Tom Lantos: “I strongly oppose this attempt to overturn the President's decision to return the United States to membership in UNESCO.…”

“I strongly oppose this attempt to overturn the President's decision to return the United States to membership in UNESCO. I strongly agree with President Bush that our reentry will support UNESCO's mission to advance human rights, tolerance, and learning. Our national decision to rejoin UNESCO reflects our understanding in the Congress and in the administration that UNESCO has a critical role to advance U.S. foreign policy goals, such as facilitating the rewriting of educational materials to remove passages that incite racial hatred, violence, and intolerance. UNESCO will be a key to rebuilding Afghanistan's educational system, and it is critical for establishing educational programs on HIV/AIDS, malaria and other infectious diseases. UNESCO has undertaken massive management reforms under the leadership of its Director General, Mr. Matsuura of Japan. The organization has achieved a huge cutback in its staffing, has held its budget to zero nominal growth for many years, and has eliminated what used to be a corrupt structure.”