Obama Seeks to Skirt Ban on UNESCO Funding

 

The United States cut off all American funding for UNESCO in November, as required by law, after the United Nations agency voted to approve the Palestinian Authority for full membership.

Now the Obama administration is seeking to circumvent the law by requesting funds for UNESCO (U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). vIn its fiscal 2013 budget request released on Monday, the State Department included $79 million for UNESCO. vAt a briefing, the State Department’s deputy secretary for management and resources, Thomas Nides, said Obama wanted waiver authority that would allow the U.S. to continue funding UNESCO in the future.

“We have put the money in the budget, realizing that we’re not going to be able to spend the money unless we get the waiver — and we have made it clear to the Congress we’d like a waiver,” he said.

Elsewhere in the budget request, a further $40.5 million is listed under the heading of “contingent requirements.”

A footnote to that entry states, “The Department of State intends to work with Congress to seek legislation that would provide authority to waive restrictions on paying the U.S. assessed contributions to UNESCO. Should the Congress pass this legislation, this funding is sufficient to cover the FY 2013 UNESCO assessment and the balance of the FY 2012 assessment.”

But Public Law 101-246, which the Democratic-controlled Congress passed in 1990, states that “no funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or any other Act shall be available for the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states.”

And Public Law 103-236 Title IV, passed in 1994, prohibits “voluntary or assessed contribution to any affiliated organization of the United Nations which grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood.”

Before the United States cut off funding, UNESCO received 22 percent of its operating budget from the United States, about $80 million a year.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, castigated the administration for the budget requests.

“The Palestinian leadership’s dangerous statehood scheme at the U.N. was dealt a significant blow last year after the U.S. cut off funding to UNESCO due to its admission of ‘Palestine,’” she said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Resuming U.S. funding would give a green light for other U.N. bodies to follow in UNESCO’s footsteps and support the Palestinian statehood push.

“Any effort to walk back this funding cutoff will pave the way for the Palestinian leadership’s unilateral statehood scheme to drive on, and sends a disastrous message that the U.S. will fund U.N. bodies no matter what irresponsible decisions they make.”

UNESCO is a global development agency whose missions include promoting literacy, clean water and education, and designating world heritage sites.

During the 1980s, the United States and Britain withdrew from UNESCO, accusing the agency of mismanagement and an anti-Western political agenda. Britain returned in 1997 and President George W. Bush restored the U.S. relationship in 2002, citing wide-ranging reforms.

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