A/RES/72/90 A-B
Questions relating to information
in a cost-neutral manner, bearing in mind the importance of ensuring the full and
equitable treatment of all the official languages of the United Nations, and to report
thereon to the Committee on Information at its fortieth session;
19. Emphasizes that the Department of Public Information should maintain
and improve its activities in the areas of special interest to developing countries and,
where appropriate, other countries with special needs, and that the activities of the
Department should contribute to bridging the existing gap between the developing
and the developed countries in the crucial field of public information and
communications;
20. Reiterates its growing concern that the issuance of daily press releases has
not been expanded to all official languages, as requested in previous resolutions and
in full respect of the principle of parity of all six official languages, recalls the
relevant report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Department of Public
Information, 5 and reiterates its request that the Department, as a matter of priority,
design a strategy to deliver daily press releases in all six official languages through
creative schemes, in a cost-neutral manner and in accordance with the relevant
General Assembly resolutions, at the latest by the fortieth session of the Committee
on Information, and report thereon to the Committee at that session;
21. Notes recent trends that contribute to undermining credible, transparent
and fact-based information, and encourages the Department of Public Information to
continue to promote unbiased and impartial information about the work of the United
Nations, to identify specific proposals in this regard and to report thereon to the
Committee on Information at its fortieth session;
Multilingualism and public information
22. Emphasizes that multilingualism, as a core value of the Organization,
entails the active involvement and commitment of all stakeholders, including all
United Nations duty stations and offices away from Headquarter s;
23. Underlines the responsibility of the Secretariat in the mainstreaming of
multilingualism into all of its communication and information activities, within
existing resources on an equitable basis, calls upon the Department of Public
Information to continue to work with the Coordinator for Multilingualism on best
practices throughout the Secretariat to fulfil this responsibility, and requests the
Secretary-General to report on such best practices and their implementation in his
upcoming report to the Committee on Information;
24. Emphasizes the importance of making use of all the official languages of
the United Nations, ensuring their full and equitable treatment in all the activities of
all divisions and offices of the Department of Public Informa tion with the aim of
eliminating the disparity between the use of English and the use of the five other
official languages, in this regard reaffirms its request that the Secretary -General
ensure that the Department has the necessary capacity in all the official languages to
undertake all of its activities, and requests that this aspect be included in future
programme budget proposals for the Department, bearing in mind the principle of
parity of all six official languages, while respecting the workload in e ach official
language;
25. Welcomes the ongoing efforts of the Department of Public Information to
enhance multilingualism in all of its activities, stresses the importance of ensuring
that the texts of all new public United Nations documents in all six official languages,
information materials, global promotional campaigns and all older United Nations
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A/AC.198/2017/3.
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