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Official launching ceremony of the project "General History of Africa " in Côte d'Ivoire

Slovenia's education response to the influx of Ukrainian students

Croatia's education response to the influx of Ukrainian students

Crafting the sea. New directions towards a balanced relationship between societies and their environment

Crafting the sea is a 15month multidisciplinary innovative project aimed at identifying local knowledge for monitoring climate change identifying biodiversity mitigating risks and promoting a more balanced relationship between humans and nature To this end the project focuses on the marine life of the Rovinj archipelago a NATURA2000 protected area in Croatia The first phase of the project which ran from May to October concentrated on identification and research and included a 3day workshop on 1921 October on the nexus between intangible cultural heritage and sustainable humannature relationships

December 9, 2021

Tools for the protection of cultural and historical heritage in the Sava River Basin

On 19 January 2021 the International Sava River Basin Commission and UNESCO with the support of other SHELTER project partners held successfully online the Sava Open Lab Third Stakeholder workshop Under the guidance of the SHELTER team 28 stakeholders from 6 Member States discussed the results and next steps of the research undertaken within the project The workshop discussed the several tools for cultural and historical heritage in the Sava River Basin and essential future needs of the SHELTER project With the participation of the stakeholders the selected resilience indicators and factsheets for the Sava open lab were also presented during the workshop

Museums in Slovenia show culture is positive and meaningful in the time of COVID-19

Kaja Širok is the Director of the National Museum of Contemporary History of Slovenia and a research fellow at the Faculty of Arts Department for Sociology in Ljubljana A historian by training her PhD in Cultural studies focused on contested memories and identity making in the border areas She discusses with us in this interview the impact of the pandemic crisis on culture and the mitigation of its effects Ms Širok serves as a member of the International Council of Museums ICOM Ethics Committee and the International Committee of Memorial Museums in Remembrance of the Victims of Public Crimes ICMEMO She is the president of the ICOM Slovenia and a member of the Academic Committee of the House of European History museum

December 23, 2020

Discussion between the President of Slovenia and the Director-General of UNESCO

November 20, 2020

Corona Virus Media Watch launched by UNESCO’s International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence in Slovenia

The global COVID19 outbreak has been described as a pandemic by World Health Organization WHO following almost 125000 cases that have been reported to WHO from 118 countries and territories World leaders including UNESCO DirectorGeneral Audrey Azoulay have called for solidarity and action to address emerging challenges due to the spread of COVID19

Agreement to establish the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence in Ljubljana signed

AI has the potential to accelerate the achievement of sustainable development goals but also contribute towards new challenges that we must anticipate Aggressive deployment of AI is raising many ethical questions across the globe as its configuration rapidly transforms various spheres of human agency This underlines the importance of a humancentred approach to maximize benefits and counter challenges and the significance of plans to create an International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence IRCAI as a UNESCO Category 2 centre in Ljubljana Slovenia The Agreement was signed on distance by Slovenias Minister of Education Science and Sport and Deputy Prime Minister Dr Jernej Pikalo and UNESCOs Assistant DirectorGeneral for Communication and Information Mr Moez Chakchouk as the representative of the Director General on 5 March 2020 During the ceremony Mr Pikalo expressed his confidence in the Governments partnership with UNESCO and noted This agreement between UNESCO and the Government of Slovenia illustrates a strong foundation for the future activities of IRCAI and represents a direct response to the challenges many member states are faced with in view of emerging AI technologies For his part Mr Chakchouk thanked the Government of Slovenia and the Deputy Prime Minister and noted that AI can help to pave the way for new opportunities for sustainable development and help in constructing knowledge societies This Centre represents a shared vision by the Government of Slovenia and UNESCO to better understand AIs role for humanity The establishment of IRCAI was debated during UNESCOs Executive Board at its 206th session and was subsequently approved during the 40th session of the UNESCO General Conference This validated the proposal and authorized the DirectorGeneral to sign an agreement between UNESCO and the Government of Slovenia concerning the establishment and operation of the Centre The Centre will not only maximize the benefits of AI to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals but also expedite a multistakeholder mechanism to put AI under the litmus test of ethical legal openness and policy challenges The Centre will also add a unique focus and further expertise on UNESCOs AI programmes In particular it will leverage the power and capability of AI across various areas of competence of UNESCO by generating relevant statistics on AI AIrelated applications and associated technological innovations The creation of the Centre also takes place against the backdrop of a recentlylaunched UNESCO publication Steering AI and Advanced ICTs for Knowledge Societies This publication highlights some of the challenges and opportunities of AI from a human rights openness inclusive access and multistakeholder perspective It advocates for steering clear of both technological utopianism and dystopian thinking while giving attention to the role of human agency and humancentred values in the development of AI Category 2 centres under the auspices of UNESCO are established and funded by Member States to contribute to the achievement of UNESCOs objectives Though not legally part of the Organization these Centres are associated with UNESCO through formal arrangements approved by the General Conference More information about UNESCOs work on humancentred AI is available at httpsenunescoorgartificialintelligence For more information on this article please contact Bhanu Neupane bneupaneunescoorg

Mobility of artists and mutual projects on CoMoCoSEE agenda to enhance regional cooperation

The Council of Ministers of Culture of SouthEast Europe convened its ministerial gathering in Rijeka Croatia on 1 February 2020 with the support of UNESCO The event coincided with the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and with the inauguration of the European Capital of Culture programme Rijeka 2020 − Port of Diversity The Council reaffirmed its commitment to further enhancing and strengthening regional cooperation in the field of culture on multilateral and bilateral level considering the culture and its diversity as an essential factor in achieving dialogue improved neighbourly relations and better cohesion in the region in the spirit of mutual understanding respect peace and stability

February 17, 2020