Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) headquarters in Paris will see today the election for the organisations 11th Secretary-General, with seven candidates competing to succeed the Bulgarian, Irina Bokova.
Fifty-eight members of the Unesco Executive Board are holding its 202nd session in Paris under the chairmanship of Germany’s Ambassador to Unesco Michael Worbs to choose the candidate. The person to be nominated by the Executive Board will be chosen by secret ballot.
Seven candidates competing for the post are Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kawari from Qatar, Polad Bulbuloglu from Azerbaijan, Pham Sanh Chau from Vietnam, Qian Tang from China, Vera El-Khoury Lacoeuilhe from Lebanon, Audrey Azoulay from France and Moushira Khattab from Egypt.
The winner will be announced by October 13. Then the General Conference will elect the Executive Board at its 39th session on November 10, with the participation of the 195 member states. The new Director-General will assume office on November 15.
The Director-General is appointed for a period of four years, and may be appointed for a further term of four years, but shall not be eligible for reappointment for a subsequent term.
The 10th Director-General of the Unesco, Irina Bokova, was the first woman to occupy the post after winning the elections of 2009 with 31 votes ahead of the runner-up, Egypt’s former Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, by three votes.
She was preceded by nine Director-Generals: Koichiro Matsuura from Japan (1999-2009), Federico Mayor Zaragoza from Spain (1987-99), Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow from Senegal (1974-87), Rene Maheu from France (1961-74), Vittorino Veronese from Italy (1958-61), Luther Evans from the United States (1953-58), John Wilkinson Taylor from the United States acting (1952-53), Jaime Torres Bodet from Mexico (1948-52) and Julian Huxley from the United Kingdom (1946-48).
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris. Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter. It is the successor of the League of Nations’ International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.
Unesco has 195 member states and ten associate members. Most of its field offices are “cluster” offices covering three or more countries; national and regional offices also exist.
Unesco pursues its objectives through five major programmes: education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and communication/information. Projects sponsored by Unesco include literacy, technical, and teacher-training programmes, international science programmes, the promotion of independent media and freedom of the press, regional and cultural history projects, the promotion of cultural diversity, translations of world literature, international cooperation agreements on secure the world cultural and natural heritage (World Heritage Sites) and to preserve human rights, and attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide. It is also a member of the United Nations Development Group.
The Unesco Executive Board ensures the overall management of Unesco. It prepares the work of the General Conference and sees that its decisions are properly carried out. The functions and responsibilities of the Executive Board are derived primarily from the Constitution and from rules or directives laid down by the General Conference.
The General Conference consists of the representatives of Unesco’s Member States. It meets every two years, and is attended by Member States and Associate Members, together with observers for non-Member States, intergovernmental organisations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Each country has one vote, irrespective of its size or the extent of its contribution to the budget.
