Submitted by sseigel on Wed, 12/14/2011 - 18:43
December 12, 2011
The Honorable
Hilary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
Dear Madame Secretary:
We write in support of your initiative to persuade the United States Congress to honor its moral, ethical and financial commitments to UNESCO.
As professors and UNESCO Chair holders in American universities we have seen first-hand the importance of UNESCO programs that are carried out across a variety of disciplines and in accord with the highest ideals of economic and social development for all people. This work should not be subject to a litmus test imposed by partisan political interests.
Indeed, we believe it is indefensible for the United States to use its financial support to coerce any agency of the United Nations into compliance with its own agenda. Furthermore, as the US Department of State has noted, cutting funding to UNESCO is also counterproductive to American goals at home and abroad.
We support UNESCO’s Director General Irina Bukova vision for "a new era of peace and humanism... where the values of human dignity and human rights, of equal access to education and culture, will underpin all economic and political considerations."
If there is to be a new era, we believe it is imperative for the United States to base its actions neither on military nor on financial coercion but on the higher principles of peace and justice to which both the United Nations and the United States aspire.
Sincerely,
Professor Rosental C. Alves, UNESCO Chair in Communication, University of Texas at Austin, and President of ORBICOM, a global network of UNESCO Chairs in Communication
Professor Max Kirsch, UNESCO Chair in Human and Cultural Rights, Florida Atlantic University
Professor Marguerite Moritz, UNESCO Chair in International Journalism, University of Colorado at Boulder
Professor Robert J. Naiman, UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Rivers, University of Washington
Professor Jan Servaes, UNESCO Chair in Communication for Sustainable Social Change, University of Massachusetts
Professor Steven Shankman, UNESCO Chair in Transcultural Studies, Interreligious Dialogue, and Peace, University of Oregon
The Honorable
Hilary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
Dear Madame Secretary:
We write in support of your initiative to persuade the United States Congress to honor its moral, ethical and financial commitments to UNESCO.
As professors and UNESCO Chair holders in American universities we have seen first-hand the importance of UNESCO programs that are carried out across a variety of disciplines and in accord with the highest ideals of economic and social development for all people. This work should not be subject to a litmus test imposed by partisan political interests.
Indeed, we believe it is indefensible for the United States to use its financial support to coerce any agency of the United Nations into compliance with its own agenda. Furthermore, as the US Department of State has noted, cutting funding to UNESCO is also counterproductive to American goals at home and abroad.
We support UNESCO’s Director General Irina Bukova vision for "a new era of peace and humanism... where the values of human dignity and human rights, of equal access to education and culture, will underpin all economic and political considerations."
If there is to be a new era, we believe it is imperative for the United States to base its actions neither on military nor on financial coercion but on the higher principles of peace and justice to which both the United Nations and the United States aspire.
Sincerely,
Professor Rosental C. Alves, UNESCO Chair in Communication, University of Texas at Austin, and President of ORBICOM, a global network of UNESCO Chairs in Communication
Professor Max Kirsch, UNESCO Chair in Human and Cultural Rights, Florida Atlantic University
Professor Marguerite Moritz, UNESCO Chair in International Journalism, University of Colorado at Boulder
Professor Robert J. Naiman, UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Rivers, University of Washington
Professor Jan Servaes, UNESCO Chair in Communication for Sustainable Social Change, University of Massachusetts
Professor Steven Shankman, UNESCO Chair in Transcultural Studies, Interreligious Dialogue, and Peace, University of Oregon