Palestinian Bid for Full Unesco Membership Imperils American Financing

In the early 1990s, US Congress passed laws that cut off financing to UN agencies that accepted the Palestinians for full membership. Times have changed: A majority of countries welcome the Palestinians into the UN fold. A vote on the Palestinian bid for full membership in the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization could put the US in a bind. The US funds 22 percent of the Unesco budget, though Arab states could make up the shortfall, reports Steven Erlanger for the New York Times. “To some degree, a senior American official said, Unesco helps promote Western values under an international umbrella in places where an American one might be resented or misunderstood,” he writes. US conservatives, favoring reduced UN funding and an isolationist stance, lack incentive to change the laws. US disengagement could weaken Unesco reforms – the spread of Western values in projects ranging from training teachers, police officers and journalists to providing clean water – and diminish US influence over many global matters. – YaleGlobal