UNITED NATIONS, Feb 14 (APP): The 2023 World Radio Day is being celebrated worldwide under the theme of “Radio and Peace,” highlighting independent radio as a support platform for conflict prevention and peace-building.

From ensuring high school girls, in Afghanistan, can keep learning even after they have been banned from classrooms; to supporting forthcoming elections in South Sudan; to getting war-weary people to buy into peace processes: radio continues to be relevant in the digital era.

World Radio Day, observed annually on 13 February, celebrates the power of the medium. The theme this year is ‘Radio and Peace’, highlighting its role in conflict prevention and peace-building.

“Since it was developed about a century ago, radio has proven to be an exceptional means of communication, debate and exchange – indeed, it is one of the most accessible and widespread types of media,” Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said in a statement.

In her message for the Day, she urged everyone “not only to celebrate radio’s potential, but also, and especially, to make greater use of radio as a unique instrument of peace.”

Francesca Mold, Chief of Strategic Communications in the UN’s Department of Peace Operations (DPO), said this year’s theme could not be more relevant. DPO recently kicked off a year-long campaign to commemorate the 75th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping.

“Operating as part of UN peacekeeping missions, we operate radio networks which are vital to reaching large-scale and diverse communities, particularly in places where internet penetration is poor and the population is very mobile due to conflict and displacement,” Ms. Mold said.

UN Peacekeeping was established in 1948 and since then 71 missions have been deployed to post-conflict countries around the world, with Pakistan being among the top contributors of uniformed personnel to the world body’s flagship activity. As these operations have to explain their mandates to local populations, communication is essential, it was pointed out.

Radio officially became part of peacekeeping in 1989 under the UN Transition Assistance Group (UNTAG) in Namibia, a political mission established to ensure the holding of free and fair elections there.

UNTAG created content on issues such as voter registration, which was given to local broadcasters for dissemination. The first significant peacekeeping radio station arrived a few years later, with the UN’s Mission in Cambodia.

“Perhaps the best tool in our toolbox has been UN Peacekeeping radio stations,” said Douglas Coffman from the Peace and Security Section of the UN’s Department of Global Communications (DGC), which is also home to UN News.

Coffman served in the Balkans in the late 1990s, in the wake of the series of wars that erupted following the breakup of Yugoslavia.

“Radio is important because the UN can speak to the local population without going through the filter of biased media,” he said. “These are media that have been part of the problem in the conflict. They don’t necessarily want to help us get our messages out. So, having the ability to speak directly and in real time to the communities we’re working for, is essential.”

Radio has played a pivotal role in the world’s youngest nation, South Sudan, which has suffered periods of brutal fighting and displacement since gaining independence in 2011.

Radio’s accessibility and widespread reach have made it a critical tool for UNESCO, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it was necessary to reach students who were out of school, the UN said in a press release.

The UN agency established a system to teach children over the airwaves, benefiting scores of learners in many countries, including in sub-Saharan Africa where less than a quarter of people have internet access.

“Radio is thus very often the medium of last resort. We are seeing this again in Afghanistan, where girls and women have been suddenly and unfairly denied their right to learn, study and teach,” Ms. Azoulay, the UNESCO chief, said.

UNESCO has strongly condemned the bans and has launched a programme with the European Union to support media outlets in Afghanistan. The objective is to help circulate educational material, and information on health and safety, to reach at least six million people directly.