Special Event on the ‘Role of Women in the Silk Roads’

A special event highlighting the ‘Role of Women in the Silk Roads’ took place at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 3 April 2019. The event, which included a screening of the documentary film ‘Women of the Silk Road’  as well as a roundtable discussion with the filmmaker and a panel of international experts, was organised by UNESCO in partnership with the Permanent Delegations of the Sultanate of Oman, Turkey, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran to UNESCO.

The roundtable discussion, moderated by H.E. Dr. Samira Mohamed Moosa Al Moosa (Oman), brought together the film’s director Yassamin Maleknasr with UNESCO Artist for Peace Ms Bibi Russel and Mr İlber Ortaylı (Professor of History at Galatasaray University – Istanbul and Bilkent University – Ankara and former Director of Topkapi Palace) to discuss the often overlooked contribution women make in the preservation and transmission of the heritage of the Silk Roads. This was also an opportunity for the audience to ask the panel questions and the result was a lively and informative exchange.

Following the film screening and roundtable the photo exhibition ‘Youth Eyes on the Silk Road’ was officially launched, and the accompanying photo album ‘Youth Lens on the Silk Road’ inaugurated, in the presence of Ms Nada Al-Nashif, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences, Dr Li Ruohong, Chairman and Director General of the China World Peace Foundation, partner of the 2018 edition of the Photo Contest, and Mr Reza Deghati, Photojournalist, and Honorary Advisor of the Contest.

The photo exhibition, which showcases the best photographs from the 2018 international photo contest ‘Youth Eyes on the Silk Roads’, will remain at UNESCO Headquarters until 12 April 2019.