Haiti not forgotten: the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean designated as UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti
09-11-2010 4:00 pm Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, designated the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean as UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti at a ceremony that took place at UNESCO’s Paris Headquarters on 8 November. This title was awarded in recognition “of her dedication to the reconstruction and rebirth of Haiti in the fields of education, social and human sciences, natural and exact sciences, culture and communication, and her contribution to the promotion of the Organization’s ideals”. Nearly one year after the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti, the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean will contribute to UNESCO’s action to meet the needs of Haitians.
Born in 1957 in Port-au-Prince (Haiti),the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean served as Governor-General of Canada from September 2005 to September 2010.
She has established strong ties with UNESCO. In October 2009, she spoke to the Organization’s Executive Board, stressing the importance of dialogue between cultures. In March 2010, she visited Haiti, where, together with the Director-General of UNESCO, she chaired a round table about education in Port-au-Prince. She also visited Jacmel, in the south of Haiti. The colonial city, which the Haitian authorities placed on their "tentative list" in 2004 with a view to proposing its inscription on UNESCO's World Heritage List, was very seriously affected by the earthquake.
Also on the roster of UNESCO Special Envoys are HRH Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz, UNESCO Special Envoy for Water; HH Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, Special Envoy of UNESCO for Basic and Higher Education; and HRH Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, UNESCO Special Envoy on Literacy for Development. UNESCO Special Envoys are celebrities who use their talents and renown to further the Organization’s ideals and action.
