IMPAC met with the UNESCO secretariat today at the 14th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee in Bogota to deliver the petition, which includes your signature.

The meeting was extremely positive. Your concerns are fully understood, and shared by UNESCO.

We read out the following statement to assistant director general Ernesto Ottone (director general Audrey Azoulay is not in attendance):

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On behalf of 22,500 signatories from 118 countries we would like to thank the UNESCO Secretariat for its principled response to serial manifestations of racism and antisemitism at the Aalst carnival in Belgium. Both director general Audrey Azoulay and you, Mr Ottone as  assistant director have condemned what you called “manifestations of hatred”.

Your unequivocal recognition that the Aalst Carnival has repeatedly breached the principles of mutual understanding and respect, on which your listing is based, contrasts markedly with the approach of UNIA, the body charged with upholding equality under Belgian law.

UNESCO’s strong moral leadership sends a clear message to UNIA and to the Belgian politicians who have sought to minimise or ignore our complaints about the Carnival. Your position underlines the need for vigilance and an uncompromising attitude towards antisemitism and racism, and that, within living memory of the Holocaust, complacency is not an option.

We hope that delisting will change hearts and minds, and that the kind of displays that have discredited the Aalst carnival will never be seen again, anywhere.

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The 24 state representatives will vote on the recommendation from the Secretariat to delist on Fridat December 13.

In the picture (L-R) IMPAC CEO Nigel Goodrich, María Claudia Lopez Sorzano, Secretary of Culture, Recreation and Sports of the city of Bogotá (Committee Chair), IMPAC President Patricia Teitelbaum and Ernesto Ottone, assistant director general UNESCO.