If you were a scientist would you really want to get a prize from a dictator? Would you want one of the world's worst human rights abusers to "honor" you with an award, even if it was filtered through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)? UNESCO's decision on Wednesday to indefinitely suspend the Obiang Nguema Mbasogo International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences, established in 2008 with $3 million from the president of Equatorial Guinea, seems to answer the questions above with a "no." The Executive Committee's decision to "indefinitely" postpone the prize until a consensus is reached effectively ensures the tainted accolade will not be awarded. The disgust expressed by organizations and individuals around the world at the idea of legitimizing Obiang's three decades in power has kept it from being awarded thus far, but the UNESCO Executive Committee should go one step further and definitively abolish the prize that is so inimical to the organization's mission.
The president of Equatorial Guinea seemed to think he could buy respectability but is apparently unmoved by the bitter irony of founding a prize intended to fund life sciences research leading to improvement in the quality of human life when he himself has done so little for his own citizens. He seems equally oblivious to the fact that it would be nearly impossible for an Equatorial Guinean to even qualify for the prize, given that there is not a single research center in the entire country. According to the UNDP, Equatorial Guinea spends less on education as a ratio of government spending than any other country in the world. In fact, in the years since Equitorial Guinea's discovery of oil during his rule, net primary education enrollment has plunged from near universal (96.7 percent) enrollment in 1991 to a mere 69.4 percent as of 2007. These statistics are particularly shameful in the country with the highest per capita GDP in Africa.
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