WASHINGTON [May 2, Kyodo News Service] ― The U.S. Secretary of Education
Rod Paige on May 2 in a talk with Atsuko Toyama, Minister of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, who was visiting Washington, showed
a positive attitude toward rejoining the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which the country had left in 1984
disapproving of the management and policy of the organization. He said,
“We hope to return in the near future.” It was made public by Minister
Toyama in her press interview.
[May 4 morning edition of the Asahi, May 3 TV
news of NHK, etc.]
It has been already seventeen years since the United States withdrew
from UNESCO. Britain and Singapore followed suit, but Britain came back
in 1997 under Prime Minister Tony Blair. President Clinton told UNESCO
in 1995 that he was prepared to restore American membership, and Koichiro
Matsuura, since he was elected director general of UNESCO in the autumn
of 1999, has been urging Washington to rejoin the organization.
As those who are engaged in the nongovernmental UNESCO movement, we expect
the United States to rejoin UNESCO as soon as possible. We’d like all
Americans to recall that the famous words in the preamble of the Constitution
of UNESCO “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of
men that the defences of peace must be constructed” are in fact the words
polished by an American poet Archibald MacLeish. Among the people who
got together to establish UNESCO, MacLeish was one of the U.S. representatives. We’d
like Americans to remember with pride the greatness of the poet who, refining
the draft that the British Prime Minister Clement Atlee had made quoting
from “The General Epistle of James, Chapter 4” in the New Testament,
expressed the idea in such a beautiful and lofty tone as a crystallized
UNESCO spirit. We’d like Americans to inherit that spirit. Together
with American friends we wish to recite and keep firmly in mind these beautiful
words that will hopefully bring peace to the world. We earnestly hope
that the United States will fill as soon as possible the great void left
for the past seventeen years that it has been out of UNESCO, and contribute
to world peace.
The United States and UNESCO
Why did the United States withdraw from UNESCO? Some official documents
of the United States explain the reasons as follows:
“For the past few years we have expressed our concern that UNESCO’s political and ideological emphasis and its budgetary and managerial tendency have harmed the efficiency of the organization. Such tendency, we must say, is far removed from the original principles of its Charter. We also feel that the organization has been serving the political goals of member nations rather than performing its international mission.”
(Main purport of the Notification of US Withdrawal
from UNESCO / Dec. 12, 1984)
“(1) The decision to withdraw from UNESCO has been made by President Reagan
on the recommendation of the Secretary of State. (2) The recommendation
is based on the following observations: UNESCO has extraneously politicized
virtually every subject it deals with, has exhibited hostility toward the
basic institutions of a free society, especially a free market and a free
press, and has demonstrated unrestrained budgetary expansion. (3) The Bureau
of International Organization Affairs has undertaken “policy reviewing”
on US - UNESCO relations, and we have come to the conclusion that continued
US membership in UNESCO will not benefit the country.”
(Main purport of the statements made by US State Department / Dec. 29,
1984)
◎ Comment on the US State Department’s “Statement (2)“
Three reasons are given here. It is generally believed that politicization
concerned itself with North-South problems, and that the United States,
irritated at an increasingly powerful voice of African countries backed
by the (former) Soviet Union, detested the typical “UNESCO politician”,
the then director-general, Amadou Mahtar M’Bow. The second was the issue
of a “New World Information and Communication Order” (NWICO). Even now
an overwhelming majority of news is sent out to the world with the one-sided
view of the West, yet the developing countries’ wish to have a voice has
assumed a visible shape since the 1974 General Conference. The proposal
of NWICO, partly due to strong opposition from the United States and other
western countries, did not ripen into a concrete resolution. The third
reason was UNESCO’s careless management. The United States, immediately
after the withdrawal, dispatched its “auditing commission” who performed
a thorough audit, yet they did not find any wrongdoing.
◎ US Attitude after the Withdrawal
The United States has an observer mission at UNESCO even after the withdrawal,
and contributes necessary funding for UNESCO programs that the country
is particularly interested in, such as World Heritage Preservation, Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission, Man and the Biosphere Program, etc. However,
following the cessation of financial contributions from the US to the UNESCO
Secretariat (25 percent at the time of its withdrawal), Japan’s share
has been increased.
◎ “Japan Should Withdraw, Too!”
After the US withdrawal from UNESCO some people suggested that Japan should
withdraw, too. At the Japanese National Commission for UNESCO, we are told,
a commission member representing nongovernmental UNESCO associations heard
about this suggestion, and cooperating with other commission members, succeeded
in keeping the country in UNESCO -- a story that we, who are engaged in
nongovernmental activities of UNESCO, should keep in mind.
◎ Our Wish
We hope that the United States will rejoin UNESCO and contribute to world
peace. We hope that with the US government returning to UNESCO, nongovernmental
UNESCO activities in the United States, supported by the government and
administrative organs, will become more and more active. We would like
many people to share this wish and, joining hands, develop it into a big
wish.