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Seoul Declaration on Media and Information Literacy for Everyone and by Everyone
© UNESCO

On the 10th anniversary of Global Media and Information Literacy Week, stakeholders from all over the world gave a resounding affirmation as to the urgency to strengthen people’s media and information literacy competencies. The number of celebratory events increased from one hundred events in 2019 to over three hundred events in 2020. 

 

The outcomes of the deliberations in the Feature Conference and Youth Agenda Forum have been immortalized in the Seoul Declaration on Media and Information Literacy for Everyone and by Everyone: A Defence against Disinfodemics. This Seoul Declaration benefited from a consultation with close to one thousand registered participants. 

 

Through the Seoul Declaration, partners and participants called for media and information literacy for all. They:

  • Emphasized that “media and information literacy (MIL) is a core competency for addressing the disinfodemic, and that MIL also contributes to access to information, freedom of expression, protection of privacy, prevention of violent extremism, promotion of digital security and combating hate speech and inequality”.
  • Recognized “UNESCO’s effort to promote a Global MIL Cities Framework to stimulate creative learning about MIL in city spaces and the involvement of non-traditional actors in promoting MIL”.
  • Called on duty bearers at the national to city levels to “commit to advancing ‘Media and Information Literacy for Everyone and by Everyone’ through policy and resource allocation across all relevant areas, including education, health, elections, child protection, climate, gender equality, governance and regulation, to mention some examples”.
  • Urged technological intermediaries to “play an accountable role, through institutionalized multi-stakeholder systems, as part of the social endeavor to tackle disinformation and to build communities that are media and information literate”.
  • Requested UNESCO, in cooperation with other UN Agencies, to “maintain a focus on inclusion of disadvantaged groups in MIL engagements, and to continue to foster gender equality in relation to MIL.”

 

Read the full Seoul Declaration on Media and Information Literacy for Everyone and by Everyone: A Defence against Disinfodemics.

 

UNESCO is thankful to all our partners, chief among these the Republic of Korea for hosting and co-organizing the Global MIL Week 2020 Feature Events. UNESCO is also grateful to long standing supporters of the Organization’s global media and information literacy actions such as the European Commission and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. UNESCO gives a big thank you to members of the UNESCO MIL Alliance and all our other partners.

 

URL:

https://en.unesco.org/news/seoul-declaration-media-and-information-literacy-everyone-and-everyone-0