Volume 5, Number 39

September 20, 2002

Bush Says "Yes" to UNESCO, Social Conservatives Concerned

      (NEW YORK - C-FAM) One of the little-noticed and little-reported items in President George W. Bush's speech to the UN General Assembly last week was the US pledge to rejoin UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In his speech, President Bush declared that "As a symbol of our commitment to human dignity, the United States will return to UNESCO. This organization has been reformed and America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights and tolerance and learning."

     For more than a year, the Bush administration has sought ways to illustrate its commitment to multilateralism. Rejoining UNESCO is the most tangible manifestation of this effort so far.

     UNESCO was established in 1945 to disseminate educational, cultural and scientific materials deemed essential for establishing toleration and peace. During the Reagan administration, the US pulled out of UNESCO, charging the agency with rampant waste and fraud, and a hard-left pro-Soviet slant. Sharing many of these concerns, Great Britain also withdrew from UNESCO at about the same time.

     Prior to its decision to rejoin UNESCO, the White House reached out to social conservatives, and was warned that many groups were increasingly concerned with UNESCO's ongoing support of the UN's radical social agenda. A symbolic vote on the proposal was defeated in the US House of Representatives, further signaling widespread US distrust of the organization.

     In a Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) memo requested by the White House and the State Department a year ago, it was pointed out that social conservatives would object to UNESCO's collaboration with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and its main NGO partner, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). In line with these groups, UNESCO now advocates for reproductive health services for children. In UN parlance, reproductive health services includes abortion. For instance, one UNESCO document praises Thailand's provision of abortion-causing "emergency contraceptives" to children as an "innovative strategy."

     UNESCO is also a proponent of the International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, a document written by UNAIDS and the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights. The document calls on governments to ensure a "right to safe and legal abortion," to legalize "same-sex marriages," to legalize prostitution, and to provide graphic sexual and homosexual education to children. The document also seeks the establishment of "criminal penalties" for people engaged in speech construed to be a "vilification" of homosexuality.

     In the name of AIDS-reduction, UNESCO has fully embraced reproductive and sex education. In concert with UNAIDS and UNFPA, UNESCO has created curricula that many social conservatives would believe undermine parental authority, show disdain for traditional cultures and religious worldviews, and introduce dishonesty into education.

     A great deal of UNESCO's other educational materials fall squarely in the camp of political correctness, endorsing liberal stances on such issues as gender and environmentalism.

     Although disgruntled, conservative groups might refrain from criticizing Bush, if he selects a strong social conservative to represent the United States at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

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