For Immediate Release: October 13, 2017
Contact: Cathie Adams, 972-523-8551
Eagle Forum President Eunie Smith thanks President Trump for withdrawing from UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural Organization. Mrs. Smith said, “This is not the first time the U.S. has taken such serious action. President Reagan withdrew U.S. membership in 1984, and I was most disappointed when President George W. Bush chose to reenter UNESCO in 2003.” Mrs. Smith added, “President Trump is absolutely correct to call for UNESCO’s fundamental reform. I also agree with his concern about the body’s continuing anti-Israel bias.”
Even though the U.S. remained a member under President Obama, he did slash $80 million per year funding after it admitted “Palestine” as a member of UNESCO. Eagle Forum International Issues Chairman Cathie Adams said, “UNESCO had no authority to unilaterally decide to create a Palestinian state within the borders of Israel,” citing Palestinian terror against the Jewish state and its repeated refusal to even recognize Israel’s statehood. Mrs. Adams has visited the ancient city of Hebron, Israel, numerous times including the Biblically recognized Cave of the Patriarchs purchased by Abraham. Mrs. Adams said, “UNESCO added insult to injury by declaring a state of Palestine and then naming Hebron as a Palestinian world heritage site.”
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a press release UNESCO’s “extreme politicization has become a chronic embarrassment. The Tomb of the Patriarchs decision was just the latest in a long line of foolish actions, which includes keeping Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on a UNESCO human rights committee even after his murderous crackdown on peaceful protestors.”
Eagle Forum Chairman Anne Schlafly Cori said, “UNESCO’s mismanagement of its duties does not deserve American’s hard-earned taxpayer dollars and certainly not the more than $500 million it contends we owe in arrears to the unstable bureaucracy.”
Eagle Forum is also concerned that UNESCO has long been anti-moral and anti-marriage in what it prescribes for curriculum for schoolchildren all over the world. In 2004, UNESCO signed a “Cooperation Agreement” with Microsoft Corporation to develop a “master curriculum” for teacher training. A working draft called for 5-8-year-old children to be taught about masturbation and to tolerate different sexual orientations.
UNESCO’s recent promotion of a report that endorses sex-change procedures and abortion for youth without parental consent is yet another reason for most Americans to support U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO, which is to become official on December 31, 2018.
UNESCO is most known for its extensive list of world heritage sites including Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The U.S. is to remain a non-member observer state in UNESCO in order to contribute U.S. views, perspectives, and expertise on issues like protection of world heritage, press freedoms and promoting scientific collaboration and education.