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Trust is the bedrock of every society.
It connects people to their leaders.
It builds faith in institutions.
And it brings people together. 听
When trust is chipped away, societies crumble.
Polarization pulls people apart.
And the fuse of violence is easily lit.
The theme of this year鈥檚 Global Media and Information Literacy Week is all about building trust in the face of a growing 鈥榠nfodemic.鈥
Mis- and disinformation.
Pseudoscience.
Conspiracy theories.
And outright lies.
At the peak of COVID-19, misinformation caused suffering and even death.
That鈥檚 why we launched the 鈥淰erified鈥 initiative to reach millions worldwide with facts and science about the virus.
And it鈥檚 why I鈥檝e called for a global code of conduct that promotes integrity in public information, and improves media and information literacy.
So people can make choices based on fact 鈥 not fiction.听
The Abuja Declaration that will emerge this week is an essential step in this journey.
I call on Member States to develop media and information literacy policies that put science, knowledge and facts first.
Let鈥檚 rebuild the trust that our societies need, and that our collective future requires.
听