UNESCO-Casa Árabe seminar with Libyan media 

Held with the title “When the Media Make Peace” in Madrid from July 27-30.

UNESCO, Casa Árabe and Spain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation collaborated to organize the seminar When the Media Make Peace, held in Madrid from July 27-30. For these four days, a delegation of Libyan media directors met to discuss ways to contribute to achieving peace in Libya.

During the first day, the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for Libya, Bernardino León, met with the Libyan delegates to hold a candid discussion about the current process, while also acknowledging mistakes. At the end of the meeting, he gave an interview to Casa Árabe in which he spoke about the agreement signed in Skhirat on July 11 and the challenges for peace and reconstruction of the Libyan state.

Precisely because of the fact that regional interests are at stake, holding the meeting in cities like Tunis, Cairo, Istanbul or Dubai was ruled out. Madrid was chosen because of its ideal location as a European capital and its record on matters involving mediation, as well as Casa Árabe’s history as a facilitator of dialogue, so as to make the meeting acceptable to all parties. The governments of Spain and Finland supported this UNESCO initiative, the work plan of which includes promoting dialogue amongst media directors.

The priority of UNESCO and its Communication and Information section in Libya is to support freedom of expression in times of crisis and neutralize increasing social polarization in such a way that a consensus can be built around the priorities of national reconciliation and the journalism ethics code.

Spain is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in 2015 and 2016, and it is with this responsibility that it contributes to the international community’s efforts. Dialogue can and must lead to understanding and reconciliation.