UNESCO

In today’s ever-changing social, economical and political environment, modern organisations have to take a proactive approach when dealing with outcoming threats and their consequences. A “red-team” that projects different threats and pre-prepares an organisation’s reflexes to guide decision-making in difficult and seemingly unexpected situations needs to be established in every modern organisation structure.

In this column, we will use UNESCO as a case study to talk about the different types of threats that might be important for them and the types of situations that need to be tracked in advance.

UNESCO, founded in 1945, is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and seeks to build peace through international cooperation in education, sciences and culture.

As part of the United Nations, UNESCO naturally has to be aware of the different types of conflicts between nations that occur around the world. Politics and diplomacy go along with vested interests and UNESCO has to find a balance and keep different and moving parts satisfied — or else there will be consequences. For example the United States and Israel were members, but left on 31 December 2018 asserting that the organisation had an anti-Israel bias.

Other types of conflicts between nations escalate differently and take a more violent and harmful route like the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, as Russia began a full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. Apart from the politics of a war and the obvious repercussions, in these situations UNESCO also has to protect (as part of its purpose) the world’s cultural and natural proclaimed “Heritage Sites” from any damages.

World Heritage Sites can also face damages from natural disasters and the crystal clear negative impact of the climate change, so environmental issues have to be tracked too. At the same time, World Heritage sites face more “indirect” threats, apart from, well, being destroyed. At various places of the world, UNESCO’s heritage sites aren’t being used appropriately — but as means of profiteering from tourism. UNESCO has to ensure that tourism and each nation’s attempts to make use of their cultural heritage won’t come while demeaning their… cultural heritage.

Last but not least, UNESCO has to protect journalists and ensure their safety and freedom of speech. Many countries around the world function in a dictatorial regime where government censorship often goes along. Different views to the government aren’t welcomed or even allowed and human rights are constantly violated. According to World Population Review 2022, 51 countries are ruled by dictators, regardless of their title (President, King, Prime Minister, Sultan etc.).

Team Meta-4: Barbara Alygizaki, Zenia Karampela, Petrina Pavlopoulou, Petros Kariatoglou