Irina Bokova meets with the President of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France

On 22 January, the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, met the President of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), Mr Roger Cukierman, in the presence of Mr Francis Kalifat, Vice President of the CRIF.

The meeting was held at the Paris headquarters of the CRIF and provided an opportunity to recall long-standing relations with UNESCO and the convergence of views between the two institutions, in particular with regard to education for tolerance, remembrance and teaching the history of the Holocaust.

The Director-General informed the President of the CRIF that UNESCO is currently finalizing with the Simon Wiesenthal Center the remaining points regarding the exhibition, entitled “People, Book, Land – The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People to the Holy Land, ” co-organized by UNESCO and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, that will open in the second week of June this year at UNESCO Headquarters.

In the meeting, Irina Bokova evoked the crucial importance of joint efforts to fight against all forms of discrimination, anti-Semitism and Holocaust negationism, and she underlined the special role of cooperation with Jewish organizations in this respect. UNESCO makes it a point of honor to continue and strengthen its action in these critical areas, to promote dialogue between cultures and between religions and to strengthen the foundations for peace and mutual understanding.