UNESCO on Thursday demanded that Russia “immediately cease” attacks in Ukraine against schools, universities, Holocaust memorial sites and communication infrastructure.
In a statement, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) announced an extraordinary meeting of its Executive Council on March 15 to assess the consequences of the Russian invasion.
But first, he deplored “the civilian victims” of the conflict, among whom he noted that there are “students, professors, artists, scientists and journalists,” but also women and children, forced into a “disproportionate” exodus.
The director general, the French Audrey Azoulay, denounced “a totally unacceptable escalation of violence, which causes the death of civilians, including children.”
The institution did not announce any particular sanctions against Russia, which is a member, and advanced that the session of its Executive Council will be to “examine the repercussions and consequences of the current situation in Ukraine under all aspects of UNESCO’s mandate” .
He “vehemently” condemned the bombings of educational centers and counted seven, including the Karazin National University of Kharkov. He also counted attacks against seven cities that are UNESCO heritage, such as Kharkov itself (eastern Ukraine), Lviv (west) or the capital Kiev, in addition to Odessa (south).
The international organization lamented the damage caused by the bombing in Kharkov, considered a creative city of music by UNESCO, as well as in the center of the city of Chernihiv, a candidate to be declared a World Heritage Site.
UNESCO also referred to the damage caused by Russian forces in the Ivankіv museum, near Kiev, which contains works by the famous Ukrainian artist Maria Primachenko (1908-1997), a representative of naive art.
He also condemned the attack on the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial in Kiev, where “one of the largest massacres of Jews in World War II” took place. UNESCO also repudiated the bombing of the television towers in Kiev and expressed “concern” about the attacks on journalists.
The Russian invasion has caused the closure of educational centers that affect 6 million students between the ages of 3 and 17 and 1.5 million university students. “The repercussions -he warned- could be considerable, also in neighboring countries”. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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