When Russia’s envoy entered the stage at an international culture conference on Friday, representatives from dozens of nations left in protest of the conflict in Ukraine.
The boycott took place at the last meeting of the UNESCO-hosted World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development in Mexico City.
Simonas Kairys, the minister of culture for Lithuania, denounced Moscow’s “unjustifiable and unlawful assault” on Ukraine in a statement he claimed to have made on behalf of 48 nations.
Kairys informed the gathering that UNESCO has confirmed damage to at least 193 Ukrainian cultural institutions, including museums, libraries, cultural institutes, and historical structures, since the Russian invasion.
When Russian delegate Sergey Obryvalin addressed the conference and rejected the criticism as “unacceptable,” dozens of attendees stood up and departed the auditorium.
150 governments endorsed a proclamation confirming culture as a “global public benefit” at the conclusion of the three-day summit, which was hailed as the largest of its kind in 40 years, according to UNESCO.
For the sake of online cultural variety, artists’ intellectual property rights, and equitable access to material for all, they demanded “strong regulation of the digital industry, particularly of the big platforms,” it was stated.
Governments also pledged to intensify their efforts to combat the illegal trade in cultural products and urged art dealers not to sell items with a dubious provenance.
UNESCO announced the establishment of a virtual museum of stolen cultural artefacts in cooperation with Interpol.
