Enas Abdeldayem supports Khattab’s UNESCO nomination

CAIRO- 7 October 2017: Enas Abdeldayem, the head of Cairo Opera House and member of the National Women’s Council, announced complete support for Egyptian candidate to head UNESCO Moushira Khattab.

“Moushira Khattab is an Egyptian and Arab lady that we all respect. She is worth to claim such an important position, because she possesses the political and humanitarian experience that qualifies her to head UNESCO and is compatible with the international organization’s work at this stage.”

The UNESCO elections will take place on Monday, October 9. Ambassador Khattab is one of nine potential candidates running for the post of UNESCO’s Director-General in a 2017 tour to succeed Irina Bokova. Khattab is an Egyptian diplomat who has led a long and distinguished career as a human rights activist. She served in Egypt’s diplomatic missions in Australia, Hungary, Austria and the United Nations (New York and Vienna); played an important human rights activist role for advocating the rights of children and women; and functioned as former chairwoman of the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child based at the U.N. Headquarters in Geneva. Khattab was also minister of family and population in 2011, and she served as Egypt’s ambassador to South Africa, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

UNESCO is the United Nations organization responsible for coordinating international cooperation in education, science, culture and communication.

It strengthens the ties between nations and societies, and mobilizes the wider public so that each child and citizen has access to quality education; may grow and live in a cultural environment rich in diversity and dialogue; and can enjoy full freedom of expression, the basis of democracy, development and human dignity.