AMIC Secretary General Ramon R. Tuazon attended the 38th session of the UNESCO General Conference at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France held on 10-11 November 2015. He represented the Philippines at the Communication and Information Commission.
During the session, Secretary General Tuazon commended UNESCO’s unrelenting efforts to promote the safety and protection of journalists worldwide, including its lead role in promoting the “UN Plan of Action for the Safety of Journalists.”
Asserting that an effective criminal justice system is a strong deterrent to impunity, he called on the UN body to complement safety and protection initiatives with programs that strengthen the criminal justice system and promote the rule of law.
SG Tuazon also had one-on-one discussions with UNESCO officials, including Director Guy Berger of the Freedom of Expression and Media Development Division and Director Indrajit Banerjee of the Knowledge Societies Division. Dr. Banerjee is a former AMIC Secretary General.
After the Paris conference, he proceeded to South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China. He was resource person on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) during a seminar of the UNESCO Resource Distribution and Training Centre(RDTC) held 11-13 November 2015.
The seminar theme was “Teacher Training to Promote Safe, Effective and Responsible Use of ICT.” It was participated in by 35 deans and professors from several teacher education institutions (TEIs) in the Asia-Pacific region.
SG Tuazon encouraged the TEIs to integrate MIL in their respective teacher training curriculum to equip educators with necessary competencies needed not only to teach the course but also to mentor young people on MIL even outside the classroom.
The AMIC Secretary General then facilitated two workshops on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) for 30 leaders of Myanmar civil society organizations (CSOs).
Held on 14-15 and 16-17 December 2015 in Yangon, the workshop series was organized by UNESCO Myanmar.