The U.S. will rejoin the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) after former President Donald Trump withdrew from the organization in 2018—ending a decade-long feud with the agency stemming from concerns of anti-Israel bias.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay announces the United States' request to return to the ... [+]
UNESCO announced Monday the U.S. would rejoin and pay more than $600 million in back dues, confirming a decision U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma expressed in a letter to the agency last week.
U.S. officials said the move is, in part, intended to curb China’s influence in the organization, which “undercuts [the U.S.’s] ability to be as effective in promoting our vision of a free world,” Undersecretary of State for Management John Bass said in March, adding “if we’re really serious about the digital age competition with China . . . we can’t afford to be absent any longer.”
Verma also attributed the decision to internal reforms at UNESCO and “decreasing politicized debate, especially on Middle East issues,” he wrote in the June 8 letter obtained by the Associated Press.
The U.S. and Israel withdrew funding for UNESCO in 2011, when it admitted Palestine to the organization, and formally quit the agency in 2018 in what U.S. officials said was a move to promote internal reforms and halt its growing debts for unpaid dues.
The decision makes good on a promise President Joe Biden made to rejoin the organization at the start of his tenure. In his fiscal year 2024 budget proposal, Biden requested $150 million for UNESCO back dues, part of a plan to repay $619 million in debts to the organization in the years to come. UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay has made strides to repair the relationship with the U.S. since her election in 2017. Azoulay, who recently met with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers in Washington to detail those efforts, according to the Associated Press, called the U.S.’s decision “a strong act of confidence in UNESCO and in multilateralism” in a statement Monday and told the AP it was “the result of five years of work, during which we calmed tensions, notably on the Middle East, improved our response to contemporary challenges, resumed major initiatives on the ground and modernized the functioning of the organization.” UNESCO is widely recognized for its designation of World Heritage sites, including Yosemite National Park in California and the Statue of Liberty in New York City. The organization also promotes a range of cultural, science, technology, environmental, humanitarian and historical preservation issues, including women’s equality and Holocaust education.
22%. That’s the share of UNESCO’s $534 million operating budget the U.S. funded before its departure, NBC News reported, underscoring the negative financial consequences of the U.S.’s absence.
The organization’s 193 member states are expected to formalize the U.S.’s decision to rejoin in a vote next month.
The U.S. has a fraught history with UNESCO. It severed its ties with the organization in 1984, under former President Ronald Reagan, citing financial mismanagement and Soviet-influenced politicization of the group. The U.S. rejoined in 2003 under former President George W. Bush in a bid to build international support ahead of the Iraq war.
US aims to rejoin UN scientific and educational organization to push back on China (Washington Post)
U.S. Will Rejoin UNESCO in July, Agency Says (New York Times)
U.S. Will Withdraw From Unesco, Citing Its ‘Anti-Israel Bias’ (New York Times)