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US formally reenters UNESCO
Published on 31 Jul 2023
- US First Lady Jill Biden attended a flag-raising ceremony at UNESCO on 26 July 2023 in Paris to mark the official re-entry of the United States into the UN agency after a controversial five-year hiatus.
- Jill Biden emphasized the importance of American leadership in preserving cultural heritage and promoting education and science worldwide during her remarks at the ceremony.
- The move to rejoin UNESCO is in line with President Joe Biden’s pledge to restore US leadership on the world stage.
- The United States had announced its intention to rejoin UNESCO in June, and the organization’s 193 member states voted to approve the US reentry this month.
- The US had previously exited UNESCO in 2017, citing an alleged anti-Israel bias within the organization. This decision was made following UNESCO’s inclusion of Palestine as a member state in 2011, leading to the US and Israel ceasing financial support for the agency.
- The US withdrawal from UNESCO became official in 2018.
- UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945.
- Its primary mission is to promote peace and security by fostering international collaboration in the fields of education, science, culture, and communication.
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