The election of the first woman director-general of UNESCO, Paris

PARIS, France — Towards the last week of the 182nd Executive Board Session, the election of the new Director-General took place. But right after the second round of voting, I left for Bonn, Germany to visit the UNEVOC technical schools for which Germany is known.

Everyday our Philippine Permanent Delegate (Permdel) Office updated me on how the rest of the three rounds of voting went. The four lady candidates were quite popular – Lithuania’s Ambassador Ina Marciulionyte; Bulgaria’s Ambassador Irina Bokova; former Minister of Trade of Ecuador, Ivonne Juez de A. Baki; and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria, Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

I am more familiar with Ina and Irina for they are active members of the Executive Board. I jumped with joy when simultaneous communication from our embassy, BBC, CNN and Le Monde (which I bought in Bonn) reported that Irina Bokova has been nominated by the Executive Board.

A decade of luminous governance of Director-General Koichiro Matsuura

All the 58 members of the UNESCO Executive Board sang praises for Mr. Matsuura who since 1999 was bent on restricting UNESCO’s programs and budget, which paved the way for the new Director-General to take over the only UN agency that runs with the help of National Commissions in each of the 193 Member States.

In spite of the economic crises, the Director-General with his in-house budget committee and special group of finance experts chosen from the Executive Board members, put together a $635-million budget for the Biennium program 2010-2011 squeezing even some savings. His major achievement has been the decentralization process of creating the member states into six clusters geographically: Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and North America, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

He also focused on elevating the decade-long EFA (Education for All) to quality education adding the element of ESD (Education for Sustainable Development). Since less value is given to educating girls in developing countries he championed gender equity and prioritized teacher training in Africa. “Unity in cultural diversity” and “result-based management” were his favorite phrases. These last two years, UNESCO Headquarters have been repaired and remodeled in very good taste.

DG Koichiro Matsuura’s special concerns for the Philippines

But we should be specially grateful to DG Matsuura since he chose the Philippines to host the World Press Freedom Day celebration in 2003 paying special concern for the numerous Filipino journalists killed. He was very pleased with the preparations and the luncheon meeting with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo including the 70 foreign journalists. He also honored the Theatre Summit in Manila with his presence.

Finally, he chose Manila to host the Director-General’s Biennium Consultation on the Draft Programme and Budget 2010-2011 simultaneously with the 14th Quadrennial Conference for Asia and the Pacific. The 150 Asia Pacific delegates were so impressed with the personal appearance of President GMA who delivered her UNESCO speech spontaneously. UNESCO External Relations and Cooperation ADG Ahmed Sayyad and Director of Strategic Planning Hans D’Orville stated that no other Head of State has managed to do that.

When Secretary Lapus, Amb. Tolentino and I called on the Director General during the Executive Board meeting last Spring, he said he would make sure within his term that our Category 2 Centre would be approved. During the autumn session last month the Executive Board recommended its approval. Today, the General Conference is scheduled to approve the establishment of the Southeast Asian Center for Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Development as a Category 2 Centre under the auspices of UNESCO.          

The UNESCO election process

According to UNESCO’s Constitution, the Director-General is nominated by the Executive Board and appointed by the General Conference for a period of four years. The Director-General may be reappointed for a second term of four years, but shall not be eligible for a subsequent term. The Director-General is the chief administrative officer of the Organization.

The Chairperson of the Executive Board, Benin Ambassador Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yai, invited member states to submit the names of candidates to the post of Director-General. After the deadline of May 31, he made public announcement of the candidatures proposed. Then, he invited the candidates to submit to the Board a text not exceeding 2,000 words setting out their vision of UNESCO, in one of the six working languages of the Executive Board, by 1 August 2009 at the latest.

During its 182nd session (7 to 23 September, just before the 35th session of the General Conference), the Executive Board at a private meeting interviewed each candidate. I was able to watch these interviews which lasted an hour. The candidates had to make an oral presentation and answer six questions asked by Board members. Responses were answered in English or French allowing the Board to observe their ability to handle these two working languages of UNESCO.

Other than the four lady applicants mentioned earlier, the other five applicants were: Mohammed Bedjaoui (Algeria), Farouk Hosni (Egypt), Sospeter Mwijarubi Muhongo (Tanzania), Alexander Vladi-mirovich Yakovenko (Russian Federation); and Noureini Tidjani-Serpos (Benin).

Hosni vs. Bokova

Hosni had been seen the favorite throughout the campaign as he had been nominated by Egypt, Kuwait, Sudan and Libya. There was a perception that an Arab director would be a unifying force between Islam and the West. Despite a long and successful office at the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, however, Hosni had become embroiled in controversy over anti-Israeli statements. His candidacy for UNESCO was opposed by a vocal alliance of Jewish groups and French intellectuals, with both the US and Germany believed to have been allied against him in the UNESCO voting. Ironically he was also unpopular with Muslim hardliners who regarded his attitude to Islam as dangerously liberal.

Bulgarian diplomat Irina Bokova, 57, who is currently the Bulgarian Ambassador to France, emerged as the sole opponent to Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, 71, after three rounds of voting saw the other seven candidates withdrawn or eliminated. A fourth round on Monday, September 21 left the two candidates deadlocked and the real possibility that the result could be drawn from a hat at the general conference in October. However, the final poll on Tuesday, September 22, saw Bokova declared winner by a vote of 31 to 27. The balance was reputed to have been tipped by the French Ambassador to UNESCO’s decision to switch from President Sarkozy’s stated support for Hosni.

The life of Bulgarian Irina Georgiva Bokova

The newly-elected UNESCO Director General, Bulgarian Irina Georgieva Bokova was born on 12 July 1952, and is married with two children. After studying at the English Language high school in Sofia, Bokova went on to receive an MBA (Masters in Business Administration) in international relations at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1976.

In 1977, Bokova started her political career as Sofia Attaché and Third Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was in charge of political and human rights issues and especially concentrated on women’s rights. From 1982, Bokova joined the permanent mission of Bulgaria to the UN in New York as the Third Secretary, in charge of political and juridical affairs. From 1990 to 1991, she was a Bulgarian Socialist Party MP in the 7th Bulgarian National Assembly. In 1995, she was secretary of the government committee on European integration. In 1996, Bokova was a vice presidential candidate with Ivan Marazov (BSP), who lost the election. That same year Bokova became the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. From 1996 to 1997, she was the Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Then, in the period 2001-2005 she was an MP in 39th National Assembly for the socialist Coalition for Bulgaria.

Bokova was the Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to France and the Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Bulgaria to UNESCO prior to being elected Director General.

In her first statement after her election, Irina Bokova appealed for partnership and harmonization among all UNESCO member states. (Bulgaria since early times has linked well with her neighbors, Greece, Turkey and Russia.) She also declared her intention to bear in mind the ideas of her opponents for the post and vowed her respect for her main rival – Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni.

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