From the AP:
“US decides to rejoin UNESCO and pay back dues, to counter
Chinese influence”
UNESCO announced Monday that the United States plans to
rejoin the U.N. cultural and scientific agency — and pay more than $600 million
in back dues — after a decade-long dispute sparked by the organization’s move
to include Palestine as a member.
U.S. officials say the decision to return was motivated by
concern that China is filling the gap left by the U.S. in UNESCO policymaking,
notably in setting standards for artificial intelligence and technology
education around the world. The move will face a vote by UNESCO’s member states
in the coming weeks. But approval seems a formality after the resounding
applause that greeted the announcement in UNESCO’s Paris headquarters Monday.
Not a single country raised an objection to the return of a country that was
once the agency’s single biggest funder. The U.S. and Israel stopped financing
UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member state in 2011. The Trump
administration decided in 2017 to withdraw from the agency altogether the
following year, citing long-running anti-Israel bias and management problems. UNESCO’s
director general, Audrey Azoulay, has worked to address those concerns since
her election in 2017, and that appears to have paid off. “It’s a historic
moment for UNESCO," she said Monday. "It’s also an important day for
multilateralism.''
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources
Richard Verma submitted a letter last week to Azoulay formalizing the plan to
rejoin. He noted progress in depoliticizing debate about the Middle East and
reforming the agency's management, according to the hand-delivered letter,
obtained by AP. The decision is a big boost to the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization, known for its World Heritage program as
well as projects to fight climate change and teach girls to read. While
Palestinian membership in UNESCO was the trigger for the U.S. fallout with the
agency, its return is more about China's growing influence. Undersecretary of
State for Management John Bass said in March that the U.S. absence from UNESCO
had strengthened China, and ’’undercuts our ability to be as effective in
promoting our vision of a free world.” He said UNESCO was key in setting and
shaping standards for technology and science teaching around the world, “so if
we’re really serious about the digital-age competition with China … we can’t
afford to be absent any longer.”
The U.S. decision doesn't address the status of Palestine.
While it's a member of UNESCO, on the ground, the Palestinians are further away
from independence than ever. There have not been serious peace talks in over a
decade, and Israel’s new government is filled with hardliners who oppose
Palestinian independence. The Palestinian ambassador to UNESCO didn't comment
on the U.S. decision. The only envoy who wasn't gushing with praise was China's
ambassador, Jin Yang. He noted the negative impact of the U.S. absence, and
expressed hope that the move means Washington is serious about multilateralism.
“Being a member of an international organization is a serious issue, and we
hope that the return of the U.S. this time means it acknowledges the mission
and the goals of the organization,” the ambassador said.
UNESCO director Azoulay, who is Jewish, won broad praise for
her personal efforts to build consensus among Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli
diplomats around sensitive UNESCO resolutions. She met with Democrats and
Republicans in Congress to explain those efforts. Thanks to those bipartisan
negotiations, she expressed confidence that the U.S. decision to return is for
the long term, regardless of who wins next year’s presidential election. “What’s
happened over the last years meant that UNESCO matters," she said. “And
when you’re absent from that ... you lose something. You lose something for
your influence in the world, but also for your own national interest.”
Under the plan, the U.S. government would pay its 2023 dues
plus $10 million in bonus contributions this year earmarked for Holocaust
education, preserving cultural heritage in Ukraine, journalist safety, and
science and technology education in Africa, Verma’s letter says. The Biden
administration has already requested $150 million for the 2024 budget to go
toward UNESCO dues and arrears. The plan foresees similar requests for the
ensuing years until the full debt of $619 million is paid off. That makes up a
big chunk of UNESCO’s $534 million annual operating budget. Before leaving, the
U.S. contributed 22% of the agency’s overall funding.
A UNESCO diplomat expressed hope that the return of the U.S.
would bring “more ambition, and more serenity” — and energize programs to regulate
artificial intelligence, educate girls in Afghanistan and chronicle victims of
slavery in the Caribbean. The diplomat said that the agency would also
“welcome” Israel back if it wanted to rejoin. There was no immediate response
from the Israeli government. Israel has long accused the United Nations of
anti-Israel bias. In 2012, over Israeli objections, the state of Palestine was
recognized as a nonmember observer state by the U.N. General Assembly. The
Palestinians claim the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip — territories
captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — for an independent state. Israel
says the Palestinians’ efforts to win recognition at the U.N. are aimed at
circumventing a negotiated settlement and meant to pressure Israel into
concessions.
The United States previously pulled out of UNESCO under the
Reagan administration in 1984 because it viewed the agency as mismanaged,
corrupt and used to advance Soviet interests. It rejoined in 2003.
^ The United States will, hopefully, be allowed back into
UNESCO and will work to both counter Chinese Influence as well as any
corruption or anti-Israeli bias. If any of this is found I hope the US will
then lead the efforts to fix and reform UNESCO rather than simply leaving it. ^
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-decides-rejoin-unesco-pay-100840218.html
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