President Trump has withdrawn america from the United Nations Academic, Scientific, and Cultural Group (UNESCO) for the second time within the authorities’s newest blow to world cultural heritage preservation.
In a quick assertion posted to the Division of State web site on Tuesday, July 22, spokesperson Tammy Bruce stated UNESCO’s recognition of Palestine as a member state was contradictory to US overseas coverage pursuits and propagated anti-Israel bias, claims that Director-Normal of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay rejected in a press release shared with Hyperallergic.
“UNESCO has supported 85 countries in implementing tools and training teachers to educate students about the Holocaust and genocides, and to combat Holocaust denial and hate speech,” Azoulay stated. “UNESCO will continue to carry out these missions, despite inevitably reduced resources.”
Azoulay added that UNESCO is the one UN arm instantly concerned in Holocaust training and combating antisemitism, efforts celebrated by teams just like the pro-Israel World Jewish Congress. The US’s withdrawal comes days after the Division of State imposed sanctions on UN Particular Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who has repeatedly accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
Machu Picchu, one in every of over 1,200 websites overseen by UNESCO (photograph Valentina Di Liscia/Hyperallergic)
UNESCO oversees over 1,200 World Heritage websites, together with the Taj Mahal in India, Machu Picchu in Peru, and the Milanese church housing “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci, in addition to Yosemite Nationwide Park, Yellowstone Nationwide Park, and others within the US. 5 UNESCO World Heritage websites are positioned in Palestine, together with the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem. The group additionally works to safeguard heritage belongings caught in numerous crises, corresponding to supporting regional response after the obvious looting on the Nationwide Museum of Sudan in Khartoum through the nation’s ongoing civil warfare.
The Division of State claimed in its departure announcement that UNESCO centered on “divisive” targets, together with selling the broader UN’s adopted Sustainable Improvement Targets, which embrace eradicating starvation and poverty and selling “sustainable industrialization.”
Per UNESCO’s structure, the US will stay a member by means of 2026, although the Division of State knowledgeable the group on Tuesday of its intentions. US membership dues account for 8% of UNESCO’s complete price range, however since Trump’s first withdrawal in 2017, Azoulay stated that non-public contributions have doubled.
The US stopped funding UNESCO when the group included the “State of Palestine” as a member state in 2011, as required by a regulation prohibiting funds from flowing to businesses that grant full membership to Palestine. The US remained a member, nevertheless, till Trump’s first presidency, when he additionally cited supposed anti-Israel bias. It rejoined in 2023 beneath President Joe Biden, who promised to pay again over $600 million in arrears.
Israel withdrew from UNESCO in 2019. The broader UN has not acknowledged Palestine as a full member.
“We will continue to work hand in hand with all of our American partners in the private sector, academia and non-profit organizations, and will pursue political dialogue with the US administration and Congress,” Azoulay stated in as we speak’s assertion.
