PRESS CONFERENCE ON WORLD PERCEPTION OF UNITED NATIONS

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE ON WORLD PERCEPTION OF UNITED NATIONS

The United Nations enjoyed a substantial favourable public perception around the world, particularly among the young, according to results of a poll released at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

The poll was conducted by Zogby International of the United States and GfK Great Britain Ltd. Two questions were asked of respondents: "In general, what is your overall opinion of the United Nations? and, Can you name something in which the United Nations is involved?" According to the poll, many of the countries which ranked high in a favourable opinion of the United Nations also ranked relatively high in an unfavourable opinion. Brazil and Mexico held the highest favourable rating. After Italy, the United States and Canada maintained the highest favourable ranking.

At the briefing were John Zogby, President and Chief Executive Officer of Zogby International; Steven Jagger, Managing Partner of GfK Great Britain Ltd., and Shashi Tharoor, Director of Communications, Executive Office of the Secretary-General.

Mr. Zogby said the poll had been undertaken in the first three months of 1999 in 13 countries. He said it was notable that in every case, the favourable to unfavourable ratio of public perception of the United Nations was substantial, even somewhat higher; and in some countries, higher than in others.

"When we begin to see a two-and-a-half to one or three to one ratio of favourable versus unfavourable, that is a very good rating." What was noteworthy, he said, was that in some places, like South Africa and Hong Kong, there were relatively high numbers of people who were not aware enough of the United Nations to make a judgement.

Mr. Jagger said that almost every country polled overwhelmingly mentioned peacekeeping as a United Nations activity of which they knew. That was particularly the case in Canada, France and the United Kingdom. Respondents in the United States were asked to name an activity other than peacekeeping. The second-most cited activity was humanitarian aid, followed by economic development and world health. Humanitarian aid was deemed noteworthy in the United States and in Spain. Economic development was well thought of in Mexico and Italy. World health was thought about in India and Germany. Iraqi restrictions were thought about more in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. "This might have some effect on people's favourability ratings of the United Nations as a whole", Mr. Jagger said.

With regard to the age group of the respondents, the young tended to hold a more favourable opinion of the United Nations than the old. Mr. Zogby

said that the breakdown of the age grouping was 18 to 29 in the United States and Canada versus 65 and above in every other country. He said "The good news for the United Nations is that, in virtually every instance, the lowest age span has a higher favourable rating than the highest age span." In the United Kingdom, the figure was 51 to about 45 per cent; 60 to 47 per cent in Germany; and 61 to 51 per cent in France. "One can only conclude that the news for the United Nations should be good as we look into the future", Mr. Zogby said. He added that younger people were being more highly educated via the media in terms of what the United Nations had to offer, and had a more highly favourable view towards the Organization.

In terms of the gender of those polled, Mr. Jagger said they had expected women to be more favourable towards the United Nations than men -- as was certainly the case in the United States. But in 11 other countries, there was a high favourable rating for the United Nations among men. He said that could be a reflection of the overall predominance of peacekeeping as the major image of United Nations activity.

Overall, Mr. Zogby said the news was good for the United Nations.

Replying to questions, Mr. Zogby said there was a variety of different reasons in each country where there was low familiarity with United Nations activities. In polls he had seen previously, the United Nations was generally viewed two-and-a-half to four times more favourably. There were still pockets of lack of awareness of the Organization.

A correspondent asked how many people had been polled in each country and what had been the margin of error. Were specific recommendations being made in their report? Mr. Zogby said, concerning the four countries his organization covered, 1,200 adults had been interviewed in the United States; 1,200 in Canada; and 1,100 adults each in Mexico and Brazil. The margin of sampling error was about 3 per cent. No specific recommendations were made in their report. Recommendations had been made in a poll they conducted last year in the United States, he said.

Mr. Jagger said his organization had interviewed 2,500 people in Germany; 2,000 in the United Kingdom; 1,000 per country in the rest of Europe; 500 in Hong Kong; and 800 in India.

A correspondent said he did not understand why, apart from South Africa, Africa had been omitted; other countries and regions had not been included. Had the idea been to give the Secretary-General a positive rating? the correspondent asked. Mr. Zogby said his organization had no "political agenda whatsoever". The problem was partly logistical and partly political. They were, in fact, polling in the Russian Federation, Ghana, Kenya and Egypt, but getting results out in a timely manner was problematic. On the political side, he said there was one country where taking a poll was prohibited.

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Mr. Tharoor, Director of Communications, stressed that Zogby International and GfK had been kind enough to conduct the poll pro bono for the United Nations. It had been requested during discussions that the poll should cover as wide a geographical area as possible, he said. Some of the countries which could not deliver, as mentioned by Mr. Zogby, had been actively sought out by the Secretariat. "We have to recognize that there are limitations in any such exercise. We wanted to get the best that they can do for us, without busting the bank for them. Because of our financial crisis, we were not able to pay for what they were doing for us. In that spirit, I want to give credit to what they have been able to accomplish in these countries."

A correspondent asked whether in western countries there was a link between the Internet and increased awareness of the United Nations. Mr. Zogby replied that the world was getting smaller and smaller as a result of the introduction of the Internet.

Asked what percentage of blacks were interviewed in South Africa, Mr. Zogby said that in each country, a representative sample of the population was interviewed. In South Africa, therefore, most of the people interviewed had been black.

A correspondent asked Mr. Tharoor what the Secretariat would do with the information provided, and, in particular, what would be done in the United States. He replied that the numbers collected in the poll were of great interest to the Secretariat. While too extensive a generalization could not be drawn about the world from those numbers, there was some indication of: where countries were in terms of their attitude; what people generally thought the United Nations was doing; where information activities could be enhanced; and where there was need for more focus, starting with the discovery that the United Nations apparently needed to make itself more attractive. Those were useful clues to the way in which the Organization was perceived, he said, adding that they would be taken into account in terms of "directing our information materials".

In the United States, he stressed, work done had been shared with such bodies as the United Nations Foundation and the United Nations Association of the United States. "Where there is a mechanism for an active grass-roots campaign, we'll feel that we can contribute most usefully to helping them do their work better, rather than trying to mount a separate parallel campaign ourselves."

Mr Zogby added that the gist of their recommendation could best be summarized as follows: "In dealing with public opinion, there is the inter- state highway approach, which is going to the opinion leaders in the major metropolitan areas, most notably, the three or four cultural and financial centres of the United States, where you influence the 'influencers', like New York, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles -- that covers the culture and media of the United States." Their recommendation included using the "blue highways

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approach", which was to somehow get into the grass-roots in such places as Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Topeka, Kansas; Tacoma, Washington; and Charleston, South Carolina, where millions were not directly impacted by the influencers in New York, Washington and Los Angeles.

Mr. Tharoor said that there were clearly areas of potential targeting. They were encouraged by the fact that the favourability to unfavourability ratio was so high. "That's good because even in countries where there's relatively high unfavourable number, there's a much higher favourable number, and that's very encouraging. The second thing is that our appeal to young people around the world does seem to be working ... The young believe in the United Nations and seems to value what it stands for. That's something that encourages us, and we want to build on. At the same time, we don't want to write off those who are older, pay their taxes and influence the votes of their Congress people or parliamentarians. So we'll have to redouble our efforts in that area, too."

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