UNESCO Global MIL Week 2025 in Cartagena

Commemorated each year from 24 to 31 October as an official United Nations International Week, Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week celebrates global progress toward achieving MIL for all and sets the course for future action. The 2025 Global MIL Week Feature Conference, hosted by UNESCO and the Republic of Colombia on 23-24 October in Cartagena de Indias, responded to one of today's most pressing topics - the rise of AI - by examining how MIL empower individuals to critically understand, engage with, and shape AI-driven content. The conference welcomed more than 1000 in-person participants from around the world.

The Conference opened with a powerful message from the new generation, those most engaged with and affected by the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence. Sixteen students from schools and universities took the stage in a dynamic debate, sharing their perspectives on how AI is reshaping their future. Livestreamed across schools in Colombia, the session inspired thousands of young viewers to reflect on their role in building a responsible digital era.

The following 3 plenary sessions offered the diverse perspectives on how MIL can help societies navigate the fast-changing landscape of artificial intelligence. The session 2 "AI in the Classroom: Rethinking MIL for the Next Generation", building on the insights of the Youth Debate, brought together educators and experts to explore ways of integrating AI-focused MIL into school curricula, ensuring that learners are equipped with the MIL capacities. The Session 3 "News Rewired: Media in the AI-Driven Era" gathered media professionals together to critically examine how AI is transforming news production and consumption and highlight the role of MIL in upholding journalistic integrity, which aims to promote transparency and empowering audiences to engage critically to AI-generated content. During the final session "Peace and Inclusivity in Digital Times", experts and practitioners underscored how MIL can help counter disinformation, hate speech, and discrimination, especially to foster resilient communities and safe, inclusive digital spaces amid ongoing global crises and conflicts.

In addition to the main sessions, 30 partner-organized side events broadened MIL advocacy, addressing sectoral priorities and emerging issues. Highlights included the Thomson Media Foundation, which developed the MIL Multimedia Toolkit for Media with UNESCO, along with contributions from DW Akademie, IFLA, UNIMINUTO, and other partners. UNESCO also reconvened the Youth Multimedia Room , engaging young journalists and students from different regions to cover the conference and enhance their MIL skills through hands-on learning and collaboration.