UNESCO's fight to promote a truly American value globally: Freedom of speech

Every year on this day, May 3, the
international community comes together for
World Press Freedom Day. For those of us
here in the United States, it's a day to not
only celebrate our constitutionally-
protected freedom of speech, but more
importantly, to stand up and demand it for
all.
Because even though we may take it for
granted at times, freedom of expression still
isn't a right in far too many places. Just
look at what journalists faced around the
world last year alone:
• 89 journalists were killed (up 33% from
2011)
• 38 journalists were kidnapped
• 879 journalists were arrested
• 1,993 journalists were physically attacked
or threatened.
In total, more than 600 journalists, media
reporters, and social media producers
have been killed while attempting to
carry out a task we in the U.S. consider
basic and fundamental: delivering
information to the general public. Clearly,
there's a lot of work to do to make sure
more people have the freedom to express
themselves and share knowledge safely,
without the fear of persecution.
The UN plays a critical role in protecting
and promoting that freedom of expression,
as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. On the front lines of this
effort is UNESCO, the UN Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization, which
rallies journalists, bloggers, and everyday
people around World Press Freedom Day
every year. This time around, the agency is
focusing on the digital realm of information
sharing - pretty fitting, considering you're
exercising your right to access the Internet
right now.
Yet, despite UNESCO's critical work to
expand that basic human right across the
globe, the U.S. is perilously close to giving
up its seat at the agency's table and its
support for UNESCO's work to expand
freedom of expression globally. We've
already cut off all U.S. funding - amounting
to nearly 22 percent of UNESCO's total
regular budget - and if we don't pay our
dues this year, it's expected that we'll
lose our vote at the next General
Conference in October.
Considering UNESCO helps promote truly
American values like freedom of speech
around the world, along with serving a
number of important functions that help
advance our national security interests, we
can't let that happen.
That's what's on my mind this World Press
Freedom Day. UNESCO is working to expand
the freedom of speech to everyone, and
while I can't think of anything more
American than that, we find ourselves at
the brink of the U.S. giving up its role in
the agency.
Read more about the critical relationship
between the U.S. and UNESCO here , and
make sure to get involved in their efforts to
give everyone the right to think, speak,
tweet, like, and share freely .