Syrian Role at Unesco Under Fire The countries have put the issue on the agenda of the next meeting of the organization's Executive Board, from Feb. 27 to March 10, the diplomats said. They include Qatar, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Arab League; Kuwait; the United Arab Emirates; Djibouti; Chile; South Korea; Japan; the United States; and European countries including France, Britain, Germany and Austria. In early November, just before the Arab League voted to suspend Syria from membership for its bloody crackdown on democracy protestors, the Arab group at Unesco filled one of the two seats it is allotted on these two committees with a Syrian representative. Those choices do not come up for a vote by the 58-member Executive Board but proceed by consensus. A Western diplomat said the Arab group was now embarrassed by its choice of Syria, a decision that soon became controversial. The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has condemned the Syrian government for violations of human rights, and Arab League monitors have been unable to halt months of violence. The Committee on Conventions and Recommendations, with 30 members, does quiet diplomacy with governments to promote issues like freedom of expression - for example, trying to get journalists out of jail, a Unesco official said. The committee is charged with carrying out the will of the Executive Board. The sensitivity of the other committee, on international nongovernmental organizations, is more obvious, given that NGOs have had an important role in the Syrian uprising as actors and witnesses. It is not clear how Syria's membership can be overturned, because there is no precedent for it and no procedure, Unesco officials said. But diplomats involved said the Executive Board should be able to act as it saw fit.