Prof. Piotr Gliński, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage wrote to Audrey Azoulay, the general director of UNESCO calling for the exclusion or at least suspension of Russia from the work of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage and for the change of the country of the Committee’s session. “There can be no place for a Russian aggressor in any international body of the civilized world”, said Gliński.
The Polish deputy prime minister emphasized that the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine is a violation of international law and is in sharp contradiction to the values of UNESCO.
“Today, in a situation of bombing and shelling by Russian forces on civilian targets, the killing of children by Russian soldiers and saboteurs, with the violation of humanitarian human rights, when Russian forces destroy objects belonging to Ukrainian and world heritage in Ukraine, the very idea of organizing session of the World Heritage Committee in the territory of the aggressor state, a state that commits crimes against humanity, is a mockery” – wrote Prof. Glinski.
The Minister of Culture and National Heritage wrote that Russia has put itself beyond the limits of the civilized world by attacking Ukraine, and cooperation with the Russian Federation within any international organization should not be considered by any state today.
Prof. Gliński emphasized that special responsibility rests on the member states of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Russia not only violates human rights but also conventions for the protection of cultural property and is responsible for the irreversible loss of our common heritage.
Deputy Prime Minister Gliński also called for transferring the organization of the World Heritage Committee session from Russia.
“I cannot imagine that UNESCO would legitimize the criminal activities of the Russian Federation, which defied the ideas and values of UNESCO, with the authority of the Member States”, said Prof. Glinski.
Adrian Andrzejewski