U.S., Israel lose UNESCO voting rights

PARIS (AFP) ― The United States and Israel lost their UNESCO voting rights Friday after suspending funding to the organization in 2011 over Palestinian admission, a source from the U.N. agency told AFP.

Neither the U.S. nor Israel provided documentation by Friday needed “to avoid losing their right to vote,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

Both countries stopped paying their contributions to the global cultural body after the Palestinians gained membership two years ago, provoking a major financial crisis at the agency and putting hundreds of jobs in jeopardy.

Washington expressed “regret” at losing the right to decide matters in the 195-member Paris-based U.N. agency, which resulted when the U.S. congress activated an automatic suspension of payments over the Palestinian accession.

“We regret that today the United States lost its vote in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation General Conference,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.

She noted however that the abandonment of its voting right “is not a loss of U.S. membership,” and said the United States intends to continue its active participation.

Psaki said U.S. President Barack Obama had asked Congress for “legislative authority to allow the United States to continue to pay its dues to U.N. agencies that admit the Palestinians as a member state when doing so is in the U.S. national interest.”

Under UNESCO rules, the U.S. and Israel had until Friday to pay their dues or automatically lose voting rights.

U.S. contributions represented 22 percent of the agency’s overall budget.

With the U.S. and Israel withdrawing their contributions, UNESCO’s budget fell from $653 million to $507 million.

The reduced budget means some 300 people at UNESCO are in danger of losing their jobs. In 2012 the U.N. agency employed 1,200 people at its headquarters in Paris and 900 around the world.

UNESCO’s chief Irina Bokova has raised $75 million to deal with the financial crisis at the agency, which is responsible for selecting and overseeing World Heritage sites and deals with literacy, media freedom, science and environmental issues.