US, Israel withdraw from Unesco
THE US has announced it will withdraw from the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), accusing the body of “anti-Israel bias”.
Heather Nauert, US state department spokesperson, said on Thursday the US would establish an “observer mission” to replace its representation at the Paris-based agency.
In a statement announcing its withdrawal, Israel called the US administration’s decision “courageous and moral”, and accused Unesco of becoming a “theatre of the absurd”.
“The prime minister instructed the foreign ministry to prepare Israel’s withdrawal from the organisation alongside the United States,” Benjamin Netayanu’s office said in a statement.
Irina Bokova, the outgoing Unesco head, called the US withdrawal a “loss to multilateralism”, saying she is convinced that “Unesco has never been so important for the US, or the US for Unesco”.
At a time when “conflicts continue to tear apart societies across the world, it is deeply regrettable for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations agency promoting education for peace and protecting culture under attack,” she said.
Thursday’s development demonstrates the US administration’s “complete and total bias” towards Israel, says Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, a political party comprising mostly secular intellectuals. “This behaviour is counterproductive and shameful,” he said.
“Sooner or later they will see Palestine in every UN agency. Will the US respond to that by withdrawing from the WHO or the World Intellectual Property Organisation? They will be hurting only themselves.”
The US was angered in 2011 when Unesco members granted Palestine full membership of the body, despite opposition from its ally Israel.
That year the US stopped paying its dues to the 195-member organisation but did not officially withdraw.
The US opposes any move by UN bodies to recognise the Palestinians as a state, insisting that this must await a negotiated Middle East peace deal.
Unesco is best known for its work to preserve heritage, including maintaining a list of World Heritage sites, and programmes to promote education in developing countries. “Unesco is about promoting our ideals and values through culture, education and science,” Francois Delattre, France’s UN ambassador, said in New York, adding that “we need an America that stays committed to world affairs.”
Russia’s foreign ministry said it regreted the decision, adding that the move would disrupt a number of important projects planned by Unesco.
“We share the concern by many countries that the activity of Unesco has been too politicised lately,” the ministry said in a statement.
Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary-general, said through a spokesperson that he “regrets this development deeply”. — Al Jazeera TUNIS — Relatives of Tunisians who drowned after a migrant boat collided with a navy vessel at the weekend set fire to a local government building on Thursday in protest, officials and an NGO said.
Interior ministry spokesperson Yasser Mesbah said around 40 Tunisians torched the building in the central town of Souk Lahad and tried to set on fire a police station. Police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters, he said.
At least eight migrants drowned on Sunday after their boat sank following a collision with a Tunisian navy vessel in the Mediterranean, while 38 others were rescued, the defence ministry has said. NGOs say around 40 more people are still missing. Romdhane Ben Amor, of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights NGO, said the protesters were relatives and friends of three migrants who died and of some of the missing.
According to Ben Amor, the demonstrators set fire to the building to protest against “the attitude of the government” who they say is not being forthcoming with information about their loved ones. — AP