Irina Bokova will be officially installed as UNESCO's new director today. It's the first time that the UN organisation for education and science and culture has had a woman, or an East European, in the top job. The new UNESCO Chief wants to encourage dialogue but isn't afraid to say what she thinks.

Bulgaria's Irina Bokova has big ambitions: she wants to encourage dialogue between Muslims, Jews and Christians and increase respect and tolerance between different groups. But in an interview with Radio Netherlands World she immediately tackles a controversial issue and takes a stand against the burqa, the traditional Islamic garment that completely covers a woman's face and body. She says:

"Personally I'm against the burqa. Some women can't even see properly. It denigrates women, causes problems and gives women the feeling that they are not equal to men."

Self-confidence
The brand new UNESCO chief isn't afraid to speak her mind. As far as Ms Bokova is concerned, the all-encompassing garment worn by some Muslim women does no good at all, especially now that more and more burqa-clad women are appearing on the streets of Western Europe. The UNESCO head says that burqa-wearers must become more self-confident and more self-aware:

"I think UNESCO needs to make a really big effort and focus on education, education, education for Muslim women. I think this should be the number one priority. It's the only way to gradually change the mentality and the praxis for these women. It doesn't serve women's rights to say, I'm in favour of this, I'm against that. We have to do something and I think that through the transformation of society, we can change it.”

Her outspoken comments are remarkable given UNESCO's calls for tolerance and mutual understanding. But Ms Bokova sees the burqa, especially in Western Europe, as a clash between cultures that has to be solved. And her solution is: the burqa has to go.

Irina Bokova was chosen to chair the UN cultural organisation over Egypt's Farouq Hosni. Many considered him the favourite for the post, but in the end - perhaps due to his controversial anti-Semitic comments - he was not elected.

Communist
The 57-year-old Bulgarian, who has been Sofia's UN envoy to UNESCO since 2005, grew up in an elite family under Bulgaria's repressive Communist regime. Her father was editor-in-chief of the state-run newspaper. As a young woman, Irina studied in Moscow, joined the diplomatic corps and represented the Communist government. And now, as UNESCO's director, she must defend free speech and freedom of the press. She sees no contradiction here, even though she previously served a repressive regime, the last 20 years have proven that she is a democrat.

"I have distanced myself from the former regime. I also worked very hard to ensure Bulgaria's entry into the European Union and NATO. I lobbied very hard to convince people that it was a good thing for Bulgaria."

Bureaucratic moloch
Ms Bokova will face a number of challenges over the next four years, including breathing new life into the UN organisation that has almost 200 members and an annual budget of more than 201 million euros. Critics have frequently accused UNESCO of being a bureaucratic moloch that wastes money. She promises:

"The first thing I'm going to do is set up an internal commission to reduce bureaucracy."

Ms Bokova says UNESCO needs to be more flexible. At the moment, coordination between the various departments is poor and it needs improvement. She plans to cut the bureaucracy by about ten percent and a number of office jobs will go. She'd rather the money goes to concrete projects and programmes, to countries and people that really need it.

(Photo: Irina Bokova)

UNESCO