General of UNESCO from 2009 to 2017. She was actively engaged in the efforts to promote culture as a driver for sustainable development on the UN Agenda 2030, adopted in 2015. She was particularly active in the defence of cultural heritage in conflict in Mali, Syria and Iraq and in denouncing extremists’ destruction of heritage as a tool of war, which lead to the adoption by the UN Security Council of several land mark resolutions on the link between maintaining peace, security and the protection of cultural heritage. Bokova was on the Forbes list of most influential women for 2016. In May 2020, she was elected International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2022 Bokova was elected Patron of the International Science Council. Currently, she is Chair of the Governing Council of the UN University of Peace, Member of the Board of “Ban Ki Moon Centre for Global Citizens”, Chair of the Board of Democracy and Culture Foundation, Member of the Concordia Leadership Council, New York, Lecturer on “Cultural Diplomacy” at the Paris School of International Affairs /PSIA/, SciencePo, among other activities.