UNESCO—the United Nations Edu-cational, Scientific and Cultural Orga-nization-is one of the Specialised Agen-cies of the United Nations Organization. It is now 25 years old, its official establishment in Paris dating from 4 No-vember, 1946, following the acceptance by twenty States of its Constitution drawn up the year before in London at a Conference attended by representa-tives of forty four countries, invited by the Governments of France and the United Kingdom.
The relations of UNESCO with the United Nations are legally defined by an agreement reached in December, 1946. Under this agreement, UNESCO’s work is co-ordinated by the United Nations Economic and Social Council with the programmes and activities of the other specialised Agencies.
Protection of Cultural heritage is one of the important functions of the UNESCO. It is not only through the reading of history but also through the contemplation of what it has left us-works of art, sites and monuments that we gain a better understanding of how we have become what we are. The gra-dual amassing of our cultural heritage represents continual fluctuations thro-ughout the world, and this heritage is significant for all mankind.
UNESCO has given technical assistance to Member States to help them organize and implement programmes for the preservation and restoration of historic monuments and sites in connec-tion with tourist development. The remains of a pre-historic civilisation some 4 to 5 thousand years old called the Indus Valley or “Moenjo Daro” have been discovered as a result of Archaeo-logical exploration in the Indus Valley. The main centre of these remains lies on the West Bank of the Indus River at a distance of 9 miles from Dokri, the nearest railway station on the Karachi -Quetta line of the Pakistan Western Railway. This buried city was discovered about quarter of a century back. It is considered as one of the most remarkable of excavated towns and the treasures of relics unearthed represent unparalleled and wonderful working of human endeavors in the remote past. Because of waterlogging and salinity, these relics of the past are facing a serious danger of being lost to coming generations. Preservation of the Moenjo-Daro relics and monuments has, therefore, been engaging the attention of the Government of Pakistan which approa-ched the UNESCO to lend a helping hand. The UNESCO sent a mission of experts to advise the authorities concer-ned on measures to preserve this site for posterity. Three experts namely Dr. Harold J. Plenderleith (United King-dom), Director of the International Cen-tre for the study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property in Rome, Mr. Theodore de Beaufort (Engineer) from the Netherlands, and Dr. Caesar Voute (Geologist), who is also from the Netherlands, visited the site during January, 1964 and after a thorough study of the problem, submitted their report to the Government of Pakistan suggesting measures for saving ‘Moenjo Daro’.