UN Alliance of Civilization: “Shaping a better world: Building Cohesive and Inclusive Societies in a Challenging COVID-19 Environment”
Thank you for the invitation to address the meeting of Alliance of Civilizations Group of Friends, which is particularly important this year – considering the difficulties that we are facing.
Now more than ever, we need a solid multilateral system, which promotes international cohesion to overcome the current pandemic and its consequences in the coming years. In this regard, United Nations has been effective in ensuring continued work in international diplomacy. At a time where social distancing has become the norm, accessing and mastering digitalization has become central.
In May 2020, Estonia held its first presidency of the UN Security Council during the unprecedented crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we carried out our agenda to the full online.
Estonia is deeply committed to digital diplomacy. The internet allowed us to become one of the most advanced e-societies in the world, granting equal access to all public services online from health and education to banking and voting.
Not only do we believe technology should be at the service of people, but access to internet has become a human right itself as it is crucial for realizing freedom of opinion and expression. No one should be left behind when it comes to access to health, information and development. Governments should ensure the broadest possible access to internet services, and take steps to bridge digital divides, including the gender gap. This is a key for developing cohesive and inclusive societies.
On the other hand, we are seeing that disinformation is a great threat to cohesive societies. We need to fight the division and confusion it creates by promoting news literacy, correcting fake news and improving online accountability. In this regard, we would like to commend the media literacy initiatives of Alliance of Civilizations and encourage such efforts to continue.
In conclusion, let me stress that while we all are adapting to new realities we should continue to believe in multilateralism in resolving the crises of our world.