Irina Bokova

 ( 1952 Births ) 

On 4 October 2013, the executive board of UNESCO nominated her for second term as Director-General. She was re-elected by the UNESCO General Conference on 12 November 2013. UNESCO General Conference elects Irina Bokova for second term as Director-General

In 2009, while most of the Bulgarian media was supportive of Ms. Bokova's future role at the helm of UNESCO, some raised questions about her past as a daughter of a member of the totalitarian communist elite. "Is Bokova's Win a Win for the Entire Nation" a blog posting by Ivo Indzhev, a prominent Bulgarian journalist and blogger (In Bulgarian) Bulgarian-born German writer Iliya Troyanov criticised Bokova's election as Director-General of UNESCO in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, calling it "a scandal", in light of Bokova's father's communist past. Warum die Unesco-Wahl ein Skandal ist (German), Summary in English, In Bulgarian On the other hand, The New York Times not only published an article, explaining who Mrs. Bokova is, Bulgarian Who Is to Lead Unesco Advocates Political Pluralism, The New York Times, 24 September 2009. but also officially supported her nomination on the grounds that "she played an active role in Bulgaria's political transformation from Soviet satellite to European Union member. That should be a strong asset in leading an organization badly buffeted in the past by ideological storms." The Right Head for Unesco, The New York Times, 28 September 2009.

On 16 January 2014, Irina Bokova yielded to pressure from the Arab League and postponed Information regarding the planned exhibition, "People, Book, Land – The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People to the Holy Land" (information from UNESCO) for five months an exhibit entitled The People, the Book, the Land – 3,500 years of ties between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, following protest from the Arab states in UNESCO, arguing it would harm the peace process. Invitations had already gone out and the exhibit was scheduled to run from 21 January through 30 January at UNESCO's Paris headquarters with fully prepared exhibition material already in place. In a letter to Bokova, Abdulla al Neaimi, an official from the United Arab Emirates, expressed "deep worry and great disapproval" over the program showing the age old connection between Israel and the Jewish people. The US State Department said it was outraged at the move, "UNESCO's decision is wrong and should be reversed." Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs said "is no appropriate rationale to delay the exhibition and deeply disappointed by the decision made to postpone it". The Wiesenthal Center called the move an "Absolute outrage, the Arabs don't want the world to know that the Jews have a 3,500-year relationship to the Land of Israel". The exhibition was opened on 11 June 2014 in Paris, in a ceremony with participation by Mrs. Bokova and the Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Rabbi Marvin Hier. "People, Book, Land: The 3500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People with the Holy Land" exhibition opens at UNESCO (information from UNESCO web site) The exhibit was co-sponsored by Israel, Canada, and Montenegro, and was called "a breakthrough" by its author, professor Robert Wistrich. UNESCO deletes ‘Israel’ from title of its exhibit on Jewish ties to Israel (article in The Times of Israel) On 18 November 2015 Irina Bokova was given the Special Award of the Simon Wiesenthal Center at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of the exhibition People, Book, Land: The 3,500 year Relationship of the Jewish People with the Holy Land in the U.S. capital. Bokova inaugurated the exhibition in the presence of Edward Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Israel's Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer and Rabbi Marvin Hier.

On 28 March 2015, she launched Unite4Heritage, a campaign aiming to create a global movement "to protect and safeguard heritage in areas where it is threatened by extremists". The campaign was triggered by the programmatic destruction of cultural heritage conducted in Iraq and Syria by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) since 2014, in particular after the circulation of videos of looting at Mosul Museum, destruction in the city of Nimrud and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hatra.

As Director-General of UNESCO, Bokova led efforts to block the trade in Syrian and Iraqi cultural artifacts to fund ISIS and other radical Islamist groups. These efforts led to the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2199 on 12 February 2015. This resolution officially recognized the link between illicit traffic and security, outlawed all trade in cultural goods from Iraq and Syria and requested that UNESCO coordinate efforts in this area with Interpol. In response to the threat to Iraq's antiquities from increased violence and instability, Bokova implemented an emergency plan to safeguard artifacts of Iraq's cultural heritage.

On 19 October 2015, German DW reported that Japan threatens to halt funding for UNESCO over the organization's decision to include documents relating to the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in the latest listing for its "Memory of the World" program. While the decision is not of the Director-General, a Japanese professor claimed that Mrs. Bokova might have interest in courting China. Japan furious at UNESCO listing Nanjing Massacre documents In October 2016, after opposing an Arab-backed resolution in UNESCO denying Temple Mount's connection to Judaism, Bokova received death threats, prompting her protection to be reinforced.

In 2020 New 2020 Members Announced Website of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences she was selected as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Class V — Public Affairs, Business, and Administration, section Scientific, Cultural, and Nonprofit Leadership. New Members Website of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

In June 2014 the Bulgarian government nominated Bulgaria nominates Bokova for UN Secretary General (EurActive) Irina Bokova to be the official candidate of the country for the United Nations top job.

In January 2015 the new Bulgarian government confirmed Bulgaria puts forward Bokova's candidacy for UN Secretary-General(EurActive) the candidacy, although the now-ruling conservative GERB was much less enthusiastic about Bokova than the former Socialist Party government that originally nominated her. That same month former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski wrote in an article at the Wall Street Journal, that her work at UNESCO is "highly regarded", and that the Bulgarian government has "nominated her to succeed Ban Ki-moon as the next U.N. Secretary-General, and she is widely believed to be the frontrunner for that position".

Responding to a Parliamentary question, on 18 May 2015 the Bulgarian foreign minister Daniel Mitov explained Response by minister Mitov to a question by MP Kristian Vigenin (in Bulgarian, from the official site of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry) the process, undertaken by the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to support Irina Bokova's candidacy. He informed the Bulgarian Parliament that the campaign consists of three stages – information-consultative one – until September 2015, the essential stage – between September 2015 and April 2016, and the last stage – from May 2016 until October–December 2016.

On 9 February 2016 the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry announced that her candidacy for the top UN job has been officially submitted to the United Nations for consideration. Message from the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry (in Bulgarian) On 11 February Bulgarian media reported that the Foreign Ministry has allocated BGN 106,300 (approx. $60,000 at the time of the publication) for the election campaign. The State to provide BGN 106 300 for Irina Bokova campaign (article in 24 hours daily, in Bulgarian)

Her campaign ran into troubles after reports that the United Kingdom had opposed her elevation. According to the Government of Russia, Germany began to organize to nominate another Bulgarian – European commissioner Kristalina Georgieva – as candidate to become Secretary General. It was alleged that German chancellor Angela Merkel put pressure on the government of Bulgaria to abandon Bokova's candidacy and instead nominate Georgieva, and had sought Russian support for this move. Germany categorically denied the allegation.

After five informal polls at the UN Security Council, in which Bokova took between third and sixth place, on 28 September 2016, the Bulgarian government announced Bulgaria Replaces Candidate for the United Nations' Top Job that it was nominating Kristalina Georgieva as secretary-general candidate. Since the rules for nominating UN Secretary-General do not provide the option of replacing a candidate, unless they agreed to stand down, which Irina Bokova said I am still in the competition, 24 hours daily (in Bulgarian) she would not do, from 28 September 2016 there were two Bulgarian candidates, with Kristalina Georgieva being the " sole and unique candidate of Bulgaria". Letter to the President of the General Assembly (PDF)

In response to a plenary question on the UN's role in regards to cholera in Haiti at the International Peace Institute, Bokova responded, "Of course I know about this problem and I know that there is a legal process that is being engaged in currently. I do not know the details of this legal process, I just know that it is going there and I know that there is an idea to establish a fund for indemnities. I will be advocating also for this action to be taken."

On sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers, Bokova made this issue central to her vision statement. "I am determined to work with governments and the civil society to combat any kind of violence against women and girls... There can be no excuse for the appalling crimes of sexual violence and I consider that the UN has to take the lead in showing strong commitment to ending impunity for violence against women and girls."

On jihadism, she said she would try to get the UN to do more to curb the threat of Isis, saying cultural dialogue and education were key to curbing jihadism which is "one of the threats to peace, one of the threats to societies," adding that "Isis/Daesh is about the destruction of societies. They pit communities against one another".http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/un-secretary-general-frontrunner-irina-bokova-says-us-must-do-more-stop-isis-1571848 (article by Brendan Cole, published at International Business Times UK)

Bulgarian weekly Capital wrote a page about her candidacy, which states, among other,

Bokova demonstrates diplomatic and governance skills in a big international organization – UNESCO, which she heads for a second term. She has good reputation to the permanent five members of the UN Security Council. She speaks fluently English, French, Spanish and Russian – four of the six official UN languages (the requirement is for two). She has a clear vision about the mission and activity of the organization.

On 29 September 2015, David Clark, chairman of the Russia Foundation, published an article in the Financial Times beyondbrics forum. In it the author comments: "Of the women from Eastern Europe being discussed is Irina Bokova, the current head of UNESCO and former Bulgarian foreign minister. She is considered to be a front-runner."

On 2 October 2015, governor Bill Richardson wrote an opinion for The Washington Post, "The next U.N. secretary general should be a woman". There he describes women, who are considered as potential candidates. About Bokova, he writes, "several leading candidates are beginning to emerge. Irina Bokova, director general of UNESCO and Bulgaria's official candidate, fulfills many of the required criteria and is seen by many as the front-runner. She has taken a strong stance on the fight against extremism and terror financing and is actively championing women empowerment and girls' education."

On 4 July 2016 the French newspaper L'Opinion published an open letter in support of Irina Bokova's candidacy. The letter was signed by a number of prominent French, among them Christine Albanel, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Pierre Bergé, Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, Jean-Pierre Chevènement, Yves Coppens, Édith Cresson, Xavier Darcos, Pierre Gattaz, Jean-Michel Jarre, Bariza Khiari, Beate Klarsfeld, Serge Klarsfeld, Julia Kristeva, Catherine Lalumière, Laurence Parisot, Stéphane Richard, Eric de Rothschild. They urged the French President and the French government to support the nomination of Bokova, as this is in the interests of France, and also to promote their position to the other members of the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly.

On 10 June 2016, Bukova received the Global Summit of Women's Global Women's Leadership Award in Warsaw, Poland.

On 6 April 2015, the French Embassy in Bulgaria announced that Bokova has been awarded the French Order of the Legion of Honour. Irina Bokova, directrice générale de l’UNESCO, nommée commandeur de la Légion d’honneur (from the site of the French Embassy in Sofia)

On 31 March 2014, Bokova was officially awarded Bulgaria's highest national honour – the Order of Stara Planina (1st class) by president Rosen Plevneliev for her extremely significant merits to Bulgaria, bringing about an improvement in world peace and security indicators, and the development of political and cultural exchanges at the highest levels.Указ № 211 Обн. ДВ. бр. 98 от 12 ноември 2013 г.

• Official page at UNESCO web site

• Education on the Frontline (Published on 30 January 2013, in Global Education Magazine)
• UNESCO Chief: ISIS trying to erase world history (Christiane Amanpour speaks with Irina Bokova about ISIS' wanton destruction of the ancient sites in Iraq)

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