UNESCO drops voting rights for US, Israel

The 37th session of UNESCO's General Conference decided Friday to rescind the voting rights of the United States and Israel after the two countries withheld their payments to the organization. The two countries automatically lost their voting rights as they suspended funding in protest against the UNESCO decision to approve Palestine as its 195th member country in late 2011, press reports here cited a UNESCO insider as saying. Israel and the United States, as well as some other countries, failed to offer clear pledges to resume their contributions to the organization. The final name-list of countries that will lose their voting rights will be officially announced tomorrow at an open session at the Paris-based organization, the un-named official pointed out. The United States used to contribute USD 70 million or 22 percent of the UNESCO budget; it withdrew from the organization in 1984 and rejoined it in 2003. On October 31, 2011, UNESCO's General Conference voted by 107 votes in favor and 14 against, with 52 abstentions to admit Palestine as a member country. The result of voting ran counter to two US legislations which provide for withholding funding to any UN agency that grants full membership to Palestine