Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has officially requested that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) add the historic Ukrainian port city of Odesa to its World Heritage site list.
Zelensky said Tuesday a total of 540 “objects of cultural heritage, cultural institutions and religious buildings (were) damaged by Russian strikes in Ukraine during the full-scale war since Feb. 24.”
“We must provide a clear signal that the world will not turn a blind eye to the destruction of our common history, our common culture, our common heritage,” he said in a pre-recorded address to the to the 58 member states of UNESCO’s executive board.
“One of the steps for this should be the preservation of the historical centre of Odesa — a beautiful city, an important port of the Black Sea and a source of culture for millions of people in different countries. Together with our partners, we prepared the nomination file of Odesa for inclusion in the World Heritage List. We are passing this on to UNESCO,” Zelensky added.
Odesa, like all other cities of Ukraine, is a “target for Russian strikes. Please support Odesa. Show at the level of UNESCO precisely that Russian terror must end,” he said.
The Ukrainian president also demanded that Russia be excluded from all UNESCO bodies and from the organization itself.
“A terrorist state definitely has no right to chair one of the key bodies for the protection of cultural and natural heritage — the UNESCO World Heritage Committee. Such a Russian presidency devalues the institution itself — its significance, its reputation. It is inadmissible to let Russia destroy the authority of UNESCO. The terrorist state must be excluded from all UNESCO bodies and from the organization itself,” he said.
More on the application: The UN’s cultural watchdog said in a news released that it had formally received the nomination file Tuesday morning and will “be reviewed by the consultative bodies and examined at the next session of the World Heritage Committee, whose 21 Member States will be responsible for deciding on the nomination.”
In legal terms, the inscription of the historic center of Odesa on the World Heritage List “would establish an extended protection zone under the 1972 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage,” it said.
The fabric of the center of Odesa, “a melting pot of exchange and migration, reflects multiple influences. It bears a heritage and a history that resonates with people around the world and stands as a powerful symbol,” UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay stated in the news release.
