UNESCO
Specialized agency of the United Nations
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| February 21 2025 | UNESCO marks International Mother Language Day, promoting linguistic diversity and multilingualism. |
| January 24 2025 | UNESCO celebrates World Day for African and Afrodescendant Culture and International Day of Education, highlighting cultural diversity and educational opportunities. |
| January 14 2025 | UNESCO observes World Logic Day, promoting logical reasoning and its importance in critical thinking and communication. |
| 2024 | Ongoing expansion of the Representative List, with multiple new cultural practices and traditions being inscribed from different countries. |
| 2024 | Oman launched the Youth Sail Training Ship program for promoting peace and sustainable cultural dialogue. |
| 2024 | Indonesia inscribed the Reog Ponorogo performing art on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. |
| 2024 | Most recent year of inscriptions, showing continued global commitment to preserving intangible cultural heritage across diverse regions and traditions. |
| 2023 | Over 600 elements from various countries were inscribed on the Representative List, representing diverse cultural practices, traditions, performances, and knowledge systems from around the world. |
| 2023 | Belgium introduced a program for safeguarding foster care heritage in the merciful city of Geel. |
| 2023 | UNESCO awarded the King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize to two winners for digital learning initiatives focused on environmental education: 'Connecting the dots: Data driven carbon literacy' from the Republic of Korea and 'EducoNetImpact' from Belgium. |
| 2023 | New four-year term (2023-2027) begins for UNESCO Executive Board, featuring representatives from major countries including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, and representatives from multiple continents. |
| 2023 | 42nd UNESCO Session held in Paris, chaired by Simona Miculescu from Romania |
| 2023 | Russia was excluded from the UNESCO executive committee for the first time after failing to receive sufficient votes. |
| July 2023 | The United States was readmitted to UNESCO by the UNESCO General Conference, with an intention to pay $600 million in back dues. |
| 2022 | Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, France, and Italy developed the Tocatì, a shared program for safeguarding traditional games and sports. |
| 2022 | Countries like Albania, Chile, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam added new cultural elements, including Xhubleta craftsmanship, pottery techniques, traditional stonework, borscht cooking, and Chăm pottery-making. |
| 2022 | UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize awarded to Smart Education of China and The National Resource Hub (Republic of Ireland) for their innovative use of public platforms to ensure inclusive access to digital education content. |
| July 2022 | UNESCO performs another update to the Public Library Manifesto, further refining its guidelines and principles for public libraries in the modern global context. |
| 2021 | Iran launched a national program to safeguard the traditional art of calligraphy. |
| 2021 | Estonia inscribed expanded dugout boat building, Micronesia added Carolinian wayfinding and canoe making, and Timor-Leste registered traditional textile Tais. |
| 2021 | UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize awarded to Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), India and Digital educational programme of Ubongo, Tanzania for using technology to enable inclusive crisis-resilient learning systems. |
| 2021 | Another four-year term starts for UNESCO Executive Board, with new representatives from countries like Austria, Iceland, Turkey, Armenia, Chile, China, India, and various African nations. |
| 2021 | 41st UNESCO Session held in Paris, chaired by Santiago Irazabal Mourão from Brazil |
| 2020 | Significant additions to the list, reflecting growing global recognition of diverse cultural practices during the COVID-19 pandemic period. |
| 2020 | Austria, France, Germany, Norway, and Switzerland collaborated on documenting craft techniques and practices of cathedral workshops (Bauhütten) in Europe. |
| 2020 | Countries continued to preserve cultural heritage, with Colombia registering Pasto Varnish techniques, Egypt adding handmade weaving, and Kuwait inscribing Al Sadu traditional weaving skills. |
| 2020 | COVID-19 pandemic year saw continued cultural heritage recognition, including Singapore's hawker culture and cultural practices adapted to global challenges. |
| 2020 | UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize awarded to two organizations for innovative use of technology in education: One College Student Per Village from the Open University of China and ViLLE from the University of Turku, Finland, recognizing their applications of artificial intelligence to enhance learning continuity and quality. |
| 2020 | UNESCO claimed the illicit trade in cultural property amounted to 10 billion dollars annually, a figure disputed by the Rand Organization and art dealers as potentially inaccurate. |
| November 2020 | UNESCO withdrew an advertising campaign highlighting international artifact trafficking after it was found to falsely represent museum-held artworks as recently looted objects, including mischaracterizing pieces from the Metropolitan Museum's collection. |
| 2019 | Colombia created a safeguarding strategy for traditional crafts focused on peace building. |
| 2019 | New inscriptions included Belarus' Spring rite of Juraŭski Karahod, Botswana's Seperu folkdance, and Cambodia's Lkhon Khol dance drama. Mauritius added Sega Tambour Chagos. |
| 2019 | UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize awarded to two organizations for innovative use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education: Letrus Writing Skills Program from Brazil and Dytective from Spain. |
| 2019 | New four-year term begins for Executive Board members, with representatives from various countries including France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and others from different global regions. |
| 2019 | 40th UNESCO Session held in Paris, chaired by Ahmet Altay Cengizer from Turkey |
| January 1 2019 | Israel formally left UNESCO, following through on its withdrawal in pursuance of the US withdrawal. |
| 2018 | Countries like Algeria, Azerbaijan, Egypt, and Syria added significant cultural practices, including knowledge of water measurers, Yalli traditional dances, hand puppetry, and shadow play. |
| 2018 | ThingLink from Finland and War Child Holland were awarded the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for using information and communication technology (ICT) to provide education to the most vulnerable groups of learners. |
| December 31 2018 | The United States and Israel officially left UNESCO, withdrawing their membership from the organization. |
| 2017 | Bulgaria developed a strategy around the Bulgarian Chitalishte (Community Cultural Centre) to preserve intangible cultural heritage. |
| 2017 | Several countries expanded their cultural heritage recognition, including Botswana's Dikopelo folk music, Colombia and Venezuela's llano work songs, and the United Arab Emirates' Al Azi poetry performance art. |
| 2017 | Start of a four-year term for UNESCO Executive Board, with 58 elected representatives from six regional groups representing countries across different geographical regions. |
| 2017 | 39th UNESCO Session held in Paris, chaired by Zohour Alaoui from Morocco |
| 2017 | Audrey Azoulay from France becomes the tenth Director-General of UNESCO, serving from 2017 to the present (incumbent). |
| October 12 2017 | The United States notified UNESCO of its intention to withdraw from the organization, citing mounting arrears, need for reform, and perceived anti-Israel bias. |
| 2016 | Hungary implemented a program for safeguarding folk music heritage using the Kodály concept. |
| 2016 | Austria established Regional Centres for Craftsmanship to safeguard traditional handicraft heritage. |
| 2016 | Cambodia inscribed the Chapei dang veng stringed instrument, and Ukraine added Cossack songs from the Dnipropetrovsk Region. Portugal also registered the Bisalhães black pottery manufacturing process. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles UNESCO Public Library Manifesto, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize & UNESCO, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.