US challenges Unesco again

US challenges Unesco again

For a group dedicated to international science and education, Unesco generates more controversy than almost any other part of the United Nations. Now, the United States has quit Unesco, for the second time in 33 years. Fifteen years after it rejoined Unesco and officially ended a tiff about pro-Soviet ideological balance, Washington is out again. This time, Israel also walked out, but the big hit is from the United States, which provides 22% of Unesco's funding.

The world often hears about the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation when it promotes education for all. More likely, especially in Thailand and the region, Unesco's role in promoting World Heritage Sites is the subject of conversation. Sometimes, it's good news, such as when Unesco awards citations to cultural or natural sites, such as the city of Ayutthaya or Thungyai-Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuaries.

Sometimes, though, Unesco isn't so popular. The aim of the Paris-based organisation, which also maintains an active office in Bangkok, is to make everyone happy. That's an impossible task. When Cambodia applied to declare the Preah Vihear temple a World Heritage Site, the Thai government actively protested. Bangkok regimes have twice disputed the temple's actual ownership and heritage at the International Court of Justice. Two legal victories for Phnom Penh only made Unesco's problem more difficult.

In the 1980s, Unesco became highly politicised. The group came out in favour of full government control of the media, ostensibly to battle the "cultural imperialism" of Western news agencies and the emerging satellite news. Unesco's role was going to be to license every journalist in the world, a muddled and senseless idea pushed by Unesco's top officials as a way to ensure that the "third world press" could be heard.

That is when US President Ronald Reagan, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew pulled their countries out. In the end, the journalist-licensing came to naught, and Unesco's "pro-Soviet bias" solved itself with the total collapse of the Moscow-led group.

The current brouhaha also involves alleged political bias by the Unesco leadership and members. President Donald Trump's administration and Israel allege anti-Israel bias. The latest appointment of former French culture minister Audrey Azoulay as the new chief of Unesco was a decisive event. Europe is seen by the US as vehemently anti-Israel.

The Trump government's decision has been on the table for at least six years. In 2011, then-president Barack Obama stopped paying the US contribution to Unesco, more than US$80 million per year (2.5 billion baht). Mr Obama said Unesco's decision to accept Palestine as a member was unacceptable. US law, in fact, prevents US government funding for any UN agency that recognises Palestine as a state.

The battling over Middle East politics is of course a tiny part of Unesco's activities. In Thailand, virtually all recent news about the UN group has centred on the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex in the Northeast. Declared an official World Heritage Site in 2005, there is widespread concern -- not at all limited to Unesco -- that tourists and government "development" programmes have degraded the parks and are on the cusp of ruining them.

Loss of World Heritage status would be a serious blow -- to tourism, to the environment and to the government. Unesco has agreed to give authorities another year to show improvement. In the meantime, the US has once again politicised Unesco in a major crisis for the UN group. Its reputation as a reasonable voice for action worldwide is at stake.

Editorial

Bangkok Post editorial column

These editorials represent Bangkok Post thoughts about current issues and situations.

Email : anchaleek@bangkokpost.co.th

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