Election of 31 members of UNESCO’s Executive Board

Paris, 14 October

• © UNESCO/Andrew Wheeler

The 193 Member States of UNESCO, gathered for the 35th session of the General Conference, the highest governing body of the Organization, on 14 October voted on the replacement of part of the Executive Board, UNESCO’s other governing body.

Candidates are divided into five electoral groups. The following States were elected today:

Group I – Monaco, Denmark, Belgium.

Group II – Slovakia, Romania, Poland, Latvia, Uzbekistan, Belarus.

Group III – Saint Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, Haiti, Peru, Venezuela.

Group IV – China, Viet Nam, Japan, India, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan.

Group Va – Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Kenya, Ghana, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe.

Group Vb – Algeria, Egypt, Syrian Arab Republic.

Members are elected to the Executive Board for a term of four years. Today’s elected States join the 27 that became members during the previous session of the General Conference in 2007, whose mandate will expire in 2011: Argentina, Chile, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Kuwait, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, Niger, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Zambia. Four members - Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Jamaica – whose mandate only expires in 2011 volunteered to leave the Executive Board to facilitate the rotation among countries.

The Executive Board meets twice a year to examine the implementation of the programme adopted by the General Conference which meets every two years. The new Executive Board will meet after the 35th session of the General Conference to elect a Bureau (Chairperson, Vice-Chairs, Chairs of Commissions and Committees).

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• Author(s):UNESCOPRESS
• Source:UNESCO Press Release No.2009-122
• 15-10-2009