Summary: EU Presidency Statement - Questions relating to Information (14 October 2005: New York)
EU Presidency Statement on Item 33: Questions relating to information, by the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, on behalf of the European Union, Fourth Committee, New York
Thank you Mr Chairman.
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey and Croatia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, EFTA countries Iceland, Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.
Mr. Chairman,
The EU should like to thank Under Secretary-General Tharoor for introducing the updated report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Department of Public Information.
The public outreach activity for the United Nations is a hugely important task in a rapidly changing world. Supplying information on the UN's activities globally and publicising the UN's considerable achievements is crucial in bolstering support amongst all peoples for its mission. This is also the case when the UN is seeking to improve its effectiveness, redress previous shortcomings and embark on ambitious reforms such as those established at the World Summit last month. On the subject of the
Summit, the EU would like to take this opportunity to commend the Under Secretary-General and his staff in DPI that took on the huge logistical challenge of dealing with unprecedented numbers of the world's press and ensuring that arrangements passed off smoothly.
Mr Chairman,
The report of the Secretary-General highlights some of the key activities of DPI. Whilst acknowledging the breadth of work that the Department undertakes, we wish to highlight briefly the following:
We should like to express our satisfaction at the improvements underway in the management of the Dag Hammerskjold library since the end of 2004 where we are witnessing impressive results. We are also pleased with the further improvements in the content and technological developments of the UN website, which is a key tool for enhancing multilingualism in the UN. And we welcome the present co-operation with the international Federation of Television Archives to preserve and restore the UN
audio-visual collection, and we encourage further steps in that direction.
Mr Chairman,
The rationalisation of the network of UN Information Centres around the world is becoming a regular feature of discussions in the Committee on Information and in this Committee. The EU reiterates its strong view that the network is in serious need of overhaul and that we need concrete proposals to this end from the Secretariat on timelines and objectives for the process of rationalisation. As we have pointed out before, the EU leant its full support to the Secretary-General's proposals for the
creation of regional hubs, beginning in Western Europe, in 2002. This is because it recognised that this was an ambitious plan, which could deliver real benefits. The decision to support this proposal forced a number of European countries to take the tough decision to close offices in their capitals. We therefore expect that full efforts will be made to see through this initiative and to create a global network that more effectively addresses the needs of customers.
The Secretary-General's report tells us that the implementation plan for rationalisation is currently being refined and will proceed in the coming months. We welcome this and note that the budget proposal for DPI, which will be considered by colleagues in the fifth committee this session, should be updated to take account of the implementation plans, since at present the section on UNICs indicates no change from the status quo.
Mr Chairman,
The EU regrets that, once more, we see references in the Secretary-General's report to "fresh budget cuts" in the context of public information put forward as an explanation for lack of progress. We have commented before on this issue - this misrepresents the true position, since although the GA did not approve the full amount of the increase requested, DPI was in fact awarded a budget increase of 7.5% for this biennium compared to the previous. The UN membership contributes significant
financial support for public information in the UN both through the Regular Budget and through the information components of peacekeeping missions, which are financed separately. At a time when many of our members are facing domestic budgetary pressures, the EU feels that we have more than upheld our commitment to supporting public information in the UN.
In conclusion Mr Chairman, the EU stands ready to adopt formally the draft resolution prepared by the Committee on Information. We recall that this was an especially long and difficult negotiation this year and we trust that all members who worked together to reach a consensus on this item will join us in seeking its swift adoption.
* Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process
| Top |
European Union Member States
Alerts by email
Email this page
Print this page