COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION TO HOLD TWENTY-SECOND SESSION, 1 TO 12 MAY
Press Release
PI/1242
COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION TO HOLD TWENTY-SECOND SESSION, 1 TO 12 MAY
20000428 Background ReleaseExtensive use of the Internet and other new technologies will be the key element of a Department of Public Information promotional campaign leading up to the Millennium Summit, the Secretary-General says in one of several reports due to be considered by the Committee on Information when it begins its twenty- second session on Monday, 1 May. (The two-week session will last from 1 to 12 May.)
The campaign aims to publicize the Millennium Summit and give Member States a forum to revisit and strengthen the Organization with a view to meeting the needs and challenges of the twenty-first century, the report says. Another aim is to depict the United Nations as a future-oriented, dynamic and indispensable organization. The campaign will use the occasion of the millennium to better connect the world's peoples to the United Nations, with the strategic vision of an Organization that works with people everywhere on issues expected to shape the planet's future and which directly affect their lives.
A related report stresses the need to make use of the Internet to present constantly updated information and to promote education and public understanding of the United Nations and the issues before it. It says that the first task in the development, maintenance and enrichment of United Nations Web sites would be to rationalize their structure, requiring a feasibility study on their complete redesign and restructuring in order to make them more user-friendly and flexible.
At Monday's opening meeting, the Committee is scheduled to elect its officers and adopt its agenda and programme of work. It will hear statements by its Chairman and by Kensaku Hogen, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. Over the two-week session, the Committee will hold its general debate and consider substantive issues established under General Assembly resolution 34/182 of 18 December 1979. It will also prepare and adopt its report to the Assembly's fifty-fifth session.
During the general debate, the Committee will examine reports on the Millennium promotional campaign; multilingual development and enrichment of United Nations Web sites; reorientation of United Nations public information and communications activities; allocation of regular budget resources to United Nations information centres in 1999; integration of the centres with field offices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); guidelines for the functioning of information centres integrated with UNDP field offices; activities of the Joint United Nations Information Committee (JUNIC); and a proposed medium-term plan for the period 2002-2005.
A summary of reports before the Committee follows. The report on the Millennium promotional campaign (document A/AC.198/2000/10) states that in addition to making innovative use of the vast potential of the Internet and television to reach out to people directly -- rather than relying on redisseminators to cover the United Nations -- the campaign will use the visual impact of posters in public venues to communicate its message to as large an audience as possible. The choice of media and means of communication will be determined by the local conditions in each country.
In conjunction with outreach on the Millennium Summit itself, the report says, the campaign's overall objective is to link the day-to-day work of the United Nations with the aspirations of people everywhere, thus positioning the Organization as relevant and effective. The target audience is ordinary people, especially the young, and opinion-makers who can help spread the message in both the developed and developing world.
To put a human face on the Organization's work, the campaign will depict ordinary people in some activity with an accompanying message that The UN Works, the report continues. Promotional materials will illustrate how the Organization works to fight poverty, hunger and disease; to promote development, literacy and women's equality; and to protect the environment. Some materials will feature local or international celebrities, while all will direct the viewer to a special Internet page on the United Nations Web site, which will explain in more detail how the Organization makes an impact on a particular issue.
The report states that the United Nations information centres and offices will play a key role in adapting the campaign's message to local realities by selecting relevant issues and appropriate visual images. Partnerships will be sought with non-governmental and media organizations for help in placing advertisements. The United Nations pavilion at the Hannover World Exposition 2000 will also adapt "The UN Works" approach as a unifying theme in developing a joint presentation for the activities of the United Nations system. Some 40 to 50 million people are expected to visit the Exposition, making it a major venue for public outreach in the millennium year.
According to the report on multilingual development of United Nations Web sites (document A/AC.198/2000/7-A/AC.198/2000/4), the further development, coordination, production and management of information content on United Nations Web sites will require a substantial increase in investment and upgrading of the related technical infrastructure. That is based primarily on the need to increase the timely dissemination of information and data to a wide and rapidly growing audience, and to cut costs by limiting hardcopy and/or shifting printing to the end-user.
The United Nations Web site was launched in June 1995 as a pilot project in connection with the observance of the Organization's fiftieth anniversary, the report says. Formally launched in September of that year, and in English only, it has since evolved into one of the major activities of the Department of Public Information, but without the corresponding allocation in the Organization's annual budget. Expansions occurred with the addition of French and Spanish sites in September 1996, a Russian site in April, and Arabic and Chinese in November 1998. In March 1999, the first United Nations audio-visual Web site was launched, including radio feature programmes illustrated by photographs and other graphics, as well as audio and video clips. Thirty-one United Nations information centres have so far developed their own Web sites in 17 languages.
According to the report, the Web sites now transfer more than 9,000 megabytes of information daily and receive approximately 5 million accesses every week from more than 152 countries. The sites are managed by the Department's Information Technology Section, with content being generated in various parts of the Secretariat and by some offices outside Headquarters. Since establishment of the Web site in 1995, no additional resources have been allocated; they have had to be reassigned from within the Department. The Web sites of the regional commissions are all operated independently, except that of the Economic Commission for Africa, which is hosted on the United Nations Web server in New York, but maintained directly from Addis Ababa.
The report says that in maintaining the momentum created by the development of the Web site, emphasis will be placed on enhancing the contents and presentation in all the official languages as a clear priority. However, additional investments will be required over the next few years in order to achieve a measure of language parity and to establish a firm foundation for the maintenance, enhancement and enrichment of the Web site.
Web site matters are fast encompassing the entire Organization, the report notes. The Information Committee's scheduling of a resumed session to consider that single issue attests to this. Among the report's conclusions are the need to consider Internet activity as an integral part of the Organization's work programme. As such, in the medium-term plan for the biennium 2002-2003, the operation, maintenance and enhancement of the United Nations Web sites will be included as part of a regular subprogramme.
The report states that for the full multilingual development, maintenance and enrichment of the Web sites, it is essential that each content-providing office include Web-specific content to be made available on the Web sites as part of its regular programme activity, and to make the necessary budgetary provisions. Furthermore, since Member States have indicated that the Web site activities should not be seen as replacing traditional media, a realistic and cost-effective action plan must be developed to meet the requirement of linguistic parity.
A report on reorientation of United Nations activities in public information and communications (document A/AC.198/1999/2) says that as a result of the Secretary-General's commitment to giving communications a central role in the work of the Organization, the Department is carrying out its activities in a more effective working environment. The reorientation of public information activities, with its emphasis on the use of new technology and enhanced planning and cooperation within the Secretariat, and the recognition that communications play an important role in policy-making, have resulted in a higher communications profile for the United Nations.
However, the report points out, the reorientation is a work in progress and more must be done to meet the extraordinary challenges of the fast-moving communications world. Particular areas of concern are the existing staffing and budgetary procedures, which hamper the Organization's ability to respond as effectively and quickly as desired. The Department's commitment to developing a strategic vision integrating all components of the Secretariat is crucial to the reorientation. To maintain the quality of programme delivery, the Department's work methods will be based on speed, flexibility and the use of modern technology. Moreover, enhanced feedback and evaluation mechanisms are indispensable elements of the Department's reoriented information strategy, since it will have to adjust its activities to balance the needs of target audiences with available resources.
The report says that the creation of a new, integrated fully-fledged United Nations news service, cutting across all media and delivering a regionally oriented daily package of news directly to the media worldwide, is a key component of the reorientation. Efforts are under way to integrate news stories directly from United Nations offices in the field into the Organization's news services, which will broaden its range and the speed at which it can make material available to the media. News stories are also linked to press releases, statements and to other relevant United Nations sites.
According to the report, the Department has continued its coordinated placement of op-ed articles and other material by senior United Nations officials. This effort has been backed with briefings by senior officials to key media on priority issues before the Organization. The Department continues to promote and publicize its audio-visual products, and research is under way to explore the possibility of field "stringer" correspondents for radio, print, photography and television, so that timely and relevant raw materials may be gathered to enrich the United Nations news stories. Training programmes for young journalists from around the world have received wide support from Member States. The 1999 annual training programme for developing country broadcasters and journalists brought 20 media professionals to Headquarters for six weeks and provided them with in-depth knowledge of the Organization's work.
In addition to changes already initiated, the report says, the Department is reviewing its radio and television operations with a view to producing news materials in a media-friendly format. Taking advantage of its unique linguistic diversity and multicultural outreach to far-flung audiences all over the world, United Nations Radio has continued to use new technology to expand its news- gathering and dissemination capacity to achieve timely delivery and optimal impact. With regard to television, the Department is investigating new ways to provide greater public access to material produced by the United Nations system. In the long term, the convergence between television and the Internet media promises the possibility of relatively inexpensive global distribution of United Nations-produced television material in digital video.
The strengthening of the Organization's capacity to communicate at the country level has been central to the Department's reorientation, the report states. The United Nations information centres have contributed to this goal by helping explain the Organization's relevance to people everywhere. Their presence in the community and familiarity with local conditions continue to allow them to deliver the Organization's message effectively in a local context, making them not just disseminators, but true communicators.
As an essential part of the reorientation process, the report states, the Department has strengthened its cooperation with other Secretariat entities to convey the United Nations message more effectively. The Department has established a regular channel with the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention on the implementation of a public information and communications strategy leading to the Tenth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Treatment of Offenders in April. It has also continued to consult regularly with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs to plan and coordinate public information and communications products and activities leading up to the special General Assembly sessions on women and social development.
The report notes that the issue of globalization has been addressed from different perspectives in various thematic activities emphasizing the interrelated themes of globalization, poverty eradication, employment and social justice, among others. In February, the Department provided radio, television and press coverage of the Tenth Quadrennial United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, held in Bangkok, and assisted its secretariat in media outreach to promote the conference.
A proactive strategy has also been elaborated to highlight and explain to the media and other opinion makers United Nations initiatives aimed at achieving greater peace and security in Africa, the report says. As part of this approach, the Department is using direct outreach to key media - particularly, in Africa itself -- publishing concise print materials for rapid dissemination, and developing interactive materials on United Nations peace missions in Africa for posting on the Organization's Web sites.
The report says that the Department has also continued its close cooperation with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the Department of Political Affairs so as to improve the public information capacity of peacekeeping and other field missions. It is also participating in the Consolidated Action on Small Arms mechanism established by the Department for Disarmament Affairs, and is working with all concerned on a proactive public information plan to reflect the decisions of Member States regarding the scope and objectives of the International Conference on Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its Aspects, to be held in 2001.
Regarding global partnerships, the report describes the critical role of civil society as the Department's partner in the redissemination of the United Nations message. At a time when civil society is giving new life and meaning to the idea of an international community, the Department is developing innovative ways to work with its 1,600 associated non-governmental organizations. The Secretary-General has been asked by Member States to focus in particular on educational institutions as indispensable partners of the United Nations. As an important element of its reorientation, the Department has continued to organize teachers' seminars, student conferences and other events. A promising new activity has been the growing relationship with Web-based educational organizations aimed at incorporating United Nations information into their classroom materials and teaching resources.
The report says that the promotion of the United Nations relationship with the private sector has been the focus of activities within related thematic information programmes on development issues. Press materials on business and the United Nations have highlighted the importance of the Global Compact. The Department is working closely with the Executive Office of the Secretary-General to help foster a stronger relationship with the business community. A new Web site on the Global Compact, launched during the World Economic Forum at Davos in January, has been well received.
Notwithstanding the progress in electronic publishing, the Department continues to attach great importance to its traditional print publications as a key element of its outreach, according to the report. The United Nations Chronicle's extended use of human interest stories and in-depth articles on specific issues and themes directly relevant to the Organization's goals has been well received by delegates and subscribers, amid increasing feedback from readers, particularly since the launch of the magazine's Web site. Africa Recovery continues to be a unique source of sustained coverage of the United Nations system in Africa. The newsletter also assists the Department's outreach efforts by encouraging influential publications in African countries to reprint modified versions of articles.
Technological innovation is greatly helping the Yearbook of the United Nations to shorten the time lag between the end of the year and the publication date, the report continues. In addition, the speed of the required document research has been greatly increased through the use of the optical disk system and the Internet. Development Business stands as the major source of international project supply, contracting and consulting opportunities created each year by the world's leading institutions. It has continued to forge strong partnerships with the World Bank, Inter-American Bank, African Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other institutions. The publication's Web site was launched in January 1999.
The report says that the Dag Hammarskjöld Library is continuing to place major emphasis on Web-related activities, digitization of United Nations documents, inter-agency resource sharing, training programmes for permanent missions and for Secretariat and depository library staff, as well as the creation of multilingual reference tools. Its Web site was accessed 1.5 million times in 1999 and its Intranet site has been redesigned to include a direct link to UNBISNET. While access had been provided initially to the traditional user groups -- permanent missions, some governmental offices and Secretariat staff worldwide -- access will be extended this year to United Nations depository libraries and then opened to the general public.
Another report describes a case-by-case review of integration of United Nations information centres with field offices of the United Nations Development Programme (document A/AC.198/2000/3). It concludes that, although the integration exercise has not fully achieved its objectives in all locations, its basic principles remain valid. Taking into account the achieved strengthening of cooperation between the Department and UNDP, and the recognition that country-level communication in support of the United Nations system is one of the principal functions of United Nations Resident Coordinators, the Secretary- General remains confident that these offices will meet their public information goals and the expectations of their host countries.
A report on guidelines for the functioning of United Nations information centres integrated with field offices of the United Nations Development Programme (document A/AC.198/2000/4), states that within the guidelines indicating the operational framework for the integrated centres, an information centre should provide leadership in the implementation of public information activities in the field and cooperate with all partners in the United Nations system. Local resources should be used cost-effectively by sharing premises and pooling facilities. The report describes the roles of the information centres, the Resident Representative, the centre's National Information Officer, the Department of Public Information, and UNDP.
According to a report on United Nations information centres in 1999: allocation of resources from the regular budget (document A/AC.198/2000/5), the operations of 61 information centres were funded from the Organization's regular programme budget and from government contributions in 1999. Owing to local conditions, four centres remained non-operational and efforts are under way to reactivate the centres in Managua and Monrovia during 2000, in cooperation with the host governments and UNDP.
Human resources continue to be the most essential assets for the effective performance of the information centres, the report says. In 1999, 104 centre staff members underwent training, mainly in the use of modern information technology. Training seminars were also organized for National Information Officers from centres in Africa and information components of United Nations offices, as well as library assistants from selected locations. During 1998 and 1999, the overall staffing level for all centres was reduced by more than 10 per cent in comparison with the previous biennium, and by more than 40 per cent in comparison with the level of posts in 1990.
According to the Secretary-General's report on activities of the Joint United Nations Information Committee in 1999 (document A/AC.198/2000/9), that body held its twenty-fifth session at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna on 8 July 1999. During the session, the Joint United Nations Information Committee (JUNIC) continued its broad-based discussions of ways to promote better public understanding of the role and achievements of the United Nations.
The report states that JUNIC recommended, and ACC later endorsed, the appointment of Tore Brevik, Director of Communications and Public Information of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), as Chairman of JUNIC for 2000 and 2001. JUNIC is expected to hold its twenty-sixth session at the Geneva headquarters of the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva from 11 to 13 July 2000.
Also before the Committee was a note by the Secretary-General proposing the medium-term plan for the period 2002-2005 (document A/AC.198/2000/8). The draft plan, Programme 23, contains the overall orientation of the Department of Public Information, the draft narrative of the subprogrammes on promotional services, information services, library services and publication services, as well as the main legislative mandates for the subprogrammes adopted by the relevant intergovernmental organs.
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