Speaker of the House of Representatives Anġlu Farrugia will participate in the second part of the Fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament through a pre-recorded video message. This conference is the world’s largest gathering of the highest level of parliamentary representation and is taking place in Vienna, Austria between 7 and 8 September 2021. This conference takes place every five years and its objective is to reinforce the parliamentary dimension of global governance.
Organized jointly by the IPU and the Austrian Parliament, in cooperation with the United Nations, this in-person segment of the conference follows a virtual session that was held in August 2020. Over 110 speakers of parliament from around the world are expected to visit Vienna for the first physical large-scale inter-parliamentary meeting since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
The two-day conference takes place under the umbrella theme of ‘Parliamentary leadership for more effective multilateralism that delivers peace and sustainable development for the people and the planet’. The speakers of parliament will focus on priorities that require urgent international parliamentary action including the global response to the pandemic and the post-COVID recovery, the climate emergency, countering misinformation, youth participation in politics, and gender equality.
Speaker Anġlu Farrugia, in his video recording, will address the subject of countering misinformation and hate speech. Social media has facilitated sharing of information and greatly enhanced civic engagement and connectivity. At the same time, social media is vulnerable to abuse by malicious actors who misuse online platforms to spread misinformation and hateful and divisive content. In his address, Speaker Farrugia will also call on the authorities to set up digital literacy campaigns since these are the best tool to fight misinformation and hate speech in society.
