Dear members of the UNESCO Executive Board

Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA), as organisation committed to defending and promoting free expression in the occupied Palestinian territories, call you, the members of the UNESCO Executive Board to make every effort to ensure that the next Director General of UNESCO will uphold Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

We request that when making your decision, you consider how each of the nine candidates are able to demonstrate their commitment to the principles and values of UNESCO, particularly in terms of freedom of expression.

We respectfully request that the member states of the Executive Board, entrusted with the selection of the candidate, consider the past track records and demonstrated commitment of all candidates with respect to human rights, and in particular, freedom of expression, a pillar of UNESCO’s mandate.

Mousa Rimawi

MADA coordinator