15 May 2001

1. On 2 May 2001, the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives of the United States of America voted 23-14 to adopt two amendments to the State Department budget authorization Bill directing President George W. Bush to rejoin UNESCO, an organization left in 1984, and authorizing 60 million dollars a year to pay for the United States' assessed contributions.

2. The amendments had been introduced by Republican Jim Leach and supported by the Committee senior Democrat Tom Lantos.

3. "Membership in UNESCO is clearly in US national interests," Lantos said. "In promoting education and scientific collaboration worldwide, UNESCO addresses new threats to America=s security, including environmental crises, governmental corruption, and the spread of infectious diseases."

4. FICSA welcomes this move and also the view, which may be generalized, that membership in UNESCO is in national interests.

5. It is a happy coincidence that, in the same week, FICSA President Bernard Grandjean and Research and Liaison Officer Anne Marie Pinou were in Washington to promote the FICSA positions - including on the USA's membership in UNESCO - with the key players in the American Congress.
   
   

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