CAIRO: The controversy surrounding Farouk Hosni, Egypt s candidate for the position of Director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) continues unabated with fresh acquisitions from Le Monde, France.
The first rounds of voting for the leader of UNESCO are set to take place on Sept. 17, the first time in over 10 years that such an event will occur, as the organization looks to replace its existing Director Koichiro Matsuura of Japan.
Le Monde now makes claim that France s support for Hosni is little more than diplomatic reciprocation, in an article entitled “Egyptian campaign for UNESCO.
Part of French President Nicolas Sarkozy s election campaign was the creation of a “Mediterranean Union to unite all European Union members with several non-EU Countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. A further aim for the Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean, as the initiative is officially known, is to promote peace between Israel and its Muslim neighbors.
With the Union for the Mediterranean now facing a crucial period, Sarkozy s desire for endorsement from Egypt, the Unions co-president, is greater than ever and evident from their behavior. Francois Fillion, supported by Sarkozy, traveled to Egypt in December 2008 to explain the inconvenience of Farouk Hosni s nomination.
Rumors even circulated that Sarkozy was considering putting forward a candidate for the UNESCO directorship, yet to avoid provoking the Egyptian president the idea was abandoned.
The concerns over Farouk Hosni’s potential ineligibility for the position of Director of UNESCO have arisen due to his anti-Semitic statements and suspicions of corruption. Further to this, Hosni has stated that, during his twenty-two year career as Egyptian Minister for Culture, he has found nothing wrong with the country s authoritarian system, which participates in censorship and has been accused of human rights violations.
UNESCO was founded in 1945 to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science and culture. Its constitution declares “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed .
The United Sates congress, the largest contributor to UNESCO, has also weighed in on the debate by asserting that it would find it difficult to approve budgets for UNESCO if the organization was headed by someone who has made statements, sometimes anti-Semitic, against Israel.
Yet Hosni continues to do what he can. Having already apologized back in May for his inflammatory statements he now faces opposition at home for his softer stance on Israel.
