UNESCO contribution to Gaza reconstruction and development – Director-General’s report – UNESCO decision

DECISIONS ADOPTED

BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD AT ITS 194TH SESSION

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28 Report by the Director-General on the reconstruction and development of Gaza: implementation of 192 EX/Decision 34⁷ (194 EX/28; 194 EX/35)

The Executive Board,

1. Having considered document 194 EX/28 and the annex to this decision,

2. Recalling previous decisions concerning “the reconstruction and development of Gaza”,

3. Decides to include this item on the agenda of the 195th session of the Executive Board and invites the Director-General to submit to it a follow-up report thereon.

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⁷ The Executive Board adopted this decision upon a recommendation made by consensus by the Programme and External Relations Commission (PX).

Report by the Director-General on the reconstruction and development of Gaza: implementation of 192 EX/Decision 34

DRAFT DECISION

Submitted by: Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates

The Executive Board,

1. Having considered document 194 EX/28,

2. Recalling the provisions of the four Geneva Conventions (1949) and their additional Protocols (1977), the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954) and its Protocols, and the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972), and the relevant recommendations, resolutions and decisions of UNESCO on the protection of cultural heritage and on the right to education,

3. Also recalling 185 EX/Decision 37,

4. Noting with deep concern the slow progress in the reconstruction of schools and other cultural heritage sites in the Gaza Strip that were damaged during the 2008-2009 war and the November 2012 war,

5. Deeply regrets the damaging impact of the November 2012 war on UNESCO fields of competence in Gaza, where 280 education facilities were damaged, affecting approximately 250,000 students, as reported in document 191 EX/35, as well as the severe damage inflicted to one cultural heritage site of the Palestinian Tentative List, the Port of Anthedon (the old port of Gaza);

6. Affirms, in this regard, that schools, universities and cultural heritage sites should not be involved and/or targeted in military conflicts;

7. Deplores the continuous Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, which harmfully affects the free and sustained movement of personnel and humanitarian relief items for the successful implementation of UNESCO reconstruction projects, as well as the injury of children, the attacks on schools, and the denial of access to education, as reflected in document 190 EX/39;

8. Thanks Member States and donors for their generous financial contributions to the UNESCO projects for Gaza, and invites Member States, international organizations and relevant international, national and private institutions to provide further assistance in this regard through extrabudgetary funding;

9. Thanks the Director-General for initiatives that have already been implemented in the field of education, and for the safety of media professionals, and calls upon her to continue her involvement actively in the reconstruction of its damaged educational and cultural heritage components;

10. Requests the Director-General to organize an information meeting to provide Member States with an update on the outcome of the projects conducted in the Gaza Strip-Palestine;

11. Decides to include this item in its agenda at its 195th session, and invites the Director-General to submit to it a progress report thereon.

(194 EX/SR.7)