UNESCO's first visit to the Arab world: UNESCO places education and culture at the center of priorities for efforts to rebuild Iraq
Nisaa FM: - The General-Director of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, will make her first visit to a number of Arab countries from 12th to 14th of February on the occasion of the International Conference on the Reconstruction and Development of Iraq. On the 13th of February, the General Director will travel to Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to participate in the World Summit of Governments, where she will speak at the closing plenary session on "Common Intelligence: UNESCO's Key Role in the Challenges of the Twenty-first Century.
Also on Tuesday, 13th of February, she will travel to Abu Dhabi where she will meet with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. She will also take the opportunity to visit the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi with Noura Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development. Finally; the General-Director will travel to Kuwait to participate in the International Conference on the Reconstruction and Development of Iraq, to be held in Kuwait on 12th , 13th and 14th February. The conference aims to assess the needs of Iraq and mobilize civil society, the private sector and all international actors in the framework of the reconstruction of the country.
Organized by the cooperation of the Kuwaiti and Iraqi governments, with the support of the World Bank, the European Union and the United Nations, this conference is an opportunity for the General Director to reaffirm UNESCO's commitment to the process of national reconciliation. The General-Director will also highlight the functions and role of UNESCO for emergency education and the protection of the Iraqi heritage as tools for national unity.
On the last day of the conference, the General-Director will address the Emir of Kuwait, His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Iraqi Prime Minister, Haider Al-Abbadi, UN General-Secretary, Antonio Guterres, and EU High Representative for Security and Foreign Affairs Policy ,Federica Mujerini, and World Bank President, Jim Young Kim. On the sidelines of the International Conference, the General-Director will hold a series of bilateral meetings with the Emir of Kuwait, the Prime Minister of Iraq and the High Representative for Security and Foreign Affairs Policy of the European Union.
The basic elements of cooperation between UNESCO and the Iraqi authorities in the areas of education and education
In 2017, UNESCO organized the International Coordination Conference for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the liberated areas of Iraq, which enabled the adoption of a plan of action for the preservation of archaeological sites in the country, as well as its museums, religious heritage and historical cities. Iraq has five sites on the World Heritage List.
UNESCO also played a leading role on international level in raising awareness and promoting the joint work of the United Nations for the protection of culture, which was reflected in the unanimous adoption by the Security Council of resolution 2347 in March 2017. It was the first of its kind to focus exclusively on the role of cultural heritage in zones of armed conflict without geographical limitation.
UNESCO is further more working to combat illicit trafficking in Iraqi cultural property through:
Follow-up to Security Council resolution 1483 (2003) and coordination with INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to implement resolution 2199 (2015), which prohibits any trade in Iraqi cultural property after 2003, training border police and raising awareness of cultural institutions and international auctions.
At the level of education, UNESCO has enabled some 10,000 high-level IDP students to benefit from educational support in the framework of its Iraq Plan, which is based on three pillars: access, quality and promotion of educational systems. The needs are enormous and calls for international assistance to be strengthened: 11 million Iraqis need humanitarian assistance, 3 million are displaced across the country, and 70,000 Iraqis return every week to the territories they had to leave during the war.
In 2015, UNESCO launched in Baghdad a campaign of "united" with "heritage" that calls for the promotion of extremism by celebrating sites, properties and cultural traditions.