Washington, July 23, (dpa/GNA) – The United States will withdraw from UNESCO by the end of 2026, the government said on Tuesday, just two years after
rejoining the United Nations’ cultural agency.
“Today, the United States informed Director-General Audrey Azoulay of the United States’ decision to withdraw from UNESCO,” State Department spokeswoman
Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
“Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States,” it added.
US President Donald Trump ordered a review of the country’s involvement in and funding of the United Nations in early February, days after taking office
for a second term.
At the time, Trump said the UN had “tremendous potential” but “it’s not being well run.”
Based in Paris, the UN Educational, Scientific, Cultural and Communication Organization (UNESCO) is tasked with promoting cooperation across those
sectors to maintain peace.
It is best known for its World Heritage list, which includes sites recognized for their special cultural, historical or natural significance.
World Heritage Sites in the United States include Yellowstone National Park, the Statue of Liberty and the 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd
Wright.
In the statement, the State Department accused the organization of working “to advance divisive social and cultural causes and [maintaining] an outsized
focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals,” which it described as “a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our
America First foreign policy.”
The department also cited “UNESCO’s decision to admit the ‘State of Palestine’ as a Member State” as a reason for its decision, calling the step “highly
problematic” and contrary to US policy,” while claiming it “contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization.”
In recent years, the agency’s work has repeatedly been overshadowed by disputes related to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
After the Palestinian Territories were admitted as a member state in 2011, the US halted its payments to UNESCO that same year.
The country is currently the largest financial contributor ahead of China and Japan, meaning the planned withdrawal is likely to have significant
ramifications for the agency.
The UN health agency WHO has said it is facing an acute financial crisis, after Trump signed an order to pull the US from the body by the end of 2026.
Trump first pulled the US from the cultural agency during his first term in 2018, accusing UNESCO of a hostile stance towards Israel.
The country rejoined under the Biden administration in 2023.
The US had also withdrawn from the organization in 1984, citing anti-Western policies and inefficient governance, before rejoining in 2003.
Founded in 1945, six months after the end of World War II, UNESCO currently employs some 2,000 people and has 194 members.
According to earlier figures from the United Nations Association of Germany, UNESCO lost 22% of its regular budget each year, after the US withdrew in
2018.
GNA