UNESCO accepts US' proposal to rejoin UN organisation
Paris, France (PANA) - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has accepted the proposal of the US to rejoin the UN agency.
This was at an extraordinary session of the UNESCO General Congress to consider the US' proposal that would allow the US to rejoin with full membership privileges and restore its leadership on a host of issues of importance and value to the American people, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
"I am encouraged and grateful that (today) the membership accepted our proposal, which will allow the United States to take the next, formal steps toward fully rejoining the organisation," he said.
Mr. Bkinken said in pursuing full membership with UNESCO, "the United States makes clear its commitment to multilateralism and diplomacy on critical issues, including protection of journalists, expanding access to education, shaping best practices on new and emerging technologies, protecting cultural heritage, and remembering the immeasurable toll of the Holocaust to ensure such atrocities never happen again".
He said as US President Joe Biden had frequently noted, the United States was "stronger, safer, and more prosperous" when it engaged with the rest of the world and when it sought cooperation, collaboration, and partnership.
"By rejoining UNESCO, the United States would reinforce that message and restore our leadership in a vital international space," Mr Blinken said.
The Director General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, announced recently that the US had decided to rejoin the organisation after ceasing all funding in 2011 and announcing their complete withdrawal from the agency almost six years ago.
She said that the decision was "a strong act of confidence in UNESCO and multilateralism", and in the way the agency was implementing its mandate on culture, education, science and information.
UNESCO said that in a letter sent to Ms Azoulay, the US State Department "welcomed the way UNESCO in recent years has responded to new challenges, modernised its management and reduced political tensions".
The US stopped funding UNESCO in 2011 after it extended its membership to Palestine. At the time, US funding represented 22% of the agency's budget.
The United States is a founding member of UNESCO and withdrew once, in 1984, before rejoining it in 2003.
The full return of the United States as a Member State of UNESCO was made possible by an agreement reached by UNESCO Congress in December 2022, as part of the $1.7 trillion Omnibus Appropriation Bill, authorising the resumption of financial contributions to the organisation.
The suspension of contributions in 2011 came after a large majority of other UNESCO countries accepted Palestine as a member state, triggering a 1990 law passed on Capitol Hill, banning funding from any international body that would admit the country.
Last December's enabling law granted a waiver to the 33-year-old law.
The United States officially withdrew from UNESCO on January 1, 2019, followed by Israel. As of December 2020, the United States owed UNESCO approximately $616 million in unpaid dues.
-0- PANA MA 2July2023
