The United States is preparing to rejoin Unesco, as of this July, as a full member, and to achieve this it has promised to pay –in installments– a total of 619 million dollars in arrears. An extraordinary general conference of the 193-member UN agency for education, culture and science meets Thursday and Friday at its Paris headquarters to almost certainly approve the return of the United States.
Washington officially left Unesco in 2018, during the Trump presidency, although it already stopped contributing financially in 2011, after the entry of Palestine. A federal law prevented those payments.
The Biden Administration’s commitment to multilateralism has influenced the decision, as well as “the work of conviction and pedagogy on the current reality of Unesco,” according to its director general, Audrey Azoulay, said this Tuesday in a meeting with a group of journalists. Azoulay traveled to Washington and spoke with congressmen from both parties. She also weighed in on the opinion of North American civil society, the academic and artistic world.
A letter from the State Department confirmed the request for immediate reentry. The US will contribute 22% to UNESCO’s base budget. That’s about $75 million a year. Washington has promised to pay 150 million in the coming years, if Congress gives the go-ahead, to gradually pay off the debt. Payment in installments was justified “due to the current national context of budgetary limitations.” This year an additional 10 million voluntary payment will be made for some specific programs.
According to Azoulay, Washington has not set any political conditions for the return because “Unesco is very solid in its strategy, the road map is clear and it is in the interest of the United States.” Among other things, Unesco is helping Ukraine protect its heritage and education system, even buying bulletproof vests for journalists on the front lines.
