Bishkek (1 June 2010) -- The American University of Central Asia’s (AUCA) Central Asia Migration Research Network recently published its100th e-news digest. The Bishkek-based university launched the weekly news digest in 2008 to promote exchange of news and research on migration in the region.
 
Aida Alymbaeva, Director of AUCA’s Social Research Center (SRC), describes the network as "primarily an electronic venue for exchange of ideas and info on current and future research projects, conferences and journals among its members.”

In 2009 AUCA began a partnership with the UNESCO Almaty office to expand the reach of the migration network.   

Almaty (26 May 2010) The UNESCO Almaty Cluster Office for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and the World Media Group/MDA Group invites young photographers to participate in a Preventive Education Project on social issues related to HIV and AIDS.

The project aims to attract the attention of society, including decision makers, to HIV and AIDS through photography. Photography is one of the main visual means by which people can understand and feel the depth of the important social issues. Images, color and shading can be emotionally eloquent, telling us not only about the transmission of infection, but also helping us to realize that each of us is at risk.  

This World Press Freedom Day, whose theme is Freedom of Information, offers us an occasion to remember the importance of our right to know.

Freedom of Information is the principle that organisations and governments have a duty to share or provide ready access to information they hold, to anyone who wants it, based on the public’s right to be informed.

The right to know is central for upholding other basic rights, for furthering transparency, justice and development. Hand-in-hand with the complementary notion of freedom of expression, it underpins democracy.

We may not consciously exercise our right to know. But each time we pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV or radio news, or go on the Internet, the quality of what we see or hear depends on these media having access to accurate and up to date information.     

I call on all UNESCO’s partners – governments, parliamentarians, international agencies, non-governmental organizations, communities, teachers and students – to participate in the 2010 Global Action Week on Education for All. This annual advocacy campaign, organized by the Global Campaign for Education, is taking place this year from 19-25 April under the important theme of financing.

We must address the global challenge of financial support for Education for All. In recent years, many countries have increased their education budgets and international aid for education has risen. Yet we will need an additional US$16 billion to provide basic education for all children, youth and adults by 2015.

We must also ensure that funding for education reaches those on the margins of society who need it most.  

Water is fundamental to life on earth. For human populations and ecosystems to thrive, that water must be clean, it must stay clean and, most importantly, it must be accessible to all.

World Water Day 2010 calls for “Clean Water for a Healthy World”. As we celebrate this Day, let us consider the facts. More than 2.5 billion people live without proper sanitation. An estimated 884 million people, the majority of them in Africa, do not have access to safe drinking water. Some 1.5 million children under five die each year from sickness caused by water-borne diseases. The degradation of water quality in rivers, streams, lakes, and groundwater systems has a direct impact on ecosystems and human health. This state of affairs represents an unspeakable human tragedy, and is also major obstacle to development.

12 October 2009 - Nauruz celebration and Katta Ashula (Uzbekistan) are among the 76 elements inscribed on 30 September 2009 on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

These 76 inscriptions were decided by the 24 Member States of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage, which held its 4th session in Abu Dhabi from 28 September to 2 October under the chairmanship of Awadh Ali Saleh Al Musabi (United Arab Emirates). One of the tasks of the Committee will be to inscribe the first elements on UNESCO’s List of Intangible Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding and on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

18 June 2009 - The World Heritage Committee will consider requests for the inscription of new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List when it meets for its 33rd session in Seville, Spain on 22-30 June.

During this year’s session, two Central Asian countries, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, will present properties – respectively the Suleiman-Too Sacred Mountain and the Tajik National Park of the Pamirs - for inscription. None of the two countries has properties inscribed on the List to date.

Central Asia with its unique historical background and numerous cultural and natural heritage sites remains one of the most under-represented regions on the World Heritage List.

22 May 2009. UNESCO has long been concerned with the implications of our changing environment, its scientific causes and the importance of communicating accurate information about it to the public.

The International Conference on “Broadcast Media and Climate Change” which will be held on 4 and 5 September 2009 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, in partnership with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), regional broadcasting unions and international broadcasting organizations, will bring together broadcasters, scientific organizations and climate-related agencies to examine the crucial role and potential of the broadcast media in raising public awareness on climate change and the importance of strategic partnerships to achieve this goal.

Coming just three months ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Copenhagen, Denmark, the outcomes of this international conference on broadcast media and climate change will contribute to the high level discussions in December. I look forward to joining forces with you in developing a unified approach to tackling climate change through the media.

14 May 2009. UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the UNESCO Cluster Office in Almaty, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Kazakhstan National Commission for UNESCO are organizing the 5th UNESCO Sub-regional Workshop on the Serial World Heritage Nomination of the Silk Roads to be held from 19 to 23 May 2009 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

In spite of its remarkable historical background and numerous historic and cultural sites in the region, Central Asia and western China remain one of the most under-represented regions on the World Heritage List, with no cultural or natural heritage properties from Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan inscribed on the List.

Every year, World Press Freedom Day provides an opportunity to affirm the importance of freedom of expression and press freedom – a fundamental human right enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On World Press Freedom Day 2009 UNESCO is highlighting the potential of the media to foster dialogue, mutual understanding and reconciliation.

Communicating across cultural differences is a central challenge of the contemporary world where globalizing forces have accelerated interactions among peoples. The media, viewed as an arbitrator, has an important role to play in encouraging and facilitating this communication and in providing an open platform for debate among all parts of society.