Assembly calls for continuation of efforts to establish a new world information and communication order.

Assembly calls for continuation of efforts to establish a new world information and communication order

The General Assembly on 16 December 1985 asked for continuing efforts to promote the establishment of a new, more just and effective world information and communication order and the dissemination of "more widely objective and better balanced information" about United Nations activities.

the plenary acted on the basis of recommendations made by the United Nations Committee on Information which were endorsed by the Special Political Committee. That Committee put forward two draft resolutions for approval by the Assembly.

Resolution 40/164 A--with 21 operative paragraphs and an annex containing 70 recommendations from the Committee on Information--was adopted by a vote of 121 in favour to 19 against, wit 8 abstentions (Austria, Barbados, Greece, Haiti, Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, Turkey). By it, the public and private media and nongovernmental organizations were asked to disseminate information about the efforts of developing countries towards their economic, social and cultural progress and about international efforts to achieve social justice and economic development.

The report of the Committee on Information (A/40/21), approved on 29 August 1985, contained 70 recommendations for action by the General Assembly.

Twenty-three of them were concerned with the promotion of 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.

By one provision, all countries, the United Nations system as a whole, and all others concerned, were to collaborate in establishing a new world information and communication order based inter alia, "on the free circulation and wider and better balanced disemination of information, guaranteeing the diversity of sources of information and free access to information and, in particular, the urgent need to change the dependent status of the developing countries in the field of information and communication, as the principle of sovereign equality among nations extends also to this field, and intended also to strengthen peace and international understanding, enabling all persons to participate effectively in political, economic, social and cultural life, and promoting understanding and friendship among all nations and human rights".

In other recommendations, the Assembly appealed for media support; for the co-operation of the United Nations system in improving the conditions of the lives of peoples in developing countries; and--in view of the structural imbalance in the international distribution of news--for elimination of existing inequalities and all other obstacles in the free flow and wider and better balanced dissemination of information by diversifying the sources of information as a step towards free and more balanced information.

Access to technology

Also called for was access of developing countries to communication technology, and strengthening of the information and communication infrastructure of developing countries to enable them to develop their own information and communication policies freely and independently. The Assembly recommended providing assistance to developing countries for training journalists and technical personnel and setting up appropriate educational institutions; for production of communication technoloy suited to their needs; and establishing telecommunication linsk at subregional, regional and interregional levels.

Other recommendations endorsed dealt with public information policies and activities...