UNESCO decided: Odessa city centre on the list of world heritage in danger
UNESCO has included the centre of the Ukrainian port city of Odessa on the list of world heritage in danger, thus granting it a special status of protection against damage caused by the Russian invasion. Russia contested the decision, which it called "*political".
The decision was adopted by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, gathered on Wednesday in Paris in an extraordinary session, in which the three candidacies were examined, within an emergency procedure applied to sites of exceptional interest, considered threatened.
"World Heritage sites in Ukraine are being monitored by satellite, a first in history. It is monitored by UNESCO in cooperation with another United Nations agency and we are monitoring possible attacks. None of the sites were destroyed, even though there were attacks on cultural objects. So, today, we have another World Heritage site to monitor. And any attack on it would be a violation of international commitments," said UNESCO Secretary General Audrey Azoulay.
The 21 member states of the World Heritage Committee approved the decision with six votes in favor, one against and 14 abstentions. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who since October requested the inclusion of the city on the UNESCO list, welcomed the decision. And the Minister of Culture of Ukraine mentioned that the decision is correct.
"It is a historic day, but not only for Ukraine, for the multinational city of Odessa, but also for the principles of UNESCO's commitment to protect world heritage sites that are at risk. And Odessa is certainly in danger because of the Russian invasion," says Minister Oleksander Tkachenko.
Russia has denounced the decision to register the historic centre of the Ukrainian city of Odessa, located on the shores of the Black Sea, on the UNESCO list of World Heritage in Danger. A press release issued by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the UNESCO secretariat "lost its impartiality and hastily adopted a political decision".
By being included on the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger, Odessa will have access to international technical and financial assistance for protection and rehabilitation if necessary.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, Ukrainians have tried to protect the city's monuments and buildings with sandbags and barricades. Six other Ukrainian sites have already been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, including the Saint Sophia Cathedral in the capital Kyiv and the historic centre of Lviv.
