The United States plans to rejoin the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO in July after exiting in 2018 under the administration of then President Donald Trump, the body's chief told its members on Monday.
The decision by President Joe Biden's administration to return to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization comes amid China's growing global influence and is part of Washington's efforts to regain leadership in various multilateral frameworks from which it withdrew under Trump's "America First" agenda.
The plan, including paying dues and voluntarily providing $10 million for UNESCO-sponsored Holocaust education, follows approval from U.S. Congress late last year to allow Washington to make financial contributions to the agency again.
Convening a special meeting in Paris, UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay noted the "strategic importance for the future of our organization" of the United States seeking readmission as she read out to representatives from 193 members the notification received last week from Washington.
The United States notified Azoulay of its plan in a letter dated Thursday, according to a State Department official. UNESCO plans to convene an extraordinary meeting as early as this month to review the matter and decide on readmission.
The United States under Trump announced in 2017 that it would withdraw from UNESCO, claiming the agency had "anti-Israel bias" and management problems, with the exit taking effect the following year. Washington was responsible for about 20 percent of the agency's annual budget.
The Biden administration has sought to rejoin UNESCO, known for its World Heritage program and a range of education projects, amid concern that U.S. absence could enable China to take the lead in formulating international rules such as on artificial intelligence.
China is now the organization's largest financial contributor, followed by Japan, Italy and France.
In 2011, the United States, under the administration of then President Barack Obama, withheld its funding for UNESCO after the agency voted to admit Palestine as a member state. U.S. law bars the funding of any international organization granting the Palestine Liberation Organization the same status as member states.
It also strongly protested when the body adopted a resolution in 2016 criticizing Israeli activities around a UNESCO heritage site in Jerusalem.
The most recent U.S. withdrawal was not the country's first. It previously withdrew from UNESCO in 1984, accusing the organization of corruption and political bias toward the Soviet Union, but rejoined in 2003.
The Trump administration pulled the United States from a number of international organizations and frameworks, including the U.N. Human Rights Council and the Paris climate accord.
The United States rejoined the former as a full member in 2022 and the latter in 2021.
