UNESCO official hails relations with UAE

Relations between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, and the UAE in various spheres, including media and communication, are founded on friendship and positive co-operation that seeks to promote the success of the organisation, according to Frank La Rue, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information.

"The UAE has always been responsive to UNESCO's need for co-operation in education, culture, science and media," he told Emirates News Agency, WAM, on the sidelines of a meeting with heads of Arab news agencies and the Federation of Arab News Agencies.

There are already many partnerships between the two sides in the area of protecting and conserving world heritage, he said, while noting that the UAE heads UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage thanks to its government's firm belief in the organisation's initiatives.

During the meeting, La Rue and the heads of Arab news agencies discussed strengthening co-operation, enhancing performance of Arab and global media and the launch of a media awareness campaign to promote the correct usage of certain names, terms and expressions in global media.

The Arab delegation regretted that some global media continue to use the term "Islamic State" to refer to Daesh, a terrorist group that unjustly claims that it belongs to Islam. Using this term is wrong, from a professional and an objective perspective, they noted.

Executive Director of WAM Mohammed Jalal Al Raisi demanded UNESCO use its relations with global media to enlighten them and curb the use of such terms because they incite sectarian and racial-motivated hate speech.

He highlighted the importance of banning the free promotion of this terrorist self-proclaimed organization because its self-association with Islam is rejected, he noted.

The official further stressed that all Muslim religious authorities, thinkers and institutions that can issue fatwa (religious edicts) proved that terror organisations and groups that use religion to justify their existence do not belong to Islam.

Secretary-General of the Federation of Arab News Agencies Dr. Farid Ayyar, and Director-General of Saudi Press Agency, SPA, Abdullah bin Fahad Al-Hussein, attended the meeting