UNESCO In the Spotlight: Education and Culture: July 2010

Friday, July 30, 2010

U.S. College Returns Stolen Renée Descartes Letter to Institut de France

Haverford College President Emerson returns Descartes letter to Institut de France Chancellor Gabriel de Broglie (Studio Reporter)

On June 8, a rare four-page letter, written by the French philosopher René Descartes and stolen from the Institut de France in the 19th century, was returned to the Institut from the U.S. by the President of Haverford College, Steven G. Emerson.

The letter had been donated to Haverford College’s library in 1902, by the widow of a collector who had not known its history. When it was discovered to be stolen earlier this year, President Emerson immediately contacted Institut de France Chancellor Gabriel de Broglie, who gladly accepted his offer to return the letter, describing it as “a wonderful discovery for science.”

The United States is currently a member of UNESCO’s “Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation” and works closely with UNESCO on the preservation of cultural property.

Read more!

Congressional Research Service UNESCO Related Reports

The Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress has from time to time produced reports on UNESCO related topics. Here are links to some of them:

Also of interest with respect to UNESCO:

Friday, July 23, 2010

New World Heritage Sites up for Consideration Next Week.

The Klondike is one of the sites to be considered for World Heritage status at the World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia next week. The nomination has been submitted by Canada.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Fulbright Scholar Helps Generate $75,000 for UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network

A U.S. Fulbright scholar, Jacqueline Bishop, recently completed her four-month fellowship at UNESCO with a big win: working with the U.S. Mission to UNESCO, she submitted a project proposal that has been awarded $75,000 in funding from the State Department. During her fellowship Ms. Bishop was placed in the Creative Cities Network at UNESCO, where she discovered that there was a need to help less developed cities become part of the network.

UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network connects cities who want to share experiences, ideas and best practices for cultural, social and economic development. There are currently twenty-one cities in the network, including Iowa City, Iowa and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

6th International Festival of Human Rights Cinema: "The 7th Eye is Yours"

For our Spanish speaking followers, this introduction to the festival of human rights films.

From 12 to 24 July 2010, Sucre becomes for the sixth consecutive year a place of intercultural dialogue on values of human rights and cultural diversity and presents a panorama of movies and documentaries on social issues by film-makers from all around the world. For two weeks, the capital of Bolivia hosts the International Festival of Human Rights Cinema: The 7th Eye is Yours, organized by the Bolivian non-governmental organization the Cultural Centre Pukañawi. This important event in the public life of the country is dedicated this year to the memory of all disappeared persons and martyrs for the justice and coincides with the commemoration of 30 years after the last coup d'état in Bolivia.