Write a short note on UNESCO's initiative in Information and Communication

Information and communication have occupied the United Nations system since its early years. As early as 1946, one year after the UN was founded, the ‘free flow of information’ principle was agreed on.

Two years later, in 1948, the UN summoned its member nations to an International Conference on Freedom of Information; that same year, the UN also adopted a Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

All states should proclaim policies under which the free flow of information within countries and across frontiers will be protected. The right to seek and transmit information should be insured in order to enable the public to ascertain facts and appraise events.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

It was with the founding of the UN and UNESCO that norm-setting in relation to information and communication was elaborated on an international plane. In the beginning, the normative role of the UN and UNESCO was closely aligned with work relating to the protection of human rights.

Chronic imbalances in international information flows became the focus of attention, and a new doctrine concerning ‘the free flow of information’ emerged.