Category Archives: News

Aktuelle News

U.S. to rejoin UNESCO in July

The United States of America had officially notified the Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, of its decision to rejoin UNESCO in July 2023, on the basis of a concrete financing plan. The US had suspended its financial contribution in 2011 due to domestic legislation, before notifying UNESCO of its decision to legally withdraw from the organisation in 2017, during the first year of the Trump presidency.

In his letter the U.S. Department of State welcomed the way in which UNESCO had addressed in recent years emerging challenges, modernized its management, and reduced political tensions. The return of the United States was made possible by the agreement reached by Congress in December 2022 authorizing financial contributions to UNESCO. The proposed financing plan must now be submitted to the General Conference of UNESCO Member States for their approval. Some Member States have requested that an extraordinary session be held soon so a decision can be made.

Source:  UNESCO press release 12 June 2023

Iran Chairs UNHRC Social Forum

Wile the UNHCR is investigating Iran’s killing of hundreds of peaceful protesters, the Islamic Republic of Iran has just been appointed Chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council 2023 Social Forum, to be held on November 2 and 3. This year’s theme is the contribution of science, technology and innovation to the promotion of human rights, including in the context of post-pandemic.

UN Watch hast launched a Petition to UN Secretary General Antònio Guterres. You can sign here.

What Do Cultural Rights Have to Do With Sports?

The Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights,  Alexandra Xanthaki, has published a series of 14 Questions & Answers, following an interaction with the International Olympic Committee after the recommendation of the IOC Executive Board, on 28 February 2022, to exclude all Russian and Belarusian athletes from sports events.

The concern of the Special Rapporteur on the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes includes a “wider concern of on-going unnecessary exclusions of Russian and Belarusian people from participating in cultural life. Artists too have been excluded from cultural events, festivals and other platforms based on their nationality and their artistic freedom tightened.”

The Q&As can be downloaded here and are published on the website of the mandate.

 

UN HCR Special Report on Cultural Rights and Migration

In her thematic report the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Alexandra Xanthaki, underlines the rights of migrants to have access to and effectively participate in all aspects of cultural lives, both of the host State and their own cultures: “Migration  enables individuals, both migrants and the host population, to reevaluate their cultural frameworks and be positively influenced by other ideas, values and practices. In that process, States must be aware of the vulnerabilities of migrants and take measures to enable them to enjoy their cultural rights, irrespective of their status.”

The report has been introduced in February 2023 and is now available in all 5 UN languages.

Russia: Theatre Director Zhenya Berkovich and Playwright Svetlana Petriychuk Arrested

A Moscow court has ruled on Friday, May 5th, that both artists must remain in custody until at least 4 July. Both are accused of “justifying terrorism” in their play “Finist, the Brave Falcon”, an ironic play about Russian women recruited by the Islamic State that Berkovich’s independent theater company, SOSO Daughters, produced. “Finist” premiered in 2020 and was awarded Best Text at the most important Russian theatre festival Golden Mask 2022. Authorities also detained the company’s director, Alexander Andriyevich.  The court thus complied with a request by investigators, as the state agency Tass reported. Authorities raided  the homes of Berkovich’s mother Jelena Efross and her 88-year-old grandmother, the writer Nina Katerli in St. Petersburg the same day. 

The 38-year-old Berkovich is one of the few outstanding theatre directors of her generation who did not go into exile after 24 February 2022 and, despite everything, tried to continue making contemporary theatre in the warring homeland. She studied directing under Kirill Serebrennikov at the Moscow Art Theater School and writes poetry. Berkovich is also known as a translator and librettist. 

The author of “Finist, the Brave Falcon”, Svetlana Petriychuk, studied international journalism and filmmaking in Los Angeles and theater in Moscow under the renowned directors Kama Ginkas and Mikhail Ugarov. Her socially critical plays regularly appear on the shortlists of drama contests and festivals and on the playbills of leading theatres in Russia.

The charge is punishable by up to seven years in prison. 

Novaya Gazeta published a petition (Google Docs, Russian) supporting the two women and calling for their immediate release. The petition has already more than 12,000 signatures. 

Sources: Meduza,  Novaya Gazeta EuropeThe Moscow Times,