 | Director-General SPEECHES | |
| FLASH INFO | |
| PRESS RELEASES | |
| MESSAGES | |
| UNESCO.ORG is also: | |
| | |
| | Implementation of Resolution 1483 on Iraq: Koïchiro Matsuura says “UNESCO stands ready to assume fully the special responsibilities assigned to it by its mandate, particularly in the fields of education and culture”
23-05-2003 - The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, today welcomed the adoption by the United Nations Security Council of Resolution 1483. |
“The unanimous vote in favour of this resolution attests to the will of the international community to help the Iraqi people to build their future. In recognizing the vital role of the United Nations, not only in essential humanitarian relief but also in helping to rebuild and restore national and local institutions, the international community is creating the conditions for the establishment of an Iraqi regime based on the rule of law and guaranteeing justice and equal rights for all Iraqi citizens. This return to consensus within the Security Council is good news.”
He further declared that “Within the United Nations system, UNESCO stands ready to assume fully the special responsibilities assigned to it by its mandate, particularly in the fields of education and culture”, adding that “We have been working for several weeks, in cooperation with other agencies in the system, to enable Iraqi educational institutions to reopen swiftly; now we can take concrete action on the ground. As far as culture and protection of the Iraqi heritage are concerned, we have already taken a number of preventive measures which have started to give positive results. We shall now have greater means of acting.”
On the specific question of illicit trafficking in cultural property stolen in Iraq, the Director-General stressed that paragraph 7 of the resolution adopted yesterday “constitutes a significant advance, in so far as it makes it incumbent on all Member States to take all possible measures to facilitate the safe return of stolen cultural property and prohibits trade in or transfer of such property. This paragraph, by extending to all Member States of the United Nations the obligations contained in the 1970 Convention, to which they are not all parties, and by entrusting the implementation of this decision to UNESCO, facilitates our Organization’s action in this field. I also see this as an acknowledgement of our efforts”, he concluded.
|
Source |
Office of the Spokeswoman
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
