In the margins of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Indialogue Foundation co-organised the 10th Annual SDGs Conference 2025 in New York in collaboration with the Journalists and Writers Foundation (JWF) and other global partners.
It was held on 24th September 2025 in New York. The year 2025 also marked the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations and the 10th year of the SDGs Conference.
Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Senior Editor at independent and multilingual news website The Wire, represented India at the international gathering. She spoke on the topic “Undermining Trust in Mainstream Media Eroding Social Cohesion and Peacefulness.”
2025 was a pivotal year as governments worldwide introduced legislation that threatened press freedom. In the digital media ecosystem, social media and technology serve as powerful tools for human rights advocacy and citizen participation.
Human rights defenders use these platforms to mobilise support and raise awareness of social justice issues. However, authoritarian actors exploit them to spread disinformation and undermine trust in traditional media.
This erosion of trust fuels social divisions and weakens cohesion. Additionally, geopolitical tensions complicate the digital landscape, as various actors use technology to influence public discourse, challenging global stability and the rule of law.
Ms Sherwani, a prominent media personality, spoke about the growing media market in India, contrasting it with the country’s information crisis, where the majority of mainstream media is pro-establishment. She highlighted the scrutiny and harassment independent media faces in India, and raised the issue of safeguarding them.
Ms Sherwani said, “For India, safeguarding democracy requires restoring faith in the fourth pillar – the media – so the citizens can hold governments accountable and participate in democracy from a place of knowledge and not from misinformation.”
The conference was preceded by a high-level reception on September 22nd and a roundtable discussion on September 23rd on the themes of “The Role of Interfaith Dialogue for Sustainable Peace and Development” and “Global Youth Voices for Peace and Justice.”
Apart from attending the conference in Manhattan Ms Sherwani visited various Hizmet Movement-affiliated institutions in New York and New Jersey, such as the ANT bookstore and Café, and Alliance for Shared Values (AfSV), a non-profit umbrella organisation that serves as a voice for civic and service organisations associated with the Hizmet Movement in the US.
She also visited Advocates of Silenced Turkey (AST), a leading organisation that documents, archives, researches, and reports on human rights violations in Türkiye, Embrace Relief, a non-profit organisation that collaborates with volunteers to deliver humanitarian aid and disaster relief to vulnerable communities worldwide, and Pioneer Academy, a PreK-12 school which holds the coveted National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence status.
Ms Sherwani was accompanied by the Secretary-General of Indialogue Foundation, M Behzad Fatmi, on her trip to the US.
