CUBA TELLS FOURTH COMMITTEE USE OF INFORMATION TO SUBVERT INTERNAL AFFAIRS IS VIOLATION OF SOVEREIGNTY, INTERNATIONAL LAW

16 November 1998

Press Release
GA/SPD/150

CUBA TELLS FOURTH COMMITTEE USE OF INFORMATION TO SUBVERT INTERNAL AFFAIRS IS VIOLATION OF SOVEREIGNTY, INTERNATIONAL LAW

19981116 Role of Internet, Other Technologies Discussed; Delegates Say Continuing Importance of Traditional Media -- Print, Radio, TV -- Not To Be Discounted

The use of information for political purposes, especially with the aim of subverting and interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, should be prohibited by the international community, the representative of Cuba told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) this afternoon, as it continued its consideration of questions relating to information.

He said Cuba was the victim of radio and television "aggression", through broadcasts that violated its sovereignty, as well as international law. Cuba, he said, rejected the presumption of the United States Government to decide which information Cuba should receive.

The representative of Jamaica, speaking on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said that for too long the successes and accomplishments of the United Nations had been hidden. Despite the valiant efforts of the Department of Public Information (DPI), the information it provided seemed to be no match for the flood of negative and inaccurate information produced by the external media. The United Nations story was a unique one, and the Department must capitalize on that uniqueness by marketing the product to a wider target audience.

The representative of Singapore said that, at the click of the computer mouse, anyone with access to a computer could not only be linked to the world, but they could also be a content provider. While the rapidly expanding Internet offered immense potential as a tool for information, communication, entertainment and commerce, it also posed challenges to the traditions and values of individual nations. Singapore had supported and stressed self- regulation in its industries, as well as citizen responsibility and a "light touch" regulatory system and censorship.

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The representative of Iran said some developed countries, by their technological advancement, enjoyed a virtual monopoly in the dissemination of information, leaving developing countries on the sidelines. The dissemination of information should not be used as a pretext to undermine cultural and moral values, distort facts, or demonstrate a bias towards countries with different systems and civilizations.

Statements were also made this afternoon by the representatives of Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Ghana, Viet Nam, Azerbaijan, Japan, Belarus, Israel and Romania.

The Fourth Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, 17 November, to conclude its general debate on information.

Committee Work Programme

The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) met this afternoon to continue its general debate on questions relating to information. (For background information on the documents before the Committee, see Press Release GA/SPD/149 of 13 November.)

Statements

FERDEN CARIKCI (Turkey) said the creation of a global and prosperous peace must include a free flow of information across all cultures. For that purpose, Turkey stressed the importance of the work done by the Department of Public Information (DPI) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The press was the collective voice of a nation.

There were some stereotypes and prejudices in the information order against developing countries, he said. The United Nations must meet the challenges of an ever-changing world. A free, impartial and objective circulation of all information was necessary. The United Nations information centres should continue their vital work with the DPI in the dissemination of such information materials. Moreover, both the quantity and quality of information coming from the DPI would be affected by the prevailing financial situation of the Organization. It was evident that DPI could not take further steps forward without additional resources. The Department should have a solid financial basis at its disposal.

HOSSAM ZAKI (Egypt) said his country aligned itself with the statement made by the representative of Indonesia, on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China. Egypt upheld the importance of transparency and stressed the need for a new information system.

He said Egypt supported United Nations radio broadcasts and the further potential for that activity. The Secretariat study was good, and his country strongly supported the pilot project. However, Egypt was disappointed at the delay in launching it.

The United Nations must take advantage of up-to-date dissemination of information, he added. The creation of an Internet web page in Arabic by the DPI was a step in the right direction and would facilitate all Arabic speakers interested in United Nations matters. But traditional print media, radio and television must continue to play an important role in light of those technological advances. An imbalance of information still existed, and the traditional medium were needed to correct such information gaps.

MOHAMAD SALAH TEKAYA (Tunisia) said his delegation supported the position of the Group of 77 and China. Much progress had been made in the

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field of information due to technological advances, which had also enhanced freedom and democracy. In Tunisia, more press freedom had been achieved through greater support for opposition media. The far more widespread of the Internet had resulted in its use in all the country's institutions and schools. Information played an important role in this era of globalization.

He said developing countries were trying to support initiatives resulting from the technological advances in the information sphere, but there was a deplorable gap between the developing and developed countries. The developing countries, not yet able to take advantage of those advances in a manner likely to stabilize their own development, were deprived of the chance to achieve equality with developed countries.

He said important measures had been taken in restructuring the activities of DPI so that the message could be disseminated more rapidly. The Department had deployed great efforts to bring itself up to date, particularly by making use of the Internet more widespread, which was a milestone for the United Nations. Inauguration of Arabic language homepage was one more achievement of the DPI this year. The project would be very popular, although it was still at the experimental stage with limited resources.

RAFAEL DAUSA (Cuba), supporting the Group of 77 and China, said information and communication had undeniably acquired a tremendous importance in recent times, on the basis of technological advances. This should become a useful tool to promote the development of all peoples. but there existed a bitter contradiction. The greater the technological progress made, the wider the gap between the developed and developing countries. There must be a new information and communication order, so as to enable developing countries to participate in the world flow of information. The United Nations must help. It should be made possible for the Internet to be utilized more fully, and made more accessible in developing countries.

He said there was a need for the dissemination of objective, impartial and non-discriminatory information, taking into consideration the cultural and social characteristics of each country. The use of information for political purposes, especially with the aim of subverting and interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, should be prohibited by the international community. It was also necessary to prevent the use of media for criminal or terrorist purposes.

He said Cuba was the victim of radio and television aggression. It received 1,953 hours a week of broadcasts through 26 different radio and television frequencies, through the incorrectly named Radio Marti. That was not only an infringement of Cuba's sovereignty, but it also violated the most fundamental norms of international law. Cuba denounced such broadcasting and rejected the presumption of the United States Government to decide which information Cuba should receive.

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YAW OSEL (Ghana), aligning his delegation with the positions of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 and China, said the DPI was paying increasing attention to the subject of sustainable economic and social development in the work of the United Nations. Sustainable development held the key to global peace, and the Department's focus on raising the profile of the African continent in the media was appreciated. The production and dissemination worldwide of effective press material had ensured that the Secretary-General's report to the General Assembly on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa had been widely covered in the world's press.

Equally, he went on, the Department's information campaign undertaken under the aegis of United States President Clinton's recent visit to Africa had enabled full coverage of both the continent's turnabout and its continued need for development assistance and debt relief. The Department's contribution in publicizing information about Africa on the platform of last month's Tokyo Conference on African Development was equally significant.

He said information technology appeared to be the fastest growing of the new technologies today. The DPI was expected to be at the forefront, particularly through the United Nations information centres in developing countries. It was only when those countries were helped to move into the information technology age that the Department could rely on their local resources for the wide dissemination of information about the Organization. While it was laudable to keep up with developments in information technology, the traditional means of information dissemination should, by no means, be minimized, until all countries were able to "cruise on the information superhighway".

He said Ghana attached great importance to the work being done by the United Nations information centres in Ghana and elsewhere. Given adequate resources, those centres could more than satisfactorily carry out their mandates, thereby helping the Organization achieve its global objectives. The provision of technical equipment and staff training to advance efforts by the centres to broaden their information outreach to the local constituents was commendable.

VU TRAN PHONG (Viet Nam), agreeing with the statement by Indonesia, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, said the maintenance of international peace and security and the promotion of economic and social development continued to be the two primary and important tasks of the United Nations. Information had a crucial role to play, and that role lay with the DPI.

He said Viet Nam welcomed DPI's efforts aimed at reforming the Department, including streamlining its staff, diversifying its media outreach, and consolidating its broadcasting and publishing activities. Those activities should aim to promote a more balanced, objective and equitable information system, in particular, rendering greater assistance to the developing countries.

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He said the United Nations information centres should provide a link between the United Nations and the peoples of the world. Viet Nam was concerned with the vast disparities and imbalances between developing and developed countries in communication and information, in terms of adequate and advanced infrastructure and technology. Every effort should be made by the international community and the United Nations system to do away with those imbalances. His country reaffirmed its commitment to South-South cooperation in the field of information and communication based on the principle of collective self-reliance.

While the use of the Internet was commendable, he went on, traditional media, such as print, television and radio, remained indispensable, with radio the most cost-effective media, having target audiences all over the world, particularly in developing countries. The DPI should plan to launch a pilot project on United Nations international radio broadcasts before the end of the year.

ELDAR KOULIEV (Azerbaijan) said that as a new nation his country recognized the importance of the free flow of information. The reorientation of the DPI was very important for the strengthening of United Nations capacity to implement its mandate, on both a country and regional level. The strengthening of the United Nations information centres in the field was an important instrument set forth in United Nations Charter to guarantee peace, security and human rights.

He said the mass media was one of the basic means for influencing information flows in the world. There was still a need for the traditional media -- print, radio and television -- in developing countries and those countries in transition. Azerbaijan supported the proposed United Nations Radio Broadcast service, but emphasized the need to expand it beyond the English and French languages. Other languages would expand the scope and breadth of the project. The DPI should focus more attention to developing countries and help them in reducing the enormous information imbalances.

YUKIO TAKASU (Japan) said that because the media had an enormous impact in formulating the image of such United Nations activities as peacekeeping operations, the cooperation between the Organization and the media should be cultivated further. While the next century was expected to be the era of the superhighway, it was no less true that such conventional broadcasting methods as television and radio would continue to be important.

In that connection, he said the Japanese Mission would co-sponsor the World TV Forum this week, at which NHK, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation, would bring High Definition Television to the United Nations. He said the importance of radio could not be overstated, especially in developing countries, in terms of its low cost and wider availability. Japan looked forward to receiving the Secretary-General's report on the pilot project on reviving United Nations direct broadcasts.

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Emphasizing the importance of the Organization's direct contact with local communities, he said the United Nations Information Centre in Tokyo was enhancing public understanding of the Organization's activities in Japan, which was essential to maintaining the strong support among Japanese people for the United Nations. It was important that the Japanese people appreciated, and continued to provide necessary support for, the work of the United Nations. Last month, during the Secretary-General's visit to Japan, the Academic Council for the United Nations had been established as a new endeavour to promote support for the Organization, in addition to the activities of the 43 branches of the United Nations Association in Japan. It was hoped that the DPI would develop its network of communication and cooperation with those associations.

In order to complete its important and urgent tasks, the Department must be provided with sufficient resources. He said Japan did not favour an arbitrary percentage reduction of the DPI budget. Each activity should be reviewed regularly on the basis of its relevance, usefulness and effectiveness. The Department, through close cooperation with civil society and the media, should take advantage of the opportunities provided by major United Nations events, such as the Millennium Assembly, to mobilize a communications strategy.

HO AI PHANG (Singapore) said that, increasingly, the phenomenon of the Internet, as a new fourth medium after print, radio and television, could add to the rapid annihilation of distance in societies and nations. The information technology revolution was changing the way people lived and worked. At the click of the computer mouse, anyone with access to a computer could not only be linked to the world, but they could also be a content provider.

The rapidly expanding Internet, she went on, offered immense potential as a tool for information, communication, entertainment and commerce. However, it also posed challenges because it could be a force for harmful content or influences, which conflicted with the traditions and values of individual nations. Instead of resisting changes, the international community should quickly adapt to the new ways of doing things, to keep some control over where the world was heading. Because the Internet would assert a powerful influence on opinions and attitudes, Singapore had supported and stressed self-regulation in its industries, as well as citizen responsibility, and a "light touch" regulatory system and censorship.

She said it was impossible to censor the Internet effectively. Singapore encouraged pro-active efforts by the industry to regulate itself, and to take their own initiatives against harmful content and viruses. Regulations alone could not provide total security against offensive content. Public awareness should be raised through education and the active participation of people in such places as schools, community clubs and libraries.

ALYAKSEI SKRYPKO (Belarus) said his delegation supported the intention of the DPI to develop a working relationship with the Department of Economic

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and Social Affairs to carry out information programmes in the economic and social fields. It was important to strengthen activities to highlight objective difficulties facing countries in transition on the path towards their integration into the world economy and their implementation of democratic transformations. The DPI, by providing informing about specific problems of the transition period, could play an important role in mobilizing international assistance to help those countries attain sustainable development in the social, economic, environmental and other spheres.

He said Belarus considered it important to continue and redouble efforts of the Department and other bodies of the United Nations system, particularly the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, to conduct long-term information programmes devoted to the Chernobyl disaster, in order to mobilize international assistance in mitigating the ever-increasing consequences of the 1986 atomic catastrophe at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

He said the task of increasing the awareness of world audiences about the humanitarian, medical and environmental after-effects of Chernobyl, reflected in a number of General Assembly resolutions, should be considered in the mandate of the reforming DPI. The Department, through wide and objective dissemination of information on the real magnitude of the Chernobyl catastrophe, and highlighting the importance of rendering constant support to the affected countries, could contribute significantly to overcoming the recent "Chernobyl fatigue" of the donor countries. An important step in that direction might be the opening on the United Nations homepage of a special section on Chernobyl, containing materials about the activities of the United Nations and affected countries in minimizing the consequences of the disaster. Interested States could assist the Department on that issue by providing relevant materials.

DAVID ZOHAR (Israel) said, despite the fact that for many years Israel had not known full peace, his country was proud that it had not permitted the exigencies of its situation to harm the growth of a free press. Today, a dozen Hebrew newspapers and several in other languages, including Arabic and English, appeared regularly along with over a thousand other periodicals. Free access to the Internet was not only assured, but encouraged.

He said official institutions, government ministries and municipalities had interactive websites to promote dialogue and transparency with all its citizens. Also, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs had its own website -- www.Israel.org -- with full details of the peace process. Journalism in Israel played an important role as a watchdog of democracy and a protector of human rights, as well as consumer rights.

PATRICIA DURRANT (Jamaica), spoke on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and supported the position of the Group of 77 and China. She said that at a time of increasing public interest in the United Nations, the Organization could not retreat from programmes designed to increase public

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awareness of its role and function. The United Nations should focus on new ways of telling its story. For too long, the Organization's successes and accomplishments had been hidden.

She said CARICOM welcomed the efforts of the DPI and other Secretariat units which were working together to identify and implement information campaigns and focus on news-making aspects of the Organization's activities. However, CARICOM was concerned that, despite the valiant efforts of the Department, the information it provided seemed to be no match for the flood of negative and inaccurate information being produced by the external media. Despite many innovations undertaken by the Department, the material emanating from the United Nations was still seen as being geared towards use by academics, government delegations and United Nations-affiliated journalists.

The DPI should consider making more arrangements with public and private media companies to produce more documentary dramas which could be aired on national and international television. Many had noted the success of the "Discovery", "Learning" and "History" channels in the United States in disseminating information on a range of subjects. Those channels had gained a wide audience in areas other than entertainment and had in fact been exploited for commercial purposes. The United Nations story was a unique one, and the Department must capitalize on the that uniqueness by marketing the product to a wider target audience.

On direct radio broadcasting, she said the CARICOM delegations concurred with the position of the Group of 77 and China on the importance attached to those initiatives. In the Caribbean region, the lives of the people had been enriched by the work of the Caribbean Radio Unit of the DPI. Working with limited resources, through such programmes as Caribbean Magazine and Caribbean Echo, the Unit had made the peoples of the region aware of the activities of the United Nations which impacted on their region.

She said the CARICOM delegations reiterated their call for the allocation of greater human and financial resources, wherever possible, to the regional centres, in order to ensure that the thirst for information about the United Nations was adequately satisfied. Those delegations saw the work of the United Nations information centres as invaluable, particularly in view of the need to make more readily available positive information on the Organization, not only in the area of international peace and security, but also in areas of economic and social development. The States in the Caribbean region continued to benefit from the information programmes disseminated by the United Nations information centre in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Much more work needed to be done in the region to promote the people's knowledge of United Nations activities.

MARIAN CHIRILA (Romania) said his country aligned itself with the statement by Austria on behalf of the European Union. Communications and information should become cross-cutting in all United Nations programmes and activities. The

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DPI, as the focal point of the Organization for information and communications, should be strengthened to fulfil the expectations of Member States. The most suitable approach to respond both to the requirements of global relevance and local credibility appeared to be working in partnership with governments, media representatives, educational institutions and non-governmental organizations.

Romania was concerned that the fundamental autonomy of United Nations information centres was not always being respected, he said. His country attached particular importance to the work of the Information Centre in Bucharest. Unfortunately, the financial and material support from the DPI for that Centre had gradually decreased. Although the Romanian authorities had done their best to fund the Centre, it was now in a precarious financial situation. The DPI should consider adequate ways of redressing that situation.

MOHAMMAD MEHDI YOUSEFI (Iran) said information was a dynamic force for cross-cultural understanding, education and broader participation by people in the decisions affecting their lives. However, the disparities and imbalances between developing and developed countries in communication infrastructure had caused distortion in the flow of information. Some developed countries, by their technological advancement, enjoyed a virtual monopoly in the dissemination of information, leaving developing countries on the sideline of the field.

He said the dissemination of information should not be used as a pretext to undermine cultural and moral values, distort facts, or demonstrate a bias towards countries with different systems and civilizations. A clear example of that argument was the violation of national sovereignty of a country by radio or television transmissions that another country directed specifically against it for political motives or subversive goals.

Effective outreach to all citizens of the world required the DPI to use its utmost efforts and resources to carry the message of the United Nations beyond Headquarters, he said. Iran commended the DPI for its efforts to reflect linguistic diversity, and would encourage the Department in its language programmes to encompass those languages which were regarded as the root of great cultures and civilizations, such as Farsi. It was equally important that the pilot project of United Nations International Radio Broadcasting should be partnership with national radio broadcasting networks. The DPI should provide additional information on the design and scope of that project, to be considered at the forthcoming session of the Committee of Information.

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