UNESCO Office of Public Information (OPI)| Press Releases

[29.05.2001] - MARY ROBINSON TO RECEIVE UNESCO’S 2000 FELIX HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY PEACE PRIZE
Mary Robinson, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of Ireland, was today chosen as the laureate of the 2000 Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize by an international jury presided by former US Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Henry Kissinger, in recognition of “the great contribution she has made for the defence of human rights.” Continue

[28.05.2001] - OPENING OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OF UNESCO
The Executive Board of UNESCO, chaired by Sonia Mendieta de Badaroux (Honduras), this morning opened its 161st session (due to close on June 13), which will chiefly focus on the examination of UNESCO’s draft 2002-2003 Programme and Budget and Medium Term Strategy for 2002-2007, described by Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura as “key documents for the future of our Organization”. Continue

[25.05.2001] - DIRECTOR-GENERAL CONDEMNS MURDER OF PRESS MEDIA EXECUTIVE
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today condemned the murder of Santiago Oleaga Elejabarrieta, the financial director of the Basque newspaper Diario Vasco, who was shot dead on May 24 at San Sebastian (Spain). Continue

[23.05.2001] - UNESCO AND UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CONDEMN TALEBAN EDICT ON IDENTIFICATION OF NON-MUSLIMS
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura today expressed outrage over reports of a Taliban edict requiring non-Muslims in Afghanistan to wear a distinctive sign on their clothes. Continue

[23.05.2001] - UNESCO Newsbriefs - As part of UNESCO's new communication strategy, designed to better serve the media, the Director-General has decided to reduce the number of press releases limiting them to those focusing on major programme activities and policy matters of global interest. In order to serve institutional partners and other targeted audiences, we are proposing a new information product for electronic distribution: A weekly bulletin of Newsbriefs of which this is the first compilation. Continue

[23.05.2001] - UNESCO'S EXECUTIVE BOARD IN SESSION MAY 28 TO JUNE 13
(Media Advisory)- The examination of UNESCO's draft 2002-2003 Programme and Budget - the first since Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura took office in 1999 - and the Organization's Medium Term Strategy for 2002-2007 will be the main subjects of the 161st session of the Executive Board to be held from May 28 to June 13, chaired of Sonia Mendieta de Badaroux (Honduras). Continue

[18.05.2001] - UNESCO ISSUES FIRST EVER PROCLAMATION OF MASTERPIECES OF THE ORAL AND INTANGIBLE HERITAGE
The oldest opera tradition of China, Japanese Nôgaku theatre, Sicilian puppet theatre, the Andean carnival of Oruro, Georgian singing, Ifugao narratives from the Philippines, the world of story-tellers, musicians and other mountebanks of a public square in Marrakech, as well as the oral and musical heritages of several African communities, are among the 19 cultural spaces and forms of expression to which UNESCO today gave the title of “masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity”. Continue

[18.05.2001] - CANADIAN GOVERNMENT AND UNESCO SIGN AGREEMENT TO ESTABLISH INSTITUTE FOR STATISTICS IN MONTREAL
Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura and Louis Hamel, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Canada to UNESCO, today signed the formal agreement on the installation of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) in Montreal, Quebec. The agreement result from the decision taken by the Executive Board of the Organization in May 2000 to accept Canada's bid to host the Institute. Continue

[14.05.2001] - Media Advisory - UNESCO TO MAKE FIRST PROCLAMATION OF MASTERPIECES OF THE ORAL AND INTANGIBLE HERITAGE
UNESCO will for the first time ever award the title of “Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” on Friday, May 18 (Room XI, 3 p.m.), to cultural spaces and forms of cultural expression from the different regions of the world. Continue

[10.05.2001] - UNESCO AND FELISSIMO LAUNCH “CONTINUOUS CONNECTION”, AN INTERNATIONAL DESIGN CONTEST
UNESCO and the Japan-based Felissimo Corporation have launched a new international design contest called “Continuous Connection”, to highlight the connections between people, and between people and their environment. Continue

[07.05.2001] - UNESCO WELCOMES FREEING OF WORLD PRESS FREEDOM PRIZE LAUREATE NIZAR NAYYOUF
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today welcomed the announcement that Syrian journalist Nizar Nayyouf, laureate of last year's UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, was freed from jail on May 6. Continue

[03.05.2001] - UNESCO CELEBRATES WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY IN WINDHOEK
The Namibian capital hosted today, World Press Freedom Day, the award-giving ceremony of the 2001 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize and a Conference of some 300 journalists, editors, and representatives of non-governmental and professional organizations from Africa and the rest of the world, marking the 10th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration. Continue

[02.05.2001] - DIRECTOR-GENERAL CONDEMNS MURDER OF TWO COLOMBIAN JOURNALISTS
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura today condemned the killing of two Colombian Journalists, Flavio Bedoya, who was shot and killed on April 27 in the southwestern port city of Tumaco, and Carlos Trespalacios, gunned down in the city of Medellin, on May 1. Continue