United Nations

NEW YORK, 1 September (UN Headquarters) -- The Department of Public Information (DPI) is launching a completely redesigned United Nations Home Page on the Internet (http://www.un.org) today,1 September.  The new Home Page provides a uniform look and feel to information presented in the Organization’s six official languages:  Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.  The range and scope of material available in official languages has greatly increased since the Home Page was first launched as a pilot project in June 1995.  A new welcome page invites users to browse the Web site in any of these languages.

The user will find quick and easy access to five thematic categories:  peace and security; economic and social development; human rights; humanitarian affairs; and international law.  There is similar access to United Nations documentation and maps, United Nations publications, stamps and databases, and information in multimedia format.

In addition, the main page features information about the structure of the Organization, Member States, the Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly, issues on the United Nations agenda, its partnership with civil society and the business community, conferences and events, including the United Nations Millennium Summit and Millennium Assembly, and CyberSchoolBus, the educational component of the site for teachers and young people.

An explanation of what lies under each link appears when browsing the site. This is intended to help the user locate information more quickly and easily.  Every effort has been made to downsize graphics and sound files, so that information can be retrieved as fast as possible, with a relatively low-speed connection.

The site was redesigned by the DPI following consultation with experts in Web site development, and taking into account feedback from various user groups, including journalists, Secretariat departments, graduate students and the general public. 

 The DPI coordinates and maintains the United Nations Web site with the technical cooperation of the Information Technology Services Division of the Office of Central Support Services.  Depart- ments and offices in the Secretariat cooperate with the Department to provide content to the site.  The site routinely receives nearly 1 million accesses daily, transferring over 10 gigabytes of data to users in 152 countries. 

For more information, please contact Mahbub Ahmad, Chief, Information Technology Section, Department of Public Information, at tel. 963-6974 or at ahmad@un.org.