Information Centre
History
of Agency in the World and Iran
In
1946 the first UN General Assembly established the Department of Public
Information (DPI) and set out the general guidelines for its activities. One of
these guidelines called upon DPI to establish “branch offices…in order to
ensure that peoples in all parts of the world receive as full information as
possible about the United Nations”. Iran, as a founding member of the United
Nations, was among the first countries to have a United Nations Information
Centre (UNIC),which began its operations within a few
months of its establishment in May 1950. However, the Centre’s operations were
suspended in 1980. It was revived in 1991.
Priorities
Globally and in Iran
UNIC
is the principal local source of public information about the United Nations
system in Iran and around the world. As an active link between the UN and the
local media, educational institutions, government organizations and the civil
society, the Centre provides up-to-date public information on the aims and
activities of the United Nations in political, economic, social and humanitarian
fields. The Centre’s priority themes recently have been advocacy on Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), UN reforms, human rights, particularly the 60th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and peacekeeping.
Main
projects/activities in Iran
UNIC
assists in meeting the Secretary-General’s requirements, especially during
visits to the country, as well as providing professional, logistical and
administrative assistance in the field of information dissemination to UN
offices and operations in Iran, depending on their needs and circumstances.
As
Chair of the UN Communications Group (UNCG)-Iran and the focal point for UN’s
public information activities, UNIC projects a unified approach and image of
the UN Country Team in Iran.
UNIC
is linked to UN Headquarters and receives a daily roundup of news on UN
activities at its Headquarters and around the world as well as news on UN
agencies’ activities in Iran. Items that are of the most interest to the
Iranian people are selected and translated into Persian and dispatched to all
the major print and electronic media. UNIC Director also gives interviews on
important UN issues. UNIC also organizes press conferences for UN officials.
In
order to reach a larger audience, UNIC translates major UN documents, books,
brochures and publications into Persian and distributes them free of cost to
the media, universities, government organizations, ministries, NGOs etc.
UNIC
staff members respond to requests from NGOs and educational institutions on the
work of the United Nations. UNIC organizes special events to mark UN
observances such as the UN Day, the International Day of Peace and so on. UNIC
also assists NGOs when they organize their own activities on issues of concern
to the UN or want accreditation with the DPI/NGO section.
UNIC
promotes teaching about the UN through direct contact with teachers and
students in schools and universities by speaking to them and answering their
questions, in organizing Model UN sessions and in making available documents,
publications and videos geared to young audiences.
UNIC
helps and organise workshops on issues such as MDGs,
disaster risk reduction and other relevant topics, for journalists, teachers
and any other group interested in such workshops.
UNIC’s
bilingual web site features key UN documents in Persian and English.
UNIC
answers all public inquiries on the UN, including requests for UN documents or
any relevant information.
A
well-stocked library is one of the main features of UNIC. It contains United
Nations official documents and books, including on peacekeeping and peacemaking,
human rights, economic and other social developments, disaster relief,
environment and other reference materials such as reports, debates and
resolutions from the General Assembly and the Security Council. A collection of
UN photographs, videos in VHS format, DVDs and posters are also available.
|
Address: United Nations
Building No. 8, Shahrzad Blvd., Darrous,
Tehran, Iran, P.O. Box 15875/4557 Tel: (98-21) 2287 3837
(Direct)/2286 069-4/2286 0925-8
E-mail: unic.tehran@unic.org Facsimile: (98-21) 2287 3395
website: www.unic-ir.org |