Today in Paris, the Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, met with Ms. Kandia Camara, Minister of National Education, Technical Education and Vocational Training of Côte d’Ivoire, on the sidelines of the 40th UNESCO General Conference.
During this meeting, Dr. AlMalik reviewed ISESCO’s new vision, through which it aspires to become a beacon of global outreach, while focusing on issues of sustainable development, combating poverty, countering extremism and hate speech, empowering youth and women, supporting civil society, protecting children, educating refugees and displaced persons, and conserving heritage. The new vision also targets the new roles of artificial intelligence and the future models of education.
In this regard, ISESCO Director General revealed that, in the forthcoming period, the Organization would launch a number of special activities and programs, which will have a major positive impact, while stressing that this new strategy responds to Member States’ requests relevant to the implementation of programmes according to their respective needs.
This meeting further discussed ways to develop ISESCO’s Regional Center for Education on the Culture of Peace (CRECP), in Yamoussoukro, which was established in 2016 to become a source of civilizational impact and reflect the spirit of cooperation between the Organization and Côte d’Ivoire. ISESCO will also support the establishment of a Master’s degree programme on Education for Peace and Culture.
Ms. Camara praised ISESCO’s new vision and reaffirmed her country’s commitment to develop cooperation with the Organization in the coming period, especially in the fields of education and culture through programs and projects to be coordinated for implementation in Côte d’Ivoire.
On 20 November each year, the world celebrates the Universal Children’s Day. This Day’s importance lies in highlighting the major challenges and violations against children all around the world, and putting forward recommendations and proposals likely to address such challenges and curb violations so as to promote and protect the rights of this social segment, ensure their broad participation in developing national projects’ plans, respect their opinions with regard to all issues relevant to their rights, prevent, address and monitor violence against them, and provide them with the services of education, health, rehabilitation and social integration.
On this occasion, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) issued a statement indicating that the Organization has identified a set of challenges and obstacles facing children in the Islamic world such as the high mortality among children under five years of age, low rate of primary school enrolment, lack of gender equality in education, addiction, violence, sexual abuse, malnutrition, and isolation in conflict zone.
In the same vein, ISESCO called on all Member States’ governmental institutions and civil society organizations to join efforts so as to promote the international commitments through the ratification of, unless already done, the Covenant on the Rights of the Child in Islam, relevant regional and international protocols on the protection of children, including the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its optional protocols, Convention 138 on Minimum Age and Convention 182 on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour of the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its supplementary Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons.
Moreover, ISESCO’s statement called upon all Member States’ institutions and bodies to promote the legal and human rights framework in addressing issues of children in all regions while focusing on disadvantaged neighborhoods in the urban centers and the remote cities and villages deprived of services, and include the concept of non-violence culture in the educational curricula at various levels.
ISESCO also urged Member States to rapidly develop national strategies and action plans to counter and eradicate all forms of violence against children, raise awareness of the rights of children and non-violence culture in such a way as to promote and upgrade these commitments to enforceable legal principals while considering the resolutions of ISESCO’s successive sessions of the Islamic Conference of Ministers in charge of Childhood, and the relevant United Nations’ resolutions as an adequate framework for people operating in the field of children.
The Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, explored with Mr. K. M. Khalid, State Minister of Cultural Affairs of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, ways to develop joint cooperation and the programmes and activities that ISESCO may implement for the benefit of Bangladesh in the fields of education, science and culture.
During this meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the 40th UNESCO General Conference, being held in Paris, ISESCO Director General reviewed the Organization’s new vision and the forthcoming period’s action strategy, which advocate openness to the international organizations working the same fields of action and adopt an implementation methodology of the programmes and activities requested by Member States according to their needs and the importance of the various areas of their action.
In this regard, the Director General requested the Minister to present some of Bangladesh’s suggestions on the programmes and activities of its interest relevant to children, youth, women and communication so that ISESCO can support and implement these programmes.
The Director General further requested to have representatives of Bangladesh at ISESCO as part of the diversity of staff’s nationalities.
On his part, the Minister hailed ISESCO’s new vision, its interest in empowering youth and women, and supporting children to have good education, and its role in protecting heritage in the Muslim world. The Minister also reaffirmed that his country’s cooperation with ISESCO will witness an immense development in coming period.
The Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, met with the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Senegal, Mr. Abdoulaye Diop, on the sidelines of their participation in the 40th UNESCO General Conference.
During this meeting, Dr. AlMalik presented ISESCO’s new vision, and its future action strategy, which prioritizes enabling youth, women, and children to enjoy their educational, scientific, cultural, technological, and environmental rights; and commits to open up to and cooperate with other international organizations operating in the same fields of action.
ISESCO and the Republic of Senegal explored ways of cooperation in the coming years, and it has been agreed that the relations between the two parties should be based on targeted programmes with field impact. By the same token, it has been agreed to propose a number of programs, which will be financed or implemented by ISESCO in Senegal and other African countries.
The discussion also reviewed the special arrangements for ISESCO Director General’s visit to Senegal at the end of next month.
The Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, and Mr. Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at the Organization for Economic, Cooperation and Development (OECD), explored ways to promote cooperation and joint action between ISESCO and the OECD.
During a working lunch in Paris, Dr. AlMalik and Mr. Schleicher explored ways of bolstering ties between the two organizations, through mutually agreed action programmes provided for in the cooperation agreement, which will be signed between ISESCO and the OECD by mid next year.
Moreover, the two parties agreed on the participation of the OECD in the Islamic Conference of Ministers of Education, due to be held in 2020, to present a forward-looking vision on education in Islamic countries.
It is worth mentioning that ISESCO and the OECD have finally agreed to organize a number of joint workshops and symposia in 2020 and 2021, in the field of the reform of school curricula; improvement of national educational data quality in ISESCO Member States and their optimization; and provision for assistance in educational policy development.
By the same token, ISESCO and OECD agreed to knowledge sharing, whereby ISESCO will allow Member States a larger interaction and wider access to the OECD’s research, data, and analyses likely to boost the endeavors of education reform, through various practical means.
Today in Paris, the Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, Mr. Chingiz Aidarbekov, on the sidelines of their participation in the 40th UNESCO General Conference.
During this meeting, which was attended by Mr. Zhamankulov Azamat Kaparovich, Minister of Culture, Information, and Tourism of the Kyrgyz Republic, Dr. AlMalik presented ISESCO’s new vision, which prioritizes enabling youth, women, and children of their educational, scientific, cultural, technological, and environmental rights; and commits to open up to and cooperate with other international organizations operating in the same fields of action.
ISESCO Director General also affirmed the Organization’s aim to develop cooperation with Kyrgyzstan in light of the new action strategy, which is based on providing programmes and activities, upon the request of Member States, in a way that goes in line with their respective needs.
For his part, Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Minister reaffirmed his country’s keenness to develop joint action with ISESCO, stating that the Organization’s approach towards empowering the youth will be met with considerable attention from his country, especially that 60% of the population of Kyrgyzstan is under 40 years of age, and they need projects to develop their competences.
In the same vein, the Kyrgyz Minister of Culture stated that there is a need to develop cooperation between ISESCO and Central Asian countries in the field of culture, pointing out to a number of programmes that his country wishes the Organization to be a partner in.
The Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, stressed that ISESCO is committed to enable its Member States to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and help them develop their own relevant policies to this effect.
This was part of Dr. AlMalik’s participation as a keynote speaker in the symposium held yesterday evening in Paris on the theme “Youth Voices and the Future of Artificial Intelligence: Towards a Human-Centered Approach” on the sidelines of the 40th UNESCO General Conference.
The symposium brought together Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary General of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy of the African Union, Mr. Marc-Antoine Dilhac, Director and Coordinator of the Montreal Declaration for the Responsible Development of Artificial Intelligence, Ms. Clara Neppel, Senior Director of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), in addition to Dr. AlMalik. The session was moderated by Delfina Bello, student at Sciences Po, Paris (Institute of Political Studies).
In reply to the question: “In your point of view, why it is important to develop principles and set standards in artificial intelligence?”, Dr. AlMalik clarified that ISESCO is currently working on the promotion of cooperation with UNESCO in the fields of common interest, particularly AI. “AI is among the fast-growing phenomenon and can strngly help countries achieve Sustainable Development Goals” Dr. AlMalik added “but AI, if it is left uncensored, might be a real threat to human rights. Therefore, it is very important to develop principles for setting standards to preserve and protect human rights in the short, medium and long terms”.
Another participant asked: “At ISESCO, you work in various sectors, and AI is a technology which intersects with, causes disturbance to and interacts with science, education, culture, media and communication. How, from ISESCO’s viewpoint, can you ensure the comprehensive development of standards in light of the areas of action of the various organizations such as ISESCO”.
With regard to this question, Dr. AlMalik answered “most Islamic world countries are consumers of AI, without which they would lag behind the rest of the world. Under ISESCO’s new vision, promoting AI in Member States is an utmost priority for”.
“Our major objective is to build a vital and active biological system so as to develop society and help needy people as AI can address social and economic issues if it is properly used to solve the real global problems and supported by adequate policies and regulations,” ISESCO Director General highlighted “Thus, ISESCO focuses on raising awareness of and guiding countries to reduce the current digital gap, and supporting Member States in this field for global and effective adoption of AI by establishing a better cooperation between stakeholders at all levels.”
Dr. AlMalik received a third question on the role of ISESCO in supporting the dissemination of AI in the future and answered that ISESCO established the Centre of Strategic Foresight to meet future needs, including AI. He added that this Centre will launch the Strategy of the Development of Artificial Intelligence as a guiding initiative in the Islamic world which add to other existing initiatives in few countries.
Dr. AlMalik stressed that ISESCO is committed to empower countries with these new technologies by providing the necessary support and assistance to develop their own AI national policies, and concurrently holding a large forum on AI while expressing his hope that UNESCO, OECD, IEEE and all countries will be part thereof.
Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), and Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), signed a cooperation agreement between the two organizations on capacity-building, development, and technical assistance.
The agreement, which ushers cooperation between ISESCO and UNESCO into a new phase of joint action, includes five programmes on capacity-building, development, technical assistance, particularly in the fields of girls and women education, Artificial Intelligence, the social transformations management programmes (MOST), natural and water resources, conservation of cultural heritage in the Islamic world and Africa, as the latter, particularly poor African countries, constitutes a priority for UNESCO and includes many of ISESCO Member States.
The agreement provides for the sharing of information in the fields of common interest, holding periodical meetings between the representatives of the two organizations both in Paris and Rabat, and the exchange of mutual invitations to participate in their respective gatherings and conferences such as Dubai Expo 2020 and the World Water Forum ‘Dakar 2021’, to provide opportunities for strengthening mutual partnership.
Prior to the signing ceremony, Dr. AlMalik and Ms. Azoulay held a meeting during which they explored ways to promote cooperation and potential partnership between the two organizations in many programmes and activities within the framework of their action, namely conducting joint foresight studies, joining UNESCO Programme on adopting international conventions in the fields of education, particularly the Convention on the Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications, and facilitating higher education students mobility.
In this regard, Dr. AlMalik stressed that ISESCO’s new vision adopts the principle of openness to and cooperation with international organizations and non-Member States to work jointly and entrench the foundations of complementarity based on respect and accomplishment of commitments in such a way as to serve all world peoples.
On the occasion of the official reopening of its Office at UNESCO headquarters, ISESCO made a big reception during which Dr. AlMalik gave an address welcoming over 250 participants of the delegations of the participating countries in UNESCO General Conference. He also touched upon ISESCO’s new vision, ISESCO and UNESCO cooperation programmes, new cooperation avenues with other organizations, and praised the good organization and success of UNESCO General Conference.
The reception was attended by ISESCO high-level delegation accompanying ISESCO Director General at the 40th UNESCO General Conference.
The Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, stressed that ISESCO’s new vision, through which the Organization aspires to become a beacon of global outreach, involves the anticipation of the issues of human development, focuses on the elimination of poverty and countering extremism and hatred speech; and seeks to empower youth and women, support the civil society, protect children, educate refugees and displaced people, preserve heritage and explore the new roles of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and future education models.
This was part of Dr. AlMalik’s address at the 40th General Conference of UNESCO, being held in Paris, in which he referred to some global dilemmas such as devastating wars, terrifying climate changes and ethnic conflicts while expressing his hope for a better future whose signs are seen in this Conference.
ISESCO Director General also highlighted that ISESCO’s anticipatory vision is imposed by the Islamic world’s challenges and opportunities in light of five variables. The first is demographic as the Muslim world population will reach over two billion by an increase of 35% over the coming twenty years. This is major variable for the whole world.
The second is economic considering the major negative impact of global economic crises on Muslim countries, especially the poor ones in the fields education and environment.
The third is cultural: many historical monuments and heritage sites have disappeared. Thus, the remaining ones should be rapidly inscribed and protected. Besides, the world should counter extremism and hatred speech.
The variable is educational given that illiteracy is a reality in the Islamic world with 40% of illiterate people, 65% of whom are girls and women. This rate is expected to rise over the coming twenty years.
The last variable is technological; the digital gap between developed and poor countries has expanded. Against this backdrop, ISESCO has launched the Initiative of Modern Technology Integration in Elementary Education with priority focus on poor countries.
Moreover, Dr. AlMalik reaffirmed that ISESCO intends to strengthen cooperation with Member and non-Member States, and promote relations with international organizations, particularly UNESCO, to set an example of cooperation in light of the cooperation agreement the two Organizations will sign today.
ISESCO Director General further called on non-Member States and international organizations to join ISESCO as Observer Members to promote joint action, entrench the foundations of complementarity based on respect and accomplishment of commitments while stressing that ISESCO has taken upon itself to prevent politics and politicization in its missions.
Today in Paris, the Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, met with the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr. Abulfas Garayev, on the sidelines of their participation in the 40th UNESCO General Conference.
During this meeting, Dr. AlMalik presented ISESCO’s new vision, which will turn it into an international beacon, while focusing on issues of sustainable development; combating poverty; countering extremism and hate speech; empowering youth and women; supporting civil society; protecting children; educating refugees and displaced persons; and conserving heritage. The new vision also targets the new roles of artificial intelligence and the future models of education. By the same token, ISESCO Director General revealed that, in the forthcoming period, the Organization will launch a number of special activities and programmes which will greatly benefit Member States, while stressing that this new strategy responds to the requests of Member States and implements programmes requested by these countries, according to their respective needs.
On his part, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Culture shed light on “Baku Process”, which was launched on the initiative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, with the aim to establish an effective dialogue between different civilizations and cultures. He also pointed out to “Baku Declaration”, issued in 2008 within the framework of this initiative, following the participation of Ministers of Cultures of 10 Islamic countries in the Council of Europe Conference of Ministers of Culture.
The Minister also touched upon the research center, which was established within the initiative, and requested for a permanent delegate of ISESCO at the Center. He also stated that Azerbaijan is interested in two priorities; the protection of heritage and creative cities, while praising ISESCO’s efforts in the cultural field and its outstanding work in documenting heritage in the Islamic World.
