The General Assembly,
 
      Taking note of the comprehensive and important report of the Committee
on Information,
 
      Also taking note of the report of the Secretary-General on questions
relating to information,
 
      Urges all countries, organizations of the United Nations system as a
whole and all others concerned, reaffirming their commitment to the principles
of the Charter of the United Nations and to the principles of freedom of the
press and freedom of information, as well as to those of the independence,
pluralism and diversity of the media, deeply concerned by the disparities
existing between developed and developing countries and the consequences of
every kind arising from those disparities that affect the capability of the
public, private or other media and individuals in developing countries to
disseminate information and communicate their views and their cultural and
ethical values through endogenous cultural production, as well as to ensure
the diversity of sources and their free access to information, and recognizing
the call in this context for what in the United Nations and at various
international forums has been termed "a new world information and
communication order, seen as an evolving and continuous process":
 
      (a)   To cooperate and interact with a view to reducing existing
disparities in information flows at all levels by increasing assistance for
the development of communication infrastructures and capabilities in
developing countries, with due regard for their needs and the priorities
attached to such areas by those countries, and in order to enable them and the
public, private or other media in developing countries to develop their own
information and communication policies freely and independently and increase
the participation of media and individuals in the communication process, and
to ensure a free flow of information at all levels;
 
      (b)   To ensure for journalists the free and effective performance of
their professional tasks and condemn resolutely all attacks against them;
 
      (c)   To provide support for the continuation and strengthening of
practical training programmes for broadcasters and journalists from public,
private and other media in developing countries;
 
      (d)   To enhance regional efforts and cooperation among developing
countries, as well as cooperation between developed and developing countries,
to strengthen communication capacities and to improve the media infrastructure
and communication technology in the developing countries, especially in the
areas of training and dissemination of information;
 
      (e)   To aim, in addition to bilateral cooperation, at providing all
possible support and assistance to the developing countries and their media,
public, private or other, with due regard to their interests and needs in the
field of information and to action already adopted within the United Nations
system, including:
 
      (i)   The development of the human and technical resources that are
            indispensable for the improvement of information and communication
            systems in developing countries and support for the continuation
            and strengthening of practical training programmes, such as those
            already operating under both public and private auspices
            throughout the developing world;
 
     (ii)   The creation of conditions that will enable developing countries
            and their media, public, private or other, to have, by using their
            national and regional resources, the communication technology
            suited to their national needs, as well as the necessary programme
            material, especially for radio and television broadcasting;
 
    (iii)   Assistance in establishing and promoting telecommunication links
            at the subregional, regional and interregional levels, especially
            among developing countries;
 
     (iv)   The facilitation, as appropriate, of access by the developing
            countries to advanced communication technology available on the
            open market;
 
      (f)   To provide full support for the International Programme for the
Development of Communication of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization, which should support both public and private media.
 
 
                                         B
 
             United Nations public information policies and activities
 
      The General Assembly,
 
      Reaffirming its primary role in elaborating, coordinating and
harmonizing United Nations policies and activities in the field of
information,
 
      Also reaffirming that the Secretary-General should ensure that the
activities of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat, as the
focal point for the public information tasks of the United Nations, are
strengthened and improved, keeping in view the purposes and principles of the
Charter of the United Nations, the priority areas defined by the General
Assembly and the recommendations of the Committee on Information,
 
      Taking note of all the reports of the Secretary-General submitted to the
Committee on Information at its seventeenth session,
 
      1.    Welcomes Belize, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Kazakstan, and South
Africa following the establishment of a united, non-racial and democratic
Government in that country, to membership in the Committee on Information;
 
      2.    Decides to consolidate the role of the Committee on Information as
its main subsidiary body mandated to make recommendations relating to the work
of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat;
 
      3.    Calls upon the Secretary-General, in respect of the public
information policies and activities of the United Nations, to implement fully
the recommendations contained in paragraph 2 of its resolution 48/44 B of 10
December 1993;
 
      4.    Requests the Secretary-General, in order to put into practice the
need for an effective public information capacity of the Department of Public
Information for the formation and day-to-day functioning of the information
components of peace-keeping and other field operations of the United Nations,
to ensure the involvement of the Department at the planning stage of such
future operations through interdepartmental consultations and coordination
with the other substantive departments of the Secretariat;
 
      5.    Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General regarding the
continuous and major publications of the Department of Public Information and
urges all efforts to ensure timely production and dissemination of its major
publications, in particular the UN Chronicle, the Yearbook of the United
Nations and Africa Recovery, maintaining consistent editorial independence and
accuracy, and taking the necessary measures to ensure that its output contains
adequate, objective and equitable information about issues before the
Organization, reflecting divergent opinions wherever they occur;
 
      6.    Requests the Secretary-General to increase his efforts for the
early resumption of the publication Development Forum, or an alternative
system-wide publication that meets the requirements set out for new
publications by the Committee on Information;
 
      7.    Requests the management of the Department of Public Information to
review its publications and proposals for publications to ensure that all
publications fulfil an identifiable need, that they do not duplicate other
publications inside or outside the United Nations system and that they are
produced in a cost-effective manner, and to report thereon to the Committee on
Information at its eighteenth session;
 
      8.    Reaffirms the importance attached by Member States to the role of
United Nations information centres in effectively and comprehensively
disseminating information, particularly in developing countries and countries
in transition, about United Nations activities;
 
      9.    Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the results
of the trial of integrating United Nations information centres with field
offices of the United Nations Development Programme, and invites the
Secretary-General to continue the integration exercise whenever feasible, on a
case-by-case basis, while taking into account the views of the host country,
and ensuring that the information functions and autonomy of the United Nations
information centres are not adversely affected, and to report thereon to the
Committee on Information;
 
      10.   Reaffirms the role of the General Assembly in relation to the
opening of new United Nations information centres and invites the
Secretary-General, as well, to make such recommendations as he may judge
necessary regarding the establishment and location of these centres;
 
      11.   Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the
allocation of resources to United Nations information centres in 1994 and
calls upon him to continue to study ways and means to rationalize and effect
equitable disbursement of available resources to all United Nations
information centres and to report thereon to the Committee on Information at
its eighteenth session;
 
      12.   Welcomes the action by some Member States with regard to financial
and material support to United Nations information centres in their respective
capitals;
 
      13.   Welcomes the successful conclusion of the negotiations on the
establishment of a United Nations information component at Warsaw;
 
      14.   Notes the progress made by the Secretary-General and the German
authorities towards establishing, within existing resources of the Department
of Public Information, a United Nations information centre at Bonn;
 
      15.   Notes with appreciation the action taken, or being taken, by the
Secretary-General regarding the reactivation and enhancement of the United
Nations information centres at Bujumbura, Dar es Salaam, Dhaka and Tehran;
 
      16.   Welcomes the continued enhanced cooperation between the Department
of Public Information and the University for Peace in Costa Rica as a focal
point for promoting United Nations activities and disseminating United Nations
information materials;
 
      17.   Takes note of the requests of Bulgaria, Gabon, Guinea, Haiti and
Slovakia for information centres or information components;
 
      18.   Expresses its full support for the wide and prompt coverage of
United Nations activities through a continuation of United Nations press
releases in both working languages of the Secretariat, namely, English and
French, and welcomes the improvements in the quality and speedy issue of those
press releases in both working languages;
 
      19.   Encourages the Secretary-General to explore ways and means to
improve the access of United Nations radio to airwaves worldwide, bearing in
mind that radio is one of the most cost-effective and far-reaching media
available to the Department of Public Information and is an important
instrument in United Nations activities with regard to development and
peace-keeping;
 
      20.   Notes with appreciation the efforts of the Department of Public
Information to take advantage of recent developments in information technology
in order to improve the dissemination of information on the United Nations,
and encourages the Department to continue its efforts in this field;
 
      21.  Notes the important role the Department of Public Information will
have to play in responding to the increased public interest resulting from the
fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations, and requests the Department to
ensure the greatest possible access to United Nations guided tours, as well as
to ensure that displays in public areas are kept as informative, up to date
and relevant as possible;
 
      22.   Invites Member States that wish to do so to submit to the
Secretary- General by 15 March 1996 their observations and suggestions on ways
and means of furthering the development of communication infrastructures and
capabilities in developing countries, with a view to consolidating recent
experience in the field of international cooperation aimed at enabling them to
develop their own information and communication capacities freely and
independently, and requests the Secretary-General to report thereon to the
Committee on Information at its eighteenth session;
 
      23.   Recommends, in order to continue to facilitate contact between the
Department of Public Information and the Committee on Information between
sessions, that the Bureau of the Committee, together with representatives of
each regional group, the Group of 77 and China, in close contact with the
members of the Committee, should meet on a regular basis and consult at
periodic intervals with representatives of the Department;
 
      24.   Takes note of the request of Belarus, the Russian Federation and
Ukraine concerning information activities for the tenth anniversary in 1996 of
the Chernobyl disaster and calls upon the Department of Public Information to
continue cooperation with the countries concerned, and with the relevant
organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, with a view to
establishing and implementing such activities as appropriate, and within
existing resources;
 
      25.   Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Committee on
Information at its eighteenth session and to the General Assembly at its
fifty-first session on the activities of the Department of Public Information
and on the implementation of the recommendations contained in the present
resolution;
 
      26.   Decides that the eighteenth session of the Committee on
Information should last not more than ten working days, and invites the Bureau
of the Committee to explore ways and means of making optimum use of the
Committee's time;
 
      27.   Requests the Committee on Information to report to the General
Assembly at its fifty-first session;
 
      28.   Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-first
session the item entitled "Questions relating to information".