21 October 2010
Mr. MohammadReza Sahraei, Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran
at the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee)
on the agenda item 54: “Question relating Information”
(New York- October 21, 2010)
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
I would like to thank Mr. Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, for his comprehensive and informative statement on the activities of the Department and for presenting the updated report of the secretary-General on the question relating to information contained in document (A/65/277).
My delegation associates itself with the statements made by the distinguished Permanent Representative of Yemen on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.
Department of Public Information (DPI) as the voice of the United Nations has the central roll in promoting the purpose and image of the Organization by disseminating its messages accurately throughout the world. In our view, the most important mission of the Department should be providing all people with accurate, balanced, comprehensive, timely and relevant information on the tasks and responsibilities of the United Nations in an impartial and transparent manner in order to strengthen international support for the activities of the Organization. In this regard, we emphasize the important role of the Committee on Information (COI) in examining United Nations public information policies and activities, and stress the necessity of the close cooperation and more coordination between the Department and the Committee on Information.
Meanwhile, among important activities of the 65th session of the General Assembly, we commend the adoption of resolution 64/253 of 23 February 2010, in which it recognized 21 March as the International Day of Nowruz, and in this regard, we encourage the Department of Public Information (DPI) to contribute to the celebration of Nowruz and to play an effective role in raising awareness of this event.
The continuation of digital gap and lack of necessary resources and technical equipments are among the main challenges for most part of the developing world. Developing countries are suffering from an unjust, inequitable, partial and monopolized world of media. It is regrettable that certain developed countries, by taking advantage of their monopoly of modern communication technology, are continuously trying to distort the facts and fabricate the events and realities, especially those relating to developing countries. We believe that international community should take necessary steps in rectifying the imbalances in the enjoyment of information and communication technologies by all the member States in order to make the world of media more just, equitable and impartial. In this regard, we encourage the Department of Public Information to play an effective role in the establishment of a new order of global information and communication based on free circulation and balanced dissemination of information. In this connection, we believe that in order to acquire necessary tools and capacity to do this job, DPI, for its part, should enhance its technological infrastructure on a continuous basis with a view to improve its activities in the field of public information and communications, especially in the areas that are of special interest to developing countries.
We would like to take this opportunity to refer to the escalating catastrophic humanitarian situation of the innocent Palestinian civilian population and to emphasize the important responsibility of DPI in the raising international awareness regarding the question of Palestine, with a view to shed more light on the negative impacts of the illegitimate occupation on humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.
We also express our profound regret at the increasing acts of Islamophobia, growing trend of intolerance towards Muslims and mounting number of acts of violence against Muslims in some Western societies, and call upon the DPI to use its worldwide presence in order to counter this phenomenon and foster respect for all religions and cultural values and religious tolerance.
The work of the UN information centers (UNICs) in disseminating information is of the great importance. These centers are indeed, the real interface between the United Nations and the international community, and have crucial role in enhancing the public image of the Organization. Close consultation and better coordination between UNICs and the host countries; provision of new information and communication technologies and allocation of adequate resources to these centers; and careful attention to the cultural, social and economic characters and needs of different regions in the work of these centers are among important elements that should be taken into account in this regard.
The Islamic republic of Iran attachés great importance to the efforts of DPI in ensuring multilingualism. In this regard, we reiterate that the Department should continue to diversify its efforts to encompass not only all the six official languages of the United Nations, but also those local languages which are widely regarded as the roots of great cultures and civilizations, including Persian language, which is a unique source of integrity and solidarity among several nations in our region, and the most invaluable cultural and civilizational values in the world.
Allow me, in conclusion, Mr. Chairman to assure you of our full and continued support to the work of the committee.