UNICs promote UN Issues

On 1 June 2006 UNIC Pretoria participated in a conference organised by the Department of Political Sciences at the UNISA-university of South Africa.

More than 120 people participated in the conference titled "Africa and a reformed United Nations: Challenges and Future perspectives."

Key speakers were:
- Mr Mujahid Alam, Head of MONUC Liaison office in Pretoria on UN Peacekeeping Operations.
- Advocate and Senior State Law Advisor Mr Andre Stemmet on the UN-reform from an international law perspective.
- Africa Institute of South Africa-researcher Mr Enos Segida. There was a panel discussion by Pretoria-based African Ambassadors on African Perspectives on UN-reform.

During the conference, UNIC Pretoria was given the honor to demonstrate information and publications on the activities of the UN in South Africa as well as internationally.

On 7 September 2005, UNIC/Warsaw in cooperation with the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Polish Institute of International Affairs and UNDP/Poland organized a press conference: „UN Reform – Yes. But What Kind?” devoted to the World Summit 2005 and the Secretary General’s Report „In Larger Freedom”. 51 representatives of government, NGOs, academicians, and UN family in Poland attended the conference, as well as 15 representatives of the Polish media (radio, TV and press). The presentations lasted for one and a half hour and were followed by questions and answers session that lasted for half an hour. The press conference was a media success.

On UNIC/Warsaw home page http://www.unic.un.org.pl/galeria.php?act=view_album&pos=27 you can find more photos from the conference.

The United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Yaounde organised a UN Press Club Special on the ILF Report and 2005 World Summit on Wednesday 14 September 2005, at the Institute for International Relations, IRIC Yaounde.

The main objective of the event was to conclude Outreach activities to promote the UNSG ILF Report, and the 2005 World Summit, with a high level, symbolic event that will ensure extensive coverage and support for the agenda of the Summit.

The event began with an introduction by the NIO, followed by the Acting Director of the Institute, Professor Laurent Zang, who emphasised the importance of the World Summit and preparatory event and publications on UN Reforms, organised by IRIC. (for example, “l’ONU: vue d’Afrique”, published in July 2005).

Participants listened to 2 key speeches:

1. Mrs Sophie De Caen, the new Resident Coordinator of the UN System in Cameroon presented the UNSG ILF Report as the basic document for the 2005 World Summit. She cited the UN Secretary General on the importance of the Summit, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the United Nations and the expected outcome of the historic event.

2. HE Adoum Gargoum, Minister Delegate at the Ministry of External Relations in charge of relations with the Islamic World, presented Cameroon’s progress made vis-à-vis the Millennium Development Goals and Support for the Reforms proposed by the UN Secretary General in his report titled ‘In Larger Freedom’. He also confirmed Cameroon’s participation at the Summit at the highest level.

Both speakers expressed their wish for a successful Summit, as important decisions were expected during the 3-day event.

At the end of the ceremony, participants which included Heads of Diplomatic missions, Representatives of UN Agencies, International Organisations and the Media exchanged ideas over a symbolic “toast”, to commemorate the 60th anniversary.

Interviews were conducted by the media to disseminate information about the Summit and its key issues… Actually, the National Radio and Television Corporation, CRTV broadcast the deliberations of this UN Press Club Special in its entirety, to share the information / event with the entire population

An estimate of 68 persons in attendance, amongst these were 32 journalists.

UNIC Warsaw created the following special web pages in Polish language:
http://www.unic.un.org.pl/szczyt2005/ , devoted to the World Summit 2005;
and http://www.unic.un.org.pl/largerfreedom/ devoted to the Secretary-General's Report " In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All".

On 6 September 2005, UNIC Bujumbura co-organized with the Press House of Burundi, a media local organization, a workshop on the promotion of the World Summit. UNIC took the occasion to launch the Secretary-General's reports "In Larger Freedom" and "MDGs Progress Report 2005". Ninety three participants including Parliament and Government representatives, ambassadors, local and international NGOs and local media attended the workshop. At the conclusion, a draft declaration to the World Summit by the Government of Burundi was agreed on to be sent to the President of the Republic, who will personally attend the summit.

The United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Yaounde in collaboration with UNDP Bangui co-organised a media event on the ILF Report Promotion on Thursday, 25 August 2005 at the Oubangui Hotel, Bangui (Capital of the Republic of Central Africa).

UNDP Bangui had identified, with the collaboration of UJCA (Union des Journalistes Centrafricaine) , 25 journalists of the Private and Public media, as participants for the event, with the objective to inform journalists of the content of the ILF Report for further dissemination.

The event began with an Introductory Remark by the Acting Coordinator of the UN System, RCA, Mr Basile Tambashe (UNFPA Resident representative) on the importance of the UNSG's ILF Report and the upcoming September World Summit to be held in New York.

A powerpoint summary of the ILF Report was presented by Ms Julie Kazagui, Coordination Officer, emphasising the 3 key issues: Development, Security and Human Rights which make up the major thrust of the four part report:

•  Freedom from want,

•  Freedom from fear,

•  Freedom to live and Dignity, and

•  Strengthening the United Nations

The Acting Coordinator, Mr Tambashe invited the journalists to ask questions, in a bid, to ensure a good understanding of the ILF Report and the objective of the event. These included issues such as:

•  The Human rights Council; if necessary,

•  The Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, …… unfair distribution

•  Millennium Development Goals; not achievable, especially for RCA

•  Financing for Development; a dream

•  Peace-building and Terrorism (Freedom from Fear)

•  UN's image vis-à-vis the Iraq war

Responses were given by Representatives of UN Agencies present; (UNFPA, UNDP, UNAIDS, BONUCA, UNICEF and UNIC). At the end of the 2 hr 25 minute exchange session, the Coordinator called on UNIC's NIO to make a brief presentation of the expected role of the media to disseminate the content of the ILF Report to the RCA population, as part of preparations for the World Summit to be held 14-16 September in New York .

Concluding the deliberations, Mr Tambashe called on journalists to inform and mobilise support for the UNSG's ILF Report which will be the crux of the September Summit in New York , through their reports and newspaper articles.

Discussions continued during the Lunch offered by UNDP, Bangui and radio interviews were conducted.

There were 36 journalists in attendance, by the end of the event. “Radio Centrafricaine ” had carried a press release announcing the event and reports thereafter, as well as “TV Centrafricaine”.

Lessons learnt

•  UNDP has established good working relations with the RCA Media and UNIC will continue to take advantage of this platform.

•  UNIC will have to organise an event with RCA media to explain its role and clarify the perception of UNIC as part of UNDP and strengthen contacts.

•  NIO's visit to Radio Centrafricaine, TV Centrafricaine and 2 newspaper Houses during the visit enabled UNIC to better understand the working communication landscape of RCA and will have to revise method of work because Internet is not available in any of these media houses.

•  RCA Media Executives are well organised under the UJCA (Union des Journalistes Centrafricaine) and contacts have been strengthened with the President, Mr MAKA Gbossokotto and other Directors of Publication, at an event organised on Friday 26 August by UNDP on Regulation and Auto-Regulation of the RCA Media. This event was co-chaired by the Minister of Communication; H.E Job Tzima and UNDP Representative, was an opportunity for UNIC NIO to discuss with the Minister and propose plans for a UN Press Club and other activities to increase the visibility and dissemination of information about the United Nations in RCA.

On 28 August, UNIC Cairo held a press briefing on the promotion of the 2005 World Summit. Dr. Abdallah Al-Ashaal, Professor of International Law and former Assistant Foreign Minister of Egypt briefed 16 representatives from print and electronic media. UNIC Officer-in-Charge also gave an interview to Al-Qahera Al-Kobra radio station on the Summit.

The media and civil society interactive forum on 2005 World Summit and the UN reforms planned by UNIC Lagos was held on Tuesday 2 August 2005.

The event, which was chaired by Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Secretary General of The Commonwealth and Chairman of the UN Secretary-General's International Advisory Panel on NEPAD, attracted special guests and participants from the ranks of senior editors, university professors, government officials, leaders of key civil society and business groups in Nigeria.

On Sunday, 24 July, 2005 was the start of the Austrian eco-relay rally, which drew attention to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and in particular to the eradication of extreme hunger and poverty and on ensuring environmental sustainability. UNIS Vienna supported the event.

The rally would cover over 3000 kilometers. Any environmentally sound method of locomotion (such as cycling) was permitted.

Information material on the 2005 World Summit, MDGs, the Year of Microcredit and the International Year of Sports was distributed to several organizations to be used during the eco rally throughout Austria. The material was well received.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivering a public lecture entitled “In Larger Freedom – the changing role of the United Nations” at the India International Centre, organized by UNIC New Delhi.

UNIC Ankara has tranlated The Executive Summary of "In Larger Freedom" Report into Turkish. For the full text of the summary, please click here. (Please note that the PDF file is 546 KB.)
For the hard copy of the report, please contact UNIC Ankara.

UNIC Yaounde organized an Outreach to representatives of NGOs and civil society, on 26 May 2005. The objective of the event was to share information and distribute copies of the SG's “In Larger Freedom Report”, as part of the promotion of this report and the September Summit. 30 NGOs and International Organizations together with 5 representatives from Civil Society attended the event.