DPI'S ABILITY TO RESPOND TO PUBLIC INTEREST IN UN MUST BE PROTECTED AT TIME OF DOWNSIZING, BULGARIA TELLS INFORMATION COMMITTEE

8 May 1996

Press Release
PI/945

DPI'S ABILITY TO RESPOND TO PUBLIC INTEREST IN UN MUST BE PROTECTED AT TIME OF DOWNSIZING, BULGARIA TELLS INFORMATION COMMITTEE

19960508 Department's Streamlining Efforts, Involvement in Peace-keeping Operations, Role in Promoting Positive Image of UN Highlighted in Debate

The Department of Public Information's efforts to streamline staff, diversify its media outreach, consolidate its broadcasting and publishing activities, and its leap into the World Wide Web demonstrated the highest standards of United Nations reform, the representative of Bulgaria said this morning. He was addressing the Committee on Information as it continued its general debate.

Bulgaria supported DPI's innovative approach in establishing closer partnerships within the United Nations system as part of a comprehensive information strategy, he said. At a time when the United Nations had to redouble efforts to protect core projects and programmes from further downsizing, it was imperative to support DPI's ability to respond adequately to public interest in the United Nations.

Under the leadership of Assistant Secretary-General Samir Sanbar, DPI had performed creditably well despite shrinking resources, the representative of Nepal said. The DPI's involvement from the early phase of a peace-keeping operations was essential to correct public misperceptions and strengthen popular support. The Department should also intensify efforts to mobilize public opinion in favour of socio-economic and humanitarian issues.

The representative of Colombia was among those stressing the important role played by the United Nations information centres in promoting a positive image of the United Nations while allowing the public in many countries to have direct access. The representative of Argentina stressed the role played by the free press, which had enabled many societies to adopt democratic and participatory systems.

A representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) thanked the Committee for its unfailing support of UNESCO's programmes on freedom of expression and of the press. Speaking on behalf of Director-General Federico Mayor, he reviewed UNESCO's collaboration

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with DPI in organizing regional meetings to promote independent and pluralistic media.

Statements were also made by the representatives of the Russian Federation, Venezuela and Cote d'Ivoire. A representative of DPI spoke on the Department's regional seminars to promote a pluralistic and independent media.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 9 May, to continue its general exchange of views.

Committee Work Programme

The Committee on Information met this morning to continue its general exchange of views, its examination of United Nations public information policies and activities and follow up on progress made by the United Nations system in the field of information and communications. It was also expected to continue its consideration of the establishment of a more just and effective world information and communication order, aimed at strengthening peace and international understanding and based on the free and balanced dissemination of information. (For additional background on the session, see Press Release PI/939 of 3 May.)

Statements

IVAN MAXIMOV (Bulgaria), Committee Chairman, announced that he had received from Samir Sanbar, the Assistant Secretary-General of Public Information, a communication indicating the great number of mandates for the Department of Public Information (DPI) deriving from General Assembly resolutions, even reaching back to the earliest years of the Organization. Also included was a list of observances and commemorative events in which the Department participates. The list was available at the back of the meeting room for all interested delegations.

MUSTAPHA TLILI, Chief of the Palestine and Decolonization Section, Department of Public Information, spoke about the Seminar on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Arab Media which was held in Sana'a, Yemen from 7 to 11 January. Organized jointly by DPI and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Seminar brought together some 150 journalists, media owners, representatives of regional press organizations, various media experts and international observers. It focused on the needs and concerns of media professionals in the region and allowed participants to reflect collectively on the principles of freedom of information and of expression and the free flow of information in Arab society.

The Seminar ended successfully with the adoption of a Declaration containing recommendations to promote and strengthen freedom of the press, pluralism and diversity in the media of Arab countries, he said. The text had been made available to Committee members as a General Assembly document.

As a result of DPI's fund-raising efforts, he continued, the European Commission, France, Denmark, and the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations contributed $384,930 for the Seminar's extrabudgetary expenses, he said. The DPI and UNESCO also contributed to the Seminar's budget. The DPI's contribution was $25,00 towards the Seminar's cost of approximately $500,000.

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The UNESCO was responsible for managing the Seminar's budget and was preparing its financial report which would be sent to all contributors.

HENRIKAS YUSHKIAVITSHUS, Assistant Director-General for Communication, Information and Informatics of UNESCO, then addressed the Committee on behalf of its Director-General, FEDERICO MAYOR. He thanked the Committee for its unfailing support of UNESCO's communication programmes and activities, particularly those concerning freedom of expression and of the press. Links among telecommunications, information technology and the media offered new possibilities for the advancement of knowledge, as well as for intellectual cooperation. The UNESCO's programmes sought to meet the challenges posed by those new developments.

He said UNESCO was strengthening its collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), so that that body's work on telecommunications infrastructures and regulations might be complemented by UNESCO's intellectual and moral approach. The UNESCO was also addressing concerns that the current technological changes would benefit only a few and actually widen the gap between industrialized and developing countries.

The UNESCO's communication strategy focused on both democracy and development, he said. It saw freedom of expression as the cornerstone of democratic societies, and had collaborated with DPI in organizing regional meetings on the promotion of independent and pluralistic media. Those seminars sought to encourage press freedom, independence and pluralism. The most recent such meeting was held at Sana'a, Yemen, for the Arab world, and a European seminar was planned for 1997. It was during the African meeting, at Windhoek, Namibia, that the participants called for observance of 3 May as World Press Freedom Day.

The UNESCO's focus on development was based on the long-term requirement that all must have access to the new communications technologies, he said. Under the International Programme for the Development of Communication, funding was approved for projects aimed at strengthening communication capacities in developing countries. In addition, UNESCO was implementing close to 200 extrabudgetary communication projects, representing more than $30 million. It would be organizing the sixth round table of specialized agencies engaged in communication for development in Harare, Zimbabwe.

HIKHAIL V. DEMURIN (Russian Federation) said that in the last few years, an information environment complying with international standards had been established in his country. There were constitutional and legislative guarantees of information rights and freedoms. The Russian leadership and its President, Boris Yeltsin, viewed political and ideological pluralism as one of the most important conquests of the new Russia. They regarded the mass media as a significant locomotive of democratic reform. Great attention was being

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paid to granting reporters access to information on State agencies. The Regional Press Agency was established last April to improve access for reporters of regional and local mass media to information about federal agencies. The introduction of a professional card, by the Union of Journalists for Russia, with government support, set up a new system for reporters' legal protection and social support.

Russia understood the concern of developing countries over the imbalance in information and communications in today's world, he continued. Those countries' interests could be best protected through intensified cooperation rather than confrontation. The world press should adequately reflect the complex processes under way in countries with economies in transition. A free mass media should also be established in legal, economic, technological, institutional and other spheres. A regional workshop in cooperation with UNESCO on independence and pluralism of the mass media in eastern Europe would be useful and he would like to see DPI seized of those matters.

The United Nations Information Centre in Moscow was very important, he continued. As a result of the democratization process in Russia, the Centre's work had become diversified and its results more tangible. Its links with State bodies and political, public, business and scientific circles were expanding in Moscow and other regions. The Government was interested in involving the Centre in the work of acquainting the Russian media professionals with existing international standards on freedom of speech, and offering practical advice on operating a mass media. However, the staff at the Centre was inadequate for its growing workload. It had only one professional post -- that had been artificially lowered to the P-5 level of its Director. There was an urgent need to bring the Centre's staff into line with today's growing requirements.

He expressed appreciation for what was being done by DPI under Mr. Sanbar's guidance in terms of improving its work as well as the United Nations system information mechanisms. The DPI had worked successfully and fruitfully during the fiftieth anniversary celebrations. Steps to strengthen the information components of peace-keeping operations should be given special emphasis. He noted the need to save resources, but said the extent to which the Russian language was used in United Nations information activities was not adequate as a communications tool in Russia or for the millions of citizens in other United Nations Member States, especially in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). He noted as a positive trend the intensive efforts made by the Information Centre in Moscow to publish United Nations documents in Russia while recruiting private businesses as sponsors or co-sponsors.

GOPAL B. THAPA (Nepal) expressed appreciation for the statement by Assistant Secretary-General for Public Information Samir Sanbar, and associated himself with the views which have been expressed on behalf of the

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"Group of 77" developing countries. He also paid tribute to the brave journalists who had risked their lives in pursuit of their lofty objectives. In Nepal, the Constitution guaranteed freedom of the press and of information as a fundamental right. A free press was synonymous with basic democratic values.

Under Mr. Sanbar's leadership, DPI had been able to perform creditably well despite shrinking budgetary resources, he said. Its wide coverage of major world conferences and of the Organizations's fiftieth anniversary celebration had been impressive. Its role in expanding partnerships with media also merited attention. Nepal believed that the upcoming Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) would also receive wide coverage and publicity. Citing the designation of 1996 as the year for the eradication of poverty, he called on DPI to place more emphasis on information that would promote international solidarity against injustice and poverty.

He said the success of any peace-keeping operation depended on understanding and support of local populations and governments. United Nations public information efforts should focus on disseminating impartial and objective information with a view to creating better understanding and appreciation of United Nations peace-keeping activities. The DPI's involvement from the early phase of operations was essential to correct misperceptions prevalent among conflicting parties, which often resulted in adverse propaganda against the Organization and its peace-keepers. He said it was encouraging that DPI was bringing out a third edition of "The Blue Helmets" and suggested that it include the names and photographs of those peacekeepers who had laid down their lives in the performance of their duties.

He stressed that United Nations information activities must focus on raising global awareness of the Organization's activities, not only in security and military areas, but also in such areas as environment, development, human rights, empowerment of women and poverty eradication. The DPI should intensify its efforts to mobilize public opinion in favour of socio-economic and humanitarian issues, through a sustained information campaign.

He expressed appreciation for a number of DPI publications, including the United Nations Yearbook, "Basic Facts about the United Nations" and the "Blue Book" Series. He encouraged DPI to continue publication of "Development Update", including issues of concern to the least developed countries. He expressed support for the wide and prompt coverage provided by the United Nations press releases, which were extremely useful, especially for small delegations.

The United Nations information centres played a pivotal role in promoting the United Nations, he said. The United Nations Development

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Programme (UNDP) integrated information centre in Kathmandu was rendering valuable information services, despite a skeletal local staff of three. He also expressed appreciation for DPI's timely step onto the information superhighway. However, to take advantage of that new technology, the current information imbalance inherent in many developing and least developed countries must be corrected. Journalists from those countries must be given more opportunities for training.

DIMITAR IVANOV (Bulgaria) said the streamlining of the Secretariat staff, the diversification of DPI's media outreach, the consolidation of its broadcasting and publishing activities, the leap into the world wide web all demonstrated that the management of DPI was aiming at the highest standards of United Nations reform. His delegation supported DPI's innovative approach headed by Mr. Sanbar, to establish closer partnerships and coordination within the United Nations system in order to carry out a comprehensive information strategy and promote the Organization's public image. He shared the concerns that the United Nations system, operating under severe financial constraints, has to redouble its efforts to hedge its core projects and programmes from further downsizing. It was imperative that DPI's be able to respond adequately to the keen public interest in and scrutiny of peace-keeping, sustainable economic and social development and other major endeavours.

The United Nations information structures had a substantial pro-active role to play in the new international environment, especially with regard to the process of democratization in newly independent States, as well as in the countries in transition, he continued. He noted the joint efforts of DPI and UNESCO to promote press freedom and independence and pluralism in the media. His delegation appreciated the many activities of the information centres and the positive examples of integrated United Nations offices with information components. His Government had voiced interest, on a number of occasions, in establishing an information component within the UNDP office in Sofia and was looking forward to finalizing an agreement with DPI to start up the component in the near future. He said it was also time to organize a regional seminar on a pluralistic and independent media for the countries of central and eastern Europe in the beginning of 1997.

LYDA APONTE DE ZACKLIN (Venezuela) expressed support for the United Nations information centres and welcomed their integration into local offices. That effort should be extended to specialized agencies, "which do produce an abundant harvest of papers", she said. She gave a special acknowledgement to the Assistant Secretary-General for Public Information on the timeliness of his statement and for his efficient use of resources. The vicissitudes of domestic politics in so many countries made DPI's job nearly superhuman. In addition, media apathy brought life to the saying that there were none so deaf as those who refused to hear.

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However, the problem went further than media apathy or action by economic and political interests, she said. Journalists often looked in vain for real news, which was often difficult to find in the ocean of resolutions. Public information on the United Nations was the responsibility not only of DPI, but of journalists and, indeed, of all Member States.

KABA D. CAMARA (Cote d'Ivoire) said the challenges faced by DPI, which was doing more with less, should be met. She congratulated Mr. Sanbar and his team for the quality of their work in the past year. Press coverage during the fiftieth anniversary celebrations, and of the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen and the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing was remarkable. The "Blue Book" series were a very valuable reference tool and should be translated into French. The publication of the quarterly "Africa Recovery" was important this year during the initiative on Africa and could help make known the continent's needs and its social and economic developments, as well as correct erroneous images of Africa.

The Dag Hammerskjold Library had played an important role for diplomats, she said, and she expressed reservations about having it managed by an outside agency. It was obvious that the management of United Nations services by outside firms could become more costly. She asked if every delegation was doing all it could during the current United Nations financial crisis and she paid tribute to DPI, which was doing more with less resources. The press releases should continue to be published in French and English as they were the only source of information for many delegations which could not attend all meetings. Eliminating them would be disastrous, she added.

The United Nations information centres were the display window for the Organization and they should be improved and established in countries which wanted them, she continued. They could be changed a little by integrating them into UNDP offices. However, if the integration of the centres limited the promotion of information activities there was a risk of seeing the director being reduced to the role of a press attache. There should not be innovation merely for the sake of change. It was best to keep what was effective. A wise approach would be to continue to allow DPI to be the Organization's display window.

ALEXANDRA KLING (Colombia) said United Nations information centres provided easy access to information about the United Nations. Recently, Colombia contributed $70,000 in response to the call for additional resources to enable the centres to operate. The work of the centres not only promoted a positive image of the United Nations but enabled the public to have direct contact with the Organization. It was hoped that the information centres would be strengthened, as they were particularly important to the developing world. Colombia would continue to provide economic and political support to the work performed by the centres.

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D. HOLGER MARTINSEN (Argentina) praised the work of DPI in incorporating such technological advances as those provided by the Internet and CD-Rom for the speedy dissemination of information on the United Nations. Argentina had participated in World Press Freedom Day, remembering that the free press had enabled many societies to become democratic and participatory systems. The United Nations must adequately inform public opinion about its operations so that public expectations might be realistic.

He said the information centres were more than mere depositories of information; they must not be overlooked when assessing the financial crisis of the Organization. The process of integrating some centres into other United Nations offices must continue to take place on a case-by-case basis, with the participation of the countries concerned.

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