The annual Spring Session of the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development will convene from 11-12 April in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.UNESCO is co-leading the working group on school connectivity.

The course was designed for justice system operators in Latin America, particularly magistrates. It lasts six weeks and is completely free The online course "International legal framework of Freedom of Expression, Access to Public Information and Protection of Journalists" is co-organized by UNESCO and the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The course was designed for justice system operators in Latin America, particularly magistrates, judges, prosecutors, public defenders and members of Judiciary Power. In addition, students and proffessors in Judiciary Schools. Registrations start on January 13th and close April 5th 2020 on this link: https://knightcenter.utexas.edu/es/webform/postulacion-para-el-curso-%E2... It lasts six weeks (from April 20th to May 31st of 2020) and on each of them one specific topic regarding freedom of expression is addressed. The course is entirely free and participants have the option to apply a certificate of participation.

The UNESCO Dakar Office, in partnership with the WCO, INTERPOL and Niger, is organizing a training workshop from April 27th to 30th 2020 in Dakar to build the capacities of museum/heritage professionals as well as law enforcement and security forces including customs and police in six countries: Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger and Senegal. This training is part of a programme to strengthen mechanisms to combat illicit trafficking of cultural property in Africa, which has been under way since 2015. Over the past 15 years, there has been a resurgence of illicit trafficking of cultural property, particularly in areas affected by armed conflict, which has become a matter of major concern to the international community. In a Sahelian context increasingly weakened by the threat of armed groups and the looting of heritage and in order to respond to the current challenges of peace and security in the region, UNESCO is positioning itself as a focal point through a programme to strengthen the mechanisms for fighting illicit trafficking of cultural property by bringing together a group of diverse actors (art experts, national and international museums; heritage professionals, customs, police, legal experts, etc.). The review of the actions implemented by the UNESCO Dakar regional office to date highlights the need to consolidate the cooperation mechanisms between the various key actors involved in the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property while maintaining an inclusive and non-sectoral approach. For this reason, the Dakar office, in partnership with the WCO, INTERPOL and Senegal, is organizing an in-depth training workshop that will bring together customs, police and museum professionals in order to harmonize the levels of knowledge between actors and to stabilize an effective and operational co-ordination network between the different services at the national and regional level. This four-day training, which is part of a wide-ranging capacity-building programme, will offer both separate and joint sessions in order to consolidate and improve the effectiveness of the coordination network for the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property in Africa, ensure the fluidity of information exchanges, identify and better assign roles and responsibilities between law enforcement and security forces and museum professionals in order to speed up the processing of cases of illicit trafficking. At the end of the four-day workshop, with the active support of the associated experts, the participants will have acquired a better knowledge of the prevention of illicit trafficking of cultural property, stabilized a coordination system in the event of a customs seizure or police investigation and submitted proposals for a protocol for intervention in the event of restitution. One of the added-values of this workshop will be the identification of appropriate legal measures for the protection of cultural property in the countries concerned and the validation of communication and awareness-raising tools for the launch of a sub-regional campaign to be carried out during the year 2020 among communities and transit points (airports, ports, etc.).

This CIGEPS session, hosted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Geneva, will be dedicated to the progress on the implementation of the Kazan Action Plan and the launch of the preparations of the Seventh International Conference of Ministers and Senior Officials responsible for Physical Education and Sport (MINEPS VII). At this meeting CIGEPS will also discuss the reform of its membership and will be informed on the procedures related to the consultation of its Member States on the UNESCO Medium-term Strategy for 2022-2029 (41 C/4) and the Programme and budget (C/5). A special session on Innovation, Skills and Sport will also be held.

We regret to inform you that due to the rapidly evolving situation related to coronavirus, the 2nd Global Policy Forum, which was scheduled to take place from 12 to 13 May 2020 at UNESCO Headquarters, is now postponed until further notice. We will keep you informed of any further developments, notably with regard to the new dates of the event. We apologize for the inconvenience. The Memory of the World Secretariat ---- UNESCO, through its Memory of the World (MoW) Programme, started coordinating a series of Global Policy Forums supported by Japanese Funds-in-Trust (JFIT), focusing on a strategically important aspect of documentary heritage. This 2nd Forum aims to build the momentum towards articulating a global policy framework for disaster risk reduction and management as a means to sustainable preservation of documentary heritage.The Forum is part of UNESCO’s strategic support to policy makers, memory institutions, and other stakeholders seeking to implement the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the preservation of, and access to, documentary heritage including in digital form.

The Eighth Session of the Subsidiary Committee of the Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property will take place at UNESCO Headquarters (Room XI) on 25 and 26 May 2020. This session will be organized on the basis of the functions assigned to the Subsidiary Committee by the Meeting of States Parties (art.14.6 of the Rules of Procedure of the Meeting of States Parties). In 2020, the theme will revolve around the 50th anniversary of the 1970 Convention.

The Committee is composed of 22 Member States of UNESCO elected by the General Conference at its ordinary sessions (this year it has 21 members). It meets in regular plenary session at least once and not more than twice every two years. The 22nd session of the Committee aims to examine the follow-up to the recommendations adopted at the 21st session.

To kick off the new world programme for ESD ‘ESD for 2030’, UNESCO is organising an international conference  in Berlin, Germany. The meeting will raise global awareness on sustainable development challenges and the crucial role of ESD as a key enabler for the successful achievement of all SDGs and provide impulses for strengthening ESD in education policy and practice.

This capacity building workshop will aim to ensure availability and active dissemination of available policy guidelines and strategies, including enhancing knowledge of and techniques about sustainable preservation of documentary heritage, with a specific focus on disaster risk reduction and management, among the memory institutions targeted, especially SIDS and LDCs in Africa. .

The IPDC is the only multilateral forum in the UN system designed to mobilize the international community to discuss and promote media development in developing countries. The Programme provides support for media projects but also seeks an accord to secure a healthy environment for the growth of free and pluralistic media in developing countries.

Due to the current Covid-19 health crisis and following the decision of the Bureau of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, the 32nd session of the International Co-ordinating Council of the MAB Programme (MAB-ICC) will be postponed until later in 2020 when conditions will be favorable. The new dates will be announced as soon as possible. The 32nd session of the Man and the Biosphere Programme International Co-ordinating Council (MAB-ICC) will be held in Abuja (Nigeria). On this occasion, the MAB-ICC will decide upon the inclusion of new biosphere reserves into the World Network of Biosphere Reserves and take note of recommendations on periodic review reports of biosphere reserves. Among other responsibilities, the role of the MAB-ICC is: - to guide and supervise the MAB Programme; to review the progress made in the implementation of the Programme (cf. Secretariat report and reports of MAB National Committees); - to recommend research projects to countries and to make proposals on the organization of regional or international cooperation; - to assess priorities among projects and MAB activities in general. The Council is composed of 34 UNESCO Member States, elected by UNESCO's General Conference, respecting equitable geographical distribution; appropriate rotation; the representativeness of these States from the ecological viewpoint on each continent; and of the importance of their scientific contribution to the international MAB Programme. Each Council Member State may send as many experts or advisers as it deems necessary to the Council session, but it only has one vote. Representatives of the Member States and Associate Members of UNESCO which are not members of the Council may nevertheless attend, as observers, meetings of the Council and its committees. Representatives of the United Nations, UNESCO, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) may take part, without the right to vote, in all meetings of the Council, of its committees and working groups. Representatives of the International Council for Science, the International Social Science Council and the World Conservation Union may take part, without the right to vote, in all meetings of the Council and of its committees and working groups.