UNESCO chief says U.S. funding cuts "crippling" organization

I quote from an article in the Chicago Tribune:

UNESCO is in its "worst ever financial situation" after its biggest contributor the United States froze funding last year, the director general of the United Nations' cultural agency said on Thursday. 

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization was plunged into crisis in October 2011 when Washington, an ally of Israel, cancelled its grant in protest at the body's decision to grant the Palestinians full membership. 

The U.N. body had been forced to slash spending, freeze job hires and cut programs after losing the U.S. funding, which had made up 22 percent of its budget, UNESCO's Irina Bokova told reporters. 

The organization, which designates World Heritage sites, promotes global education and supports press freedom among other tasks, had started the year with a deficit of $150 million out of $653 million for its budget over 2012 and 2013, Bokova said.

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Americans for UNESCO Forum

Challenges Facing our Global Society

Why the United States & UNESCO

Must Work Together to Address Them

George Papagiannis

Keynote Speaker: George Papagiannis: UNESCO Liaison in the United States

Respondents: 

• Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of State
• Peter Yeo, United Nations Foundation

Moderator: Dr. Mary Futrell, President, Americans for UNESCO & Professor, The George Washington University, Graduate School of Education and Human Development

Date: November 26. 2012

Time: 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Place: The Marvin Center, Room 308, 

            The George Washington University

             800 21st Street N.W., Washington, D.C.

             (Map)

Please extend invite to others. For information & RSVP, contact: Dr. Hartenstein, email: draahart@aol.com            Please provide attendee name(s), organization(s) & email(s).

           

Upcoming Conferences: The Information Society

7th Annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF 2012), Baku, Azerbaijan, 6-9 November 2012

The proposed main theme for the meeting is: ‘Internet Governance for Sustainable Human, Economic and Social Development’.

3rd WORLD CONFERENCE on INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (WCIT-2012), Barcelona - Spain , 14-16 November 2012

The conference aims to bring together academicians, researchers, engineers, system analysts, software developers, graduate and undergraduate students with government and non-government organizations to share and discuss both theoretical and practical knowledge about information technology in the scientific environment. So, we invite all colleagues, researchers, academicians, engineers and project leaders around the world to submit their outstanding and valuable original research articles and review papers to this leading international conference. 

World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12), Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 3-14 December 2012. 

This landmark conference will review the current International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs), which serve as the binding global treaty outlining the principles which govern the way international voice, data and video traffic is handled, and which lay the foundation for ongoing innovation and market growth. The ITRs were last negotiated in Melbourne, Australia in 1988, and there is broad consensus that the text now needs to be updated to reflect the dramatically different information and communication technology (ICT) landscape of the 21st century.

The Democrat-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee has passed a resolution in support of a multistakeholder modal of Internet governance. The full Senate it expected to follow suit. Read more....

UNESCO has provided its comments on the future of telecommunications regulations.