Arab candidates challenge Bokova for UNESCO top spot

A so-far lacklustre campaign for director general of UNESCO is about to become more heated, as the two Arab candidates hoping to eject incumbent Director General Irina Bokova set out their stalls in preparation for the first round of voting, in Paris.

But with UNESCO in crisis over huge budget cuts, its general financial management and future direction are the main campaigning issues rather than any specific policies such as spending on science.

Early candidate

Rachad Farah from Djibouti declared his candidacy early and has been criss-crossing the world's capital cities in search of votes, presenting himself as both an African and an Arab.

At the end of August, he was said to have at least two dozen ‘promises’ of support from countries on the 58-member UNESCO executive board that will vote for the next director general, according to a diplomat.

These are mainly from African Union countries, according to diplomats in Paris, where UNESCO has its headquarters. It is a "solid and creditable base", one of them told http://SciDev.Net.

The African Union endorsed Farah as its candidate at a heads of state summit in January.

This month, Farah told http://SciDev.Net: “I received a letter from the African Union Commission to instruct all 17 countries of the African Union [who are on the UNESCO executive board] to fulfil the resolution made by the heads of state.”

He described his backers as being from “African, Arab and non-aligned countries”. He has also been visiting countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and said he is confident of upsetting Bokova's bid for a second four-year term.

And he said he received a letter on 29 August confirming the Arab League's endorsement of his candidacy.

A second Arab candidate

But another Arab candidate emerged just as nominations closed in March.

Joseph Maïla of Lebanon, nominated by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, is a former president of the Catholic University of Paris and has been an official in the French foreign ministry and a UNESCO consultant.

Maïla set up the UNESCO International Center for Human Sciences in Lebanon in 1999, and two years ago was asked by Irina Bokova for help in developing a plan for UNESCO regarding the social and political upheavals occurring within the Arab world.

Maïla told http://SciDev.Net that he had support from some countries in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, and insisted that he was "not focusing on a single region or continent". He said he had worked in various capacities with UNESCO for 30 years.

Diplomats, however, said he was well behind Farah in the race – although even a few backers could be enough to cause difficulties for Bokova next month.

Farah insisted that he was not concentrating on Maïla: "My competitor is the incumbent," he said.

According to diplomats, in recent months both challengers have managed to present themselves as serious and credible alternatives to Bokova, even though most previous directors general have served two terms, so opponents would normally have little chance of success.

Vulnerable incumbent?

However in this case, Bokova was damaged in March by an external audit of UNESCO by the French government body, the Court of Audit.

The external auditors' report strongly criticised UNESCO's management, describing decision-making as "hesitant" and "sometimes ambiguous and incoherent". A planned reduction in staff costs had been "too slow" in being implemented, according to the auditors.

The high credibility and clout of the Court of Audit makes it difficult for Bokova to shrug off the report, said diplomats.

More importantly, "it is very timely for the election", said Alexander Boksenberg, former chair of the UK National Commission for UNESCO.

"This is a very important report, addressing the current critical budgetary situation UNESCO is in, but it applies equally to the normal running of the agency," he said.

"It reflects long-standing shortcomings whose resolution by intended far-reaching reforms has unfortunately seen little progress to date."

Joseph Maïla, UNESCO

The report was so wide-ranging and damaging, according to diplomats in Paris, that UNESCO's problems could not simply be blamed on the budgetary crisis caused when the United States pulled its contribution – amounting to 22% of UNESCO's operating budget for 2012-13 – after Palestine was admitted as a member in 2011.

Diplomats said that Washington continued to back Bokova. However, its influence on other countries has been diminished by it not paying its dues.

Diplomats are even debating whether the United States will be able to vote next month, as the UNESCO constitution says countries that are two years behind in their contributions are barred from doing so.

Furthermore, the report revived the possibility that challengers stand a chance against Bokova.

Because of the "damning report", it is no longer a foregone conclusion that the executive board will give her a second term, said John Daly, former vice-president of the pressure group Americans for UNESCO.

In particular, the need for strong financial management will come in 2014 to 2018, in the next secretary general's term, coinciding with a time when "sustainable development goals are being set and UNESCO is expected to provide some leadership for the UN system", Daly said.

Fall in prestige

A number of diplomats who are still considering whether to back Bokova, noted that the UN agency had "lost prestige" under her watch.

But Bokova has pointed out in documents to UNESCO's executive board and other pronouncements that the UN secretary general had given the organisation a role on his scientific advisory board, an indication that it can still pull its weight within the UN on science.

In a letter to Didier Migaud, head of the Court of Audit, which was presented to UNESCO's executive board, Bokova said the criticised reforms had been "guided" by "a series of detailed consultations with member states and other stakeholders" that she maintained had not been "fully reflected" in the audit, "leaving the impression that the [UNESCO] secretariat was alone in handling the governance of this process and that it bears sole responsibility for it".

In the letter, Bokova also emphasised UNESCO's importance to the UN system, "by being the lead agency in the United Nations secretary general's Global Initiative on Education".

But Boksenberg said that work suggested for UNESCO on the scientific advisory board by the UN high level panel's report aligns "with much of what UNESCO could be expected to conduct, more directly, within its existing programmes".

In particular, diplomats argued that if Bokova's proposal to merge science and social science programmes was pushed through, UNESCO could lose even more influence in global science. Both Farah and Maïla have said they would oppose such a merger.

Maïla said he believed the problem was of leadership, not specific science programmes.

"Within UNESCO, there is very good expertise in science, climate change, ocean issues and subaquatic issues. But I am sorry to say UNESCO expertise is being challenged by other institutions, and people are asking: 'Where is UNESCO?'"

* This article by Yojana Sharma, “Arab candidates challenge Bokova for UNESCO top spot”, was first published by http://SciDev.net on 25 September 2013. It is republished under a Creative Commons licence.