Groups complain over UN prize

A coalition of rights and civil society groups said the agency was allowing Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo to launder his international reputation by funding the $3m prize instead of using the cash to improve the living standards of his people.

“The grim irony of awarding a prize recognising ‘scientific achievements that improve the quality of human life’, while naming it for a president whose 30-year rule has been marked by the brutal poverty and fear of his people and a global reputation for governmental corruption, would bring shame on UNESCO,” 30 groups said in a statement sent to UNESCO.

“We repeat our call for the $3m that UNESCO has accepted from President Obiang to be applied to the education and welfare of Equatoguineans, rather than the glorification of their president.”

Signatories to the letter, dated May 10, include international groups such as Human Rights Watch and Global Witness, as well as national groups from around the world.

A UNESCO official declined to comment immediately on the letter, but forwarded via email parts of a statement it sent to Human Rights Watch acknowledging it “had received criticism about the prize”.

Obiang has run Equatorial Guinea since a 1979 coup. Under his rule, the country has leapt from small-scale cocoa production to becoming a key oil producer.

However, the rights groups say that a per capita GDP that rivals Italy’s and South Korea’s conceals huge inequalities in wealth, and three quarters of the population live in poverty.

The rights groups say that a number of nations on UNESCO’s executive board objected to the prize when it was established in 2008 but, after several delays, it is due to be awarded in June.

Other UN agencies have been “clear” about the country’s poor rights and development record, the rights groups say.