UNESCO Asks U.S. To Rethink Pulling Funds
Posted by Daniel Antolin on Nov 2, 2011 - 12:34:11 PM
BEVERLY HILLS—On Wednesday, November 2, the director-general of UNESCO, the Paris-based United Nations agency dedicated to promoting world peace and security, asked the United States to reconsider the decision to stop funding 22 percent of its budget after Palestine was granted full membership at a general conference session. The U.S. would have otherwise transferred $60 million to UNESCO in November.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova. Photo courtesy of agency's website.
"The announced withholding of U.S. dues owed for 2011 will immediately affect our ability to deliver programmes in critical areas: achieving universal education, supporting new democracies and fighting extremism. It will be impossible for us to maintain our current level of activity," UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in a statement.
"I call on the U.S. administration, Congress and the American people to find a way forward and continue support for UNESCO in these turbulent times," said Bokova, who after the 107-14 vote on October 31 acknowledged that U.S. funding could be at risk.
Victoria Nuland, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, said at a November 1 press briefing, "We’re cutting off UNESCO funding because we have legislation on the
books, we have U.S. law that requires this in the event of any effort to
gain statehood this way. And we were absolutely clear about that before
it happened."
Though UNESCO granting Palestine full membership will help boost its bid to be recognized by the U.N. as a state, the U.S. is concerned that the move could aggravate tensions between Israel and Palestine at a time when both parties are being coaxed to return to the negotiating table to work out a peaceful resolution. This concern was seemingly confirmed on November 1 when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for 2,000 housing units to be built in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank.
At the press briefing, Nuland said the UNESCO move amounts to Palestinian statehood through the back door when asked by a reporter if aggravated tensions are the result of Israel in particular being upset by the vote.
U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, who represents Canyon News's coverage areas including Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Malibu, West Hollywood and Woodland Hills, agrees that Palestine should follow the proper channels toward statehood. “For
over two decades, UNESCO members have been on notice from the Congress
as to the consequences of any unilateral move to admit Palestine as a
member state. As a result, UNESCO will lose tens of millions in dollars
in US funding," Waxman told Canyon News
"The only road to a Palestinian state is through direct
negotiations with Israel. Any other course is counterproductive in the
extreme," Waxman said.
A reporter suggested to Nuland at the press briefing that the U.S. pulling UNESCO funding is an attempt at blackmailing the agency into voting against Palestinian interests.
"This is not a matter of blackmailing," Nuland responded. "This is a matter of a disagreement between us and a number of other countries about the best way to help the Palestinian people."
Nuland said that the U.S. pulling its UNESCO funding was not in the country's best interest, and that similar moves in regard to withdrawing support from other U.N. organizations such as the World Health Organization will be avoided if possible. But the U.S.'s decision to cut 22 percent of the cultural agency's budget has real implications and consequences that will be better understood over time, she said.
Bokova listed such implications in her plea to the U.S. to reconsider pulling its funding, which she said helps UNESCO sustain the Arab Spring by training local journalists to cover elections objectively and teaching people to read and write.
In addition, Bokova said, UNESCO uses U.S. funds to promote Holocaust education, expand a tsunami warning system that has saved lives and promote science worldwide.
U.S. Representative Brad Sherman, who represents Sherman Oaks as part of California's 27th congressional district, told Canyon News that UNESCO's decision is harmful for the agency and for Middle East peace.
Though it is a shame that such an action was taken, Sherman said, the same amount of money will be made available to UNESCO or other groups through the foreign operations appropriation to help in treating AIDS, tuberculosis and other pressing needs in poorer parts of the world.
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