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Ukraine: UNESCO to document war’s impact on culture with help of photojournalists
UNESCO will work with 65 Ukrainian journalists across the country to document and verify damages to over 50 cultural sites and provide independent photojournalistic coverage of the impact of the war on the culture sector, in partnership with the Institute of Mass Information (IMI) and in coordination with the Ministry of Culture.
Selected among more than 200 applicants, the 65 journalists will first receive training from UNESCO and IMI on safety issues, as well as on documenting damages to culture sites and covering living heritage and the diversity of cultural expressions in times of war.
They will then go on the ground to interview cultural professionals, including artists, members of local communities, and living heritage bearers and practitioners, thereby underlining the resilience of culture in times of conflict.
The project will be accompanied by Ukrainian photojournalist Stas Kozliuk who most recently contributed to the Pulitzer-awarded New York Times investigations in Ukraine. The first training took place on 11 May 2023.
A double priority: culture and press freedom
This project combines a double priority of UNESCO: supporting journalists and supporting artists. We will improve the documentation of damage to the cultural sector and promote the best resilience projects of cultural professionals, while providing additional livelihoods to photojournalists and strengthening their professional experience and skills.
Despite the loss of revenue and the collapse of advertising revenues in the media sector, thousands of journalists and media workers are continuing to cover the conflict to ensure the population has access to potentially life-saving information. The photojournalists participating in this new UNESCO project will receive a grant of 1,000 USD to support the continuity of their professional activity and finance their basic needs.
At the Institute of Mass Information, we work with journalists to provide essential information to the public, and to keep the world informed on what is happening on-the-ground. We look forward to working with UNESCO to support these journalists in documenting damages to cultural sites and Ukraine, to promote the resilience of our culture sector, and to contribute in this way to reconstruction efforts.
The culture sector in Ukraine has been heavily impacted since the beginning of the war. As of 2 May 2023, 91Â鶹¹ú²ú¾«Æ·×ÔÅÄ verified damage to more than 250 cultural sites across the country, confirming this information through multiple sources, including satellite images from UNITAR/UNOSAT.
More about
This programme is supported by the UNESCO Heritage Emergency Fund, a multi-donor and non-earmarked funding mechanism which was established by UNESCO in 2015 to enable the Organization to respond quickly and effectively to crises resulting from armed conflicts and disasters caused by natural and human-made hazards all over the world.
It also falls within the framework of the implementation of the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, which aims to create a free and safe environment for journalists and media workers, thus strengthening peace, democracy and sustainable development worldwide.
UNESCO thanks the donors of its Heritage Emergency Fund who make the growing number of activities possible: the Qatar Fund for Development, the Government of Canada, the Kingdom of Norway, the French Republic, the Principality of Monaco, ANA Holdings INC, the Republic of Estonia, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Slovak Republic, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Principality of Andorra, the Republic of Serbia.
Contact
Phone: +33145682293
