2025:Program/UN in the Digital Age: Local voices, global Impact, and the battle for Information Integrity

Session title: UN in the Digital Age: Local voices, global Impact, and the battle for Information Integrity

Session type: Panel

Track: Partnerships

Language: en

🎥 Session recording: https://www.youtube.com/live/ysh2oH3jFxE?feature=shared&t=23149 🎥

Peacekeepers around the world work to bring peace and stability in multiple countries. However, they increasingly face disinformation campaigns directed at them. The UN department of peacekeeping operations would like to join forces with the Wikimedia movement to ensure that information about the peacekeeping missions is accurate. This edit-a-thon would serve the double purpose of improving accurate information about UN peacekeeping missions and share insight on these missions with the Wikimedia movement.

Description

UN peacekeeping and humanitarian operations are increasingly challenged by sophisticated disinformation campaigns and waves of misinformation that undermine their legitimacy, endanger peacekeepers and humanitarians, and hinder mandate implementation. Simultaneously, the narratives and experiences of local communities affected by conflicts and various crises and supported by the UN often remain underrepresented in the dominant discourse. In a rapidly evolving communications landscape, it is essential for those acting in the public interest to adapt and harness information spaces for common benefit. Safeguarding information integrity therefore protects peacekeepers and humanitarian operations, upholds the safety of those working for peace and security and ensures that all voices can participate and be heard. To address these challenges, the UN Global Principles for Information Integrity urge stakeholders in the information environment to strengthen information integrity. This panel explores how collaborative efforts can help to address misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech (MDH) and ensure that authentic local voices contribute to a more accurate understanding of UN peacekeeping and humanitarian work. It looks into the possible direct application of Wikimedia's principles – open collaboration, knowledge sharing, and community empowerment – alongside the UN Global Principles for Information Integrity, to enhance understanding of and engagement with UN work. The panel’s main objective is to harness open knowledge and community-led initiatives to improve the understanding, effectiveness, and local relevance of UN peacekeeping and humanitarian operations in the face of MDH. The panel is therefore designed to highlight the challenges, explore innovative solutions, and ultimately lead to actionable recommendations for strengthening information about the organization work. In this regard, its focus will be on how peacekeepers, humanitarians, local communities, and the Wikimedia movement can actively collaborate to create, verify, and disseminate accurate, accessible, and culturally relevant information about peace operations.

Speakers: ● AM Essoungou, UN Department of Peace Operations (DPO) ● Katie Drew, UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) ● Allan Cheboi, Data & Digital Technology Lead, (Build Up) ● Sandra Macharia, Director of UN Information Service, Nairobi

Discussion questions: 1. How do disinformation campaigns and MDH in general specifically target and impact UN peacekeeping operations and UNHCR on the ground, and what are the immediate consequences for peacekeepers and local populations? 2. How are UN peacekeepers and UNHCR staff already partnering with local media and community to (re)build trust and disseminate accurate information? 3. What are the opportunities and challenges of directly involving peacekeepers, humanitarian, and local communities in the creation and curation of information related to their missions? 4. How can local communities and the wikimedia community be better empowered to become more active participants in shaping the narrative? 5. How can the Wikimedia movement facilitate the inclusion of diverse linguistic and cultural perspectives in articles and resources about peacekeeping and UNHCR? 6. What are the practical steps required to build trust and foster collaboration between the UN, local communities, and the Wikimedia community for joint knowledge initiatives? 7. How can collaborative knowledge creation contribute to mitigating information gaps, countering misinformation, and building greater public understanding and support for peacekeeping and UNHCR?

How does your session relate to the event theme, Wikimania@20 – Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?

This session will show concretely how Wikimedians can be impactful and improve peace and security globally.

What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Everyone can participate in this session

Speakers

• Costanza Sciubba Caniglia

I’ve worked at the Foundation since 2020 and have organized multiple events and participated in community conferences.