Department of Global Communications Shapes Healthy, Reliable ‘Information Ecosystem’, Says Under-Secretary-General
(Note: Due to the financial liquidity crisis affecting the United Nations and the resulting constraints, this meeting was not covered. The following summary is a translation of the coverage produced by our French-language team.)
At a time when it is engaged, with the UN80 Initiative, in a transformation aimed at making it more effective, the United Nations must more than ever demonstrate its relevance, an effort to which the Department of Global Communications is contributing by shaping a healthy “information ecosystem”, said Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary-General for the Department, as she opened the forty-seventh session of the Committee on Information today.
“We are providing valuable and reliable information in a context where fake news is proliferating on social networks, and we are winning the loyalty of our audiences with striking reports that focus on individual stories and have a broad appeal,” explained Ms. Fleming, presenting the Department’s activities over the past 12 months. The strategic areas in which the Department seeks to make a difference are multilateralism, humanitarian aid, climate action and sustainable development, she said, announcing that 70 million people follow its action on social networks.
Launched in June 2024 by the Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Principles for Information Integrity constitute “an information ecosystem”, in which “choice, freedom, privacy and security are available to all”, and in which “people everywhere can express themselves freely and make informed, independent decisions”. Ms. Fleming noted that this model of global response to misinformation, disinformation and hate speech is accompanied by more targeted initiatives, such as the one aimed at guaranteeing the integrity of information on climate change, one of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ flagship projects. It involves States, multilateral organizations and civil society organizations in the fight against defeatist and climate-skeptic discourse. Brazil has announced its collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in this latest initiative.
In a world where “it has become difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood”, in the words of the Chair of the Committee on Information, media awareness-raising and freedom of expression also remain crucial. According to Rein Tammsaar, it enables people to develop a critical mind and make informed decisions, a discernment that the Department of Global Communications strives to relay in the field through the 59 United Nations Information Centres.
The Under-Secretary-General recalled that this network, which builds bridges between the UN and Governments, influencers, political leaders, the media, academia and civil society, translates and adapts UN campaign materials into over 150 languages, including some local languages, such as Hausa in Nigeria, which is spoken by over 50 million people in the Sahel region.
With regard to UN information centres, Egypt requested that, in the future, host countries be consulted when the Department of Global Communications envisages a reduction or rationalization of the resources allocated to them.
Faced with a persistent cash crisis, DCG has had to be creative in fulfilling its mandate in the face of increasing global challenges. A case in point is the editorial choices made by the Meetings Coverage Section, which, for the past year, has been producing more synthetic and journalistic articles on the UN intergovernmental processes it is mandated to cover, rather than the speaker-by-speaker format previously used. A change that has proved a resounding success, she said, pointing to a 34 per cent increase in website traffic between September and October 2024, during which time live coverage of meetings was also inaugurated. “This is the biggest increase in seven years, with the exception of the spike after the horrific Hamas attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023,” she observed.
The Department is also exploring the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence (AI) to produce content and extend the reach of its message in multiple languages. Different teams are thus integrating AI-assisted editing tools, automated multilingual versions and other cutting-edge technologies, including immersive storytelling, she continued.
Simultaneously, the Department has developed guidelines for the ethical use of AI, with the creation of an innovation lab within the News and Media Division. It has also updated its global communications strategy to reflect the changing media landscape, aligning UN system entities at national, regional and global levels, she detailed.
AI brings as many risks as opportunities, Mr. Tammsaar tempered, warning that it can disseminate erroneous content at unprecedented speed, while being able to spot misinformation and false narratives, and create engaging multilingual content. The key is to strike a balance that is “human-centric” and in line with the approach contained in the Global Digital Compact, adopted in 2024, he advocated.
The European Union asked the Department to give active consideration to ways of using AI to create the “secure, inclusive and trustworthy” information environment that Department of Global Communications is striving to create, a request echoed by delegates of Thailand and Latvia (also speaking on behalf of Lithuania and Estonia). The malicious use of new and emerging technologies can indeed pose a threat to the maintenance of international peace and security, recalled the delegate of Venezuela, speaking on behalf of the Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations.
Speaking on behalf of the Francophone Ambassadors Group, the delegate of the Democratic Republic of the Congo addressed the issue of the growing use of AI in the light of multilingualism: “Any integration of this perspective at the end of the life cycles of these AI systems will only perpetuate a translation culture that deprives us of the contributions of each of the official languages,” warned the representative.
As every year, the issue of parity between the six official languages of the UN — Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish — emerged as a major cause for concern for Member States sometimes frustrated by the lack of progress made in this respect.
While Mozambique’s delegate, speaking on behalf of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries, welcomed the considerable work carried out by UN Info’s Portuguese-speaking unit, which is “growing steadily”, the delegate of Ecuador, speaking on behalf of the Group of Friends of Spanish, drew attention to existing linguistic disparities. Spanish is the second-most-common language used to consult UN websites, well ahead of the next language, he said.
Armed with these statistics, his group urged the Department to develop original content, entrusting this work to staff “who think and see the world in different languages”. To achieve this, the delegate of Iraq, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, suggested considering innovative funding options, including voluntary contributions, to supplement insufficient resources.
Some Member States today denounced the disinformation they consider themselves to be the victims of from neighboring countries: Ukraine accused the Russian Federation of its “war of aggression”, accompanied by a systematic campaign of disinformation and propaganda. The delegate of Cuba raised concern over the United States “economic, commercial and financial blockade” of Havana, which is particularly damaging to its communications and information technology sector. Pakistan raised concern over the “occupying forces” in Jammu and Kashmir who seek to “muzzle dissent” and “penalize resistance”, notably by disrupting Internet access.
At the opening of the session, Youssouf Aden Moussa (Djibouti), Carmen Rosa Rios (Bolivia), Alyson Calem-Sangiorgio (Monaco) and Rawa Zoghbi (Lebanon) were elected as Vice-Chairs to the Committee for the period of 2025-2026.