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UNESCO Launches Framework for Enabling Intercultural Dialogue in Arab Region

Participants and experts discussed Wednesday the state of Intercultural Dialogue in the Arab region, and the ways to promote it using the UNESCO framework
Participants and experts discussed Wednesday the state of Intercultural Dialogue in the Arab region, and the ways to promote it using the UNESCO framework
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UNESCO Launches Framework for Enabling Intercultural Dialogue in Arab Region

Participants and experts discussed Wednesday the state of Intercultural Dialogue in the Arab region, and the ways to promote it using the UNESCO framework
Participants and experts discussed Wednesday the state of Intercultural Dialogue in the Arab region, and the ways to promote it using the UNESCO framework

The UNESCO Regional Office in Beirut has hosted a conference for the Arab regional launch of the UNESCO Framework for enabling Intercultural Dialogue, in close collaboration with the Anna Lindh foundation.

Participants and experts discussed Wednesday the state of Intercultural Dialogue in the Arab region, and the ways to promote it using the UNESCO framework.

Recognizing the potential for Intercultural Dialogue and the need for better data on Intercultural Dialogue to effectively tackle pressing global issues, UNESCO has developed the UNESCO Framework for Enabling Intercultural Dialogue in partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace.

Including data from over 160 countries, the Framework serves as a guide on how best to improve the structures, values and processes that enable Intercultural Dialogue, knowing that Intercultural Dialogue can be defined as a process undertaken to realize transformative communication that requires space or opportunities for engagement and a diverse group of participants committed to values such as mutual respect, empathy and a willingness to consider different perspectives. An important tool for peace, conflict prevention, fragility reduction, and human rights promotion, a knowledge gap on what makes dialogue effective has hindered our ability to use this tool until now.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Princess Rym Ali, President of the Anna Lindh Foundation said: “Diversity is a fact, but inclusion is a choice. I am proud to share Anna Lindh's powerful words during the Arab regional launch of UNESCO's framework for Enabling Intercultural Dialogue in Lebanon. In our collaboration with UNESCO, we strive to foster intercultural understanding among Euro-Med youth. Together, let's uphold the shared values of diversity, inclusion, and equality, as we embark on this transformative journey.”

UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Social and Human sciences Gabriela Ramos said that the region is rich in cultural heritage that reflects a wealth of diversity.

“From the Maghreb to the Arabic peninsula, the region holds one of the most ancient civilizations and is home to 450 million people. Despite this richness, the region is home to many of today’s global challenges ...Investing in Intercultural Dialogue is therefore a vital step towards building the trust and collective will to build a better future for all,” added Ramos.

“We now can prioritize and sequence investments to enhance dialogue for transformative impact. Today, we have the opportunity to take a significant step towards our goal, here in the Arab States, by using this initiative as a means to evaluate opportunities in the region for fostering intercultural dialogue and finding concrete ways to implement and contextualize this framework locally.”

Director of the UNESCO Regional Office Costanza Farina said: “As you may know that the Framework offers data sets and a rich analysis of key macro- and micro-level societal factors that create the space and opportunity for successful Intercultural Dialogue. According to its findings, the Arab region performs at different levels in Social Cohesion and Skills and Values. Inclusion, and Global Citizenship Education and Freedom of Expression are the areas which require more attention and hence actions.”

“In these consultations over next two days, we will share and use data and findings from the framework to deepen your collective analysis of gaps, challenges, and opportunities in the Arab region. In this regard, global conversations, and normative instruments such as the Mondialcult Declaration (2022) and Windhoek +30 Declaration (2021) respectively offer a robust policy framework for Intercultural Dialogue. Leveraging youth social innovation and skills enhancement is the core of the Youth Declaration of the recent Transforming Education Summit held in NY in September 2022. In this regard, youth perspectives in analyzing challenges and opportunities in the region and reflecting youth aspirations will be very important.”

“The key outcome of our consultations will be a roadmap which identifies priorities and actionable recommendations for the systemic use and operationalization of the Framework. The roadmap will enable the scaling up of a more sustainable intercultural dialogue in the Arab region.”

The Framework includes nine domains consisting of 21 indicators. Global, regional, and country level data on all nine domains can be accessed through the online platform for the Framework, serving as a guide on needs and priorities in regard to supporting intercultural exchange for policymakers. The first of its kind, the Framework provides stakeholders not only with an understanding of the environment behind intercultural dialogue, but also how to enable intercultural dialogue within their specific context. The Framework also shows for the first time the direct connection between peacefulness, conflict prevention and non-fragility, and human right protection with intercultural dialogue creating an additional incentive for countries to foster this important tool.

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Culture

PM: Anne Carson's Nobel Literature Prize 'a Proud Moment for Canada'

Canadian poet Anne Carson, winner of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, performs her work "Antigonick" at the Moderna Museet art gallery in Stockholm, Sweden, May 8, 2015. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via AP)
Canadian poet Anne Carson, winner of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, performs her work "Antigonick" at the Moderna Museet art gallery in Stockholm, Sweden, May 8, 2015. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via AP)
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PM: Anne Carson's Nobel Literature Prize 'a Proud Moment for Canada'

Canadian poet Anne Carson, winner of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, performs her work "Antigonick" at the Moderna Museet art gallery in Stockholm, Sweden, May 8, 2015. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via AP)
Canadian poet Anne Carson, winner of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, performs her work "Antigonick" at the Moderna Museet art gallery in Stockholm, Sweden, May 8, 2015. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency via AP)

Canadian poet Anne Carson winning the Nobel prize for literature is a "proud moment" for the country, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday.

The 76-year-old's works feature "wit, imagination, and a style entirely her own," Carney said on X.

"She has brought ancient stories to new audiences and transformed the way we think about literature," he said, calling the award "an extraordinary achievement and a proud moment for Canada."

In a statement to AFP, Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood said Carson's work "has long been admired among poets of many countries."

"For new readers I would recommend 'The Beauty of the Husband' -- direct and visceral, funny and angry and sad - or 'Men in the Off Hours.' Delights await!" added Atwood, a longtime Nobel contender who was passed over in 2013 in favor of fellow Canadian Alice Munro.

A renowned classicist, Carson has taught at several prestigious Canadian and American universities, including McGill in Montreal. She joined McGill's Department of Classics in 1988 and left the university in 2002.

"This is a wonderfully deserved honor for Anne Carson, whose work has captivated readers around the world by bringing ancient voices into conversation with the present," Lisa Shapiro, McGill's dean of arts, was quoted as saying by The McGill Reporter.

"Her extraordinary talent, originality and intellectual depth have had a profound influence on contemporary literature. We are proud that McGill was her academic home for many years and delighted to see her remarkable contributions recognized on the world stage."

Outside the university in Montreal, Vicky Huang, a 24-year-old political science student, expressed pride.

"My friends and I love 'Eros the Bittersweet,' so this is such exciting news," she told AFP.

"Yeah, I mean, the fact that she's a Canadian woman working in high literature makes all of us really proud."

Culture

Red Sea Museum Opens 'Photographing Distance' Exhibition in Historic Jeddah

The exhibition showcases photography and video installations documenting lighthouses across diverse global locations. SPA
The exhibition showcases photography and video installations documenting lighthouses across diverse global locations. SPA
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Red Sea Museum Opens 'Photographing Distance' Exhibition in Historic Jeddah

The exhibition showcases photography and video installations documenting lighthouses across diverse global locations. SPA
The exhibition showcases photography and video installations documenting lighthouses across diverse global locations. SPA

The Red Sea Museum, operating under Saudi Arabia’s Museums Commission, inaugurated the "Photographing Distance" exhibition by Argentine artist Matilde Marín at its premises in Historic Jeddah, marking its Kingdom debut and running through December 31.

The exhibition showcases photography and video installations documenting lighthouses across diverse global locations, including Jeddah and Yanbu, exploring their role in maritime navigation, human memory, and the connection between people and place.

Based on the artist's "Pharus" project initiated in 2005, the artworks frame lighthouses beyond their navigational utility as enduring symbols of guidance and hope.

The opening ceremony featured a guided tour by the artist, as well as a discussion session and a musical performance.

Linking contemporary art with Red Sea maritime heritage, the event is accompanied by an ongoing public program offering film screenings, poetry evenings, creative photography workshops, and family activities such as lighthouse model-making.

The event forms part of the Museums Commission's initiatives to enrich the Kingdom's cultural landscape and foster creative dialogue by hosting international artistic experiences.

Culture

Latin American, Caribbean Women Top Nobel Literature Buzz

A statue of Alfred Nobel in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 5, 2026. Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP
A statue of Alfred Nobel in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 5, 2026. Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP
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Latin American, Caribbean Women Top Nobel Literature Buzz

A statue of Alfred Nobel in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 5, 2026. Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP
A statue of Alfred Nobel in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 5, 2026. Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP

This year's Nobel literature prize could go to a Latin American or Caribbean woman when it is awarded on Thursday amid efforts to diversify an award that has most often gone to male, European authors, literary critics say.

There is no public shortlist for the Nobel, and since the nominees and the jury deliberations remain sealed for 50 years, Stockholm's literary circles engage in frantic guessing ahead of the announcement.

Antiguan-American author Jamaica Kincaid, 77, whose work explores Caribbean culture, family and identity as well as colonialism and race, has often been mentioned in Nobel speculation, as has China's Can Xue, whose avant-garde experimental writing has been compared to that of Franz Kafka.

The suspense will end at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT) Thursday when the 18-member Swedish Academy reveals its pick.

A 2018 sex assault scandal left the Academy in tatters and more than half of its 18 members were replaced.

Since then, every other literature laureate has been a woman -- making it likely that this year's nod could go to a woman, after last year's prize for Hungary's Laszlo Krasznahorkai.

Punters are this year putting their money on Can Xue and Mexico's Cristina Rivera Garza, as well as Spanish author Enrique Vila-Matas, Australia's Gerald Murnane, his Aboriginal compatriot Alexis Wright and American author Thomas Pynchon.

"It's about time for Jamaica Kincaid to get it," Victor Malm, culture critic at Swedish daily Expressen, told AFP.

"She has been mentioned for a long time," agreed Bjorn Wiman, culture editor at Sweden's largest daily Dagens Nyheter.

- Women under-represented -

Kincaid's 1990 novel "Lucy" is an autobiographical tale of an embittered young girl who travels from the West Indies to the United States to work as an au pair.

"It's exactly the kind of book where it's enough to read three lines to say: 'OK, we're talking about a Nobel laureate here'," Wiman said.

Giving her the nod could also be interpreted as a political choice, given her fierce criticism of US President Donald Trump, analysts say.

The Swedish Academy has long been criticized for the over-representation of Western male authors since the prize was first awarded in 1901.

There are only 18 women among the 122 laureates. Very few have worked in Asian or Middle Eastern languages. No African languages are represented.

The Academy insists however that its only consideration is the quality of a writer's work.

But unlike the Nobel prizes in medicine, physics and chemistry, there is no groundbreaking research on which to base speculation for the literature prize, Wiman said.

"In physics or chemistry, you can say that one discovery was more important than others", in terms of the impact it has had on mankind, he said.

"But when it comes to literature, it's different. There are easily 50 to 100 authors who could win the Nobel literature prize."

"That's why it's so interesting to follow the geographic distribution, the gender distribution, the kind of mark they want to make with the choice of laureate and so on," he said.

- 'Dark and violent' writing -

So what about the literature?

Lina Kalmteg, literary critic for Swedish public broadcaster SR, said it was time for a Spanish-language author from Latin America.

"In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about the 'Latin American literary miracle', this new generation that came after the male authors devoted to magical realism, like Gabriel Garcia Marquez," she told AFP.

"In this new wave, it's women who are taking the lead, with writing often tinged with feminism, but also often quite dark and violent, punctuated by surreal touches," she noted.

Argentine author Samanta Schweblin, 48, would be an interesting and surprising choice in this category, she said.

"But she is surely still too young," she added.

Literature laureates are honored for their body of work, not a single publication.

The last writer from South America to be honored was Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa in 2010.

Several new names getting Nobel buzz the past few years are Germany's Jenny Erpenbeck, who won the 2024 International Booker Prize for the novel "Kairos", and Duong Thu Huong, one of Vietnam's most popular writers whose first books in the late 1980s were bestsellers before they were banned. Her books are mainly published outside Vietnam.