“We cannot let you and an entire generation of young Iraqis to be deprived of their right to education, because this would throw a shadow over the future of the country as a whole,” the Director-General continued, adding that education was essential to the future stability of Iraq as well as the prospects and rights of Iraqi men and women.
“We must ensure that you learn so you have the chance to become everything you wish,” she added.
Meanwhile, in a ceremony later in the day at the Erbil Citadel, a site recently inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, the Director-General paid tribute to Iraq’s millennial cultural legacy, handing over the certificate of inscription to Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Nechirvan Barzani.
“Saving the past of Iraq is essential to saving the future of this country and to our collective history,” Ms. Bokova told those gathered. “That is what this inscription means.”
At the same time, she denounced the ongoing attacks against the country’s cultural heritage, warning that Iraq was experiencing “cultural cleaning, cultural eradication and cultural looting.”
Most recently, the Imam Dur shrine in the governorate of Salah-e-Din in Iraq was destroyed by radical elements as part of a widening and unprecedented campaign against Iraq’s cultural, religious, and historical monuments.
“The terrorists are attacking culture because they want to attack the soul of the Iraqi people, to weaken the ground for future reconciliation,” she continued.
“We must stand up against forces that seek to divide Iraq because they attack the humanity we all share.”
(Source: United Nations News Centre)
Comments are closed.