Disaffiliating from UNESCO as assertion of sovereignty

Just as a local union is imbued with the inherent right to disaffiliate from the federation, any sovereign state like the Philippines and the United States has that intrinsic prerogative to cut its ties with an international body that seeks to interfere in domestic affairs, and intends to undermine the sovereignty of any independent nation. The UNESCO is a mere instrumentality of the United Nations. The Philippines, like the US is a signatory to the UN Charter, thus, we are considered as a founding member of that international body. But it does not mean that we cannot sever our relations with it and with any of its instrumentalities.

It is just like membership in a civic or social club or association. Our right to join includes our right to leave. Our right to affiliate includes the right to disaffiliate. When the goals, activities and thrusts of the organizations collide with the objectives of the members, or when their respective principles are opposed to each other, then it's the perfect right of such members to leave. There is no law, or any superbody that has the power to stop the disaffiliation. The ties are not cast in stone or intertwined by iron chains. No global associations have overriding powers over the sovereign states.

The problem with UNESCO and other global organizations is that their officials involve themselves in the politics that are internal to a member state. That is not their business. That is not their mission. Their goal is to pursue their organizational mandates without having to dip their fingers in domestic politics and local issues. They should refrain from making comments that may embarrass their host states and host governments. They should keep to themselves whatever views they have on local political issues. For if they breach these protocols, the host government can throw them away and order them to leave immediately. And there is no court that can issue a restraining order and injunction on such political issues.

When President Donald Trump declared that the USA is disaffiliating from UNESCO, it was an illustration of a head of state and head of government of a sovereign state asserting itself against the undue interference and impositions by UNESCO. This disaffiliation is a big blow to the UNESCO because the US is the source of one-fifth of the UNESCO' budget. It is not the loss of the US but the loss of the UNESCO. And so, if and when President Duterte should announce disaffiliation, that is an act of a sovereign state. Thus, all the UN bodies in the Philippines, and other international organizations are forewarned: you are mere visitors here. You should not insult your host, or we may throw you out into the Pacific Ocean. Better know where you are standing on.

‘It is just like membership in a civic or social club or association. Our right to join

includes our right to leave. Our right to affiliate includes

the right to disaffiliate.’