The USA Rejoins UNESCO: A Strong Act of Confidence in Multilateralism

Because of Unseco’s position in the Middle East conflict, the USA had left the World Cultural Organization. After reforms, the USA is now returning.

UNESCO Secretary General Audrey Azoulay Photo: Sarah Maisonnier/reuters

PARIS dpa | The US is rejoining Unesco after years of being absent from the UN cultural organization. This was announced by UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay on Monday in Paris. The USA had officially informed her of its decision to rejoin UNESCO in July 2023 on the basis of a concrete financing plan.

The United States suspended its financial contributions to UNESCO in 2011. At the end of 2017, under President Donald Trump, they announced that they would withdraw from the UN organization. The return “is a strong act of confidence in Unesco and in multilateralism,” Azoulay commented.

For many years, UNESCO’s work was overshadowed by the political dispute over the Middle East conflict. Israel and the US accused the organization of bias towards the Israeli position and politicization. After the admission of Palestine, the United States stopped its payments to UNESCO in 2011 – the United States being the largest contributor.

When Secretary General Azoulay took office in 2017, she set herself the task of leading UNESCO out of the crisis and involving the USA and Israel.

US State Department praises development

The US State Department has now welcomed the way in which UNESCO has addressed new challenges, modernized its management and eased political tensions in recent years, UNESCO said. New initiatives have been launched to enable the UN organization to take care of future issues such as artificial intelligence or protecting the oceans. Finally, an administrative reform launched in 2018 made Unesco more efficient and financially sound.

The President of the German Unesco Commission, Maria Böhmer, also welcomed the return of the USA: “The great challenges of our time can only be solved in close international cooperation.”

This applies to the urgently needed change in sustainability, to future- and freedom-oriented approaches in culture and education and to the preservation of peace. “The planned return of the US is an important signal for strong multilateralism in difficult times.”