The rights of women
The question put to Irina Bokova caught the director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) off guard, not because the question was difficult but because it was breathtakingly simple and direct. Bokova, a former minister in Bulgaria who last year was elected UNESCO’s first female director-general, had just outlined at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), in measured if sweeping terms, her vision for the world organization. In a talk on Wednesday (Nov. 3) sponsored by the Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe, Bokova had discussed the need to improve education and end extreme poverty, noting that “our byword should be respect for diversity.” She had talked about UNESCO’s “groundbreaking” agreement with the Smithsonian Institution to promote aspects of “intangible” culture. She emphasized that the designation of a location as a World Heritage Site was not only a source of cultural pride for a country but built wealth...