Egyptian organizations support Khattab in UNESCO vote

CAIRO – 9 September 2017: Different official entities have met to announce their support of Egypt's nominee in the UNESCO rally.

Members of the National Council for Women (NCW), the Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives, the Egyptian Women Union (EWU), and the Popular Coalition for Egyptian Women (PCEW), along with the Association for the Development of Egyptian Women (ADEW) and the Farmers' Syndicate, have announced their full support for Ambassador Moushira Khattab in the rally for winning the post of UNESCO's general director.

In a unified statement issued by these different entities, NCW President Maya Morsi believes that Khattab is the best representative of Egypt and Arab and African countries. "She will have a remarkable performance in the presidency of UNESCO in a way that history will remember,” Morsi stated.

The Rural Youth Union also announced its full support for Khattab. The president of the union, Eid Al-Akari, along with all the youth members of the rural areas and Arab tribes in all governorates of Egypt, announced their complete support for Egypt's candidate. "Khattab is the best and most qualified figure to represent Egypt, Arabs and Africans in this international organization," said Al-Akari.

Moreover, the Human Rights Committee of the Parliament, headed by Alaa Abed, announced its full support for Khattab.

Abed said that Egypt's candidate was based on her strong diplomatic history and international experience, as well as having won the support of all the civil society organizations. "Khattab was the best ambassador for Egypt in many countries, besides her chair for many positions that tackled the concerns and tasks of UNESCO. I believe she is the closest to winning the post," added Abed.

Secret voting began Monday and will last until October 12. UNESCO's new director general will be elected for four years to succeed the current Bulgarian director general, Irina Bakova.

The new director general will assume office on November 15. A winning candidate needs 30 votes out of the 58 member states. There are 17 African countries, and, so far, several countries have announced their support for Egypt's candidate. Among these countries are India, Ghana, Mozambique, Sudan, South Africa, Guinea, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, while Iraq withdrew its candidate for the sake of the Egyptian nominee.

In April this year, Khattab presented her vision for the reformation of UNESCO, entitled "Closer to the People, Closer to Our Mission". In her draft, Khattab emphasized the importance for UNESCO to be a focused, transparent and effective organization.

UNESCO executive members stressed in a press release that Khattab's presentation was very successful, during which she demonstrated for them practical experience by providing mechanisms to overcome the challenges facing UNESCO. "Namely, the need to put an end to the fierce wars and to try to find new ways to settle the deeply rooted struggles between nations," read the statement.

"Khattab also pledged to make the necessary change to reach the root causes of problems and mobilize resources to support efforts in female education and fighting violence against them, citing her experience in Egypt in amending and issuing laws combating female circumcision in Egypt," read the press release.

UNESCO’s executive board is aware of Khattab’s abilities. The comments of her proposal were very positive in light of her diplomatic and field history, along with the consistency of her expertise with UNESCO's fields of work.

Iraq withdrew its candidate in favor of Egypt because of their great confidence in the role and influence of Khattab in UNESCO if she wins.