Questions relating to information/DPI work on the question of Palestine – GA Fourth Cttee debate – Press release (excerpts)

Sixty-eighth General Assembly

Fourth Committee

10^th Meeting (AM)

AS NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGIES BECOME 'CHANNELS OF CITIZEN PARTICIPATION',

FOURTH COMMITTEE TAKES STOCK OF HOW PUBLICATION INFORMATION DEPARTMENT MEASURES UP

Speakers Call for ‘Transparent and Equitable Dissemination

Of Information’ in All Six Official United Nations Languages

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Background

The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) met this afternoon to continue its consideration of questions relating to information. For background information, see Press Release GA/SPD/534.

Statements

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CHARBEL WEHBI ( Lebanon), stating that modern communications had “submerged us” in information, warned that innovation brought greater responsibility. Content of information, equity of access, empowerment of the voices of those who suffered and the preservation of shared values were all important in that regard. The Department should engender a “louder voice of the United Nations and its values in the global network of ideas”, he said, commending its work. Emphasizing that education was a crucial foundation, he highlighted several initiatives of his country and encouraged the Department, likewise, to foster platforms for youth. In conflict-afflicted countries, collaboration between the Departments of Public Information and Peacekeeping Operations was essential, using both traditional and modern communications networks to reach all communities. Awareness-raising also was critical, he added, reaffirming Lebanon’s full support for the Department’s Special Information Programme on the Question of Palestine. Continued collaboration between the Committee on Information and the Department would “only bear greater relevance” as the world became increasingly interconnected, he said.

ABUZIED SHAMSELDIN AHMED MOHAMED (Sudan), associating with the Group of 77 and China, …

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He expressed support for the Department’s work in enlightening the world population about the question of Palestine and the need for the people to achieve self-determination, and called for more efforts in that regard. …

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TAHER M ALI GHIRANI ( Libya), associating himself with the Group of 77 and China, …

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He said his country appreciated the partnerships between the Departments of Public Information and Peacekeeping Operations, as well as the training programme to prepare Palestinian journalist. Libya urged the Department to emphasize the plight of the Palestinian people, suffering under the yoke of Israeli occupation. …

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YUSSEF F. KANAAN, observer for the State of Palestine, associating himself with the Group of 77 and China, reaffirmed his appreciation for the work of the Department on the Special Information Programme on the Question of Palestine, which was instrumental in raising the international community’s awareness of the issues, including efforts made for a peaceful, just, lasting and comprehensive solution to Palestine-Israeli conflict and the Arab-Israel conflict, as a whole. He also reaffirmed the importance of the Department’s training programme for Palestinian journalists from the Occupied Palestinian Territory. He regretted, however, that the Israeli occupying forces had continued to “systematically and deliberately” target Palestinian journalists striving to convey the “grim reality” about Israeli illegal, aggressive and destructive policies and practices. He called on the Committee and relevant international organizations to step up their efforts to protect Palestinian and foreign journalists.

He said that the Palestinian leadership was convinced of the vital role of telecommunications and information technology in development. Despite Israeli control of the communications sector and the Palestinian frequency spectrum, it was working to build the communication networks so as to reach people everywhere in the State of Palestine and help them to overcome the geographical and physical impediments to normal life caused by the occupation. He expressed his delegation’s commitment to a peace process that would end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territory and enable the Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights, including to self-determination and return, and to achieve the independence of their State of Palestine on the basis of the 1967 borders.

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For information media • not an official record