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| Director-general
in Davos says education and cultural diversity are key to bridging
digital gap |
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Paris, January 29 - UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura
spoke of the importance of education and of respecting cultural
diversity in seeking to bridge the digital divide at the annual
meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) today.
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| In
an address at a Special Session on the Global Digital Divide
Initiative, Mr Matsuura described bridging the digital divide
as “one of the central challenges of our time […] in order to
build knowledge societies.” Highlighting UNESCO’s human concerns
in its work in education, the sciences, culture and communication,
the Director-General cautioned: “If the knowledge societies
are ever to take proper root and gain global acceptance, we
must look beyond the technical and gadget appeal of ICTs [information
and communication technologies] and home in on the human dimensions
of the digital divide: cultural and linguistic diversity of
contents, empowerment of civil society, privacy and ethical
issues, and access, especially by safeguarding the public domain.”
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| “There
will be no information for all without education for all”, Mr
Matsuura declared, referring to the international community’s
pledge to provide universal access to quality basic education
by the year 2015. “The education for all agenda, adopted last
year in Dakar, aims at combating poverty and ensuring development
and growth through an expansion of educational attainment and
quality,” the Director-General explained. Pointing to UNESCO’s
role as the lead agency in the drive for education for all,
Mr Matsuura declared: “We are determined to harness ICTs to
the full in translating the lofty political goals into practical
and tangible progress on the ground.” |
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| Mr
Matsuura further recalled his recent initiative in “suggesting
a new international Forum - the Global Alliance for Cultural
Diversity.” He explained: “This alliance should bring together
all players, from North and South, to launch concrete actions
to support developing countries which respect copyright regulations
in building information-age cultural industries. This is not
the only initiative since our partnership experience with teachers,
scientists, artists, librarians, archivists, media professionals
and their respective umbrella groups and associations, as well
as with the private sector, and our broad fields of expertise,
are together a unique asset within the UN system.” |
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Mr Matsuura stressed the fact that UNESCO - with its direct
access to governments, its long-standing and confident links
with professional associations and civil society organizations;
including influential media organizations and its budding relations
with the private sector - is ideally placed to initiate a badly
needed new, global policy dialogue involving all actors in the
campaign to bridge the digital divide. |
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| UNESCO
has broken new ground by using radio to introduce rural communities
to the new technologies. A new partnership programme to combine
community broadcasting with Internet and related technologies
was launched at the seminar “Integrating Modern and Traditional
Information and Communication Technologies for Community Development”
organized last week by UNESCO with the Sri Lankan government,
Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and the Kothmale Internet
Project of Kothmale Community Radio. |
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More information on the Seminar and on Recommendations adopted
by the grass root community development workers who attended
it, can be found on the Net at: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/Kothmale
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