World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies

Barcelona, July 19th - 24th 2010

· NOT_DEFINED date: MON 19, 5.00-7.00 pm

· NOT_DEFINED institution: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain)

· NOT_DEFINED organizer: Teresa Velázquez

· NOT_DEFINED language: English/Français

· NOT_DEFINED description: Cooperation and human development in the field of communication would be main topics of this panel.
State of the heart and general vision of the situation of Information and Communication Rights in the Mediterranean region.

Chair: Carme Coll, ART PNUD

Discussant: Francisco Martín, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Paper presenter: Javier Baulúz, Periodismo Humano, Journalism and Human Rights
The rights of many journalists working in the Mediterranean region are often violated restricted. The defense of the freedom of expression and of the freedom of the press does not only have to do with journalists but with citizens as a whole, as indispensable pre-condition for democracy.

Paper presenter: Olga Del Río, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Information and Communication Rights in the Mediterranean Region
The approach to development based on rights, which includes human rights as indivisible requires including Information and Communication Rights, as so as the Right of access to the as a condition to implement such approach. The access to information and communication is crucial for the citizens' active participation and of society's organizations, which is indispensable for human rights respect and democracy. In this sense, the Mediterranean region is characterised by deep divides and big challenges.

Paper presenter :Abdelouahab El Imrani, Universidad Abdelmalek Essaâdi, Actual situation of Information and Communication Rights in Morocco
Pour améliorer l’accès aux technologies de l’information et de la communication au Maroc, qui est encore déficitaire, le gouvernement a lancé récemment le Plan Maroc Numérique 2013, qui s’intègre dans le cadre de la stratégie numérique nationale visant à élargir l’utilisation des TIC auprès des citoyens, des administrations et des entreprises d'ici 2013. Dans cet aspect, le droit à l’information et la communication qui est un droit universel et un pilier de l’exercice des libertés publiques dans les sociétés démocratiques et reconnu par les instances internationales, à leur tête l'ONU, doit être garanti par le gouvernement a ces citoyens.

Paper presenter: Raquel Martínez-Gómez, AECID, Development aids and public opinion
Public opinion of donor and beneficiaries countries with respect to the quality and efficacy of development aids is more and more critical. As the OECD points out, development communication is an important challenge for the governments and other actors of development processes.

Paper presenter: María Luz Ortega, Fundación ETEA, Development Education, the role of Information and Communication Rights
The identification of communication as a tool for Education to Development is quite recent but it is crucial in the Information and Communication Society. Both agencies and multilateral bodies are including communication in their strategies of intervention.

Paper presenter: Ricardo Carniel Bugs, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, “The evolution and results of the Mediterranean Network of Regulatory Authorities (MNRA)”
In November 2010, when representatives of regulatory authorities of 16 countries gather in Turkey, the Mediterranean Network of Regulatory Authorities (MNRA) will be celebrating the 13th anniversary of its foundation. The meeting in Istanbul will be the twelfth time that different regulatory authorities working on Mediterranean basin meet to talk about such a particular sector as the audiovisual one and to discuss subjects that affect all of them, though not to the same extent. The connection among these different bodies and the results they have achieved in the last decade are the subjects to be studied in this paper.
The MNRA was created on a proposal by the French Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA) and the Consell de l’Audiovisual de Catalunya, of Catalonia, Spain (CAC) in 1997. Nowadays, the Network has 19 regulatory bodies, as well as other authorities that have the observer status. Our first aim is to identify those regulatory bodies and to know their general characteristics (structure, financing, mechanisms for self-government, etc.) Can we consider all MNRA members as independent regulatory bodies like the founders of the Network (CSA and CAC)?
Unlike the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA), the MNRA members don’t share a supranational legal framework, which makes even more evident the difficulties in finding a consensus when it comes to decisions. In the perspective of the Communication Policies, which results can be highlighted in the last ten years? By analyzing the work papers and the conclusions of the meetings’ documents, we want to verify the topics of interest of countries with such different realities, as it is the case of Lebanon, Albania or Morocco, for example, and also what contribution can make the regulatory bodies to build an Intermediterranean social space.