UNESCO closes the bureau in Moscow

UNESCO closes his bureau in Moscow. This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the Permanent Representative of Russia when organizing Eleanor Mitrofanov. "UNESCO is in a difficult financial situation, so a decision was made to close the office in Moscow right now," the agency’s interlocutor said.

The closure of the Moscow Bureau is scheduled for the second half of 2015.

On the other hand, Mitrofanova added, it is supposed to expand the activities of the UNESCO Institute located in Moscow for information technology in education. “Perhaps its director will be endowed with authority - except for his direct duties - a representative of UNESCO in Russia,” the official concluded.

The director of the Moscow Bureau of the Organization is the Mongol Dendev Badarch. He acts as director of the Institute for Information Technologies.

On October 31, the UNESCO Executive Council finally approved the resolution "Monitoring by UNESCO of the situation in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine)" adopted earlier by the Program and External Relations Commission. Now the organization will conduct a study of violations of human rights in the areas of education, culture, freedom of religion, the rights of the indigenous people of Crimea. The report based on the results of monitoring should be presented at the nearest session of the Executive Council.

The commission, which worked as part of the UNESCO Executive Council session, adopted the resolution on October 23. Member of the government delegation of Ukraine, the head of the Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Refat Chubarov drew the attention of the UNESCO member states to numerous human rights violations on the peninsula. Russia, Cuba and China opposed the adoption of the resolution.