Forty-ninth session
Agenda item 80
RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The General Assembly,
Yaking note of the comprehensive and important report of
the Committee on Information, 1/
Also taking note of the report of the Secretary-General
on questions relating to information, 2/
Urgesall countries, organizations of the United Nations
system as a whole and all others concerned, reaffirming their
commitment to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations
and to the principles of freedom of the press and freedom of information,
as well as to those of the independence, pluralism and diversity
of the media, deeply concerned by the disparities existing between
developed and developing countries and the consequences of every
kind arising from those disparities that affect the capability
of the public, private or other media and individuals in developing
countries to disseminate information and communicate their views
and their cultural and ethical values through endogenous cultural
production, as well as to ensure the diversity of sources and
their free access to information, and recognizing the call in
this context for what in the United Nations and at various international
forums has been termed "a new world information and communication
order, seen as an evolving and continuous process":
(a) To cooperate and interact with a view to reducing existing disparities in information flows at all levels by increasing assistance for the development of communication infrastructures and capabilities in developing countries, with due regard for their needs and the priorities attached to such areas by those countries, and in order to enable them and the public, private or other media in developing countries to develop their own information and communication policies freely and independently and increase the participation of media and individuals in the communication process, and to ensure a free flow of information at all levels;
(b) To ensure for journalists the free and effective performance of their professional tasks and condemn resolutely all attacks against them;
(c) To provide support for the continuation and strengthening of practical training programmes for broadcasters and journalists from public, private and other media in developing countries;
(d) To enhance regional efforts and cooperation among developing countries, as well as cooperation between developed and developing countries, to strengthen communication capacities and to improve the media infrastructure and communication technology in the developing countries, especially in the areas of training and dissemination of information;
(e) To aim, in addition to bilateral cooperation, at providing all possible support and assistance to the developing countries and their media, public, private or other, with due regard to their interests and needs in the field of information and to action already adopted within the United Nations system, including:(i)The development of the human and technical resources that are indispensable for the improvement of information and communication systems in developing countries and support for the continuation and strengthening of practical training programmes, such as those already operating under both public and private auspices throughout the developing world;
(ii)The creation of conditions that will enable developing countries and their media, public, private or other, to have, by using their national and regional resources, the communication technology suited to their national needs, as well as the necessary programme material, especially for radio and television broadcasting;
(iii)Assistance in establishing and promoting telecommunication links at the subregional, regional and interregional levels, especially among developing countries;
(iv)The facilitation, as appropriate, of access by the developing countries to advanced communication technology available on the open market;(f) To provide full support for the International Programme for the Development of Communication 3/ of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which should support both public and private media.
83rd plenary meeting
9 December 1994
The General Assembly,
Reaffirming its primary role in elaborating, coordinating
and harmonizing United Nations policies and activities in the
field of information,
Also reaffirming that the Secretary-General should ensure
that the activities of the Department of Public Information of
the Secretariat, as the focal point of the public information
tasks of the United Nations, are strengthened and improved, keeping
in view the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United
Nations, the priority areas defined by the General Assembly and
the recommendations of the Committee on Information,
Taking note of all reports of the Secretary-General submitted
to the Committee on Information at its sixteenth session,
1. Decides to consolidate the role of the Committee on
Information as its main body mandated to make recommendations
relating to the work of the Department of Public Information of
the Secretariat;
2. Calls upon the Secretary-General, in respect of the
public information policies and activities of the United Nations,
to implement fully the recommendations contained in paragraph
2 of resolution 48/44 B of 10 December 1993;
3. Decides, however, following the establishment of a united,
non- racial and democratic South Africa, to discontinue United
Nations information efforts in support of the eradication of apartheid;
4. Notes with appreciation the valuable contribution of
the Department of Public Information in support of the eradication
of apartheid;
5. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General regarding
the continuous and major publications of the Department of Public
Information 4/ and urges all efforts to ensure timely production
and dissemination of its major publications, in particular the
UN Chronicle, the Yearbook of the United Nations and Africa Recovery,
maintaining consistent editorial independence and accuracy and
taking the necessary measures to ensure that its output contains
adequate, objective and equitable information about issues before
the Organization, reflecting divergent opinions wherever they
occur;
6. Also takes note of the report of the Secretary-General
on the status of Development Forum, 5/ and encourages the Joint
United Nations Information Committee to continue its consideration
of the matter;
7. Requests the management of the Department of Public
Information to review its publications and proposals for publications
to ensure that all publications fulfil an identifiable need, that
they do not duplicate other publications inside or outside the
United Nations system and that they are produced in a cost-effective
manner, and to report thereon to the Committee on Information
at its seventeenth substative session;
8. Reaffirms the importance attached by Member States to
the role of United Nations information centres in effectively
and comprehensively disseminating information, particularly in
developing countries and countries in transition, about United
Nations activities;
9. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on
the results of the trial of integrating United Nations information
centres with field offices of the United Nations Development Programme,
6/ and invites the Secretary-General to continue the integration
exercise whenever feasible, on a case-by-case basis, taking into
account the views of the host country, while ensuring that the
information functions of the United Nations information centres
are not adversely affected, and to report thereon to the Committee
on Information;
10. Reaffirms the role of the General Assembly in relation
to the opening of new United Nations information centres, and
invites the Secretary- General, as well, to make such recommendations
as he may judge necessary regarding the establishment and location
of these centres;
11. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General regarding
the allocation of resources to United Nations information centres
in 1993 7/ and calls upon him to continue to study ways and means
to rationalize and effect equitable disbursement of available
resources to all United Nations information centres and report
thereon to the Committee on Information at its seventeenth session;
12. Welcomes the action by some Member States with regard
to financial and material support to United Nations information
centres in their respective capitals;
13. Notes the progress made towards finalizing arrangements
for a United Nations information component at Warsaw, and requests
the Secretary- General to continue, within existing resources
of the Department of Public Information, preparations with the
Government of Poland to that end;
14. Notes also the progress made by the Secretary-General
and the German authorities towards establishing, within existing
resources of the Department of Public Information, a United Nations
information centre at Bonn;
15. Notes with appreciation the action taken, or being
taken, by the Secretary-General regarding the establishment, reactivation
and enhancement of the United Nations information centres at Sana'a,
Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam and Dhaka;
16. Notes the action being taken by the Secretary-General
regarding the reactivation of the United Nations information centre
at Tehran, and calls upon the Secretary-General to report to the
Committee on Information at its seventeenth session on the full
reactivation of that information centre;
17. Welcomes the continued enhanced cooperation between
the Department of Public Information and the University for Peace
in Costa Rica as a focal point for promoting United Nations activities
and disseminating United Nations information materials;
18. Takes note of the requests of Bulgaria, Costa Rica,
Gabon, Guinea, Haiti and Slovakia for information centres or information
components;
19. Expresses its full support for the wide and prompt
coverage of United Nations activities through a continuation of
United Nations press releases in both working languages of the
Secretariat;
20. Encourages the Secretary-General to explore ways and
means to improve the access of United Nations radio to airwaves
worldwide, bearing in mind that radio is one of the most cost-effective
and far-reaching media available to the Department of Public Information;
21. Takes note of the recommendations and observations
by Member States contained in the report of the Secretary-General
8/ and invites Member States that wish to do so to submit to the
Secretary-General, by 1 February 1995, their observations and
suggestions on ways and means of furthering the development of
communication infrastructures and capabilities in developing countries,
with a view to consolidating recent experience in the field of
international cooperation aimed at enabling them to develop their
own information and communication capacities freely and independently,
and requests the Secretary-General to report thereon to the Committee
on Information at its seventeenth session;
22. Recommends, in order to facilitate continued contact
between the Department of Public Information and the Committee
on Information between sessions, that the Bureau of the Committee
on Information, together with representatives of each regional
group, the Group of 77 and China, in close contact with members
of the Committee, should meet, as required, and consult at periodic
intervals with representatives of the Department;
23. Takes note of the request by Belarus and Ukraine to
consider the development and implementation of a system-wide programme
for the tenth anniversary in 1996 of the Chernobyl disaster;
24. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Committee
on Information at its seventeenth session and to the General Assembly
at its fiftieth session on the activities of the Department of
Public Information and on the implementation of the recommendations
contained in the present resolution;
25. Decides that the seventeenth session of the Committee
on Information should last ten working days, and invites the Bureau
of the Committee to explore ways and means of making optimum use
of the Committee's time;
26. Requests the Committee on Information to report to
the General Assembly at its fiftieth session;
27. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its
fiftieth session the item entitled "Questions relating to
information".
83rd plenary meeting
9 December 1994
______________
1/ Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-ninth Session,
Supplement No. 21 (A/49/21).
2/ A/49/385.
3/ See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,
Records of the General Conference, Twenty-first Session, vol.
I, Resolutions, sect. III.4, resolution 4/21.
4/ A/AC.198/1993/5.
5/ A/AC.198/1994/3.
6/ A/AC.198/1994/5.
7/ A/AC.198/1994/6.
8/ A/AC.198/1994/8.