Fact check: Claim that most UNESCO members are atheists has no basis
MANILA, Philippines — A House lawmaker's claim that most UNESCO members are atheists is impossible to verify, as the organization does not maintain a public record of its members' religious affiliation. UNESCO's staff rules also explicitly prohibit consideration of religion in employment.
CLAIM: Rep. Bienvenido Abante (Manila, 6th District) said “most of them [members of UNESCO]” are “actually atheists” during a House hearing on comprehensive sexuality education.
RATING: This has no basis.
FACTS:
What the lawmaker said
During the House basic education committee's briefing on the Department of Education's implementation of comprehensive sexuality education, Abante questioned why the Philippines should follow what he called "Western ideology," claiming that most UNESCO members are atheists who do not believe in God.
He said, specifically, at the 29:53-30:16 mark of the Facebook live stream of the hearing:
If you're going to study, Mr. Chair, yung mga members ng UNESCO, most of them are actually atheists. They do not believe in God, just like we do. Why do we have to follow Western ideology when it comes to this, Mr. Chair?
What the lawmaker left out
There is no publicly available database or record that shows the dominant religious affiliation or belief among UNESCO employees.
A copy of UNESCO's 2023 staff regulations — its latest available version — shows that the "selection of staff members shall be made without distinction as to race, sex or religion."
Meanwhile, there are 194 UNESCO member-states as of 2023. This represents nearly all of the world’s nations and territories, excluding Israel, which withdrew in 2019, and Liechtenstein. The majority of these member states have populations that are predominantly Christian or Muslim, while countries with atheist majorities are rare.
Philstar.com has reached out to Abante's office and UNESCO's National Commission of the Philippines for comment and will update this article with their response.
Essential context
UNESCO was established in 1945 as a specialized United Nations agency dedicated to promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture. Its constitution explicitly states its purpose is to "contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations without distinction of race, sex, language or religion."
The rights within UNESCO's mandate are anchored in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. These include the right to education, science, culture, and communication, as well as fundamental freedoms such as the right to information, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and the right to participate freely in cultural life.
Some lawmakers and critics of Senate Bill 1979 or the proposed Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Act have opposed the bill based on their interpretation that it will copy the comprehensive sexuality education standards set by UNESCO.
Why we fact-checked this
The claim was made during an official legislative hearing on education policy.
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