Latvia – an initiator of a resolution just adopted by the United Nations for fighting the spread of disinformation and misinformation

On 25 March 2021, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution, “Global Media and Information Literacy Week”, which was drafted and co-sponsored by Latvia together with a number of other like-minded countries. This is the first UN resolution that calls for getting to grips with problems that arise in the information environment, including the fight against the spread of disinformation and misinformation. It is gratifying to see that being aware of the urgency of the issue the UN member states approved the resolution unanimously, and it was co-sponsored by 96 of 193 UN member states.

With this initiative, Latvia is going ahead with its last year’s efforts to address disinformation challenges in the UN framework, including in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (the so-called infodemic). In December 2020, during a special session of the United Nations General Assembly in Response to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic, the Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkēvičs, called for strengthening resilience against the spread of disinformation, especially during the pandemic when the spread of the virus is attributable to disinformation, and this affects people around the world. The Minister also pointed to the role of governments and other stakeholders in tackling these challenges, which has also been reflected in the final text of the resolution upon its adoption.

The “Global Media and Information Literacy Week” resolution encourages all UN member states, UN bodies, social media companies and other relevant partners and stakeholders to mark the Global Media and Information Literacy Week, focusing on disinformation challenges. Pursuant to a UNESCO decision, this theme is observed each year in the week running from 24 to 31 October 2020. The resolution aims at raising an individual’s ability to orient themself in and navigate through the information space as well as fighting disinformation and misinformation, while at the same time upholding freedom of speech and freedom of the media.

The Ambassador of Latvia to the United Nations in New York, Andrejs Pildegovičs, commented concerning the adoption of the resolution that the lessons of recent history of Latvia have taught us that ensuring broad media and information literacy among the public is one of the most effective “vaccinations” against disinformation, conspiracy theories and hate speech. By engaging actively in the drafting of the resolution, Latvia shared its experience as a mature and active player in the UN framework. Only by working together shall we be able to find a solution to this global threat which has acquired special urgency during the COVID-19 pandemic. I am happy that so many UN member states from various regions across the globe have supported our initiative. In particular, I would like to thank our Jamaican and Australian colleagues at the United Nations in New York for their leadership and support, the Latvian Ambassador said.

The Deputy Director of the Latvian Institute of International Affairs, Dr. Kārlis Bukovskis, points out that this is a tangible achievement of Latvia first of all from the perspective of building an overall diplomatic image of the state including at the time when Latvia is preparing to stand for election to a seat on the UN Security Council. Also the fact that Latvia consolidated and represented the opinion of the European Union at the UN demonstrates a new level of maturity in our foreign policy and the ability to manoeuvre between and with international institutions for the sake of achieving national goals. And last but not least, Latvia has been highlighting and raising to a global level the problems of media literacy and fighting disinformation. Therefore, Latvia should make every effort to set an example to others also at the level of its domestic policy, Dr. Bukovskis noted.

Twelve countries from all over the world – Australia, Burkina Faso, Chile, Costa Rica, Georgia, India, Jamaica, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Uganda – contributed to preparing of the resolution having begun the work on the draft toward the end of 2020. When the draft was completed, consultations led by the Permanent Representations of Australia and Jamaica took place with all UN member states. In the consultations, Latvia and Lithuania represented the opinion and interests of the European Union and its Member States in formulating the text of the resolution. Latvia’s involvement and proposals on the topic of media and information literacy in the UN framework were defined in close cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education and Science, the National Centre for Education, the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO, as well as representatives from non-governmental organisations.

See the Resolution here