PARIS (Reuters) – The United States plans to join UNESCO from next July, UNESCO said on Monday.
The United States withdrew from the United Nations cultural signature in December 2018, President Donald Trump over allegations of bias and mismanagement against Israel.
“This is a strong act of trust in UNESCO and multilateralism,” UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement at the U. S. rally.
UNESCO is known for designating World Heritage sites such as the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria and the Grand Canyon National Park.
The proposed plan will now have to be submitted to the General Conference of UNESCO’s Member States for approval and some Member States have called for a regular consultation to be held soon to decide.
The United States provided a fifth of the Paris-based agency’s investment, but Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, stopped paying in 2011 when Palestine became a full member, as such investment is prohibited by U. S. law. Washington owed $542 million when he resigned.
U. S. law prohibits investment by any U. N. company that comes to detect Palestinian demands for its own state.
An agreement reached in the U. S. Congress Washington will revive monetary contributions to UNESCO in December 2022.
Meanwhile, Azoulay, who was elected in 2017 and later pledged to restore the agency’s effectiveness and accept it as true, has introduced reforms in recent years to address the reasons for Washington’s departure.
Israel withdrew from UNESCO at the same time as the United States.
The United States first joined UNESCO when it was founded in 1945, but first withdrew in 1984 in protest of alleged monetary mismanagement and anti-American perception. Bias, returning just about 20 years later to 2003 under President George W. . Bush, who said at the time that the firm had undertaken the mandatory reforms.
(Information via Elizabeth Pineau, Charlotte Van Campenhout; Edited by Sudip Kar-Gupta, William Maclean)
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