18 December 1981

Establishment of an information systems unit in the Department of International Economic and Social Affairs

The General Assembly,

Recalling section XIII of its resolution 35/217 of 17 December 1980, by which it decided that the staffing complement of the Information Systems Unit would be funded temporarily by the regular budget for 1981 and that a report on the evaluation of the system should be submitted to the General Assembly at its thirty-sixth session,

Noting the report of the Inter-Organizational Board for Information Systems containing an evaluation of the Information Systems Unit, the report of the Secretary-General and the related report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions which provide information on the progress of the Unit since last year, and particularly of the section which outlines the role that the Unit can play in the maintenance of compatibility and the exchange of development information among the regional commissions,

Mindful of the limited size of both the data base and user community of the Development Information System and of the need to improve its coverage and services,

Considering that the Development Information System, in providing access to the unpublished reports and studies produced by or for the Department of International Economic and Social Affairs, the Department of Technical Co-operation for Development and other parts of the Secretariat, will be providing a needed and valuable service to Member States and other users of the system,

Further considering that the loss of the Development Information System could have a negative effect on international co-operation for development,

1. Requests the Secretary-General to continue the Information Systems Unit by absorbing the cost of the Unit from the resources proposed for the 1982-1983 programme budget through savings, economies and redeployment;

2. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination on the potential and appropriate institutional arrangements in regard to the Information Systems Unit which would enable it to serve as a focal point for the expansion, merging and distribution of the development-related data bases of the regional commissions and for the maintenance of the macrothesaurus;

3. Further requests the Secretary-General to undertake measures to improve the Development Information System in terms of its coverage and services;

4. Requests the Inter-Organizational Board to report through the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination and the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions on the Information Systems Unit performance and utility for consideration by the General Assembly at its thirty-eighth session.