GENERAL POLICY DEBATE OF THE 36th GENERAL CONFERENCE OF UNESCO

Address by Marten Kokk
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Permanent Representative of the Republic of Estonia to UNESCO
 

Mrs. President of the General Assembly, Mrs. President of the Executive Board, Mrs. Director-General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to join many others before me in offering my congratulations to you, Mrs. President, on your election.
First I would like to associate myself with the statement on behalf of the European Union.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am happy to say that two weeks ago Estonia celebrated the 20th anniversary of our membership in UNESCO. During that time we have become increasingly more engaged in UNESCOs activities and we are honoured to have the experience of working in the Intangible Cultural Heritage and World Heritage Committee. During this General Conference Estonia for the first time participates in the work of the Legal Committee. We have also presented our candidature to the International Coordinating Council of the “Man and Biosphere Programme” and intend to run for the Executive Board in 2013.

Distinguished delegates,

Since our meeting here two years ago we once again have to state that the world has changed a lot. Today the international community is facing new challenges and complicated tasks that more than ever call for strengthened co-operation and partnerships.

The discussions we will have here on global cooperation in education, science and culture are rooted in shared values and mutual respect that UNESCO was built on and stands for. The Arab spring has once again shown that human rights and dignity are universal values to which we all aspire. We have also witnessed the crucial role played by the youth in these social transformations and we have been reminded of the importance of free flow of information and freedom of expression for all that UNESCO actively promotes in the world.

Estonia welcomes UNESCO’s new programme of action for a culture of peace and non-violence that has been proposed as one of the six intersectoral platforms encompassing, inter alia, major actions relating to intercultural dialogue and human rights. We are pleased to see the close cooperation between UNESCO and UN Alliance of Civilizations in furthering intercultural dialogue. Estonia is determined to work with UNESCO in promoting respect for human rights in the world.

Estonia would like to pay tribute to the efforts of the Director General and her team to reform UNESCO’s programmes and structure to achieve a more effective organization with a forceful voice on the international stage. As Director-General Irina Bokova herself has said, “this is a reform to perform” and we count on that spirit to continue. We are always judged on the merit of our results, even within the constraints of the zero nominal growth budget. Our delegation supports the budget ceiling of US $653 million that still retains UNESCO’s focus on strengthening and streamlining program activities and carrying out field reforms. We are pleased to see very substantial increases for Africa and gender equality that correspond to their priority status across the Organization. In this context we would like to point out that Gender equality and womens’ rights are being important priorities of Estonia’s human rights policy as well as development cooperation policy.

We believe that UNESCO’s role first and foremost is normative action and respective monitoring, formulation of global policies as well as policy advice and capacity building in its Member States. These complex processes have been translated into the programmes contained in the C/5 document.

Education programme and especially “Education for All” is an important prerequisite to the attainment of Millennium Development Goals. This year’s Global Monitoring Report told us clearly that while progress has been made, we have a long way to go to achieve the 2015 EFA goals and to ensure that educational opportunities are available to all. Given that the majority of out-of-school children and two-thirds of illiterate adults are female, we welcome UNESCO’s recent initiative to launch the Global Partnership for Girls and Women’s Education. We also believe it is crucial to look beyond the quantitative and statistical data and focus on the quality of education. Holistic approach to EFA includes also post-basic education, technical and vocational education and higher education.

UNESCO is well known as a standard-setter. We would like to share with you our concerns on the current state of affairs regarding two flagship conventions of UNESCO, namely the 1972 Convention and the 2003 Convention. We regret to say that the increasing operational problems and politicisation of the World Heritage Committee compromises the credibility of the Convention and the World Heritage List. Political issues of bilateral nature should not be brought to the World Heritage Committee. Estonia is also concerned about the conflict of interest in being a member of the Committee and presenting new nominations to the World Heritage List. One cannot be judge and party at the same time and therefore we would like to encourage the Committee Members to voluntarily refrain from submitting nominations. The decisions of the Committee diverge more and more frequently from the professional advice of the Advisory Bodies to the detriment of the raison d’être of the 1972 Convention - that of conservation.

The 2003 Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage should be safeguarded from becoming a victim of its own success. First cycles of implementation of the Convention reflect both the tremendous interest generated but also the unequal preparation of countries and regions of the world to benefit from it. The Member States’ current focus on the lists of the Convention, especially the Representative List, poses a challenge in practical terms. It is important to adopt a responsible attitude about the amount of work the Committee and the Secretariat are able to accomplish during a year. Therefore the number of nominations that the Committee can examine each year, has to be limited. We cannot lose sight of the main purpose of the 2003 Convention which is to make it operational and working at the ground level so as to ensure safeguarding of ICH. The precondition for fulfilling this purpose is capacity-building in Sates Parties who need assistance.

As for science, Estonia highly appreciates UNESCO’s work in the area of bioethics, world water issues, disaster risk reduction and preparedness as well as international collaborative research for sustainable development.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm Estonia’s commitment to UNESCO and to contributing to its development and work in the years ahead.

Thank you for your attention.