Pursuant to the marking, by the UNESCO General Conference on 17 November 2015, of 28 September as the “International Day for Universal Access to Information”, the inaugural commemoration meeting of this day was organised by the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO, in cooperation with the Bureau for Media Studies and Planning of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance of the IR of Iran, on 2 October 2016, at the Iranian Capital, Tehran, at the conference hall of the Bureau for Media Studies and Planning. The meeting hosted University professors and students in Communication and Information Technologies, experts in modern ICTs and media professionals.
Initially Mrs (Dr.) Gita Aliabadi, Head of the Bureau for Media Studies and Planning of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance of the IR of Iran, welcomed the participants, introducing them to this new international day, expressing her gratitude of acting as the first host to the participants of this important inaugural international Day in the IR of Iran.
The session continued by the speech of Mrs Esther Kuisch-Laroche, Director and Representative of the UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office. Focusing on the message of the UNESCO Director General, Madam Irina Bokova, on this occasion, Mrs Kuisch-Laroche introduced man’s need to access knowledge and information as a fundamental human right, required for taking forward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, promoting human rights and dignity, eradicating poverty and building inclusive knowledge societies. She then referred to the four pillars of freedom of expression, universal access to information and knowledge, respect for cultural and linguistic diversity and quality education for all, upon which, in UNESCO’s view, knowledge societies should be built. “UNESCO’s thrust to create knowledge societies is premised on the conviction that universal access to information is key to building peace, sustainable economic development, and intercultural dialogue. We therefore promote ‘Openness’ in content, technology, and processes through awareness raising, policy formulation and capacity-building. These solutions include Open Access to Scientific Information, Open Educational Resources, Free and Open Source Software, an Open Training Platform and Open and Distance Learning”, she continued.
Emphsising the role of the media in people’s daily lives as a source of information, the speaker said, “media and information literacy recognizes the primary role of information in our everyday lives. It empowers citizens to understand the functions of media and other information providers, to critically evaluate their content, and to make informed decisions as users and producer of information and media”. She emphasised the importance of promoting media literacy for youth.
“Here, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, UNESCO Has been working on the topic of information literacy for the past two years”, continued the speaker, with reference to the workshop held on Information Literacy for Teachers, jointly with the ICT Organization, the ICT Research Centre, the Ministry of Education and the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO.
The third speaker was Dr Sadollah Nasiri Gheydari, Secretary General of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO. He spoke about the international days proclaimed by UNESCO and the need for the UNESCO Member States to commemorate these days, highlighting the importance of the events regarding which the days were marked. He introduced information as the differentiating element between humans and other living creatures on earth. He explained that enabling and facilitating open access to information were important missions of UNESCO that entrust Member States with the responsibility of providing freedom of expression and opinion and facilitating access to information in which trend UNESCO has proclaimed an International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI). The speaker then referred to the particular relevance of IDUAI with the new 2030 Development Agenda and in particular with the SDG target 16.10, which calls for ensuring public access to information and protection of fundamental freedoms. Emphasising the importance of the commitment of Member States to implementing the 17 SDGs and their associated targets, he then referred to SDG4 (ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all) and the 31 task groups established by the IR of Iran, comprising educational experts, policy-makers and planners to draft the National Education 2030 Document.
In conclusion, he referred to facilitating access to information and freedom of information and the need for relevant functional national regulations as the means for strengthening the infrastructures of the cyberspace.
Following the opening ceremony, a roundtable was held with the presence of Dr Hossein Entezami, Deputy Head for Media and Information Affairs of the Iranian Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance; Dr Mohammad Mahdi Forghani, Dean, Faculty of Communication Sciences, Allameh Tabataba’I University; Mrs (Dr.) Mohadesseh Mohebhosseini, Head of the Education Department of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO; Dr Hassan Namakdoost, Journalist; and Dr Mohammad Mahmoudi, Advisor to the ICT Organization of Iran.
Dr Hossein Entezami introduced the implementation of the law of open access to information in the IR of Iran as a means for developing social assets, national wealth and security as well as social integrity. He said, “the law on open access to information, which is one of the most important tools for journalism has bylaws. Bylaw 8 deals with the modalities of access and acquiring information. Bylaw 18 deals with the commission related to implementing this law and its overall associated bylaw. Considering the importance attached to this law, it requires annual reporting on”, continued the speaker. Public beliefs and attitudes, viewing information as a means for obtaining power, the national bureaucratic system and the lack of necessary infrastructures were introduced as the limitations and obstacles to implementing this law in the IR of Iran. “A full implementation of the law calls for training officials, staffs and the public”, he said. Additionally, to prove the Government’s will to implement the said law, the speaker brought an example of having all correspondences of the Deputy Directorate for Media of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance made public by having them posted on their official website.
Dr Mohammad Mahdi Forghani initially expressed his gratitude to UNESCO for its efforts in the past decades for promoting open access to information, knowledge societies, and the information society, expressing the need for a more realistic approach to these processes with the emergence of the Internet, and smart mobile phones, considering the ongoing censorship of information in many countries, including the West and the still limited access of the IR of Iran and many countries in the world to scientific information, hence having the motto of universal and open access to information remaining a lip service.
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