February 13 is World Radio Day!
Tomorrow marks the 10th annual celebration of World Radio Day as proclaimed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This year, UNESCO calls on radio stations to celebrate this event’s 10th anniversary and the more than 110 years of radio. Cultural Survival echoes this call and to affirm Indigenous Peoples' right to establish their own self-determined communication platforms as enshrined in Article 16 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
On the first celebration of World Radio Day in 2012, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples James Anaya emphasized the importance of community radio for the world's Indigenous Peoples, "Radio has been a fundamental means for Indigenous Peoples to maintain their languages and to exercise and defend their rights."
Cultural Survival is working hard to make Article 16 a reality in Indigenous communities globally. In 2020, we supported 35 community media projects in 8 countries, totaling $214,000. In the first phase of our COVID-19 response, we supported 21 radio stations in 8 countries in creating and distributing radio programs about COVID-19 prevention, food sovereignty, community health, community organization, social aid, alternative economy and entrepreneurship. We also trained 46 Indigenous women in radio production and journalism. Our Indigenous Community Media Youth Fellowship program supported 11 youth in gaining new audiovisual and media leadership skills. Our Indigenous Rights Radio program produced and distributed over 420 urgent PSAs related to COVID-19 in 130 Indigenous languages to over 1,200 stations in 69 countries. Our advocacy for Indigenous community media focuses on pushing for the democratization of radio frequencies by changing telecommunication laws in countries where Indigenous Peoples want to have their own radio stations and where they face criminalization for claiming their right to freedom of expression, such as in the case brought to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights related to community radio stations in Guatemala.
In many parts of the world, despite the the risk of police raids, jail time, threats and even death for community journalists, community radio stations serve a vital function by distributing information about important news and educational programming like emergency disaster relief, voter registration, and public health campaigns. The power of radio reaches even the most rural areas, providing Indigenous communities with access to programming in their own languages and serves as a voice that promotes their cultures, traditions, and belief systems. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented new challenges for stations, outlining that "internet access is an issue that radio stations continue to discuss and demand. Despite economic limitations, lack of infrastructure, low and poor quality connectivity, dominant language media content competition, the community radio stations that have been able to access the internet, are now expanding their coverage and engaging with a broader audience and enlarging their reach."
|
