Media Literacy and Democracy: Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting II

The general purpose is to discuss key substantive concerns raised at the previous Human Dimension Meetings regarding the implementation of OSCE human dimension commitments on selected topics and to ensure follow-up for them. The meeting also provides a platform for an exchange of views among OSCE participating States, OSCE institutions, other executive structures and international organizations, civil society, and other interested stakeholders.

Topic

The second Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting will focus on the interlinkages between media literacy and democracy. It will provide a forum to explore challenges and opportunities in today’s online information environment and their impact on democratic participation, discussing the role of media and information literacy in promoting active citizenry and social resilience, specifically in an important election year like 2024.

The first session will outline key developments in the media sphere and the online information space in the context of technological advancements and the digital evolution. Opportunities and challenges in the digital age will be discussed, in view of accessing reliable and trustworthy information and strengthening resilience towards mis- and disinformation. 

Strong democracies rely on the active and well-informed participation of their citizens. The second session will explore the need to invest in skills and capacities to build an active democratic society. The session will focus in particular on electoral periods and the role of State institutions, including election management and media regulatory bodies, in contributing to an environment, in which voters can make informed choices, free of undue interference and manipulation. 

Understanding the role of free and independent media for thriving democracies and enhanced security is key in today’s fast evolving information environment. The third session will provide a forum to explore the concept of media freedom literacy and its interlinkages with democracy and security and how it can help in rebuilding trust in democratic institutions and processes.

Participants

Representatives of the 57 OSCE participating States and OSCE institutions and structures, will be joined by representatives of international organizations, civil society organizations, media and other stakeholders. The Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting is open to those with relevant experience in the human dimension from the OSCE region. The Partners for Co-operation are invited to attend and contribute with respect to their co-operation and links with the OSCE in the field.

This meeting will be held in person only. In order to attend, participants need to register in advance before the deadline indicated below.

Registration

It is advisable to register well in advance. To facilitate the timely processing of registrations, it is important that user account information on https://meetings.odihr.pl is both complete and up to date. To assist with registration, a user guide is available in English and Russian.

Registration for this conference is now closed.

Modalities

The modalities of the meeting are set out in the decision of the Permanent Council (PC.DEC/476, 23 May 2002).

Interpretation will be provided into the six official OSCE languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.

Side events

Registered participants are welcome to request a side event slot at https://meetings.odihr.pl between 14 May at 13.00 CET and 16 May at 13.00 CET. To assist participants in requesting a slot, a user guide is available in the resources section.

The booking of side events for this conference is now closed.

Contact

Meeting co-ordination: Mr. Martin Toplišek, Human Dimension Meetings Officer (martin.toplisek@odihr.pl).

Programme enquiries: Ms Bettina Ruigies, Senior Advisor to the Head of Institution at the RFoM (bettina.Ruigies@osce.org) and Ms. Meaghan Fitzgerald, Head of Election Department at ODIHR (meaghan.fitzgerald@odihr.pl).

Registration, side events and other enquiries: hdmeetings@odihr.pl. 

More information about the event and participation will be published on this webpage.