US formally reenters UNESCO

Category : International Published on: July 31 2023

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US First Lady Jill Biden attended a flag-raising ceremony at UNESCO on 26 July 2023 in Paris to mark the official re-entry of the United States into the UN agency after a controversial five-year hiatus.
Jill Biden emphasized the importance of American leadership in preserving cultural heritage and promoting education and science worldwide during her remarks at the ceremony.
The move to rejoin UNESCO is in line with President Joe Biden’s pledge to restore US leadership on the world stage.
The United States had announced its intention to rejoin UNESCO in June, and the organization’s 193 member states voted to approve the US reentry this month.
The US had previously exited UNESCO in 2017, citing an alleged anti-Israel bias within the organization. This decision was made following UNESCO’s inclusion of Palestine as a member state in 2011, leading to the US and Israel ceasing financial support for the agency.
The US withdrawal from UNESCO became official in 2018.
UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945.
Its primary mission is to promote peace and security by fostering international collaboration in the fields of education, science, culture, and communication.