The French Audrey Azoulay was re-elected Tuesday by a very large majority for four years at the head of UNESCO, a second term that she wishes to focus particularly on education and the preservation of the environment.
“My sincere congratulations on behalf of all the Member States on your re-election,” declared Santiago Irazabal Mourao, Permanent Ambassador of Brazil to UNESCO, who chairs the general conference in Paris, headquarters of the institution, until November 24. .
Elected in 2017, Mme Azoulay, was alone in the running for this new mandate and obtained 155 votes for 165 voters (9 against, one abstention).
“I first want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for this confidence so clearly expressed”, reacted the Director General, welcomed with applause in the hemicycle of the United Nations agency for education, science and culture.
Audrey Azoulay was elected in November 2017, after having been Minister of Culture in the government of Socialist President François Hollande. It is traditional for directors general to serve several terms.
For this one, she posted high goals with a “new social contract for education”, “by encouraging research on learning” and by “promoting dialogue with the educational community”, because “education increases awareness of the fragile beauty of nature ”.
A “new contract for the planet”
Audrey Azoulay also hoped for “a new contract for the planet”, which will involve “doubling the size of the territories protected by UNESCO by 2030” in order to “protect 30% of the earth’s surface”.
“UNESCO has a unique contribution to make […] by forging a new form of environmental ethics, ”she said. It will then be a question of “combining the protection of nature and sustainable employment”, or even of building “a new water diplomacy”.
“We must engage as humanity via the Community of Nations, around these common goods of which we have the custody here at UNESCO”, harangued its Director General, who underlined “the unity” and the “Support from all over the world” expressed “very early on” for her person, according to her a sign of “mutual trust” within a once very divided institution, which she helped to appease during her first term.
The re-election of Mme Azoulay seems to devote the strategy of depoliticizing the institution that she wanted from her election.
Audrey Azoulay had taken office in a deteriorated context, in particular due to the departure of the United States and Israel – coinciding with her election. The two countries accused the institution of pro-Palestinian bias, against a backdrop of frontal questioning of multilateralism by the Trump administration.
Reduce political tensions
“It was necessary to reduce the political tensions which for too long had hampered UNESCO’s action when they tended to instrumentalisation” in order to allow the organization to concentrate “on its mandate and not get lost in an open discussion. which she brought little, ”she commented during a brief press conference.
A dialogue is underway with these two countries so that they can join UNESCO again. “It is a complex process, but the dialogue is very positive”, she added, stressing “the commitment of the new American administration to multilateralism”.
In recent years, UNESCO has participated in several emblematic projects, such as the reconstruction of Mosul, aid for Lebanon’s heritage after the explosion of the port of Beirut and actions in favor of education during the pandemic.
Under the first term of its director general, it also saw the compulsory contributions of its member states grow by 3% and their voluntary contributions by 50%, a success according to the entourage.
Ms Azoulay, the second woman at the head of UNESCO, is the only French woman at the head of a large United Nations Organization.