Address by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of the closing session of the Global Media Forum Bali, 28 August 2014 Excellency Tifatul Sembiring, Minister of Communication and Information Technologies of the Republic of Indonesia, Excellency Muhammad Nuh, Chair of Indonesian National Commission for UNESCO and Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia, Excellency Professor Wiendu Nuryanti, Vice Minister of Education and Culture of Indonesia, Mr Tariq Al-Ansari, Chief of Cabinet of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear young friends, It is a pleasure to be in Indonesia -- in this country of fabulous diversity, leading across the region, through the Association of South East Asian Nations, leading across the world. I thank the Government for its support in organising this Global Media Forum. This leadership reflects values that have deep roots. I recall well on 2 November, 2011, when His Excellency Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono spoke before the UNESCO General Conference and made a powerful appeal: DG/2014/115 Original: English
In the face of difficult times, embrace openness and cultural diversity with greater determination find solutions by reaching out to one another be more kind and compassionate. I believe the message was clear. For peace to be lasting, and development sustainable, we need openness, compassion and to reach out to each other. This is why every woman and man must be able to speak and have their voice heard. This is essential for dialogue. It is essential for democracy. It is essential for development. This is especially important now as countries seek new sources of dynamism, as the international community shapes a new agenda to follow 2015. The Millennium Declaration put forward a vision of a more just and prosperous world. Much has been achieved, but progress is uneven. At this critical juncture, we must do everything to accelerate to the Millennium Development Goals and shape an ambitious agenda to tackle new challenges. To move forward, we must learn from experience there is no one size fits all. We must harness also the power of every driver for inclusion and sustainability. This is the importance of freedom of expression. DG/2014/115 - Page 2
Freedom of expression is about the human rights and dignity of every woman and man. It is a wellspring for dialogue and mutual understanding. It is a force for innovation, for poverty eradication, for the rule of law, for good governance. It is essential for building inclusive knowledge societies. Today, this fundamental freedom faces a mixed horizon. More and more people can access, produce and share information. New technologies are revolutionising opportunities for dialogue. This is a blessing for creativity and exchange. But new threats are rising -- from digital controls, from violence. This is the picture portrayed in the UNESCO Report on World Trends on Freedom of Expression and Media Development, undertaken with the support of Sweden, whose Asia Pacific launch we just held. At this time of change, freedom of expression is essential for crafting a new and truly human-centred approach to development. Member States sent a clear message at the 2013 UNESCO General Conference in the resolution on the UNESCO contribution to the post-2015 agenda: Freedom of expression and universal access to [are] indispensable elements for flourishing democracies and to foster citizen participation [and must be] reflected in the post-2015 development agenda; The same message guides the World Summit on the Information Society, where UNESCO has a leading role. DG/2014/115 - Page 3
All of this reflects the ground-clearing work of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Personalities, co-chaired by the President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom, for the United Nations Secretary-General. This Report called for what it called a transparency revolution, where freedom of speech and media is respected along with the rule of law, access to justice and accountable governments to help drive development ( ) as a means to an end and an end in themselves. These ideas are now being taken forward by Member States, and I appeal for an ambitious agenda with human rights at its heart this is, indeed, the spirit of the Bali Roadmap we have agreed. We must also continue to act on the ground. This calls for harnessing new technologies for inclusive development -- this is the goal of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, co-chaired by UNESCO and the International Telecommunication Union. This calls for stronger legislative frameworks, for greater journalism training, for deeper youth media engagement these objectives guide UNESCO s work, for instance, in Lebanon and Jordan, and in Myanmar, and many others, where we are supporting the creation of a school of journalism. I wish to congratulate here the Youth Forum all of you are messengers for the values and ideas we share, of peace and dialogue, of greater mutual understanding, of more inclusive and sustainable development for all societies, based on human rights and human dignity for all. We need greater media and information literacy, to ensure everyone has the right and ability to speak out. Especially women. DG/2014/115 - Page 4
This is why UNESCO launched last year in Bangkok a Global Alliance on Gender and Media. This is why we supported a global survey on Violence and Harassment against Women in the Media, with the International Women s Media Foundation and the International News Safety Institute. We must stand up every time a journalist is killed this is an issue of rising importance and it is my responsibility as UNESCO Director-General, mandated to promote freedom of expression everywhere. This is the importance of the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, spearheaded by UNESCO this 2 November, we will mark the first United Nations International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists We must also make the most of media for dialogue and mutual understanding, within and across cultures, especially with young people, to challenge all stereotypes and all incitement to hatred - and I wish to thank the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations most especially for our co-operation here, for putting these issues on the international agenda, which is essential today. We must do all this, Ladies and Gentlemen, because freedom of expression is essential to dignity, dialogue, tolerance, democracy and sustainable development. The UNESCO Constitution, which helped in shaping the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, calls for the free flow of ideas by word and image as we shape a new agenda to follow 2015, this mandate has never been so important for international peace and the common welfare of humanity, and for the future we want for all. Thank you. DG/2014/115 - Page 5