(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
When the UN Security Council addressed the issue of sending international observers to Palestinian territories on the west bank of the Jordan River and Gaza, the public only became aware of Norway's position after the case was finalized. Norway abstained.
- Lack of information reduces people's ability to influence Norwegian work in the Security Council. The fact that the authorities have an information monopoly limits the public debate about our role in the council, says SV's representative in the Foreign Affairs Committee, Lisbeth Rugtvedt.
According to Aftenposten on Monday, Rugtvedt writes in a letter to Foreign Minister Thorbjørn Jagland that the information system around the work in the council is "very deficient" and that this "weakens the opportunities for the political environment to have qualified views on the work Norway does in the council".
During the Norwegian campaign to get one of the non-permanent seats in the UN Security Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs invested heavily in information work here at home. The Ministry employed two people full time to take care of this. Both the Foreign Ministry and the UN delegation created websites that disseminated information about the campaign and the candidacy.
In addition, the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute (NUPI), in collaboration with the UN, established a joint website that would create debate and facilitate contact between students, researchers and politicians with an interest in Norway's candidacy.
- What I am most upset about is that NUPI did not receive support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to maintain this independent website about Norway's role in the Security Council, says Rugtvedt.
In the editor's evaluation after the end of the site's first period, Torunn L. Tryggestad and Kirsti Svenning emphasize the need for such a page.
Reference is made to increased interest in Norway's opportunities and intentions in the Council as a background to the creation of the site. The site should also serve as a critical corrective to public information. The original website has been inactive since October 2000. Nevertheless, NUPI has registered up to 200 hits this month also in 2001.
- This shows that the interest in Norway's ongoing work in the Security Council is great. Journalists, students, bureaucrats and researchers would benefit from the information and background material that could have been gathered on such a site, writes director of NUPI, Sverre Lodgaard, in the application to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for support for further operation of the site.
No news
- It has been a long time since Norway last had a seat on the Security Council, and it is a long time until the next time we get such a seat. It is therefore important that we use the two years we are now sitting to gather experience about the work in the council. Without public debate and easy access to information for researchers and students, we will not be able to do this, says Rugtvedt, who believes that an international position associated with as much prestige as a seat on the Security Council requires the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to actively advocate a comprehensive information strategy. independent pages have a place.
The website of the Norwegian UN delegation has not been updated since 17. July, and no longer serves as a news source. Acting press spokesman in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gry A. Haaheim admits to Aftenposten that work on the site has been prioritized since Norway was given the seat in the Security Council. Since New Year, no one has worked exclusively with the information work. According to Haaheim, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will now again hire a person to carry out this work.
Today, monthly reports from the delegation's work in the Security Council are published on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' websites. This is highlighted by Haaheim to respond to the criticism from Rugtvedt.
- I know, however, that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs receives reports from the delegation every single day, says Rugtvedt, who does not want to speculate on whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs deliberately withholds information.
- I think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants a debate, says Rugtvedt, but emphasizes that the result will still be a limitation of the public exchange of opinions.
Ny Tid was unable to find up-to-date information about the work of the Sanctions Committee for Iraq, which Norway has chaired since the New Year, neither on the part of the UN delegation nor on the ministry's.
