UNESCO has been under pressure from religious lobbies for a number of years. So the IHEU delegation has been facing the same problems as in other UN agencies, though in a more “cultural” form. This situation highlights the need to maintain steady and regular action in UNESCO. The delegation has been trying to set up a “Humanist Front” with other NGOs (such as Education International or the Universal Esperanto Association) in the NGO Conference and also with individual researchers involved in UNESCO programs, so as to counterbalance the faith-oriented mainstream.

Untouchability
Despite official requests and indirect lobbying action, UNESCO failed to sponsor the World Conference on Untouchability. This was due to diplomatic obstacles raised by some Member States (which have more power and influence than NGOs) and the decentralization of UNESCO (decentralized agencies are under the supervision of local governments).

World Heritage and the struggle against censorship
World Heritage is a major issue in UNESCO. A series of religious sites (such as the Holy City of Jerusalem, the Cathedral of Albi and a Hindu temple on the Cambodian border) have recently been put on its list. We have been lobbying Member State delegations to put other historical, and more secular, sites on the list, such as those in the Middle East – one of the most ancient birthplaces of urban civilization – which are threatened daily with complete destruction because of armed conflicts (Iraq, Gaza). Clearly, this is part of our struggle against an insidious form of censorship that would leave only religious sites as “World Heritage” for future generations.

Bioethics and the defense of science
In UNESCO’s celebration of anniversaries in 2008 – 2009, there are 65 events with a minority of 16 scientists, among them Galileo and Darwin. Under the pretext of “cultural diversity”, this is trivialization of major scientists. The defense of scientific knowledge and scientific research was also at stake in the debates on bioethics. Happily, a majority of scientists were aware of the danger and they positively and firmly opposed any prohibition of stem cell research, for instance.

Education For All: the Oslo Declaration
The Education For All agenda (EFA), which had been previously adopted by UNESCO, is now seriously in danger because of the economic crisis. A High Level Group meeting was held in Norway in December, 2008. It urged governments not to cut education budgets. But, as budget cuts have already been adopted across the world, this will become a major issue for the next General Conference of UNESCO in October 2009. Today, tens of millions of children have no access to primary education and the figure is likely to become higher in the near future.

The delegation
The delegation is currently composed of French IHEU Member Organizations and recently, more members from the Ligue de l’Enseignement joined the delegation. This is a positive step forward and we are considering a new enhancement of the delegation. There are 306 “NGOs maintaining official relations with UNESCO”, of which 54 are openly religious institutions, and, among these, 27 – half of them – are very powerful Catholic NGOs, compared with only six Jewish NGOs and one Buddhist.

Sam Ayache is Head of IHEU delegation to UNESCO