WASHINGTON – UNESCO’s member states backed the United States’ return to the United Nations’ cultural group nearly 5 years after then-President Donald Trump ordered an American withdrawal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on Friday.
“I am encouraged and grateful that today the (UNESCO) membership accepted our proposal, which will allow the United States to take the next, formal steps toward fully rejoining the organization,” Blinken stated in a press release.
UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – is finest identified for designating and defending archaeological and heritage websites, from the Galapagos Islands to the tombs of Timbuktu.
Trump withdrew the US from the Paris-based group in 2018 over accusations of anti-Israel bias and mismanagement. Most of UNESCO’s actions should not controversial – however points akin to resolutions about how non secular websites needs to be run in Jerusalem have been extremely charged.
UNESCO’s director-general, Audrey Azoulay, has stated these points have been now a factor of the previous after discovering consensus between Israeli and Palestinians.
The US State Department indicated in a letter dated June 8 that it wished to rejoin UNESCO in July as a full member and that it supposed to repay $619 million in arrears in installments over a number of years.
The member states accredited the US return at a unprecedented session this week, Blinken stated on Friday.
The 2018 pullout by the United States – which had offered a fifth of UNESCO’s funding – threw the group into turmoil.
Israel additionally pulled out of UNESCO following Washington’s departure. At this stage, there are not any negotiations for its return, Azoulay has stated.
US legislation forbids Washington from funding UN our bodies which have admitted Palestine as a full member. The American return to UNESCO was enabled after a waiver from Congress earlier this yr, which can be in impact till the top of 2025.
UNESCO was based within the ashes of World War Two to guard humanity’s widespread cultural inheritance. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
