AMARC10 Conference Sets High Objectives for Community Radio Movement

13 November 2010, La Plata, Argentina. The tenth Global Conference of Community Radio broadcasters, AMARC10, hosted by AMARC Argentina, gathered together more than 500 community radio broadcasters and stakeholders from 87 countries in la Plata, Argentina, in what was the first global conference to be held in South America. Speaking in the closing ceremony of AMARC 10, María Pía Matta, the new president of AMARC, called for increased solidarity for persecuted community radio broadcasters and deepening the social impact of community radio to face the challenges of humanity in the 21st Century.

The weeklong conference participated by grassroots broadcasters and activists and well-known freedom of expression advocates and communicators; adopted the la Plata declaration, elected the members of the international Board of Directors of AMARC global network; gave, in its sixth edition, the solidarity prize to the Haitian community radios for their role in supporting the population after the February 2010 earthquake. AMARC 10 also adopted the strategic lines of action for 2011-2014 assembling in part the rich content exchanges and recommendations from plenary, seminars and workshops on reinforcing the social impact of community radio in development, democratization and recognition of diversity of societies; on creating enabling environments for community radio development and; on ensuring social, economic and political sustainability of the sector at local, regional and international levels.
The new board of directors of AMARC following AMARC 10 is composed by:

                  Maria Pia Matta, President, Chile.
Emmanuel Boutterin, Deputy President, France.
Franklin Huizies, Treasurer, South Africa.
Marcelo Solervicens, Secretary General.
Maria Eugenia Chávez, Vicepresident for the Women International Network, Mexico.
Ashish Sen, Vicepresident for Asia-Pacific Region, India.
Oumar Seck Ndiaye, Vicepresident for Africa, Senegal.
Carlos Aparicio, Vicepresident for Latin America & Caribbean, Mexico.
Sony Esteus, Vicepresident, Haiti.
Silvia Richardson, Vicepresident, Canada.
Wilna Quarmine, Vice president, Ghana.
Sawsan Zaida, Vicepresident, Jordan.

The AMARC 10 Conference ended in the locality of Moron in symbolic homage to the memory of Argentina's disappeared during the latest military dictatorship in Argentina and recalling the importance of communication rights in building democratic societies. For further information, please visit http://amarc10.amarc.org
About AMARC:
AMARC is an international non-governmental organization serving the community radio movement in over 110 countries, and advocating for the right to communicate at the international, national, local and neighbourhood levels. AMARC has an International Secretariat in Montreal. It has regional sections in Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific and offices in Johannesburg, Buenos Aires, Brussels, and Kathmandu. For more information, please contact us atsuman_basnet@asiapacific.amarc.org