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UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean

UNESCO awards the 2021 UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy to the foundation Construyendo y Creciendo

Each year the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes are focused on a specific theme this years theme was inclusive distance and digital literacy training During the coronavirus disease COVID19 pandemic the foundation established a programme for inclusive distance learning and technologybased literacy training

November 17, 2021

UNESCO promotes in Mexico a reflection process on the World Heritage Convention, 50 years after its creation

UNESCO CONALMEX and the Regional Institute of World Heritage in Zacatecas promote this reflection that will focus on how to strengthen the relationship between culture and nature the links between the tangible and the intangible and the management strategies of the sites

September 6, 2021

Building an ecosystem that reflects the multicultural richness of the country, key to preserving native languages in Mexico

Since May 2020 UNESCO has worked with more than 70 experts in indigenous media to support and strengthen Indigenous and Community Media Mexico city Friday July 16 During the 13 Bienal Internacional de la Radio Linguistic diversity community media and sustainable growth celebrated from July 1216 in the forum Media facing the first decade of indigenous languages and 2030 agenda Gabriela Velázquez focal point for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages recognized the urgency to build a communication ecosystem that is inclusive plural and diverse that also reflects the multicultural richness of the country and promotes the use and preservation of indigenous languages According several national and international instruments such as the Mexican Linguistic Rights General Law and the Mexican Constitution the Human Rights Bill for Indigenous People Rights and the Los Pinos Declaration Chapultepec 2020 media must reflect the different realities in Mexico as well as the linguistic and cultural diversity in order to promote equality and social inclusion as a way to prevent the disappearance of 68 indigenous languages that are currently spoken in Mexico from which at least 60 are at risk of disappearing such as Kiliwa from Baja California or Awakateko from Campeche Globally 43 of the 7 thousand languages around the world are at risk of disappearing A special chapter of this ecosystem is comprised by the Indigenous and Community Media MIC that needs to be strengthened with new regulatory guidelines that ensure their operation and sustainability to ensure they operate as instruments to ensure freedom of expression access to information justice and education rights for indigenous languages speakers but also Cultural and Creative Industries ICC that protect the cultural legacies and create jobs and development in a sustainable form In this manner Gabriela Velázquez highlighted that the work that has been carried out through the project Public policies designs to support the Indigenous and Community Media in Mexico and incorporate indigenous content in public and commercial media has the objective of building a legal and social environment that guarantees the existence of community and indigenous media and a plural and diverse media ecosystem in the country Velázquez indicated that in order to improve the MIC conditions in Mexico we need to encourage the production of content in indigenous languages to guarantee the connectivity and infrastructure for this media strengthen their capabilities and digital abilities build an equitable social communication and official advertisement system as well as actions that guarantee safety for the indigenous and community communication agents The project Design of public policies to support the Indigenous and Community media in Mexico is in progress since May 2020 with the involvement of a National Team comprised by more than 70 representatives of indigenous media community and public social organizations academics and government entities The result of these works will be a public political document that will be son delivered to the Mexico Presidential Office It is a guide document to implement the actions that the National team has recognized as necessary and urgent so that a media and inclusive environment can be built that contributes to the sustainable development At the end of this event Velázquez pointed out that great part of the developments in this project funded by the European Union are available at a dedicated micro site People can review and download reports diagnostics on the projects progress as well as the campaigns and sessions of different forums that have been held since 2020 This micro site is a public compilation that allows access to knowledge to strengthen MICs and helps build a new media ecosystem that reflect the multicultural richness of the country as well to contribute and preserve the indigenous languages in Mexico During the lecture Media facing the tenth anniversary of the indigenous languages and 2030 agenda there were also comments from Rosario Lufrano Argentina Radio and Television Chairman Sandra Ceballos Argentina Indigenous Female Lawyers Association Chairman Dora Brausin Pulido assistant manager at the Colombia National Radio and Tomás López Sarabia Council chairman of the Centro Profesional Índígena de Asesoría Defensa y Traducción AC The discussion was moderated by Pita Cortés Radio Educatiòn producer Contact with media Gabriela Velázquezgvelazquezalvarezunescoorg

September 6, 2021

UNESCO announces partnership with Airbnb to promote cultural tourism, empower communities, and protect Mexico's heritage

UNESCO and Airbnb will develop comprehensive tourism innovation and community inclusion projects to incorporate the creative sector and the micro small and medium cultural and tourism entrepreneurs into the sustainable tourism value chain Destinations far from traditional tourist corridors small towns and places immersed in nature showed an increase in bookings in Airbnb Mexico revealing new growth opportunities for cultural and creative development

YouTube and UNESCO present “Mi Aula” channel, an educational tool for high school students and teachers

The project which is based on content generated by users of the platform orders identifies and brings together more than 1775 videos that reinforce the topics set by the official study programs

Guadalajara named World Book Capital 2022

November 4, 2020

Indigenous Peoples and COVID-19: The view from Mexico

COVID19 has had a strong impact in Mexico UNESCOs office in Mexico City has been engaging with indigenous peoples to support targeted actions to respond to the crisis and their particular needs Indigenous Peoples in Mexico face particular vulnerabilities in the context of COVID19 and the UNESCO Office in Mexico has carried out actions to address this in the framework of the COVID19 response and recovery UNESCO in Mexico has been invited to lead pillar 5 Social cohesion and community resilience of the socioeconomic response to COVID19 from the United Nations System in Mexico with special attention to the peoples indigenous youth and women The COVID19 pandemic is having drastic social and economic consequences for indigenous peoples and for everyone on the path to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals SDGs According to the 2015 Intercensus survey the indigenous population accounts for 12 250 947 people and constitutes 101 of the total national population Historically this population group has lived in conditions of social and economic precarity indicated by the fact that 695 of the indigenous population 84 million people lives in poverty situation and 279 in extreme poverty 34 million people as stated by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy Official data from the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples INPI to 27 July 2020 reported 4140 positive cases of COVID19 and 719 casualties among indigenous language speakers Meanwhile the pandemic is continuing to evolve in the Mexican territory The momentum of the pandemic and the prior inequalities already faced by indigenous people in Mexico are not favorable for the wellbeing of indigenous peoples in the face of the pandemic Among the disadvantages experienced by indigenous peoples access to water stands out as critical in the context of the current health crisis Of the rural population in Mexico 21 of those who speak an indigenous language lack water due to access problems while among those who do not speak an indigenous language the lack of service is 168

Los Pinos Declaration [Chapoltepek] lays foundations for global planning for the International Decade of Indigenous Languages

A significant step has been taken with the publishing of the Los Pinos Declaration Chapoltepek Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages The Declaration is the Outcome Document of the highlevel closing event of the International Year of Indigenous Languages IYIL2019 and is now available online in English French and Spanish

COVID-19 : with half of world’s student population out of school, UNESCO launches coalition to accelerate remote learning solutions

The UNESCO’s High-Level Event towards the International Decade of Indigenous Languages begins

The Director-General of UNESCO and the President of Mexico ratified compromises for sustainable development

International Congress of Endangered Languages at Risk begins in advance of UNESCO's High-Level Event

Traditional indigenous ceremony during the opening of the International Congress on Languages at Risk