On 6 November 2015, the Minister of Culture, Maggy Nagel, attended the 38th General Conference of UNESCO in Paris to present a speech on the important of protecting cultural heritage and promoting cultural pluralism in armed conflict.

Every two years, the General Conference assembles reprsentatives of 195 Member States and determines the general conduct, the programme and the budget of the UN organisation for the following two years. This year, the General Conference is being held from 3 to 18 November 2015, with the discussions beginning under the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in New York last September.

During the general policy debate, Maggy Nagel highlighted the importance of protecting cultural heritage, stating: "By destroying cultural riches we are attacking what that heritage represents in terms of values, identities, shared references and emotions. I attach a great importance particularly to freedom of expression and artistic creation. It is due to them that we owe these wonderful works which appear on the lists of material and immaterial heritage". The cross-cutting role of culture in the development agenda was also raised repeatedly.

"Every General Conference is an opportunity for a return to our roots, and this time around we especially feel the importance of a historical moment, one month after the adoption of the United Nations Programme for Sustainable Developmet 2030, a few weeks before the COP21 and the threat of a point of no return in climate disruption and in the face of multiple crises which are destabilising entire regions and are throwing millions of individuals onto the road, in search of a better future," commented Director-General of UNESO, Irina Bokova, in her keynote speech.

The Crown Prince of Norway, Haakon, also intervened at the beginning of the General Conference, praising UNESCO for its leading role in promoting access to quality education for all; free, independent and pluralistic media; and the protection of heritage and cultural diversity in a rapidly-evolving and increasingly complex world.

"The role and mandate of UNESCO are as important today as 70 years ago," commented the Crown Prince. "Education, science, culture, communication and information are essential in a world where people are increasingly interconnected and dependent on each other".

For the next nine days, the General Conference will be addressing educational programmes, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture and communication and inofrmation. On 10 November 2015, the UNESCO Science Report, 2030, will be released.

The 70th annniversary celebrations, which took place in almost all Member States of the organisation, including Luxembourg, will culminate on 16 November, the day of the adoption of UNESCO's Constitution seventy years ago during a Leadership Forum.

 

Photo by Cyril Bailleul (Minister of Culture of Luxembourg, Maggy Nagel)