The violations of norms and standards of UNESCO in the occupied Crimea is a serious challenge to the international community. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Representative to the UNESCO Executive Board Sergiy Kyslytsya, in his speech at the plenary session of the 202nd Executive Board session in Paris on October 9, 2017.

The Head of Ukrainian delegation provided the facts of severe violations of human rights on the territory of the occupied peninsula, underlined the importance of uniting the efforts of the international community in order to solve the problem of illegal occupation by Russia of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

“UNESCO must react on the dynamic changes of the modern world. The huge potential of the Organization must be fully realized. The litmus test for UNESCO’s ability to find adequate responses to the challenges of the 21st century is the implementation of its direct monitoring activities in Crimea," Sergiy Kyslytsya stated.

In this regard, the Representative of Ukraine to the Executive Board of UNESCO highly appraised the progress on the parameters of monitoring reached in course of consultations between Ukraine and the UNESCO Secretariat.

Sergiy Kyslytsya drew the attention to the decision of the current session to recommend to the UNESCO General Conference establishing the Category 2 Center under the auspices of UNESCO on the basis of the Junior Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine also expressed his gratitude to the Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova, whose mandate is going to end this year, for her long-term contribution to the Organization's activities.