UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Left Stranded on Information Superhighway

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 21 1995 (IPS) - The head of one of the primary organs of the United Nations says the world body risks being left stranded on the information superhighway.

The United Nations is “fast asleep” at the wheel, says Ambassador Ahmad Kamal of Pakistan, the current president of the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), who sat down here this week for a wide-ranging interview with IPS.

Kamal says the key to development is access to information. “The technology is out there, but the United Nations has not been enthusiastic or imaginative about it,” he told IPS.

“For the first time, we now have access to tools that will enable us to get the information in a feasible fashion,” he said.

But most developing nations don’t know where to find the information, how to get it and how to pay for it, he complained.

The 54-member ECOSOC, a U.N. charter body which deals primarily with social and economic issues, begins a four-week session in Geneva June 26. And one of the topics for discussion will be access — or the lack thereof — to information.

The information available in cyberspace is worth millions of dollars, Kamal said, while access to that information can cost only a couple of thousands of dollars.

“If I have to get a single paragraph from a document, I just download the information I need. I don’t have to send my chauffeur to pick up an entire document,” he said.

“Can you imagine the time, effort, money and paper that could be saved?,” he said.

Addressing the Administrative and Budgetary Committee in November, Assistant-Secretary-General Benon Sevan said there has been a staggering increase in U.N. documents during the last few years.

The output in the Security Council alone increased from some 22,000 pages in 1989 to 87,000 pages in 1993.

“I do not think it is useful to hide from reality on this issue. In the United Nations, there is virtually no control or limitation of documentation,” he told the committee.

“The volume of paper has spiralled upwards beyond the ability of Conference Services to process it in a timely or cost-efficient manner,” he said.

The ECOSOC president says the ability to access information in cyberspace could save the United Nations millions of dollars by reducing its output of paper.

But the U.N. system is not geared to provide this information,” he added. “It is just not a priority for the United Nations.”

Speaking of the development crisis, Kamal said the very concept of development is at a crossroad “as everything else in the U.N. system.”

There are many positive and many negative factors. The positive factors, he said, are the emergence of new actors in the field: non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and private businesses.

The negative factors are the global economic recession and sharp reductions in development aid, Kamal said.

As part of civil society, the NGOs are emerging as partners in the development process– in social and economic development, and in humanitarian action.

In the field of humanitarian assistance, almost 80 percent of the funds are being channeled through NGOs, Kamal said.

“We are seeing a revolution in which civil society is becoming a participant in global development. This is happening not only in developing countries but also in industrial countries,” he added.

“This is only natural because the running theme is people- centred development,” he said.

The second emerging factor is the role of private business in the development process.

“Every day, about a trillion dollars is being moved across borders. No country in the world is capable of controlling it. Therefore we have to recognise the role of those who are moving these funds,” he said.

A third positive factor, he said, is the emergence of the concept of social development.

All of the recent U.N. conferences– in Rio de Janeiro, Vienna, Cairo and Copenhagen– were people-centred. The common factor linking them was social development.

Kamal also said that a major development now taking place is the move away from aid to trade. This was also the underlying theme of the Uruguay Round of global trade talks.

The global economic recession, which he described as one of the negative factors, should not be allowed to influence long-term thinking. “All recessions are time-bound in history,” he added.

Even donor-fatigue has to end, he said. “My view is that it cannot stand the test of time.”