TASHKENT, Nov 11 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Uruguay has secured a seat on the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for a four-year term, following an election held during the organization’s 43rd General Conference in Uzbekistan.
The South American country obtained 119 votes from the Member States present at the event.
According to a statement from Montevideo’s Foreign Ministry, Uruguay’s incorporation will allow it to assume a more active role in the development of global policies focused on peacebuilding, international cooperation, and sustainable development. Key areas of focus will include public education, cultural heritage, digital inclusion, and freedom of expression, in a joint effort between the Foreign Affairs and Education portfolios.
The Foreign Ministry hailed the achievement, noting it reflects the country’s “historic commitment to multilateralism and, in particular, to the work of UNESCO.” It offers “another opportunity for the country to raise its international profile and promote its traditional foreign policy based on the defense of international law, dialogue, and cooperation,” the document went on.
The UNESCO summit also saw the adoption of the so-called Recommendation on the Ethics of Neurotechnologies, to ensure that these technologies contribute to improving lives without jeopardizing fundamental human rights. Neurotechnology comprises tools designed to interact directly with the nervous system to measure, modulate, or stimulate it, it was explained.
The Recommendation urges governments to implement safeguards to preserve the “inviolability of the human mind” and ensure neurotechnology remains inclusive and affordable. It also advises against the use of neurotechnology for non-therapeutic purposes, particularly for children and young people whose brains are still developing, while warning against its use in the workplace for monitoring productivity or creating employee data profiles. It also insists on the need for explicit consent and full transparency in its application. — NNN-MERCOPRESS
