2023-06-12 18:58:19
In the dispute over UNESCO’s position in the Middle East conflict, the United States turned its back on the World Cultural Organization a few years ago. After reforms within Unesco, the USA has now returned to the UN organization.
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 contributions to Unesco in 2011 and announced at the end of 2017 under President Donald Trump that it was withdrawing from the UN organization. “This is a strong act of confidence in Unesco and in multilateralism,” Azoulay said of the United States’ return to the international body.
For many years, UNESCO’s work was overshadowed by political disputes related to the Middle East conflict. The United States and Israel accused the organization of bias towards Israel and politicization. After the admission of Palestine, the United States had already stopped their payments to UNESCO in 2011 – they were the largest contributor. When Secretary General Azoulay took office in 2017, she set herself the task of leading UNESCO out of the crisis and continuing to involve the USA and Israel.
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, 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.” The United States also co-founded the World Cultural Organization in 1945. (dpa)
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