“While the buildings were not badly damaged, 600 of the Museum’s collection of 1080 artefacts were missing,” the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said in a statement following a visit of its experts to Minya.

The mission, organized with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and local authorities, follows the 18 August statement of UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova on the museum’s looting.

The destruction constitutes “irreversible damage to the history and identity of the Egyptian people,” Ms. Bokova said.

She had pledged to lend the Organization’s technical support and mobilize partner organizations of the 1970 Convention against Illicit Traffic of Cultural Heritage, including the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the World Customs Organization.

During the visit, from 11 to 16 September, the International Expert and UNESCO Consultant, Architect Pierre-André Lablaude, and a UNESCO expert also visited other cultural sites damaged during recent unrest, among them, the Evangelical Church in Minya, Amir Tadros Monastery in Fayoum and the Franciscan Sisters School in Beni Suef.

Some other significant churches could not be visited for security reasons.

Several other sites and museums were visited by the experts at the request of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and the Ministry of Culture, notably the belle époque Casdagli Villa in Cairo, which was found to be sound despite superficial damage in February 2013.

Egypt has been undergoing a democratic transition following the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak two years ago in the wake of mass protests. Renewed protests starting in July – in which dozens of people were killed and wounded – led to the Egyptian military deposing Mr. Morsy. The Constitution was then suspended and an interim government set up.

The Ancient City of Damascus; Site of Palmyra; Ancient City of Bosra; Ancient City of Aleppo; Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din; and Ancient Villages of northern Syria were inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger by the World Heritage Committee.

“The danger listing is intended to mobilize all possible support for the safeguarding of these properties, which are recognized by the international community as being of outstanding universal value for humanity as a whole,” said a news release issued by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The decision was taken as part of the Committee’s review of the state of conservation of World Heritage sites already inscribed on the World Heritage List. Currently meeting in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, the Committee will close in Angkor on 27 June.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova has repeatedly called on both sides of the Syrian conflict to do all they can to prevent the destruction of the country’s cultural heritage amid the violence, which is currently in its third year.

Several sites have already suffered damage or have been destroyed since the fighting began in March 2011. This past April, there were reports that the minaret of one of the country’s most famous mosques, the Great Mosque at the heart of the ancient city of Aleppo, was reduced to rubble.

Also, last October, the city’s souk – considered to be the world’s most extensive covered market and a coveted tourist destination – suffered major damage during a fire amid the fighting between the Syrian army and opposition forces seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad.

More than 93,000 people have been killed so far in the conflict, which has also left 6.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and sent some 1.5 million fleeing to neighbouring countries for safety.

“A day without news may seem unthinkable in this connected and globalized world. Yet every day, the voices of the news are being silenced,” the Secretary-General said.

A journalist is killed every week, and 9 out of 10 of those cases go unpunished, Mr. Ban noted.

The head of the UN agency mandated to promote and protect freedom of expression and press freedom, Irina Bokova, condemned a record 121 killings of journalists, media workers and citizen reporters last year.

As part of an effort to combat this violence, the Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.

The goal, Mr. Ban said, is simple: “to ensure that every journalist can do her or his job safely.”

Every year on 3 May, the UN marks World Press Freedom Day – an opportunity to speak out for the safety of journalists, and for combating impunity, in the real and digital worlds.

The Secretary-General’s video is hosted on adaywithoutnews.com. According to the site, the ‘Day Without News’ campaign originated during a panel discussion with journalists at UN Headquarters, and aims to raise awareness of the hostile and dangerous conditions that many reporters and photographers work under around the world.

The Day is marked symbolically on 22 February – the anniversary of the 2012 killings of The Sunday Times correspondent, Marie Colvin, and freelance photographer, Remi Ochlik, in Homs, Syria. According to reports, no one has been held accountable for their deaths.

Northern Mali has been occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels. The conflict uprooted thousands of people and prompted the Malian Government to request military assistance from France to stop the progression of extremist groups.

There have been several attacks on the country’s cultural heritage, including last month when Islamist extremists reportedly set fire to a library in the city of Timbuktu containing thousands of historic manuscripts and in December when at least three mausoleums were destroyed.

“At this moment, we must act quickly to safeguard and rebuild this country’s outstanding cultural heritage – this is essential for national unity and reconciliation,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

“This heritage is a source of strength and confidence for the people of Mali as they consolidate the foundations of peace,” she added.

Ms. Bokova is meeting with the Malian authorities in the capital, Bamako, as well as in Timbuktu to kick-start a UNESCO programme of assistance to rebuild the country’s cultural heritage and to safeguard its documentary heritage.

Earlier this week, the Paris-based UNESCO announced it will send a team of experts to Mali to assess the damage and determine the most urgent tasks as soon as security conditions allow it. A special working group will also be established to draw up an action plan to guide reconstruction activities in the medium and long term.

In a press release, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, denounced the killing of community radio journalist Elisabeth Blanche Olofio, who lost her life when rebels stormed her radio station, Radio Be Oko, on 8 January in the town of Bambari in CAR.

“I condemn the killing of Elisabeth Blanche Olofio and feel grave concern about the safety of her colleagues,” said Ms. Bokova, while also urging all the fighting factions in the African country to “respect the civilian status of journalists.”

Over the past month, CAR has experienced a flare-up of violence, with a number of cities reportedly falling under the control of armed groups, which, in turn, has led to thousands of people fleeing areas where fighting has taken place.

Following the attack on Radio Be Oko, press freedom associations operating in the area reported receiving no news regarding the safety of Ms. Olofio’s colleagues and the radio station has had to cease its broadcasts.

Ms. Bokova underlined the importance of community-based media, noting that journalists like Ms. Olofio provided news for most of the population and contributed to “the well-being and development of ordinary citizens.”

In a separate press statement released today, the UNESCO chief condemned the killing of another radio reporter, Tanzanian journalist Issa Ngumba, who was also found dead on 8 January.

Mr. Ngumba had been missing for three days before his body was discovered in Tanzania’s Kajuhuleta Forest, exhibiting signs that he had been strangled or hanged, according to media reports. He is the second journalist killed in Tanzania in recent months.

Ms. Bokova deplored the killing and appealed to local authorities to investigate the crime as thoroughly as possible.

“It is essential that attacks on media workers be prosecuted so as to uphold the basic human right of freedom of expression,” she declared. “Safety contributes to journalists’ ability to inform public debate, the bedrock of democracy.”

Turning her focus onto Pakistan, where a series of bombings in Quetta last Friday reportedly killed at least 100 people and injured at least 200 more, including three reporters, Ms. Bokova also expressed her condolences to the people of the Asian nation.

“The bomb attacks in Quetta last Friday, which targeted civilians as well as rescue services and media, were particularly shocking,” she stated, adding that the attacks violated democratic values and human rights.

“I urge the Government of Pakistan to do everything within its power to bring those responsible to justice,” she continued.

According to independent accounts, three journalists were killed in the second wave of bombings which struck the Pakistani city as they rushed to report from the site of the first blast.

Imran Shaikh, a news cameraman for Samaa TV, and Mohammad Iqbal, a photographer with the news agency News Network International (NNI) were killed instantly while Saif-ur-Rehman, a Samaa News reporter, was transported to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries.

After the latest wave of destruction at Timbuktu on 23 December, the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has called on the international community to act urgently to protect Mali’s cultural heritage.

“I am profoundly shocked by the ferocity that has marked the latest round of destruction of Timbuktu’s mausoleums,” said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

At least three mausoleums in Mali were reportedly destroyed, including that of the Al Hassan and Al Houseyni twins, the agency said in a news release.

Two emergency missions were carried out to assess damage, and the UN World Heritage Committee adopted a resolution to create an emergency fund for the rehabilitation and safeguarding of Mali’s cultural heritage.

“I call on the whole of the international community to act, as a matter of urgency, and take the measures necessary to guarantee the protection of this heritage, which is such an important part of Mali’s cultural identity, and of humanity’s history,” said Ms. Bokova.

“Such wanton destruction on these inestimable treasures is a crime against the people of Mali, who have always shown great tolerance towards different religious and spiritual beliefs and practices.”

According to UNESCO, Timbuktu was an intellectual and spiritual capital and a centre for the propagation of Islam throughout Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Northern Mali has been occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January between Government forces and Tuareg rebels – just one of several security, political and humanitarian problems the West African nation has been dealing with this year.

The renewed clashes in the north, as well as the proliferation of armed groups in the region, drought and political instability in the wake of a military coup d’état in March have uprooted hundreds of thousands of civilians this year. An estimated five million people have been affected by the conflict.

Mr. Tutu was selected to receive this year’s UNESCO/Bilbao Prize, for “the outstanding role he played in building the new democratic, non-racial South Africa and his invaluable contribution as Chairperson of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to national reconstruction which became a model for other post-conflict societies,” the agency said in a news release.

The Prize recognizes his activism, particularly with young people, to promote non-violence and oppose all forms of discrimination and injustice.

The jury also stressed Mr. Tutu’s contribution to the work of the UN on various human rights issues, including the promotion of a culture of human rights.

Mr. Tutu will be formally awarded the prize on 10 December, which is observed globally as Human Rights Day, by UNESCO’s Director-General, Irina Bokova, at the agency’s headquarters in Paris. The Mayor of Bilbao, Iñaki Azkuna, will also be in attendance.

During the ceremony, the 80 singers of the Choir Invisible, Desmond and Leah Tutu Choir for Peace, UK, will perform a capella compositions inspired by South African gospel and soul music to lyrics by Archbishop Tutu.

The UNESCO/Bilbao Prize is given out every two years and is funded by a donation from the Spanish city. It succeeded the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education that was set up 30 years ago. The Prize includes a $30,000 cheque, a diploma and a bronze trophy designed by Japanese artist Toshimi Ishii.

The UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity follows two days of discussions by UN agencies, independent experts, governments, media houses, and civil society organizations on the most pressing issues facing freedom of expression, during the 2nd UN Inter-Agency Meeting on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.

More than 100 journalists have been killed so far this year, making 2012 the deadliest year for media since the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) began keeping records on the issue.

The new action plan outlines more than 100 areas of work that different UN agencies and civil society groups intend to contribute to securing the safety of journalists, and will operate at the national and global level.

Activities that will be implemented as a result of the plan include: helping governments develop laws on safeguarding journalists, raising awareness so that citizens understand the damage done when a journalist’s rights to freedom of expression is curtailed, providing training courses for journalists in safety and safety online, establishing real-time emergency response mechanisms and strengthening the safety of journalists in conflict zones, among others.

The plan also calls for enhancing protection for women journalists in response to the increasing incidence of sexual harassment and rape, decriminalizing defamation offences and encouraging adequate remuneration for full-time and freelance employees.

The Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, emphasized that attacks on media workers have a far-reaching effect on society, threatening to silence all citizens.

“These attacks – not only the many murders and physical assaults, but also the countless abductions, the acts of harassment, the illegal arrests, the arbitrary detentions – have an impact that reaches well beyond the personal suffering of the person involved,” he said.

“They aim to silence the journalist and, by extension, all of us.”

Civil society delegates issued a statement during the UNESCO-organized meeting welcoming and endorsing the new plan. They also recommended that it be implemented in a comprehensive manner in Iraq, Nepal, Pakistan, South Sudan and Latin America.

The action plan is the result of a process that began in 2010, on the request of the Intergovernmental Council of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC). It was endorsed by the UN Chief Executives Board on 12 April 2012.

A Programme Cooperation Agreement will be signed by Norway’s Deputy Minister for International Development, Arvinn Eikeland Gadgil, and UNESCO’s Director-General, Irina Bokova on Thursday at the agency’s headquarters in Paris, France, UNESCO stated in a news release.

The agreement stipulates that Norway’s additional contribution will be given over the next two years, and that UNESCO will support national development plans and contribute to coordination among development partners, particularly within the UN.

Following the signing ceremony last week, Norway will host a debate on women’s issues, entitled ‘Nora’s Sisters, Women Worldwide: Challenges of Freedom.’ at the Paris Institut du Monde Arabe.

Held under the patronage of UNESCO, the event will include a theatre performance and a panel with various women’s rights experts and activists, including a Saudi women’s rights activist, Manal al-Sharif, a French-Nicaraguan anthropologist, Milagros Palma, and Bunker Roy, an Indian social activist, entrepreneur and educator.

“I am horrified by the sudden upsurge of violence targeting the media in Somalia,” said the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, adding that the killings are an outrage against the whole nation.

“They are also an extreme violation of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press – both essential for the construction and functioning of healthy democracies, and especially important in a nation trying to rebuild after so many years of conflict,” she added.

The journalists were killed in three separate attacks occurring on 16, 20 and 21 September.

On Friday, Hassan Youssouf Absuge, a well-known radio journalist, was shot dead as he left the studios of Radio Mantaa, and independent station for which he was the programme director.

On Thursday, three journalists – Liban Ali Nur, head of news at Somali National TV, Abdisatar Daher Sabriye, head of news at Radio Mogadishu, and Abdirahman Yasin Ali, director of Radio Hamar (Voice of Democracy) – were killed and four others injured in a double suicide-bombing at a popular restaurant frequented by journalists in Mogadishu, the capital.

Four days earlier, Zakariye Mohamed Mohamud Moallim, who worked as an independent cameraman, was shot dead in the Nasib Bundo neighbourhood of Mogadishu.

“I urge the Somali authorities to do everything in their power to bring the perpetrators of these outrageous crimes to justice,” Ms. Bokova said.

These latest killings bring to 13 the number of journalists killed in Somalia this year and 26 the number killed since 2008, UNESCO said in a news release.