Madam Chairperson,

The Argentine Delegation wishes to congratulate you, in the first place, on your election as well as to the rest of the members of the Bureau, wishing you the best of success and our full willingness to contribute to the work of this 35th session of the the Committee on Information. Our tribute to Ambassador Ulibarri of Costa Rica for his outstanding work and commitment during his tenure.

Once again, our recognition to the intense and excellent work of the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Mr. Launsky-Tieffenthal, as well as that of the Department of Public Information and the Committee´s Secretariat. It is a work that does not finish on this annual occasion but goes on throughout the year and which deserves our sincere acknowledgment.

We cannot but commend the work made by the team of UN Television and UN Radio, the authorities and staff of the Library and the UN Information Centers for their dedication in the significant work they carry out.

Madam Chairperson,

Argentina fully associates itself with what has been expressed by Cuba on behalf of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), as well as Fiji on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, and wishes to make following comments in its national capacity.

We once again reiterate Argentina’s full support for the work of the United Nations Information Centers as elements of key importance in disseminating the “public face and voice” of the Organization while communicating with local audiences in their languages. We thus encourage the Department to continue supporting them and strengthening their structure regarding both staffing and equipment. As reaffirmed by General Assembly resolution 67/124 B, the rationalization of UNICs must be carried out on a case-by-case basis in consultation with all concerned Member States in which existing information centres are located, the countries served by those information centres and other interested countries in the region, taking into consideration the distinctive characteristics of each region.

We are very pleased that the UNICs are increasingly using social networking tools to disseminate information, including in local languages, as they contribute to expanding public outreach and leveraging communications campaigns.

We reiterate our satisfaction for the work done by the UNIC in Buenos Aires which, since its establishment in 1948, has been the “voice” in Spanish of the Department of Public Information in Argentina and Uruguay, raising awareness among a massive audience and mobilizing their support for the United Nations. In 2012 it has carried out many activities including panels, workshops and UN Models, among others

Madam Chairperson,

My Delegation joins the Department of Public Information in understanding the significance of speaking to the people in their own language. That is why we strongly support and promote its commitment to multilingualism.

We commend the efforts made by the Department, in coordination with the other Departments, so that the United Nations website can be truly attractive, complete and, fundamentally, multilingual. In this regard, we appreciate the updating of several web pages on thematic issues and the creation of commemorative sites in the six official languages. We look forward to the new Media Asset Management System (MAMS) allowing for the availability of the contents of the videos of the meetings of the main Committees of the General Assembly in all six official languages.

We are pleased that the DIP has expanded its outreach through the use of social media, in all official languages, given the proliferation of social networks in various parts of the world, including in the developing countries. We do support the use of the valuable resource and its contribution to multilingualism. However, it should always be taken into account that these resources are in nature “additional” to the UN website, which is not replaced by them nor do these additional resources constitute a solution to the increasing linguistic disparity of the website.

Madam Chairperson,

Once again, Argentina is happy to see that the United Nations website in Spanish has expanded over the last years, an evidence of which is the growing number of visits to it. In fact, after English, Spanish has once again been the second language of visits in 2012. Visits to the UN website in Spanish amounted to 17% of the total, after English (62%), as reflected by the Secretary General in his report A/AC.198/2012/3 on the activities of the DPI (news service).

Nevertheless, despite the strength of these statistics, we remain concerned that the contents available in the Spanish website still continue to be much lower than that in the English website. That is why we urge once again the Department of Public Information to guide itself by its own statistics and adjust the linguistic contents of the website to the true demand of the public, while bearing in mind that it is also the responsibility of all UN offices to provide the DPI with information in the six official languages.

Madam Chairperson,

In this context, it is even a bigger concern that there has been no progress on the elaboration and dissemination of daily press releases which continue to be published in only two of the six official languages. Allow me to be clear on this: we are not referring here to the working languages of the Secretariat but to the multilingual mandate on public dissemination through the UN website which establishes the full respect of the necessary parity among six “official” languages. My Delegation would like to recall that, during the 33rd Session of the Committee on Information, the Secretariat itself confirmed that there exists no mandate of this General Assembly deciding that dissemination of daily press releases should be restricted to the “working” languages of the Secretariat instead of the official languages of the Organization.

That is why my Delegation commends the pilot project announced by the Under Secretary General to also have press releases in Spanish. As he correctly stated, it is a “first step” in achieving the objective of having press releases made in all official languages, whose results will contribute to designing the strategy requested by the General Assembly in its resolution 67/124 B). Let us remember that “creativity” has been requested in designing this strategy to ensure its prompt implementation and avoid that it is subjected to the availability of “additional” budgetary resources.

We think there are many modalities at hand, bearing in mind that the challenge of being creative may demand changes in traditional structures. But we should not be afraid of that. We are encouraged to know that the DPI has shown clear signs on betting on innovation and permanent change to reach increasingly wider audiences.

In a first stage, such a strategy should provide for the elaboration of press releases in the rest of the official languages, at regular intervals and during predetermined timeframes, within the existing resources. Languages could even rotate during a provisional initial stage. Or editorial criteria, length and frequency of existing press releases could be modified so as to make room for new teams to start elaborating press releases in one of the other official languages, according to schemes to be creatively determined. There are geographical representation criteria that may help in the process as well as the statistics already available to the Department, which constitute an objective source of information to elaborate and guide decisions in this regard, at the same time that they confirm the trends and needs of the public.

The question is not to benefit some over others but to ensure that each and every one of the official languages receives the same room and right guaranteed by the relevant General Assembly resolutions.

Madam Chairperson,

As regards traditional media, Argentina commends the work done by the team of the United Nations Radio in Spanish and their important contribution to the success evidenced by the increase of the United Nations Radio and Television services as a whole. As it has already been said, we consider it very important to continue employing traditional media in conveying the message of the Organization as they constitute the primary means of communication in most developing countries.

We also celebrate the significant progress made in the process of digitization and urge the Department to continue with this task. Since we also consider the Library a “hidden treasure” within the Department, we very specially recognize the work of the Library staff for their efforts for the benefit of mankind in preserving the heritage of us all, in particular the several training courses and close contact with depository libraries.

To conclude, in a year of intensive communication activities as evidenced, besides the aspects already described, by the several campaigns and technical innovations, we would like to extend our best wishes of success to all those working in the Department of Public Information. Our special recognition goes to all of them for their permanent disposition, willingness and openness to enquiries and requests from Member States in a framework of transparency, efficiency and high professionalism.

Thank you very much, Madam Chairperson.