On November 7, 2023, Azerbaijan secured the position of Vice-President during the 42nd General Conference of UNESCO convened in Paris (https://t.me/zangezuravtonomia/47377?fbclid=IwAR3RG6rFlp50szmUQK7KiX0jW3Mtq-mOnE_6VwmpCcGwINrxc4ohDeQTBxQ). Simona-Mirela Miculescu, Romania's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to UNESCO since January 2021, was elected as the President during the recent session (https://www.unesco.org/en/general-conference/42/president).

The election for the President and Vice Presidents of the Conference, as well as the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the commissions, have been concluded. The conference will comprise discussions on UNESCO's overall policies and will host forums for the organization's partners and youth.

The 42nd session of the General Conference is scheduled to run until November 22.

Jean-Christophe Buisson, deputy director of Le Figaro magazine, criticized the decision to appoint Azerbaijan as vice president, stating: "UNESCO did not find it fitting to denounce Azerbaijan for the 9-month blockade of Artsakh, preventing thousands of Armenian children from attending school. Now, it elects Azerbaijan as the vice president of its main conference. It's a disgrace" (https://www.panorama.am/en/news/2023/11/08/Le-Figaro-deputy-head/2923141).

The international community, as exemplified by UNESCO, has, on multiple occasions, seemingly endorsed Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian policy. This was evident during the 16th meeting of UNESCO's Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property during Armed Conflicts, held in Paris on December 2-3, 2021, where Azerbaijan was elected as a member of the committee for a four-year term (https://en.unesco.org/16th-Meeting-of-the-Committee-for-Protection-of-Cultural-Property-in-the-Event-of-Armed-Conflict-Working-Documents).

Azerbaijan had previously served as a member of that committee from 2011 to 2019, a period during which the khachkars of Jugha were already being destroyed. There is undeniable evidence that Azerbaijan, at least since the adoption of the Second Protocol of the Hague Convention of 1954 in 1999, is perhaps one of the few states that has violated several provisions of the same protocol. However, rather than being held accountable for the violations it committed, Azerbaijan assumed the role of a responsible and authorized representative for the implementation of the convention.