U.S. loses its voting rights at UNESCO

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United States has lost its voting rights at UNESCO after an official said it missed a crucial deadline, two years after halting its dues payments to protest the decision to make Palestine a member, the Associated Press reports.

Under UNESCO rules, the U.S. had until Friday, Nov 8 morning to resume funding or submit an explanation for its arrears. Neither happened and the U.S. was losing its vote automatically, according to a UNESCO official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the dispute.

The loss of the vote means the U.S. cannot participate in funding decisions for the agency, which may be best known for its program to protect the cultures of the world via its Heritage sites, which include the Statue of Liberty and Mali's Timbuktu.

The U.S. hasn't paid its dues to the Paris-based UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in three years, in protest over the decision by world governments to make Palestine a UNESCO member in 2011.

The suspension of U.S. contributions, which account for $80 million a year — 22% of UNESCO's overall budget — brought the agency to the brink of a financial crisis and forced it to cut American-led initiatives such as Holocaust education and tsunami research over the past two years.

According to the AP, it has worried many in Washington that the U.S. is on track to becoming a toothless UNESCO member with a weakened voice in international programs fighting extremism through education, and promoting gender equality and press freedoms.

"We won't be able to have the same clout," said Phyllis Magrab, the Washington-based U.S. National Commissioner for UNESCO. "In effect, we (now won't) have a full tool box. We're missing our hammer."