Thread by @AAzoulay

In #Ukraine for a two-day @UNESCO Mission to reaffirm our support for the Ukrainian people and to advance cultural and educational recovery wherever possible.

Since the beginning of the war, @UNESCO is mobilized to help preserving culture, heritage, education and protecting journalists. Because those are the pillars of our humanity, our identities – the pillars of peace. #Ukraine

Our Organization has constantly recalled that attacks against cultural sites, against schools, against journalists are violations of international law. #Ukraine

We had a very constructive meeting with President Zelensky. He underlined the concrete results of @UNESCO's action and asked that we work together to prepare the recovery plan for Ukrainian cultural sector. #Ukraine

.@UNESCO has estimated that $6.9bn will be needed over the next ten years to support the recovery of the cultural & tourism sectors in #Ukraine. Our Organization is mobilizing and coordinating the international partners to respond to the needs in the field of #culture.

I visited the regional youth centre, a heritage building that was previously a famous cinema. It was destroyed at the beginning of the war. @UNESCO will support its reconstruction. #Chernihiv

I also met teachers in a #Chernihiv school who have been supported by @UNESCO to ensure learning continuity. Our organization and Google have provided more than 50,000 computers with digital educational tools and training all over the country.

I pay tribute to all Ukrainian teachers for their courage, these women and men forced to teach in shelters when an air alert sounds. In these times of war, more than ever, we need #education and to take care of children.

.@UNESCO is mobilizing more than $10 million to strengthen its response to the #education emergency in #Ukraine. With these funds, we will extend the psychosocial support in schools for children and we will train 2,000 additional teachers in distance learning tools.

In #Chernihiv, I also announced that @UNESCO will develop this year with the authorities a complete rehabilitation project for the historic centre, inscribed on the country’s World Heritage Tentative List. #Ukraine

With support from @DelUnescoJapan, @UNESCO will also provide a series of on-site practical reconstruction training sessions for Ukrainian architects, conservators and urban planners. #Chernihiv #Ukraine

Thanks to @ZelenskaUA for this moving visit to Saint Sophia's Cathedral in #Kyiv, a jewel inscribed as a @UNESCO World Heritage Site, and to the conductor Herman #Makarenko, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, for a musical performance message of hope. #Ukraine

With @klopotenko_chef to honor the Culture of Ukrainian #borscht cooking, inscribed by @UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding in 2022. War also undermines traditions and know-how: we must safeguard them. #Ukraine

In #Odesa, the “Pearl of the Black Sea”, a cosmopolitan and creative city, whose historic centre was recently inscribed by @UNESCO on the List of #WorldHeritage in Danger. This inscription recognized its “outstanding universal value” and marks our commitment to protect it.

Since February 2022, we monitor damage to #Odesa’s heritage. We delivered equipment to protect the many works of art in the streets. We mobilized funds to repair the destruction caused to the Fine Arts Museum and to the Museum of Modern Art, and to support cultural life. #Ukraine

Following the #WorldHeritage inscription, @UNESCO will take a new step towards protecting #Odesa. In the coming months, two additional public monuments will be protected, and we will prioritize the preservation and digitization of artistic and documentary heritage. #Ukraine

I am also pleased to announce a new @UNESCO project in favor of the Archaeological Museum of #Odesa, with funding from the Foundation of our Goodwill Ambassador Marc Ladreit de Lacharrière. We will improve the protection and conservation of its collections and digitize them.