[30.03.2001] - IPDC ENDORSES 57 NEW MEDIA PROJECTS WORLDWIDE
The Intergovernmental Council of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) ended its 21st session at UNESCO Headquarters today with a decision to help fund a total of 57 new media projects, which will be implemented once sufficient funds are provided to the IPDC’s Special Account. Continue

[27.03.2001] - DIRECTOR-GENERAL EXPRESSES DEEP CONCERN OVER THE MURDER OF MEXICAN JOURNALIST
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today expressed his grave concern about news of the killing of Mexican Journalist Saul Martinez on Saturday, March 24, near the town of Matamoros, in the north of the country, close to the United States border. Continue

[27.03.2001] - UNESCO TO CONTINUE MOBILIZATION IN FAVOUR OF AFGHANISTAN
UNESCO is determined to pursue the mobilization in favour of Afghanistan’s heritage, despite the destruction of the Buddha statues of Bamiyan by the Taliban, focusing its future action on the safeguarding of Afghanistan’s remaining Islamic and pre-Islamic heritage, maintaining dialogue, pursuing discussions of a religious nature favourable to heritage protection and working to develop legal standards pertaining to the concept of cultural crime. Continue

[23.03.2001] - OPENING OF GOVERNMENTAL EXPERTS’ MEETING TO DISCUSS PROTECTION OF UNDERWATER CULTURAL HERITAGE
The 4th Meeting of Governmental Experts on the Draft Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage opened at UNESCO today with a strong plea by the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, for the experts to agree on the Draft so that it can be submitted for adoption at the next session of the General Conference of UNESCO’s Member States later this year. Continue

[23.03.2001] - SIERRA GORDA (MEXICO) AND WATERBERG (SOUTH AFRICA) JOIN WORLD NETWORK OF UNESCO BIOSPHERE RESERVES
Two new sites, Sierra Gorda in Mexico and Waterberg in South Africa, have been named as Biosphere Reserves by the Bureau of UNESCO’s intergovernmental Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, during a meeting at UNESCO Headquarters (March 21 to 23). Continue

[22.03.2001] - GOVERNMENTAL EXPERTS TO FINE-TUNE DRAFT CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNDERWATER CULTURAL HERITAGE
Governmental experts representing some 100 states from around the world will meet to examine the Draft Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage destined to protect such valuable heritage (shipwrecks and archaeological sites) - increasingly vulnerable to pillaging by treasure hunters as ever more efficient underwater excavation equipment becomes more accessible - at UNESCO Headquarters, from March 26 to April 7. Continue

[21.03.2001] - DIRECTOR-GENERAL'S MESSAGE ON THE OCCASION OF WORLD WATER DAY 2001
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today issued the following message on the occasion of World Water Day, observed on March 22 each year: Continue

[20.03.2001] - DIRECTOR-GENERAL’S MESSAGE ON THE OCCASION OF WORLD POETRY DAY
On the occasion of World Poetry Day, celebrated on March 21, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura issued the following message: Continue 

[19.03.2001] - KOICHIRO MATSUURA HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR THE HUMAN FACE OF UNIVERSITIES TO BE PRESERVED
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura spoke of the challenges facing higher education and highlighted the vital importance of the “rich and diverse human texture” of universities if they are to fulfil their goals at the opening of the International Conference on The University of 21st Century in Muscat (Oman) on Saturday, March 17. Continue 

[16.03.2001] - 21ST CENTURY TALKS, “New Technologies and Knowledge: culture or commerce?”
The 17th session of the 21st Century Talks took place on March 9 at UNESCO Headquarters and focused on New Technologies and Knowledge: Reflections on the Future with the participation of two renowned personalities: economist and futurologist Jeremy Rifkin, the founding president of the Foundation on Economic Trends; and the writer and philosopher Michel Serres, who is a member of the French Academy and professor at Stanford University. Continue

[14.03.2001] - INTERNATIONAL MEETING SEEKS TO DEFINE INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE TO BE PROTECTED
Grinzane Cavour Castle, Piemonte (Italy) - A 4-day international roundtable entitled Intangible Cultural Heritage: Working Definitions opened today in the Castle of Grinzane Cavour near Turin with the aim of fine-tuning the terminology to be used in promoting the protection of intangible cultural heritage, possibly through the creation of an international standard-setting instrument which will be submitted for adoption to UNESCO’s Member States. Continue 

[13.03.2001] - DIRECTOR-GENERAL WELCOMES TRIBUNAL’S INDICTMENT ON DESTRUCTION OF HERITAGE IN DUBROVNIK
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura has welcomed the fact that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia included the destruction of historic monuments in its 16-count indictment of February 22 relating to the 1991 attacks on the ancient port city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. Continue

[12.03.2001] - JAILED MYANMAR JOURNALIST LAUREATE OF WORLD PRESS FREEDOM PRIZE 2001
The 2001 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was awarded today to U Win Tin, presently serving a prison sentence in Rangoon (Myanmar), by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura on the recommendation of an international jury of 16 media professionals. Continue

[12.03.2001] - DIRECTOR-GENERAL CONDEMNS TALIBAN'S CRIME AGAINST CULTURE
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura has condemned the Taliban’s destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan - which has been confirmed by his Special Envoy, Pierre Lafrance - and described it as a “crime against culture”. Continue

[11.03.2001] - DELEGATION OF ISLAMIC SPIRITUAL LEADERS ARRIVES IN AFGHANISTAN
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura yesterday conveyed a letter, through his special envoy in Afghanistan Pierre Lafrance, to Mullah Omar demanding that he suspend his edict to destroy pre-Islamic Afghan statues until the arrival of an important religious delegation. Continue

[09.03.2001] - UNESCO PURSUES EFFORTS FOR AFGHANISTAN
UNESCO has not received any confirmation of the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura continues his efforts to mobilize political and religious leaders to protect the heritage of Afghanistan. Continue

[08.03.2001] - LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN NATIONS ADOPT COCHABAMBA DECLARATION ON EDUCATION
The meeting of the Regional Intergovernmental Committee of the Major Project for Education (PROMEDLAC VII), organized by UNESCO in Bolivia, ended yesterday evening with the adoption of the Cochabamba Declaration and a series of recommendations concerning educational policies. Continue

[06.03.2001] - MESSAGE OF THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL ON THE OCCASION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura has issued a message on the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8). Continue

[05.03.2001] - “ALL DOORS ARE NOT CLOSED” ACCORDING TO UNESCO SPECIAL ENVOY TO AFGHANISTAN
Pierre Lafrance, UNESCO’s special envoy to Afghanistan, has left Kandahar, the main residence of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, for Islamabad (Pakistan), but will return to Afghanistan after the Id al-Adha holiday. After talks with, among others, the Taliban Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mullah Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, Mr Lafrance indicated that there was still hope that the Buddha statues at Bamiyan might be saved. Continue

[02.03.2001] - NGOS MEET TO GIVE THEIR VIEWS ON EDUCATION FOR ALL
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today highlighted the role of non-governmental organizations in achieving the target of providing quality basic education for all (EFA) by the year 2015, set at the World Education Forum (Dakar, April 2000), as he opened an NGO Consultation on the Global Initiative to implement this goal. Continue

[02.03.2001] - UNESCO ENVOY SENT TO AFGHANISTAN
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura has sent a special envoy to Afghanistan to deliver a message to the Taliban authorities, urging them to reverse their decision to destroy the ancient statues of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage. Continue

[01.03.2001] - UNESCO MOBILIZES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AS DESTRUCTION OF STATUES BEGINS IN AFGHANISTAN
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said today he was shocked at the announcement that the destruction of statues had begun in Afghanistan, despite various initiatives undertaken since Monday to convince the Taliban to reverse their decision. Continue

[01.03.2001] - CAMBODIA HOSTS MEETING TO COMBAT THEFT, LOOTING AND CLANDESTINE EXCAVATION
The theft, looting and clandestine excavation of cultural property in Asia - which cause irreparable loss to the cultural heritage of many countries in the region - will be among subjects tackled by the 11th session of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation to take place in Phnom Penh from March 6 to 9. Continue