The United States intends to rejoin UNESCO beginning in July of this year, putting an end to the protracted disagreement that caused Washington to resign from the organization in 2018.
When Audrey Azoulay, the director general of UNESCO, notified delegates of the organization’s member nations in Paris of Washington’s intention to rejoin, she stated, “It is a strong act of confidence in UNESCO and in multilateralism.”
Before Palestine was recognized as a member state in 2011, the United States, one of UNESCO’s founding members, contributed significantly to the organization’s budget.
The donations ended as a result of US law.
Then, in 2017, President Donald Trump went one step further, declaring that the United States and Israel were leaving UNESCO together because the organization was biased against the Jewish state.
Its departure became effective in 2018.
To lure the United States back, Azoulay, a former French minister of culture who has led UNESCO since 2017, has made it a top goal of her tenure. “UNESCO is doing well, but it will be even better when the US returns,” she remarked on Monday.
It is not difficult to envision everything that the US government and civil society can provide to the global community in the areas of education, culture, and research, she said.
Richard Verma, the US deputy secretary of state for management and resources, expressed Washington’s gratitude to Azoulay for progress on “significant issues,” including “decreasing focus on politicized debate,” in a letter to Azoulay that was obtained by AFP.
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