Ukraine supports UN Secretary-General's initiative to counter misinformation during pandemic

Ukraine supports an initiative of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to counter fake news and misinformation around the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN Serhiy Kyslytsia.
"We support the initiative of the UN Secretary-General to combat misinformation around COVID-19. For Ukraine, as Vice-Chair of the Committee on Information, it is among the priorities, as we know from our own experience how some countries, including the Russian Federation, are trying to use the pandemic to promote insinuations in the information space,” Kyslytsia told Ukrinform.

According to him, the first fake that should be refuted is "a Russian narrative about the relationship between the current sanctions and humanitarian aid to tackle COVID-19."

At the same time, Kyslytsia called the work with corporations that manage social networks as “an important aspect of the campaign".

“Users must have access to science-proven pandemic facts. The response to stories, which could be misleading and could even harm people's well-being, must be more efficient," the diplomat said.

At the same time, when tackling the new coronavirus, people must remain human, avoid discrimination and respect human rights, said Kyslytsia.

As reported, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on April 14 announced an initiative to tackle fake news and disinformation about the coronavirus.

“I'm announcing a new UN Communications Response initiative to spread facts and science, countering the scourge of misinformation - a poison putting more lives at risk,” he stated.