Focus
As a founding member of the UN and UNESCO, Norway is a staunch supporter of
global governance
Multilateralism
We must build a better and more sustainable world for all, and this will require steady and transparent leadership and sound priorities.
Norway will take an active role in ensuring that UNESCO remains a relevant, knowledge-based and effective arena for multilateral cooperation in the 21st century. The participation of youth in knowledge production and decision-making is key to building common, consensus-based solutions.
SDG 4
Education is a priority for UNESCO and Norway. Norway will work to promote high-quality education for all based on equality, inclusion and social mobility.
Norway is a long-standing contributor to UNESCO’s education programmes and institutes, and is a founding member of the Capacity Development for Education Programme.
Norway is a strong supporter of global academic mobility and the fair and transparent recognition of qualifications and was the first country to ratify the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education.
Our common ocean
We all depend on our common ocean. Norway strongly supports a science-based approach to sustainable ocean management, including sustainable ocean planning, enhanced ocean observation and increased access to ocean data.
Norway fully recognises the global role of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), not least in promoting scientific understanding of the role of the oceans in a changing climate.
Norway supports the IOC’s leadership in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. International scientific cooperation is key to developing sound policies for ocean management.
Norway endorses UNESCO’s normative mandate and has contributed to
UNESCO’s work by providing funding, and sharing knowledge and expertise
Science
UNESCO’s efforts to make science and knowledge accessible for all is a step towards achieving the democratisation of knowledge and building knowledge-based societies.
Norway has been a key partner for UNESCO in these efforts, including strongly supporting the two recommendations on Open Science and the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence.
Heritage preservation and promotion
Norway is an active supporter of UNESCO’s unique mandate on culture, including the preservation of heritage, cultural and natural, tangible and intangible, through a knowledge-based approach.
Norway is a substantial contributor to UNESCO’s funds area of culture and will continue to support heritage preservation in all regions as a member of the Executive Board. Norway contributes to the international decade of indigenous languages, and supports the efforts being made to save, support, strengthen and develop indigenous languages.
Culture and communication
Norway supports UNESCO’s human rights mandate, including respect for fundamental freedoms such as freedom of expression, artistic freedom and the safety of journalists. Norway believes that access to information and freedom of expression are crucial to equal participation in society, sustainable development and peace.
As a member of the Intergovernmental Committee of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, Norway will continue to safeguard and promote freedom of expression, including artistic freedom and the freedom and safety of journalists. In the digital era, it is important to foster diversity in freedom of expression and to strengthen international exchange of culture, art and artists.
