“The right to education is a basic human right and the persecution of the custodians of knowledge and skills is an unacceptable attack against a whole society,” UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said.

“Iraq has a long tradition in learning and academic excellence in the Middle East. By targeting those who hold the keys to Iraq’s reconstruction and development, the perpetrators of this violence are jeopardizing the future of Iraq and of democracy,” he added.

According to the Geneva-based Study and Research Centre for the Arab and Mediterranean World, four Iraqi academics, including one physician, were killed just last week.

“UNESCO is currently involved with Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education to help reconstruct the country’s higher education system, which has been severely damaged by decades of oppression and war,” Mr. Matsuura declared. “We cannot stand by and watch the custodians of Iraq’s culture and learning be threatened, abducted or murdered.”

He said he would discuss the issue during a meeting next week with Iraq’s UNESCO Ambassador Muhyi Alkateeb and members of the International Committee for the Protection of Iraqi Academics, set up in February this year under the Research Centre to raise awareness and support for Iraqi academics and intellectuals.