New York, 2 May 2018.During her statement at the general debate of the 40th Session of the United Nations Committee on Information, the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the Organization, Ambassador Mrs.Anayansi Rodríguez Camejo, stated that although the use of and access to Internet and new information and communications technologies is a particularly important issue today, it is a regrettable reality that millions of people on the planet continue to be excluded from their benefits. She added that unequal access to these technologies increases the digital divide between the developed countries of the North and the underdeveloped countries of the South, exacerbating the lack of equity and social justice.
At the same time, the Cuban diplomat reflected that it is derisory to think that 842 million people who suffer from hunger and 1.2 billion who are in extreme poverty worldwide can access new technologies and have some level of digital literacy. She further noted that Internet access is denied to more than 780 million adults and 100 million young people who are illiterate across the globe.
Rodríguez Camejo called on the Committee on Information to implement actions to allow wider social appropriation of information technologies and reduce technological and social gaps. She acknowledged that the UN plays an essential role in this regard, by promoting objective, factual and unbiased news, not only through new communications technologies, but also using traditional media, such as radio, key to spread knowledge to poor and illiterate people who lack other forms of communication.
She also highlighted that the work of the Committee on Information, the Department of Communications and Public Information (DPI) and the Information Centers is essential for the dissemination of the work of the United Nations, and for promoting the transparency and accountability of the Organization. She also referred to the defense of multilingualism and parity in the treatment of the six official languages of the United Nations, and to the importance of maintaining as priority tasks in the work of the DPI the promotion of the eradication of colonialism and other forms of foreign occupation and support for the Palestinian cause.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations.