3 Problems with UNESCO

• 1

  Obsessed with demonizing Israel. Between 2009 and 2017, UNESCO adopted 60 resolutions against Israel; 6 on Crimea; 4 on Iraq; 2 on Syria; and none on Iran, Sudan, North Korea, or any other country in the world. The UNESCO General Conference continues to adopt two resolutions on Israel every time it meets and none on the rest of the world. See Factsheet: UNESCO and Israel and UN Watch Database. Betraying its mission to protect world heritage and culture, UNESCO repeatedly denies the ancient Jewish heritage and culture of the holy cities Jerusalem and Hebron – which it has declared a World Heritage site of “Palestine.”

• 2

  Gives dictatorships a leadership role. For example, in 2011, UNESCO elected Syria’s Assad regime to its human rights committee. When UN Watch exposed the outrage and launched a protest campaign, the U.S. and UK were embarrassed and tried to remove Syria — but failed to get enough votes to do so. Also, in 2008, UNESCO created a $3 million prize named for and funded by President Teodoro Obiang, the brutal and corrupt dictator of Equatorial Guinea. His state radio announced that Obiang “can decide to kill” without anyone calling him to account because he is in “permanent contact” with God, “who gives him this strength.” In addition, non-democracies like Burundi, Cuba, Qatar, and Vietnam routinely serve on UNESCO’s cultural diversity committee.

• 3

  Glorifies violence. In 2013, UNESCO enshrined “The Life and Works of Ernesto Che Guevara” in its “Memory of the World Register” — even though Che Guevara led the first firing squads of the Cuban Revolution, and founded Cuba’s “labor camp” system that would later be used to incarcerate gays, dissidents and AIDS victims. At the time, President Obama’s representative demanded that UNESCO’s program “not be used as a tool to glorify or legitimize violence.” His objection was ignored.