The Grenada Government has announced a plan to enhance the infrastructure and human resource of the country’s Cultural Heritage Department, and it’s seeking the assistance of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

It’s one of several projects of government which is also working on holding a Literary Festival in October, said Junior Culture Minister, Sen. Arley Gill.

He made the remarks to local and regional delegates attending a four-day “UNESCO Sub-Regional Meeting on the Cultural Diversity Programming Lens & Intangible Cultural Heritage.’’

“As one of our goals, we would like to collect, copy and properly archive all available local songs – such as folk songs, calypso and soca,’’ Sen. Gill said. “We also would like to have the ability, with the right equipment and enough trained personnel, to document the stories of our cultural and sporting heroes and heroine, and to record these stories on video and document them in books with photographs.’’ (more…)

The head of the United Nations agency tasked with upholding press freedom today condemned the killing of a television journalist in Pakistan, who was shot while covering attacks on the religious Ahmadi community.

Ejazul Haq was killed on 28 May in the city of Lahore while reporting through his mobile telephone at the scene of one of the incidents, with television reporters hearing both the shots that killed him and his last words.

Dozens of members of the Ahmadiyyah community were also killed in the twin attacks during Friday prayers on two mosques when gunmen armed with grenades attacked two mosques. (more…)

The Departments of Informatics and Information Science of the University of Pretoria have organized training on information literacy at Kgoro primary school, located in Zithobeni township, South Africa. Funded by UNESCO, the training aims to provide teachers with basic skills in ICT and information literacy.

The training, which started last month, is taking place over eight Saturdays and will end up with the certification ceremony planned for 13 August. It is certified by the Continuing Education Trust at the University of Pretoria. (more…)

Paris, France – The United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has said that although social science from Western countries continues to be of great global influence, the field is expanding rapidly in Asia and Latin America, particularly in China and Brazil.

Quoting from its findings in a 2010 World Social Science Report – “Knowledge divides”, UNESCO said in sub-Saharan Africa, social scientists from South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya produced 75% of academic publications.

In South Asia, it said in a press statement from its headquarters in Paris, the French capital, that barring some centres of excellence in India, social sciences as a whole had low priority.

These findings will be launched as UNESCO’s 2010 World Social Science Report (Knowledge divides) on 25 June in Paris. (more…)

PARIS — Human rights groups and scientists including two Nobel laureates are waging a fiesty campaign against UNESCO’s plan to award a new prize named after one of Africa’s most brutal dictators.

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea is funding the prize for life sciences to be awarded to three laureates who will share 300,000 dollars and each receive a medal, presumably from the dictator himself.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation decided to set up the prize in 2008 but the furore is growing among NGOs including Human Rights Watch, which has dubbed Obiang Africa’s Kim Jong-Il. (more…)

A bid for Brighton and Hove to join Stonehenge, the Taj Mahal and the pyramids of Egypt as a world heritage site is unlikely to be backed by the council.

In April, The Argus revealed conservationists were looking at ways to bring a large section of the city –from Arundel Road in the east to Hove Lawns – under the protection of Unesco.

The idea has been backed by former UK ambassador to Unesco Tim Craddock.

But following questions from opposition councillors, the Conservative administration appears unwilling to back the proposals and said Unesco status was more complex than first thought. (more…)

United Nations, May 22 (ANI): The head of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has condemned the recent killings of journalists in Pakistan and Somalia, while underscoring the necessity of press freedom.

“No society can allow violence to muzzle journalists while aspiring to uphold human rights and liberties, democracy and rule of law,” The Nation quoted UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in a statement.

Journalists, she stressed, are committed to report the truth as they see it.
(more…)