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Rabat РThe board of directors of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has chosen Audrey Azoulay, the former French minister of culture and the daughter of Moroccan royal advisor Andr̩ Azoulay, as its next director general.
Azoulay’s journey is still not over, however, as she will still need to receive approval from UNESCO’s 195 member states in November.
The news, announced late afternoon on October 13 by the Associated Press, concludes a cliffhanger race to become the proposed head of the embattled organization.
The day before, UNESCO announced that Azoulay was tied at 18 votes with Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari, the former Qatari minister of culture. The final round required the winning candidate to receive at least 30 votes.
For the past few years, UNESCO has faced mounting criticism, including by Israel and its allies over an alleged pro-Palestinian bias. On October 12, one day before the final vote, the United States announced it would withdraw from the organization, citing “mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO.”
Born in 1972 in Paris to a Moroccan Jewish family, Audrey Azoulay is the daughter of André Azoulay, who served as an advisor to King Hassan II and now to King Mohammed VI.
Audrey Azoulay was French President François Hollande’s cultural advisor before she was appointed as minister of culture in 2014.
