::: UPDATE: UNESCO RESPONSE TO SWC PROTEST :::
::: UPDATE :::
Simon Wiesenthal Centre Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, and Advisor to the Director-General of UNESCO, Dr. Graciela Vaserman Samuels,were invited by H.E. Rahman Mustafayev, Azerbaijan Ambassador to France, as part of a French delegation, to attend the Sixth Baku International Forum entitled "Shaping a New World and a NewHumanity: Creativity and Human Development."
"The interfaith work of the Wiesenthal Centre is universally known in Azerbaijan, due to the pathbreaking activities of its Director for Global Social Action,my colleague Rabbi Abraham Cooper," noted Samuels.
"Thus," he continued, "in conversations at the Forum with the Azerbaijan Culture Minister, the Head of the Mountain Jewish Community, the Deputy Director ofUNESCO, Council of Europe expert on cultural heritage and the Azerbaijan Ambassador to UNESCO, the idea emerged to 
propose the unique Jewish village of Qırmızı QÉsÉbÉ, some 100 miles from Baku, for World Heritage status." (Refurbished synagoguepictured right).
propose the unique Jewish village of Qırmızı QÉsÉbÉ, some 100 miles from Baku, for World Heritage status." (Refurbished synagoguepictured right).
This would follow the Centre’s campaign for such acknowledgement of MoisesVille in Argentina and Sosua in the Dominican Republic.
"In each case, at different periods in history, these villages represented the welcome of the home country to fugitives fleeing persecution, their successfulabsorption and pride in their host country - each providing lessons for contemporary migrants and refugees," he explained.
"The proposal is pending further discussion in the community, the Azerbaijani Government and UNESCO. Its success would underline and manifest the example of aMuslim country’s dedication to inter-faith and multicultural harmony, as also a close friend of Israel," concluded the Centre.
Among the dignitaries who attended the Forum with SWC representatives Shimon Samuels and Graciela Vaserman Samuels (pictured left and center) were: (a) Milikh Yevdayev, Head of the Community ofMountain Jews in Azerbaijan; (b) Qu Xing, Deputy Director of UNESCO; (c) Abulfas Garayev, Azerbaijan Minister of Culture; and (e) Robert Palmer, former Director of Cultural Heritage at theCouncil of Europe.
For further information, contact Shimon Samuels at +33 609 770 158, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the UnitedStates. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).
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