Questions relating to information.

34. RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED ON THE REPORTS OF THE SPECIAL POLITICAL COMMITTEE
182. Questions relating to information

The General Assembly, Recalling its resolutions 3535 (XXX) of 17 December 1975 and 31/139 of 16 December 1976 and other relevant resolutions of the General Assembly on the question of information, in particular resolutions 33/115 A to C of 18 December 1978, Recalling article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights[1] and articles 19 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [2] Recalling its resolutions 3201 (S-VI) and 3202 (S-VI) of 1 May 1974, containing the Declaration and the Programme of Action on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order, 3281 (XXIX) of 12 December 1974, containing the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, and 3362 (S-VII) of 16 September 1975 on development and international economic co-operation, Recalling the Declaration on Fundamental Principles concerning the Contribution of the Mass Media to Strengthening Peace and International Understanding, to the Promotion of Human Rights and to Countering Racialism, Apartheid and Incitement to War[3] adopted on 28 November 1978 by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, as well as the relevant resolutions on information and mass communications adopted by the General Conference at its nineteenth and twentieth sessions, Recalling the Final Document of the Tenth Special Session of the General Assembly,[4] Taking note of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, signed at Helsinki on 1 August 1975, Recalling also the Declaration on the Preparation of Societies for Life in Peace,[5] Recalling further its resolution 32/197 of 20 December 1977 on the restructuring of the economic and social sectors of the United Nations system, in which the General Assembly is recognized as the principal forum for policy-making and the harmonization of international action in respect of international economic, social and related problems, Taking note of the recommendations on the question of information of the Sixth Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries, held at Havana from 3 to 9 September 1979,[6] Mindful of the need for the organizations of the United Nations system, in particular the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to continue their co-operation with developing countries by assisting them in identifying and eliminating the obstacles to the establishment of greater reciprocity in the circulation of information and in defining the needs and objectives in the communications sector by the elaboration of action programmes and the mobilization of the necessary resources with a view to increasing their ability to produce and disseminate information, Taking into account with satisfaction the report of the Secretary-General on United Nations public information policies and activities,[7] Taking note with satisfaction of the reports of the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,[8] Also taking note with satisfaction of the report of the Committee to Review United Nations Public Information Policies and Activities[9] and of the report of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Committee,[10] Mindful of the fundamental contribution that the information media and mass communications can make to the establishment of the new international economic order, the strengthening of peace and international understanding, the realization of the goal of general and complete disarmament under effective international control, the promotion of universal respect for human rights and the struggle against racism, apartheid and colonialism, Reaffirming the manifest need to change the dependent status of the developing countries in the field of information and communication's and to guarantee the diversity of the sources of information and the free access to information, Reaffirming the need to maintain a linguistic balance in the dissemination of information by the United Nations and an equitable geographical distribution of personnel, particularly with regard to the senior and decision-making posts of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat, in accordance with Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations,

I

1. Decides to maintain the Committee to Review United Nations Public Information Policies and Activities, which will henceforth be known as the United Nations "Committee on Information" and whose membership will be increased from forty-one to sixty-six, the additional twenty-five members to be appointed on the basis of equitable geographical distribution by the President of the General Assembly, after consultation with the regional groups;

2. Requests the Committee on Information:

(a) To continue to examine United Nations public information policies and activities, in the light of the evolution of international relations, particularly during the past two decades, and of the imperatives of the establishment of the new international economic order and of a new world information and communication order;

(b) To evaluate and follow up the efforts made and the progress achieved by the United Nations system in the field of information and communications;

(c) To promote the establishment of a new, more just and more effective world information and communication order intended to strengthen peace and international. understanding and based on the free circulation and wider and better balanced dissemination of information and to make recommendations thereon to the General Assembly;

3. Requests all organizations of the United Nations system, particularly the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to continue to participate actively in the work of the Committee on Information and to facilitate its task in fulfilling its mandate;

4. Affirming the primary role which the General Assembly is to play in elaborating, co-ordinating and harmonizing United Nations policies and activities in the field of information towards the establishment of a new, more just and more effective world information and communication order, recognizes the central and important role of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in the field of information and mass communications and in the implementation of the relevant decisions on information and mass communications adopted by the General Conference of that organization at its twentieth session and of the relevant parts of Assembly resolutions 33/115 A to C;

5. Requests the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in the light of the conclusions of the General Conference of that organization at its twenty-first session, to submit to the General Assembly at its thirty-fifth session a progress report on the establishment of a new world information and communication order;

6. Reaffirms the need, at the operational level, for co-operation and co-ordination between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the other organizations of the United Nations system that are concerned with the question of information and mass communications;

7. Expresses its satisfaction to the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization at the development of the preparations for the Intergovernmental Planning Conference on Communication Development, to be held in Paris from 14 to 21 April 1980, and recommends the undertaking of the necessary consultations concerning the participation of the Committee on Information in the work of that Conference;

8. Requests the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in the light of the foregoing, to make provision for appropriate consultations with the Secretary-General in connexion with the implementation of the pertinent recommendations emanating from the Intergovernmental Planning Conference on Communication Development;

9. Requests the organizations concerned within the United Nations system to make an active contribution to the work of that Conference;

10. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to take the necessary measures to ensure the close collaboration of organizations within the United Nations system in promoting United Nations policies and programmes in the field of information and mass communications towards the establishment of a new world information and communication order;

II

1. Requests the Secretary-General, in the light of the views expressed by Member States during the debates on questions relating to information at the thirty-third and thirty-fourth sessions of the General Assembly and during the debates in the Committee to Review United Nations Public Information Policies and Activities, to implement the recommendations made by the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Committee in its report[11] and to report on the progress achieved to the Assembly at its thirty-fifth session and, in particular, to take the necessary measures immediately to ensure:

(a) A balance in the use of official languages through the establishment of a small adaptation unit;

(b) Equitable participation of personnel from the developing countries in the staff of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat, particularly in posts at the higher and decision-making levels, in accordance with Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations;

2. Requests the Secretary-General, in the light of the general feeling among Member States regarding the value of the wide and effective circulation of the UN Chronicle, to take the necessary measures to issue the UN Chronicle again on a monthly basis, to ensure its simultaneous publication in English, French and Spanish and to issue it also in Arabic;

3. Affirms the importance of the role played by the periodical Development Forum in disseminating the objectives of the new international economic order and decides that the continued publication of Development Forum as an interagency project is essential and that United Nations participation in its production should be ensured;

4. Calls upon the Secretary-General to reconsider, in consultation with the Committee on Information, the priorities and programmes of the Department of Public Information in the context of the need to establish a new, more just and more effective world information and communication order and ensure the participation of the developing countries in the process of information and communication and to submit a report on the matter to the General Assembly;

5. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the Department of Public Information shall remain the focal point for co-ordination and implementation of the information activities of the United Nations;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its thirty-fifth session a report on developments in the public information activities of the Secretariat, including those relating to interagency cooperation and co-ordination in the field of information, in the light of the views, recommendations and decisions of the Assembly at its thirty-third and thirty-fourth sessions, in particular those concerning the need to establish a new, more just and more effective world information and communication order;

7. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Committee on Information, to review the distribution of regional units within the Radio Service of the Department of Public Information so as better to meet the particular needs of the various regions and to ensure their greater efficiency;

8. Also requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Committee on Information, to undertake a study, including appropriate evaluation, regarding the intensification and expansion of United Nations short wave broadcasts, and to submit to the General Assembly at its thirty-fifth session his proposals for more effective utilization of this important medium;

9. Further requests the Secretary-General to report to the Committee on Information on the feasibility, legal implications and cost of undertaking United Nations frequency modulation broadcasts in the Headquarters area;

10. Requests the Committee on Information to examine the report of the Joint Inspection Unit on United Nations Information Centres[12] and the comments of the Secretary-General thereon[13] and to prepare specific recommendations to be submitted to the General Assembly at its thirty-fifth session;

11. Reaffirms the need to intensify the struggle against apartheid through the information media available to the United Nations and to Member States;

12. Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation, as appropriate, with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or other organizations of the United Nations, to take the necessary measures:

(a) To submit recommendations concerning the establishment of a programme of fellowships and scholarships for the training of journalists and broadcasting personnel from the developing countries in the Radio and Visual Services of the United Nations;

(b) To grant to the least developed of the developing countries the facilities, within existing resources, for transmission of information material without charge twice during the sessions of the General Assembly or other important conferences;

(c) To ensure that the United Nations broadcasting stations shall transmit their programmes in a manner which would enable public opinion in all regions of the world to be directly and properly informed about the decisions and recommendations of the United Nations;

(d) To invite Member States whose broadcasting stations are best able to serve the region of southern Africa to retransmit the programmes beamed to South Africa;

(e) To undertake studies on the increased use of modern techniques - satellites, radio circuits, telephone circuits, monitoring and telex services - in order to enable the Department of Public Information to disseminate its information rapidly;

(f) To invite Member States whose national broadcasting stations operate short-wave transmissions to grant to the United Nations Radio a share of their scheduled broadcasting time-table;

13. Requests the Committee on Information to report to the General Assembly at its thirty-fifth session;

14. Requests the Secretary-General to report on the implementation of the present resolution to the General Assembly at its thirty-fifth session;

15. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its thirty-fifth session the item entitled "Questions relating to information".

107th plenary meeting
18 December 1979 The President of the General Assembly subsequently informed the Secretary-General[14] that, in accordance with paragraph 1 of section I above, he had appointed the following members of the Committee on Information: ALGERIA, BANGLADESH, BELGIUM, BRAZIL, BULGARIA, BURUNDI, COSTA RICA, CUBA, DENMARK, GHANA, GUYANA, INDONESIA, KENYA, MONGOLIA, MOROCCO, NETHERLANDS, PAKISTAN, POLAND, PORTUGAL, SINGAPORE, SUDAN, UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA, VENEZUELA, VIET NAM and ZAIRE. As a result, the Committee is composed of the following Member States: ALGERIA, ARGENTINA, BANGLADESH, BELGIUM, BENIN, BRAZIL, BULGARIA, BURUNDI, CHILE, COLOMBIA, CONGO, COSTA RICA, CUBA, CYPRUS, DENMARK, ECUADOR, EGYPT, EL SALVADOR, ETHIOPIA, FINLAND, FRANCE, GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, GERMANY, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF, GHANA, GUATEMALA, GUINEA, GUYANA, INDIA, INDONESIA, ITALY, IVORY COAST, JAPAN, JORDAN, KENYA, LEBANON, MONGOLIA, MOROCCO, NETHERLANDS, NIGER, NIGERIA, PAKISTAN, PERU, PHILIPPINES, POLAND, PORTUGAL, ROMANIA, SINGAPORE, SOMALIA, SPAIN, SRI LANKA, SUDAN, SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC, TOGO. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, TUNISIA, TURKEY, UKRAINIAN SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS, UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, VENEZUELA, VIET NAM, YEMEN, YUGOSLAVIA and ZAIRE.

---

[1] Resolution 217 A (III). [2] Resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex. [3] United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Records of the General Conference, Twentieth Session, vol. 1, Resolutions, pp. 100-104. [4] Resolution S-10/2. [5] Resolution 33/73. [6] See A/34/542, annex, sect. I, paras. 280-299. [7] A/34/574. [8] See A/34/148 and A/34/149. [9] Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-fourth Session, supplement No. 21 (A/34/21 and Corr.1). [10] Ibid., annex III. [11] Official Records of the General Assembly, Thirty-fourth Session, Supplement No. 21 (A/34/21 and Corr.1). [12] A/34/379. [13] A/34/Add.l. [14] A/34/853.