The United Nations Committee on Information (COI) has concluded its 46th session after approving two resolutions calling for boosting aid to developing countries in building communications infrastructures, and for reaffirming the \u201ccrucial role\u201d of the UN Department of Global Communication (DGC) in addressing the spread of misinformation in the era of artificial intelligence. The session was presided over by Ambassador Usman Jadoon, deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN.<\/p>\n
The COI, a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly, addresses public information issues, overseeing the DGC and guiding its policies, programmes, and activities to ensure alignment with 193-member Assembly\u2019s objectives. By one draft resolution, titled \u201cInformation in the service of humanity\u201d, the General Assembly would urge countries and the UN to reduce existing disparities in information flows by increasing assistance for the development of communications infrastructures in developing countries. It would also condemn resolutely all attacks against journalists; provide support for the strengthening of practical training programmes for broadcasters and journalists in developing countries; and enhance regional cooperation among developing countries, as well as between developed and developing countries, to improve developing countries\u2019 media infrastructure and communications technology. By the second draft resolution, titled \u201cUnited Nations global communications policies and activities\u201d, the Assembly would stress that the Department\u2019s primary mission is to provide accurate, impartial, comprehensive, balanced, timely, relevant and multilingual information to the public on the Organization\u2019s responsibilities. By the same text, the General Assembly, recognizing that safe artificial intelligence systems have the potential to accelerate sustainable development, would caution that improper or malicious design and use of such systems could undermine information integrity and access to information. It would request the Department to make specific efforts aimed at identifying and raising awareness about misinformation and disinformation, taking into account the impact of artificial intelligence. Welcoming the adoption, Melissa Fleming, Under-Secretary General for Global Communications, expressed her Department\u2019s deep appreciation to the delegates for working tirelessly \u2014 day and night \u2014 to uphold the Committee tradition of consensus. \u201cI don\u2019t know if there are many consensus outcomes these days in the various Committees working in this building,\u201d she said. Adopting the resolutions by consensus sends an important signal at a time of alarming global tensions and divisions, she pointed out, adding that it also demonstrates their shared recognition of the need to have a strong, vibrant communications function at the UN. In his concluding remarks, Ambassador Jadoon of Pakistan highlighted the resolution\u2019s reaffirmation of information\u2019s critical importance in the contemporary era, emphasizing the need for reliable, accurate, and timely information. \u201cThe resolution acknowledges the challenges that arise from the rapidly changing media landscape, including the proliferation of disinformation and misinformation,\u201d the Pakistani envoy said, stressing the need for promoting media and digital literacy to advance SDGs and mitigate climate change challenges as well as the phenomenon of hate speech and incitement to violence. Ambassador Jadoon expressed hope that member states and the DGC would implement the resolution\u2019s provisions, fostering a more peaceful, transparent, and inclusive world through access to authentic information. Pakistan is chair the Committee on Information from a period of two years (2023-24).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United Nations Committee on Information (COI) has concluded its 46th session after approving two resolutions calling for boosting aid to developing countries in building communications infrastructures, and for reaffirming the \u201ccrucial role\u201d of the UN Department of Global Communication (DGC) in addressing the spread of misinformation in the era of artificial intelligence. The session …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":65367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65372,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65349\/revisions\/65372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}