Clubs for UNESCO: a practical guide

Clubs for UNESCO: a practical guide, published in 2009 is a manual for those interested in starting or managing a UNESCO club. There are nearly 4,000 UNESCO clubs worldwide, but very few in the United States. The manual is an attractive 33 page brochure in PDF format.

World Heritage Scholarships in U.S. National Parks

Anasazi site, Mesa Verde National Park. NPS Photo

The U.S. National Park Service (NPS) is offering fellowships to qualified candidates who wish to learn from the U.S. experience in managing and protecting World Heritage Sites. All expenses paid extended residencies in U.S. parks designated as World Heritage Sites will be available to site managers and staff of World Heritage Sites in developing nations.

The training opportunity will allow selected individuals to work alongside NPS professionals in a variety of areas including resource management, concessions, interpretation and education, planning, and law enforcement. The NPS Office of International Affairs, in cooperation with park partners, will pay for and arrange for travel to the US, while individual host parks will provide housing and a modest living stipend.

The NPS has considerable experience in international training. Every year, more than one hundred individuals from all over the world volunteer in America's National Parks. The International Volunteers-in-Parks Program (IVIP) benefits both the individual volunteer and the National Park Service (NPS).

Perhaps the most famous sites which are both World Heritage sites and U.S. National Parks such as Yosemite and Yellowstone are best known as natural heritage sites. However, there are also important cultural World Heritage sites managed by the NPS such as Mesa Verde, the Statue of Liberty and Philidelphia's Independence Hall.

Fellowship candidates should be English speakers willing to spend a minimum of 6 weeks in the US. Residencies; up to 4 months can be arranged. The NPS Office of International Affairs will assist each selected individual in securing the appropriate visa to allow entry to the United States.

For more information, you may contact the responsible NPS officers:

• Stephen Morris, at Stephen_morris@nps.gov or
  
• Jon Putnam, at jonathan_putnam@nps.gov

Human Rights Pledges of the United States

On March 31, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice announced that the United States will seek a seat this year on the United Nations Human Rights Council with the goal of working to make it a more effective body to promote and protect human rights.

As part of the process that will culminate in elections on May 12, each candidate country is asked to produce a pledge outlining its commitment to promoting human rights. This information is circulated among countries and posted on the UN Human Rights Council website. The United States has produced its pledge - Human Rights Commitments and Pledges of the United States of America.

The American Artist for Peace

UNESCO Artists for Peace are internationally-renowned people who use their influence, charisma and prestige to help promote UNESCO’s message and programs. UNESCO works with these distinguished personalities in order to heighten public awareness regarding key development issues and to inform the public about the Organization.

One U.S. citizen is included in this distinguished group, N. Scott Momaday, a Kiowa, who won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his novel, House Made of Dawn, Momaday is the Poet Laureate of Oklahoma and operates the Buffalo Trust, a nonprofit organization working to preserve native cultures. He has most recently been awarded a 2007 National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush.

He was designated UNESCO Artist for Peace by UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura in a ceremony at the Organization’s Headquarters on 12 May 2004.

Mr Momaday received this distinction “for his outstanding achievements as a writer and painter, his action in support of the restoration and preservation of Native American heritage and cultural traditions and communities […] and in recognition of his dedication to UNESCO’s Programme for intercultural dialogue and for the safeguarding of indigenous cultures.”

Queen Rania in "The Situation Room"

LEA - Links to Education and Art

Links to Education and Art (Lea International) is an international network of experts and practitioners which has been in existence for a decade. It was created by UNESCO with a view to strengthening the role of arts teaching in general education.

LEA’s aim is to multiply contacts between specialists throughout the world for the exchange of information and dissemination of best practices, pedagogical tools and interdisciplinary resources in each discipline. It also gathers information on teacher training.

LEA is therefore elaborating an inventory of the situation of international arts education that can assist governments in furthering arts education in their country. The first phase of this program was concluded by a World Conference on Arts Education (Lisbon, Portugal, 6 to 9 March 2006).

On the Election of the Director General

When she addressed the UNESCO Executive Board in March of 2008, Ambassador Oliver mentioned this year's election of a new Director General for UNESCO, including the following:

I’d like to end my remarks by mentioning the most important issue facing UNESCO and the U.S. in the immediate future, which is of course the election of a new Director-General at the General Conference in October 2009. This will be the first time in 27 years that the U.S. will be engaged in the election process.

The selection of a new Director-General is critical for the organization, not only because that individual gets to choose his or her cabinet and the senior staff, but also because approximately one-third of UNESCO’s staff will reach the mandatory retirement age in the next five years. Moreover, since the U.S. has no veto at UNESCO, it is of the utmost importance for us that a new Director-General who is supportive of active U.S. engagement at that organization be selected.

The Chairman of the Executive Board is supposed to send a letter to all the delegations in June outlining the D-G selection process that took place last time. The process will be discussed at the October Executive Board, after which the Executive Board will send out a formal letter inviting individuals to apply for the position.

What makes this election process a bit awkward is that several candidates have already been actively campaigning for months. It is also unfortunate that although the U.S. really needs to play a major role in this process, both the State Department and the Mission will be facing significant changes in personnel and leadership. We must make sure that despite the transition to a new Administration, the U.S. voice at UNESCO remains strong during this crucial time.

UNElections.Org in March published a long and useful article on the election of the new Director General.