Statement by the representative of the Russian Federation to the Fourth Committee of the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly on agenda item 57 “Questions relating to information”
Mr. Chairman,
We should like first of all to congratulate Ms. Alison Smale with the appointment on the position of Under-Secretary-General and wish her success in her endeavors. We hope that her rich experience and high professionalism will help her to complete the reform efforts of her predecessors and upgrade the level of work of the Department of Public Information.
We are grateful to the Secretary-General for detailed report on the work of DPI. We note the efforts of the Department to support the advancement of the main goals and principals of the UN, its assistance to the main statutory institutions of this Organization for maintenance of peace and security, protection of human rights and implementation of sustainable development goals and other areas covered in the report.
We note with satisfaction that the UN is becoming increasingly involved in the information and communication technologies and is up-to-date with current achievements in this area and is trying to satisfy the requirements of Member States in daily material updates on the work of Organization with their quantum increase.
We should also note the intensified work of the UN with regard to the new media. This year all language segments of the UN media resources have demonstrated high growth in popularity. We are looking forward to this continuing opportunity.
One of the designated goals of recent DPI transformations was the development of a common information policy and unification in a single brand of the UN media resources and social accounts – mainly the UN News Center. Common editorial policy that was established as a result of this process should not lead to a simple duplication of English language segment.
Keeping our attention to all UN key topics common to all language editorial boards it is necessary to preserve their capability to independently determine a part of the news content and the format of its presentation. Naturally this does not concern the translation of “fundamental documents” for instance the official UN documents to which we pay particular attention.
The language and regional localization of the news should become one of the main objectives of the UN media-entities. They should take into account relevant historical, political, ethnic and cultural and other specifics of the information space of the dissemination region. In this context we positively assess the projects mentioned it the report of DPI interaction with the UN information centers whose main function is the public outreach with the UN agenda in specific countries and regions.
Another important objective of the UN information centers is to intensify cooperation with traditional media. The UN presence in the printed media and TV and radio broadcasting should not be underrated. In most countries their popularity, their role and at times unique influence on public opinion still remain quiet important. We support the efforts of the UN information services to establish partnership relations with various media-holdings at regional and international level.
The compliance with a principal of multilingualism enshrined in the UN Charter is an unconditional prerogative for the work at all UN information platforms. The resource support of all six official languages should be ensured on an equitable basis. Unfortunately this principal has not been observed in all areas and sometimes has been openly disregarded. For instance during a long time despite multiple enquiries of many delegations the Secretariat did not manage to provide for regular distribution of press-releases in all UN official languages. Up-to-date not all UN institutions have the web-resources in all official languages. We expect effective steps from DPI to achieve the language parity in the UN information resources and to increase the quality of Russian publications.
Mr. Chairman, we would like to focus your attention on certain important issues related to further DPI operation.
The report keeps on talking practically through word about the youth activities. This topic has been raised almost in every interview of DPI management and not only there. When we talk about the promotion of social networks we refer to the need for youth outreach. Therefore we are surprised by practically total absence in the English language UN accounts of the information on the opening and the work of the major youth event – the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students which is currently taking place in Russia. More that 20 thousand young people representing practically all UN Member States have become participant in this global youth forum. They comprise 36 volunteers of the UN volunteer program from 32 countries. The UN special envoy on youth affairs Jayatma Vikraminaike attended the events of the festival. The UN Information Centre in Moscow is actively working at the sites of the festival activities. We would like to ask the DPI management to explain why the event of the festival has not been covered in the English segment of social networks.
Another important topic that I cannot but mention is Russia’s proposed initiative to establish a mechanism of consultations of the press-secretaries of the missions to the UN in the DPI. This proposal has been long voiced at the meetings of the Committee on Information. The complex of information issues within the UN is constantly growing and clearly it is not enough to discuss it only during the open debates twice a year. We call again the Department to develop and work out a practical basis for organizing such meetings on a regular basis.
Mr. Chairman, during the 39th session of the Committee on information the Russian delegation made a proposal to include in the text of the Committee’s resolutions the recommendations to the DPI to start work on elaborating the basic parameters of the strategy to combat the fake news and disinformation. In spite of high interest and support from a number of countries, which is clearly referred to in the report of the Committee on information that we discuss today, all the language containing clear definitions and the concept of fake news has been rejected by the US delegation. This cannot but surprise us since this term is so often used by the US President in his public statements and in his Twitter posts.
Nevertheless, we invite all members of the Committee to continue jointly with DPI the work on definition and elaboration of criteria of fake news to be further included in the language of resolutions of the Committee on Information at the forthcoming 40th session.
We also express our support to UN GA draft resolutions on “information for the service of humanity and UN policy and activities in the area of public information”.
Thank you for attention.
