Supreme Council of Culture supports Khattab to Head UNESCO

CAIRO – 28 August 2017: The Supreme Council of Culture strives to support the nomination of Moushira Khattab to Head UNESCO, said Hatem Rabie, the council head. Rabie noted that the Supreme Council of Culture will provide Khattab with both local and international support.

“The Council will support Khattab locally by holding a seminar in the Council residence.

This symposium will highlight the importance of the role that will be performed by Khattab if she claims this position. In addition, the Council will issue a press release to support her during the seminar, which is expected to take place after Eid Al Adha,” Rabie recounted. This symposium will be attended by a notable group of artists, politicians and public figures to discuss the vitality of this nomination.

Regarding international support, Rabie explained that the Supreme Council of Culture made a list with the voting countries to the Secretary-General of UNESCO, and therefore the council will communicate with the intellectuals who had a strong relationship with those voting countries to communicate with the Ministry of Culture of each country.

Ambassador Khattab is one of nine potential candidates running for the post of UNESCO’s Director-General in a 2017 tour to succeed Irina Bokova. Khattab is an Egyptian diplomat, who has led a long and distinguished career as a human rights activist. Serving in Egypt’s diplomatic missions in Australia, Hungary, Austria and the United Nations (New York and Vienna), her human rights activist role for advocating the rights of children and women, and functioning as former Chair of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child based at the UN Headquarters in Geneva round up her eclectic career. Khattab was Minister of Family and Population in 2011. She also served as Egypt’s ambassador to South Africa, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

UNESCO is the United Nations organization responsible for coordinating international cooperation in education, science, culture and communication.

It strengthens the ties between nations and societies, and mobilizes the wider public so that each child and citizen has access to quality education; may grow and live in a cultural environment rich in diversity and dialogue; and can enjoy full freedom of expression, the basis of democracy, development and human dignity.