The following is a joint letter written by human rights organizations in protest to the executive board of Unesco over the Obiang prize.

Dear Members of the Executive Board:

We understand that, as a result of a June 15 informational meeting held in Paris, the Executive Board will be addressing the UNESCO-Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences at its next session in October. We write to urge you to use that upcoming opportunity to cancel the prize definitively.

We appreciate the action taken on June 15 by UNESCO's leadership, including Director-General Irina Bokova and the members of the Executive Board, to delay the awarding of the UNESCO-Obiang prize and allow for further consultation, in light of concerns and objections raised by scientists, press freedom advocates, scholars, public health professionals, Nobel laureates, UNESCO prize winners, governments, parliamentarians, and global civil society.

A prize in President Obiang's name or supported by money provided by him offends the very standards and goals UNESCO promotes and, in particular, those it sets out for its prizes.

According to a 2005 UNESCO report on prizes, "[e]ach UNESCO Prize carries a moral and symbolic value" and communications about prizes should "help enhance the Organization's profile, prestige and impact." Yet President Obiang's dismal record on human rights, press freedom, and development is well documented by organs of the United Nations and other credible sources.

President Obiang's government has been roundly condemned for its abuse of human rights, including the systematic use of torture in detention documented by the UN special rapporteur on torture. It is equally notorious for its control of the press; official prepublication censorship, as well as self-censorship resulting from ongoing monitoring and pressure on journalists and media outlets, denies people basic information about their government's functioning. The Obiang government's reputation for corruption is supported by findings of several foreign government investigations. Despite Equatorial Guinea's vast wealth from natural resources-which gives it the highest per capita GDP in Sub-Saharan Africa-it has shockingly low health and development indicators, on par with some of the poorest countries in the region and world. Moreover, UNESCO noted in its 2010 "Education for All" report that, while most countries have improved access to education, Equatorial Guinea's net primary school enrollment rates declined, from 89 percent in 1999 to 67 percent in 2007.

It would be indefensible for UNESCO to proceed with a prize that bears President Obiang's name or benefits from money that may be illegitimately derived from the natural resources in the country. Under human rights standards including the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the country's wealth should be used to the benefit of its people. Yet President Obiang and his circle of family and close associates enjoy lives of luxury financed with the proceeds of natural resource exploitation while the great majority of Equatorial Guinea's citizens live in dire poverty.

The undersigned therefore call on you to make every effort to abolish the Obiang prize and to decline any alternative proposal that contemplates establishing a different prize associated with President Obiang's name or financed with money from him. We further urge you to help UNESCO ensure that the $3 million offered by President Obiang is instead used to address the education, health, and other basic rights of the people of Equatorial Guinea. Such spending must be carried out through a clear and transparent mechanism, given high levels of official corruption in the country.

We note Ms. Bokova's June 15 reference to a Working Group established to recommend amending criteria for prizes, on which she will report at the October session of the board. In this regard we strongly encourage you to use this time of consultation to reform the prize establishment process generally, so that any prize inconsistent with UNESCO's mission-including its work to promote human rights-cannot go forward.

Thank you for your consideration and ongoing service to UNESCO and the ideals it aspires to achieve.

Yours sincerely,

Carlos Gomes N'Gondi Sucami, General Director

Acçao para o Desenvolvimento Pesquisa e Cooperaçao Internacional (Angola)

Tamara M. Kaleeva, President

Adil Soz - International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech (Kazakhstan)

Gerald LeMelle, Executive Director

Africa Action (United States)

Tatsuo Hayashi, President

Africa Japan Forum (Japan)

Rev. Dr. James A. Kirkwood, Administrator

AfricaFiles (Canada)

Alicia Campos Serrano, Research Director

African Studies Group of the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Spain)

Nkolo Ayissi Ernest, Deputy Chairman and Founder

AGAGES Management Consultants (Cameroon)

and National Coordinator

Publish What You Pay-Cameroon (Cameroon)

Sohaila Abdulali, Director of Communications

AIDS-Free World (United States)

Lida M. Nunez, Executive Secretary

Alliance of Social Organizations for Cooperation for Peace and Democracy in Colombia (Colombia)

Dr. Bruno Rakotoarison, Secretary General

Alliance Pour L'Education des Citoyens (Madagascar)

Agnès Callamard, Executive Director

Article 19 (International)

Wong Kai Shing, Executive Director

Asian Legal Resource Center (Hong Kong)

Veridiana Sedeh, Executive Manager

Associaçao Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo (Brazil)

Fatima Proença, Director

Associaçao para a Cooperaçao Entre os Povos (Portugal)

Wesley Gibbings, President

Association of Caribbean MediaWorkers (Trinidad and Tobago)

William Bourdon, President

Association Sherpa (France)

Nabeel Rajab, President

Bahrain Center for Human Rights (Bahrain)

Jeremie D. Smith, Director of the Geneva Office

Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (Egypt)

Annie Game, Executive Director

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (Canada)

Robert Russell, Executive Director

Cartoonists Rights Network International (United States)

Ignacio Saiz, Executive Director

Center for Economic and Social Rights (International)

Dr. Robert S. Lawrence, Director

Center for a Livable Future, John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (United States)

Malcolm W. Joseph, Executive Director

Center for Media Studies and Peace Building (Liberia)

Dr. Chris Beyrer, Director

Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins University (United States)

Prof. Frans Viljoen, Director

Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria (South Africa)

Ileana Alamilla, Director

Centro de Reportes Informativos sobre Guatemala (Guatemala)

Brisa Maya Solis Ventura, Director

Centro Nacional de Comunicacion Social (Mexico)

Bernd Nilles, Secretary General

CIDSE (Belgium)

Agnès Ebo'o, Coordinator

Citizens Governance Initiatives (Cameroon)

Gustavo Gallon, Director

Colombian Commission of Jurists (Colombia)

Hugo Castelli, Publish What You Pay Coordinator

La Comision de Movimientos Sociales de Iglesia de Base de Madrid (Spain)

Guy Aurenche, President

Comité Catholique Contre la Faim et pour le Développement aux Terre Solidaire (France)

Brice Mackosso, Permanent Secretary

Commission Diocésaine Justice et Paix Pointe Noire (Republic of the Congo)

Joel Simon, Executive Director

Committee to Protect Journalists (International)

Modeste Gonda, President

Conseil Inter ONG en Centrafrique (Central African Republic)

Bubelwa Kaiza, Executive Director

Concern for Development Initiatives in Africa (Tanzania)

and Coordinator

Publish What You Pay -Tanzania (Tanzania)

and Coordinator

Tanzania Transparency Forum (Tanzania)

Andrew Feinstein, Founding Director

Corruption Watch (United Kingdom)

Togzhan Kizatova, Chairperson

Demos (Kazakhstan)

Ka Hsaw Wa, Founder and Executive Director

EarthRights International (Thailand and United States)

Tutu Alicante, Executive Director

EG Justice (United States)

Kifle Mulat, President

Ethiopian Free Press Journalists' Association (Ethiopia)

Masako Tsuchiya, Representative of Harmony Productions

FAN3-fan saba (Japan)

Leonie Kiangu, National Coordinator

Femme et Justice Economique (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Emira Woods, Co-Director

Foreign Policy in Focus (United States)

Andrés D´Alessandro, Executive Director

Foro de Periodismo Argentino (Argentina)

Moussa Iboun Conté, President

Forum des Editeurs Guinéens (Republic of Guinea)

Seetha Ranjanee, General Secretary / Acting Convener

Free Media Movement - Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka)

Paula Schriefer, Director of Advocacy

Freedom House (International)

Martine Laplante, President

Friends of the Earth-France (France)

Andrés Morales, Executive Director

Fundacion para la Libertad de Prensa (Colombia)

José Julio Marti­n-Sacristan Nunez, General Director

Fundacion Sur (Spain)

Maria Koulouris, Director of the Natural Resources and Human Rights Initiative

Global Rights (International)

Simon Taylor, Director

Global Witness (International)

Javier Azpur, Executive Coordinator

Grupo Propuesta Ciudadana (Peru)

Mila Rosenthal, Executive Director

HealthRight International (International)

Kikue Sugimoto, Program Officer

Human Network Mali (Japan)

Eric Stover, Faculty Director

Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley (United States)

Kazuko Ito, Secretary General

Human Rights Now (Japan)

Kenneth Roth, Executive Director

Human Rights Watch (International)

Anna Ognyanyk, French and English Editor

Institute of Mass Information (Ukraine)

Ricardo Uceda, Executive Director

Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (International)

Julio E. Munoz, Executive Director

Inter American Press Association (International)

Pascal Touoyem, PhD., Director

Interdisciplinary Centre for Development and Human Rights (Cameroon)

Aidan White, General Secretary

International Federation of Journalists (International)

Alison Bethel McKenzie, Interim Director

International Press Institute (International)

Andrew Grant-Thomas, Deputy Director

Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity (United States)

Ernest Mpararo, President

La Ligue Congolaise de Lutte contre la Corruption (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Chris Warren, Federal Secretary

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (Australia)

Kwame Karikari, Executive Director

Media Foundation for West Africa (Ghana)

David Makali, Director

The Media Institute (Kenya)

Mamadi Queta, Vice-president

Movimento Nacional da Sociedade Civil para a Paz (Guinea-Bissau)

James A. Goldston, Executive Director

Open Society Justice Initiative (International)

Owais Aslam Ali, General Secretary

Pakistan Press Foundation (Pakistan)

Mousa Rimawi, Director

Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (Occupied Palestinian Territories)

Bernard Taylor, Executive Director

Partnership Africa Canada (Canada)

Max M. de Mesa, Chairperson

Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (Philippines)

Frank Donaghue, Chief Executive Officer

Physicians for Human Rights (United States)

Marat Tokoev, Chairman

Public Association "Journalists" (Kyrgyzstan)

Christian Mounzeo, President

Rencontre pour la Paix et les Droits de l'Homme (Republic of the Congo)

Jean-François Julliard, General Secretary

Reporters without Borders (International)

Toshiyuki Takabayashi, Chief Researcher

Research Center for Western Sahara Affairs (Japan)

Dr. Alfredo Gonzalez-Ruibal, Staff Scientist

Spanish National Research Council (Spain)

Caroline Morel, Director

SWISSAID (Switzerland)

Shigemi Yagi, Director

Tama African Center (Japan)

Paul Cook, Advocacy and Media Director

Tearfund (United Kingdom)

Maurice Ouma Odhiambo, Programmes Officer

Ujamaa Center (Kenya)

Ndey Tapha Sosseh, Coordinator of the Capacity Building Project

West African Journalists Association (International)

Steve Buckley, President

World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (International)

Christoph Riess, Group Chief Executive

World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (International)

Eric Sottas, Secretary General

World Organisation Against Torture - OMCT (International)

Ronald Koven, European Representative

World Press Freedom Committee (International)

Barbara Nost, Programme Manager

Zambian Governance Foundation (Zambia)

Prof. Chris Maina Peter, Chairperson of the Board

Zanzibar Legal Services Center (Tanzania)