact CWT or the designated agent about six weeks before
the session, but no later than three weeks before their travel date. The secretariat
provides members with contact information for the travel agent. The United Nations
pays for the most economical and direct route in business class. If members want
a different route or ticket, they need to bear any additional costs themselves. The
Secretariat of the United Nations has implemented an advance purchase policy
whereby all official travel requests purchased by the United Nations are ticketed
at least 16 calendar days prior to departure. Members should nevertheless avoid
making reservations more than six weeks in advance, as the authorization to pay
for the ticket will not be ready in time and the booking may lapse. Members are
responsible for making any changes to their itinerary and should provide the
secretariat with an updated itinerary as soon as possible after making the change.
It is important to note that it is the responsibility of the members to request Schengen
visas to enter Switzerland—or visas for any other country in the case of inquiries
or visits. Members should ensure that they put in their visa requests well before
the session.
B. During the session
On the first day of the first session, new or newly re-elected members should obtain
a badge so as to be able to enter the United Nations premises. The secretariat
sends out application forms to members before the session; however, members
must go in person to the Pregny Gate at the Palais des Nations in Geneva to obtain
their badges. As many United Nations meetings start on Mondays and there may
be a queue, members should present themselves at least 90 minutes early. This
should give them enough time not only for the administrative arrangements but
also to travel from Palais des Nations to Palais Wilson, where most treaty body
sessions take place. The badge is valid for four years.
At their first session, members receive a United Nations certificate to certify that
they are treaty body members. The certificate does not provide members with any
privileges or immunities beyond those that they have automatically, as outlined
above in chapter III, section B. The certificate is renewed every year.
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