Paris, November 10 (BNA) Audrey Azoulay was re-elected to the post of Director-General of UNESCO with the tremendous support of the organization’s 193 member states.
UNESCO said Azoulay’s re-election took place in the spirit of unanimity and with the overwhelming support of UNESCO member states, receiving 155 out of 169 votes.
“I see this result as a sign of the restoration of unity within our organization,” she said.
“Over the past four years, we have been able to restore confidence in UNESCO, and in some ways this has also been about restoring UNESCO’s confidence in itself. We have restored calm by reducing the political tensions that have stood in our way and seeking common positions on topics that have been divisive in the past. We were then able to develop a common ambition, particularly by reconnecting with the tradition of leading major operations in the field.”
Over the past four years, UNESCO has undergone a major modernization process to improve the efficiency of its work.
In particular, it has embarked on the reconstruction of the old city of Mosul (Iraq), which was launched in 2018 and is currently underway.
Since the tragic double explosion in the port of Beirut in August 2020, UNESCO has reconstructed nearly 90 schools in the Lebanese capital where it is also pursuing activities in the areas of heritage and culture.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, while hundreds of millions of children and adolescents have been deprived of their right to education, UNESCO has once again demonstrated its ability to intervene, creating the Global Education Alliance that has made it possible to ensure the continuity of education in 112 countries.
This new impetus led to the consolidation of UNESCO’s budget. On the twin pillars of national and voluntary contributions, funding for 2020-2021 totaled $1.4 billion.
Voluntary contributions increased by 50% during 2017-2021, compared to the previous four years.