Pattern of conferences
A/RES/74/252
innovative methods to increase awareness of the programmes, including through
partnerships with Member States, relevant international organizations and language
institutions in all regions, in particular to close the wide gap of qualified candidates
from Africa and from the Latin American and Caribbean region, and to report thereon
to the General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session;
115. Notes with appreciation the positive experience with language traineeships
in training young professionals and in attracting them to the United Nations, while
enhancing the pool of qualified language professionals in language combinations that
are critical for succession-planning purposes, and encourages the Secretary-General
to continue his efforts in this regard;
116. Notes that the “African project” has the aim of establishing postgraduate
university programmes in translation, conference interpreting and public service
interpreting through centres of excellence on the African continent, and requests the
Secretary-General to continue to report on the achievements of this project;
117. Also notes the difficulties encountered in identifying and retaining
qualified language professionals and the need to replenish the pool of language
experts at the main duty stations, particularly New York and Nairobi, in order to
prevent further negative impact on the capacity of the Secretariat to provide services
in the six official languages of the United Nations;
118. Welcomes the efforts made by the Secretary-General to raise awareness
among all Member States and the general public of career opportunities in conference
services, including through the increased use of social media;
119. Notes the update provided by the Secretary-General regarding the pilot
project related to the outposting to Vienna of translators from the French Translation
Service in New York, and requests the Secretary-General to provide to the General
Assembly at its seventy-fifth session further updates on this matter, including on the
quality of services, a cost-benefit analysis, information on workload-sharing and
lessons learned;
120. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to improve and strengthen his
initiatives related to training and replenishing the language capacity of the
Organization, including through the outreach programmes, in order to ensure
sufficient capacity to address the interpretation and translation requirements of the
Organization;
121. Also requests the Secretary-General to continue to liaise with permanent
missions to identify outreach opportunities with universities, educat ional institutions
and language learning centres located worldwide in order to ensure the continued
availability of high-quality professional language services in the six official
languages of the United Nations;
122. Further requests the Secretary-General to continue to improve and expand
the list of universities having memorandums of understanding and other collaborative
arrangements with the United Nations, ensuring the inclusion of universities,
educational institutions and language learning centres located in all geographical
regions, whenever possible.
52nd (resumed) plenary meeting
27 December 2019
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