This Monday, the United States officially applied to rejoin UNESCO, from which it had withdrawn during Donald Trump’s term in office. The organization’s director general, Audrey Azoulay, called the decision a “strong vote of confidence.” In a letter to Azoulay, Richard Verma, deputy to the head of US diplomacy, reported on the US plan to return to UNESCO. The news was shared with the 193 member countries of the UN organization, which will have to decide by majority vote in a vote scheduled for July whether to accept US re-entry.
The US application was greeted with optimism by most member countries, including China, despite the growing rivalry between the two nations. The decision to withdraw from UNESCO was made in 2017 due to an alleged “anti-Israel bias,” but Joe Biden’s administration believes the return is necessary due to the importance of the issues addressed at the organization, such as ethics and artificial intelligence.
Since 2011, the United States has suspended its funding for UNESCO in protest against the admission of Palestine as a member. This generated a debt of $619 million, which is now expected to be gradually paid off with the $150 million contribution requested for the 2024 fiscal year. The US return to UNESCO is seen as a needed boost, and the new funding is expected to alleviate the difficulties the organization faced during the period of suspended contributions.
This is not the first time the United States has withdrawn and returned to UNESCO. In 1984, it left the organization as useless and with budget overruns, returning in 2003 and leaving again in 2018.