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The US is set to rejoin Unesco, nearly six years after the Trump administration withdrew the country from the organisation. The move comes amid rising concerns that China has been influencing Unesco’s policy making processes
Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 20 Jun 2023
The US’ planned return to Unesco will go to a vote in July Credit: Christophe Ena/AP
The US is set to rejoin Unesco in July, nearly six years after the Trump administration withdrew the country from the UN’s heritage protection organisation.
Richard Verman, the US deputy secretary of state for management and resources, submitted a letter to Unesco director general Audrey Azoulay in early June, which outlined the US government’s plans to rejoin the organisation.
According to US officials, the move comes amid rising concerns that China has been influencing the organisation’s policy making processes, particularly in the global standard setting for AI and technological education.
The US’s planned return is expected to go to a vote in July, where it will be decided by Unesco’s 193 member states. If approved, the country will pay more than US$600m (€549m, £468) in arrears to the agency, which would be used to support Unesco’s World Heritage projects, as well as its climate change prevention and female literacy programmes.
The news was announced by Azoulay and was met with applause from the member states, making approval highly likely.
Once one of its highest contributors, the US and Israel withdrew funding in 2011 after Palestine was made a member state. In 2013 both countries lost their voting privileges, before the US withdrew from the organisation altogether in 2017, citing management issues and anti-Israel bias.
In the six years since, Azoulay, who was elected Unesco’s director general in 2017, has worked to remedy these concerns, through budget reform and by working with diplomats from Israel, Palestine and Jordan to build a consensus around sensitive Unesco resolutions.
“The US decision to return is the result of five years of work, during which we calmed tensions, notably in the Middle East, improved our response to contemporary challenges, resumed major initiatives on the ground and modernised the functioning of the organisation,” Azoulay told AP.
Under the Biden administration, the US has been seeking to re-engage with Unesco in order to “counter Chinese influence.”
Following the US’s 2017 withdrawal, China upped its Unesco contributions to US$65m (€60m, £50m), becoming the highest contributor to the agency’s annual budget. Since March 2018, after the appointment of Chinese diplomat Xing Qu as deputy director general of Unesco, 56 Chinese heritage sites have been allocated protected status from the World Heritage Committee, making the country one of the most protected nations in the world, second only to Italy.
Heritage
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