USA officially back at the Unesco, which it left in 2018 under the presidency of Donald Trump, reported that UN agency dedicated to education, science and culture.

The petition for reinstatement was approved at an extraordinary general conference of the organization by 132 votes, 15 abstentions and 10 against, including those from Iran, Syria, China and especially Russia, which multiplied procedures and amendments to postpone the vote.

“The resolution has been adopted,” the president of the assembly, Brazilian Santiago Irazábal Mourao, announced with a round of applause. The United States announced its departure from the organization in October 2017denouncing his “persistent anti-Israel bias”. His departure, along with Israel’s, took effect in December 2018.

The United States had already suspended its financial contribution to UNESCO since 2011in the presence of Barack Obama, depriving the entity of 22% of its budget.

The French baguette has been declared an intangible heritage by Unesco

But the Joe Biden administration in June proposed “a plan” for reintegration into the Paris-based organization in a letter to UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay.

The US debt contracted to Unesco between 2011 and 2018 currently stands at $619 million, an amount that exceeds the annual Unesco budget, estimated at $534 million.

Washington informed Azoulay in his letter that it had asked the US Congress the $150 million payout for fiscal year 2024, a contribution that will continue in the following years “until the settlement of the arrears”.

The US reintegration comes in a context of growing rivalry with China, which wants to transform the multilateral international order that emerged after World War II, of which UNESCO is a branch. UNESCO has also been the theater of intense debate since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A Russian diplomat expressed dismay at the United States’ return to the entity.

“We would be willing to welcome the will of Washington,” which would “enable” the organization to be strengthened, but “we believe they are trying to drag us into a parallel world, which would replace all of Lewis’s absurd descriptions.” Carroll’s Books”, the author of Alice in Wonderland, mention.

“In this deformed space, those who defend democracy and the rule of law are trying to get us to break the rules and usurp privileged rights,” he added, estimating that Washington would have to pay off all its debts to UNESCO before it reopens. is allowed.