Mr. Salim Lone, Director, News and Media Division, DPI, represented the United Nations at the 11th General Assembly of heads of news agencies of Asian and Pacific countries last April. He met with the UNIC Moscow staff to brief them on current UN priorities in its relations with the media.

Why is it so important for the UN to be able to carry its own information message across?

Secretary-General Kofi Annan, from the moment he came to office, has emphasized the need for the United Nations to be open and transparent. What he wanted to do was to inaugurate the culture of communication in the UN. He believes profoundly that the UN, which is a model for so many organizations and institutions, should also be a leader in the area of communication. So, as part of that effort the Department of Public Information is undertaking a number of steps to live up to the challenge he has established. One of the keys to this open and transparent communication is to communicate with the world directly from New York. It is very important for journalists all over the world to be able to receive news directly from the UN. One of the most telling examples of this commitment on the part of the Organization to become more literally a global communication organization was the release of the Secretary-General’s Millennium Report. Because, for the first time ever, the Secretary-General released the report not just in New York, but literally in every region of the world, by means of a video conference.

I think this idea of top UN officials communicating live with people of the world will be even more popular when we take up the subject that is of a particular interest to the region.

What is the role of UNICs in this process?

Having assumed his office, the Secretary-General has set up an independent task force, which used to be chaired by Mr. Marc Malloch Brown. This group was asked to prepare a report that would lay out a basic communication strategy for the Organization – again, this was done for the first time in the history of the Organization. The focus of that report was on the need for the UN to disseminate its specific message in every country, because the significance of the global message can be lost unless it is interpreted according to the local realities. So, the UNICs and other UN information offices are key to that effort. After the adoption of that report their role has come to be recognized even more.

What would you wish to the media?

I wish them to concentrate on a whole new set of global values which is now being created in the world, and on the key role the UN is playing in the process. Very few could have foretold even five years ago that human rights would become such an important concern, that nations would go to war to stop a government from killing its own people, or that a Secretary-General would ask the General Assembly to review the traditional interpretation of sovereignty because it did not always allow nations to do justice to the protection and aspirations of their people. So, I would urge my colleagues to pay more attention to the human-centred and consensus-building aspect of the Organization’s work.

Those news agencies and other media interested in expanding their coverage of the Organization would find a ready partner in the UN Department of Public Information.

A conference on the subject "Sustaining Our Future: A View from Russia" took place on May 19 in Dubna, a town north of Moscow. UNIC Moscow organized the event in collaboration with the Russian National Committee for Environmental Protection (UNEPCOM) and the Dubna International University of Nature, Society and Man. The discussion focused on the UN Secretary-General’s Millennium Report (setting the agenda for the Millennium Summit in September).

The gathering turned out to be quite representative, with participants coming from Government agencies, academia, different segments of civil society and business. They adopted a special appeal, which, among other things, emphasizes that the state of the environment in Russia, due to its vast territory, cannot but influence both the neighbouring countries and the global environment. According to the document, Russia’s diverse historically accumulated potential should be more actively involved in the process of sustaining the future of humanity. Also, the Appeal stresses that the leadership of the UN and UNEP should make greater use of Russian scientists and experts for solving problems in the field of the environment and sustainable development.

On April 20, UNHCR signed an agreement with the State University on Management in Moscow. Under the agreement, UNHCR will allocate US$42,000 to the Institute for Migration Process Management which was established within the framework of the University in January 2000. The Institute will train civil servants dealing with migration and refugee management issues. The funds provided by UNHCR will be spent to purchase furniture for classrooms, to provide scholarships for two CIS students to study at the Institute, and to give an opportunity for professors and students of the Institute to participate in refugee law training events abroad. Students of the Institute will be provided with internships to work at the UNHCR Refugee Reception Center.

UNHCR is carrying out several projects in Moscow and in various Regions of Russia with the aim to develop a more tolerant attitude among the local population towards refugees and persons who found themselves in a refugee-like situation. "Refugees are not a threat, they are threatened themselves!" This is a message, which UNHCR tries to deliver to the public at large.

Thus, UNHCR held, jointly with the Association of Heads of Regional Media, a workshop for journalists of regional newspapers in Moscow on April 26-28. Journalists from 37 Russian regions, including editors-in-chief and columnists of leading local newspapers, participated in the workshop. The participants were provided with update information on the current migration in Russia, on UNHCR’s priorities in its work in Russia in 2000, and its current operations in various regions of Russia. They also were given a chance to meet high-ranking officials in charge of refugees and migrants’ issues. During the workshop a discussion took place on how to cover this burning issue for the benefit of refugees and to develop understanding of this acute problem among the local population. Journalists visited the UNHCR Refugee Reception Center in Moscow and interviewed some of the non-CIS asylum seekers.

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The magazine is widely circulated among federal, governmental, legislative, and academic bodies and non-governmental organizations.

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On May 24–26, Volgograd hosted the "Stalker" Human Rights Film Festival. A two-day action, Refugee Rights Film Monitoring, was held within the framework of the Festival. This is a joint project of UNHCR and the Guild of Russian Filmmakers. During two days, Volgograd citizens had a chance to see free of charge, at the city’s two main movie theatres, documentary and feature films about refugees, migrants and formered deported people, and to meet with directors of those films. A round table, "The Role of Cinema and Media in Protecting the Rights of Refugees and Migrants", was held as part of this action. The roundtable was attended by representatives of local non-governmental organizations and neighbouring regions (the Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and Asrtakhan oblasts and the Republic of Udmurtia), by local authorities, including Galina Khorosheva, Deputy Governor of the Volgograd Oblast, migrants from CIS countries, refugees from Afghanistan, displaced persons from Chechnya and spectators. The local media gave extensive coverage to this event.

UNHCR will expand its assistance to internally displaced persons in the North Caucasus until the end of 2000 under the UN humanitarian assistance programme for persons displaced as a result of the hostilities in Daghestan and Chechnya. A new interagency appeal will be launched in June.

By the end of June, UNHCR had sent 74 convoys with humanitarian relief items to the North Caucasus: 67 to Ingushetia, eight to Daghestan, one to North Ossetia, one to Karachaevo-Circassia and two to Chechnya.