5/1/2003

Anxious staff of U.N. Information Centres were told over six months ago that "the train had left the station," but no clear indication was given about its destination. The message circulated at the outset that the closure of the Centres, particularly in Europe, was being done under pressure by some powerful government turned out to be inaccurate; they may have agreed to what was being presented to them as money-saving effective reform, but it was the Secretariat which -- for the first time in 58 years -- was taking such action. Staff who spent the prime of their career life in the field, in Centres like Madrid, Lisbon, Athens, Rome or Paris -- were wondering what was next for them.

Ambiguous drafting only resulted in more confusion and more demoralization. "Reform" changes -- and the phasing out of most of those with institutional memory about the Centres -- fed the impression that they no longer mattered. Clearly those in the Centre Services in New York care and try to present the extent of what are the achievements of the field offices. But at the Director's level and above, the intention seems to be quite different.

With the opening of the Committee on Information debate, it became clear that several European governments are not keen on the proposed approach (whatever it may end up), and, with the possible exception of London, the proposal to have the regional "hub" in Brussels did not find enthusiastic support. By the time a consensus decision is agreed and presented to the next Assembly session, there are some well-informed people who perceive a trend to privatize some aspects of work of the Department of Public Information. Private public relations firms with special influence within the Secretariat (and Department) at this period are likely to have urged dispensing with official U.N. offices particularly where budgets are high and redeploy at least a bulk of the money to public relations companies in specific key countries to undertake special service agreements. What, or more precisely whom, will they really promote and for what purpose? A question is being floated at this time, pending a further search for answers. A starting test may be in London. Let's wait and see.