By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Jayathma Wickramanayake of Sri Lanka is the new UN Envoy on Youth. She succeeds Ahmad Alhendawi of Jordan. Announcing this appointment, Secretary-General António Guterres said he was grateful for Alhendawi’s dedicated service in addressing the needs and rights of young people, bringing the work of the United Nations closer to them.

The success of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development depends on empowering young people as rights-holders, agents of change and torchbearers, Guterres said.

“Having represented and motivated global youth development on an international level since the age of 21, notably during high-level United Nations initiatives including the declaration of World Youth Skills Day,” the announcement on June 20 added, Wickramanayake “has also played a key role in transforming the youth development sector at the national level, notably through the creation of a large movement for civic and political engagement of young people named ‘Hashtag Generation’.”…

By Shastri Ramachandaran

TASHKENT | SAMARKAND (IDN) – Cultural legacies, with their inevitable potential for controversies compounded by competing claims between contending nations, can be fraught affairs. Disputes over art works and artefacts of one country being found in another are legion. The UNESCO convention, which mandates return of illegally acquired objects to country of origin when provenance is established beyond doubt, is actually an acknowledgement that disputes are bound to persist and, therefore, require a basis to be addressed.

Although there are numerous instances where countries have resolved disputes over cultural objects in an amicable manner, many a long-running controversial case remains unresolved. One of the best-known cases is that of India’s fabled Kohinoor diamond.…

By Neena Bhandari

SIEM REAP/BATTAMBANG, Cambodia (IDN) – The once conflict ridden, impoverished country of Cambodia has made significant strides towards stability and progress, but it is still facing several socio-economic development challenges.

In 2016, it became a lower middle-income country after recording an annual average economic growth of seven percent over the past decade. “The country’s economy has trebled and the number of people living in poverty has halved in the last 15 years. We have to set development issues in the context of those successes,” says Nick Beresford, United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Cambodia Country Director. (P Extra)
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By Fackson Banda

Fackson Banda is Programme Specialist in the Bureau of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC).

PARIS (IDN) – As social media expands, journalism is more special than ever: This is the conviction expressed by participants at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) colloquium, aptly titled ‘Journalism under fire: challenges of our times’.

The event took place on March 23, a day after the bureau of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) wound up its 61st meeting, having approved support for almost 50 media projects especially in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).…

By Guy Berger

Guy Berger is Director, Division of Freedom of Expression and Media Development.

PARIS (IDN) – While global controversies around “fake news” continue unabated, UNESCO holds two events at its Paris HQ this week which will give more insight into the issues.

First up is an annual meeting on media development, held by the eight UNESCO Member States who serve on the Bureau of the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC).…