ABOUT UNICs

The United Nations cannot reach its purposes if the peoples of the world are not fully informed of its aims and activities. In the 1946 resolution, adopted at the first session of the General Assembly [13(I) of 13 February 1946] that established the Department of Public Information, the Department was requested to open branch offices to ensure that people in all parts of the world receive the most complete information possible on the work of the United Nations.

The network of United Nations information centres (UNICs), services (UNIS) and offices (UNOs) links the Headquarters with people around the world. Located in over 60 countries, these field offices of the Department of Public Information help local communities obtain up-to-date information on the Organization and its activities. Children in remote villages of Myanmar, for example, were able to learn about the United Nations because UNIC Yangon distributed United Nations educational kits for use in community schools. Journalists from Mexico City and the Caribbean were able to add their voice to the call of the international community to do more to help solve the world drug problem because UNIC Mexico City linked them by teleconference to the head of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme based in Vienna. In such ways, UNICs help people everywhere to be heard and to understand better what the United Nations is doing to make a difference in their lives.