The General Assembly,
Reaffirming that activities to improve public knowledge in
the field of human rights are essential to the fulfilment of the
purposes of the United Nations set out in Article 1, paragraph
3, of the Charter of the United Nations and that carefully designed
programmes of teaching, education and information are essential
to the achievement of lasting respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms,
Recalling the relevant resolutions adopted by the General
Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights,
Recognizing the catalytic effect of initiatives of the
United Nations on national and regional public information activities
in the field of human rights,
Recognizing also the valuable role that non-governmental
organizations can play in those endeavours,
Believing that the World Public Information Campaign for
Human Rights is a valuable complement to the activities of the
United Nations aimed at the further promotion and protection of
human rights, and recalling the importance attached by the World
Conference on Human Rights to strengthening the Campaign,
Welcoming the appointment of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights with the function, inter alia, of coordinating
relevant United Nations education and public information programmes
in the field of human rights, in accordance with General Assembly
resolution 48/141 of 20 December 1993,
Recognizing that the Department of Public Information of
the Secretariat is the focal point for elaborating, coordinating
and harmonizing United Nations policies and activities in the
field of information, in accordance with General Assembly resolution
48/44 B of 10 December 1993,
1. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Secretary-General
on the development of public information activities in the field
of human rights, including the World Public Information Campaign
for Human Rights;
2. Appreciates the measures taken by the Department of
Public Information and the Centre for Human Rights of the Secretariat
to ensure the further production and effective dissemination of
human rights information materials in cooperation with regional,
national and local organizations, as well as with Governments;
3. Notes with appreciation the dissemination by the Department
of Public Information and the Centre for Human Rights of the Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference
on Human Rights on 25 June 1993, and of information on follow-up
activities;
4. Requests the Centre for Human Rights, in cooperation
with the Department of Public Information, to finalize its comprehensive
review of the programme of information and publications in the
field of human rights, including the elaboration of a new information
strategy, and to make an assessment of the effectiveness of this
programme, and encourages the Centre to continue its efforts towards
streamlining and focusing its publications programme;
5. Encourages the Centre for Human Rights to continue the
development of training courses and materials, including targeted
training manuals for professional audiences, as well as the dissemination
of human rights information materials as a component of technical
assistance projects;
6. Welcomes the efforts of the Department of Public Information
and the Centre for Human Rights to disseminate information on
human rights by electronic means, including through the United
Nations Bibliographic Information System;
7. Notes that a database has been established by the Centre
for Human Rights for the promotion of all aspects of human rights;
8. Urges the Department of Public Information to continue
to utilize United Nations information centres for the purpose
of timely dissemination, within their designated areas of activity,
of basic information and reference materials on human rights and
fundamental freedoms, including the reports of States parties
under human rights instruments and, to this end, to ensure that
United Nations information centres are supplied with adequate
quantities of those materials;
9. Requests the Department of Public Information to continue
to make use of the resources available for this purpose to produce
audiovisual materials on human rights issues;
10. Requests the Secretary-General to take advantage, as
much as possible, of the collaboration of non-governmental organizations
in the implementation of the World Public Information Campaign
for Human Rights, including in the dissemination of human rights
materials;
11. Encourages all Member States to make special efforts
to provide, facilitate and promote publicity for the activities
of the United Nations in the field of human rights, including
through support of United Nations information centres, to accord
priority to the dissemination in their respective national and
local languages of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
the International Covenants on Human Rights and other international
instruments, as well as reports under human rights instruments,
and to provide information and education on the practical ways
in which the rights and freedoms enjoyed under these instruments
can be exercised;
12. Supports the recommendation contained in section II.D
of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action that Member
States develop specific programmes and strategies for ensuring
the widest human rights education and the dissemination of public
information, taking particular account of the human rights needs
of women, and encourages Member States, in drawing up national
action plans for the promotion and protection of human rights,
to include broad-based education and public information programmes
on human rights;
13. Calls upon the United Nations High Commissioner for
Human Rights to coordinate and harmonize human rights information
strategies within the United Nations system;
14. Calls upon the Centre for Human Rights to coordinate
the substantive activities of the World Public Information Campaign
for Human Rights pursuant to the direction of the General Assembly
and the Commission on Human Rights, and to serve as liaison with
Governments, regional and national institutions, non-governmental
organizations and concerned individuals in the development and
implementation of the activities of the Campaign;
15. Calls upon the Department of Public Information to
coordinate the public information activities of the Campaign and,
in its responsibility as secretariat to the Joint United Nations
Information Committee, to promote coordinated system-wide information
activities in the field of human rights;
16. Stresses the need for close cooperation between the
Centre for Human Rights and the Department of Public Information
in the implementation of the aims established for the Campaign
and the need for the United Nations to harmonize the activities
in the field of human rights with those of other organizations,
including the International Committee of the Red Cross, with regard
to the dissemination of information on international humanitarian
law, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, with regard to education for human rights;
17. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General
Assembly at its fifty-first session a comprehensive report on
the implementation of the present resolution for consideration
under the item entitled "Human rights questions".
94th plenary meeting
23 December 1994