US Pledge on Human Rights and Tolerance
Eighteen years after withdrawing from Unesco in protest at its alleged mismanagement, America is to rejoin the United Nations' educational, scientific and cultural organisation, President Bush announced in New York yesterday.
The decision, greeted with applause by delegates at the UN general assembly, surprised critics of the Bush ad ministration which has been accused of flouting international cooperation on the environment and arms control.
"As a symbol of our commitment to human dignity, the United States will return to Unesco," Mr Bush declared during his speech lambasting Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. "This organisation has been reformed and America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights and tolerance and learning."
Unesco, based in Paris, was created at the end of the second world war to combat intolerance, ignorance and racism. By the mid-1980s it was facing claims that it was corrupt, politicised and mismanaged. Under the leadership of Senegal's Amadou Mbow it promoted a controversial "new world information order" which the western media believed amounted to censorship.
The United States pulled out in 1984 during Ronald Reagan's presidency. The then secretary of state George Shultz said Unesco had strayed from its original purpose. At the time, the United States provided a quarter of Unesco's budget.
Britain also withdrew from the organisation in the 1980s but decided to rejoin in 1997 when the Labour government came to power. Unesco's current director, a Japanese career diplomat, Koichiro Matsuura, was elected in November 1999 with a mandate to simplify its sprawling bureau cracy and woo back Washington.
Mr Matsuura provoked staff protests, and even a short hunger strike by two employees, when he dismissed 20 senior advisers and suspended more than 100 promotions and appointments that his predecessor, Federico Mayor of Spain, had put in place just before leaving.
Unesco recently revealed that Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Algeria and other states had asked the organisation for assistance in breaking the association between Islam and terrorism that has developed in the minds of many.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Unesco "still has work to do" on reform.
The decision, greeted with applause by delegates at the UN general assembly, surprised critics of the Bush ad ministration which has been accused of flouting international cooperation on the environment and arms control.
"As a symbol of our commitment to human dignity, the United States will return to Unesco," Mr Bush declared during his speech lambasting Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. "This organisation has been reformed and America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights and tolerance and learning."
Unesco, based in Paris, was created at the end of the second world war to combat intolerance, ignorance and racism. By the mid-1980s it was facing claims that it was corrupt, politicised and mismanaged. Under the leadership of Senegal's Amadou Mbow it promoted a controversial "new world information order" which the western media believed amounted to censorship.
The United States pulled out in 1984 during Ronald Reagan's presidency. The then secretary of state George Shultz said Unesco had strayed from its original purpose. At the time, the United States provided a quarter of Unesco's budget.
Britain also withdrew from the organisation in the 1980s but decided to rejoin in 1997 when the Labour government came to power. Unesco's current director, a Japanese career diplomat, Koichiro Matsuura, was elected in November 1999 with a mandate to simplify its sprawling bureau cracy and woo back Washington.
Mr Matsuura provoked staff protests, and even a short hunger strike by two employees, when he dismissed 20 senior advisers and suspended more than 100 promotions and appointments that his predecessor, Federico Mayor of Spain, had put in place just before leaving.
Unesco recently revealed that Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Algeria and other states had asked the organisation for assistance in breaking the association between Islam and terrorism that has developed in the minds of many.
A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Unesco "still has work to do" on reform.
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