Georgian president, UNESCO director general discuss state of cultural heritage in occupied regions, biodiversity of Georgia

The state of cultural heritage in Georgia’s occupied regions and the country’s biodiversity topics were discussed on Thursday by the Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili and Audrey Azoulay, the director general of UNESCO, the president's press office said.

Zourabichvili said, in addition to the violations of human rights in the occupied territories, the cultural heritage had been “deliberately” damaged and in “many cases” destroyed, and raised the issue of creating mechanisms for UNESCO to monitor the state of the monuments, as there had not been any international mechanisms recording such violations within the occupied territories.

Photo: President's press office

In her turn, the director general noted that UNESCO had been “trying” to develop new mechanisms within the framework of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which would make it possible to record and monitor the state of cultural heritage sites in conflict zones by satellites and other modern technologies.

UNESCO was “once again” urged by the Georgian president to take special care and provide a special place for Caucasian languages.

The officials agreed that Georgia would continue to cooperate with UNESCO to improve the methodology of protection and preservation of biological heritage and biodiversity, while Zourabichvili invited the director general to the Tbilisi International Women's Conference, set to be hosted in Tbilisi in its second edition next year.