US to rejoin UNESCO from July, counter China: The plan unveiled

The United States is planning to rejoin UNESCO from July this year, the body announced. The move marks an end of more than ten years of Washington's dispute with the UN cultural agency following which US left UNESCO in 2018.

"It is a strong act of confidence in UNESCO and in multilateralism," UNESCO director general Audrey Azoulay said. US deputy secretary of state for management and resources Richard Verma submitted a letter last week to UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay formalizing the plan to rejoin. Additionally, the US will also pay more than $600 million in back dues. Officials said that the decision to return is motivated by concern that China is filling the gap left by the US in UNESCO policymaking with respect to artificial intelligence and technology education around the world, Associated Press reported.

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The US and Israel stopped funding UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member state in 2011. Both countries lost their voting rights in 2013 and the Donald Trump administration decided in 2017 to withdraw from the agency altogether the following year.

The US decision to come back “is the result of five years of work, during which we calmed tensions, notably on the Middle East, improved our response to contemporary challenges, resumed major initiatives on the ground and modernized the functioning of the organization,” Audrey Azoulay told The Associated Press as she met Democrats and Republicans in Washington to explain those efforts.

The Joe Biden administration has already requested $150 million for the 2024 budget to go toward UNESCO dues and arrears- part of the full debt of $619 million- a big chunk of the agency's $534 million annual operating budget. Before leaving, the US contributed 22% of UNESCO's overall funding.

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