A/RES/73/102 B. Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, 2018

• Resolution Number: A/RES/73/102 B
• Year: 2018
• Session: 73rd
• Issuer: General Assembly of the United Nation

United Nations

A

/RES /73/102 A -B

General Assembly

Distr. : Genera l

18 D ecember 2018

18-214 45 (E) 201218

*1821445*

Seventy -third sess ion

Agen da item 58

Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly

on 7 December 2018

[on th e report of the Spec ial Politi cal and Decoloniza tion Com mittee

(Four th Co mmittee) (A/73/47 2)]

73/102. Questi ons rel ating to information

A

Information in the servi ce o f huma nity

The General Assembly ,

Taking note of the comp rehensi ve a nd i mportan t rep ort of t he C ommitte e on

Infor mat ion,

1

Taking note als o of th e report of the Secretar y-Gene ral,

2

Urges all countr ies, org anizatio ns of t he Unite d Natio ns syst em as a whole and

all ot hers con cerned, reaffirmi ng their commit ment to th e princi ples of t he Charte r of

the Uni ted Nation s a nd to the princip les of freedo m o f t he press and fre edom of

infor mation, as well a s to those of th e ind ependenc e, pl uralism and diversit y of the

medi a, deep ly conc erned b y the d ispariti es exis ting bet ween d eveloped and

deve loping co untries an d th e co nsequen ces of ever y ki nd a rising fr om t hose

dispa rities that affec t the capa bility of the publi c, pri vate or other medi a and

indi viduals in developi ng countr ies to dis seminate informat ion and co mmunica te

their vie ws an d th eir c ultural and eth ical values thro ugh endoge nous cult ural

prod uction, as we ll as to ensure th e diversit y o f source s and their fre e a ccess to

infor mation, and recogni zing t he cal l in this c ontext for w hat in the United Nation s

and at v arious intern ational forum s has been terme d “ a new worl d info rmation and

comm unicati on order, seen as an evol ving an d contin uous pr ocess” :

(a) To cooper ate a nd int eract with a vie w to reduc ing e xisting dispa rities in

infor mation flows at all levels by incr easing assist ance for the dev elopmen t of

comm unicati ons infrastr uctures an d c apabilit ies in develop ing countri es, with due

__________________

1

Officia l Reco rds of t he Gen eral As sembly, Sevent y-thi rd Sessi on, Su ppleme nt No. 21 (A/73 /21).

2

A/73/28 8.

A/RES/73/102 A-B

Questions relating to information

18-21445

2/19

rega rd for the ir needs and the p rioritie s attach ed to suc h areas b y those co untries , and

in ord er to ena ble them and the p ublic, pr ivate or o ther med ia in deve loping c ountries

to deve lop t heir own info rmation and com municat ions polici es fr eely and

inde pendentl y a nd increa se t he partici pation of me dia and indi viduals in th e

comm unicati on proce ss, and to ensur e a fre e flow o f inform ation at all lev els;

(b) To ensur e for j ournalis ts the free and e ffective perfo rmance of th eir

profe ssional tasks a nd cond emn reso lutely all atta cks aga inst the m;

(c) To pro vide supp ort for the co ntinuati on and stren gthenin g of practic al

train ing pr ogramme s for broadc asters and j ournalis ts fro m publ ic, pr ivate a nd ot her

medi a in dev eloping countri es;

(d) To enhance regiona l effort s and c ooperat ion amo ng deve loping c ountrie s,

as well as cooper ation betwe en d evelope d an d de veloping cou ntries, to streng then

comm unicati ons ca pacitie s and to impro ve the med ia in frastruc ture and

comm unicati ons te chnology in develo ping c ountrie s, esp ecially in the areas of

train ing and dissemi nation o f infor mation;

(e) To a im at, in addition to bilat eral coop eration , providi ng all po ssible

supp ort and assista nce to develop ing countrie s a nd their media, pu blic, priva te o r

other, with due r egard to the ir inte rests and needs in the field of in formatio n and to

actio n alread y adopt ed with in the U nited Na tions s ystem, i ncluding :

(i) T he dev elopmen t of the huma n and tech nical resour ces th at ar e

indi spensabl e for the i mprovem ent of inf ormatio n and co mmunicat ions syst ems

in develop ing c ountries and suppo rt for the contin uation and strengt hening of

prac tical tra ining pr ogramme s, such as thos e alread y operat ing und er both

publ ic and p rivate a uspices through out the develop ing worl d;

(ii) T he crea tion of conditi ons that will enable d evelopi ng coun tries a nd their

medi a, p ublic, priva te o r ot her, to h ave, by using their nat ional and regio nal

reso urces, the communi cations t echnolog y suited to their nati onal need s, as well

as the nece ssary progr amme mate rial, especi ally for rad io and tele vision

broa dcasting ;

(iii) Assi stance in e stablish ing an d pro moting teleco mmunicat ion li nks a t the

subr egional, regional and inter regional levels, e speciall y among d evelopi ng

count ries;

(iv) Faci litation , as appro priate, o f access b y develo ping cou ntries to a dvanced

comm unicati ons tech nology a vailabl e on the open ma rket;

(f) To p rovide full supp ort fo r the Inte rnationa l Prog ramme for the

Deve lopment of Commu nicatio n of the Unite d Nat ions Educati onal, Scient ific and

Cult ural Orga nizatio n, whic h should suppor t both p ublic a nd priva te media .

48th plenary meeting

7 Dece mber 20 18

B

United Natio ns public informa tion policie s and activities

The General Assembly ,

Emph asiz ing that the Com mittee on Info rmation is its ma in subsidia ry b ody

mand ated t o make reco mmendati ons to it r elating to t he wor k of the D epartmen t of

Publi c Infor mation o f the S ecretari at,