UNESCO member states expected to approve US return to UN cultural agency

Washington will have to pay $619 million in debt since it halted funding in 2011 after Palestine was admitted as member state

By AP 29 June 2023, 3:20 pm

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The logo of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is seen during the 39th session of the General Conference at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, Nov. 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)

PARIS — UNESCO’s 193 members states are gathering Thursday for a two-day meeting in Paris aimed at voting on the United States’ plans to rejoin the UN cultural and scientific agency after a decade-long dispute sparked by the organization’s move to include Palestine as a member.

The US announced earlier this month that it wanted to return, five years after it withdrew from the agency during the presidency of Donald Trump.

US officials say the decision was motivated by concern that China is filling the gap left by the US in UNESCO policymaking, notably in setting standards for artificial intelligence and technology education around the world.

Approval by member states seems a formality since not a single country has raised an objection to the return of a country that was once the agency’s single biggest funder. The vote is expected Thursday or Friday.

The US and Israel stopped financing UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member state in 2011. The Trump administration decided in 2017 to withdraw from the agency altogether the following year, citing long-running anti-Israel bias and management problems.

The Biden administration has already requested $150 million for the 2024 budget to go toward UNESCO dues and arrears. The plan foresees similar requests for the ensuing years until the full debt of $619 million is paid off.

The logo of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) headquarters in Paris, on October 12, 2017. (AFP/Jacques Demarthon/File)

That makes up a big chunk of UNESCO’s $534 million annual operating budget. Before leaving, the US contributed 22% of the agency’s overall funding.

Israel has long accused the United Nations of anti-Israel bias. In 2012, over Israeli objections, the state of Palestine was recognized as a nonmember observer state by the UN General Assembly. Israel says the Palestinians’ efforts to win recognition at the UN are aimed at circumventing a negotiated settlement and meant to pressure Israel into concessions.

The United States previously pulled out of UNESCO under the Reagan administration in 1984 because it viewed the agency as mismanaged, corrupt and used to advance Soviet interests. It rejoined in 2003.