THE U.S. IS WITHDRAWING FROM UNESCO—WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

BY ISAAC KAPLAN

In a short statement that spoke volumes about American engagement with the international community, the United States announced on Thursday that it will withdraw from United Nations cultural organization UNESCO at the end of the year. The Trump administration has justified the withdrawal in part due to what it claims is UNESCO’s “anti-Israel bias.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s move and followed suit. Cultural policy experts have been left shaking their heads.

What does the withdrawal actually mean for UNESCO? Is the “anti-Israel bias” the administration’s main reason for pulling out? And can the organization survive without the United States?

What does UNESCO do?

Founded in the aftermath of World War II, UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations, comprised of 195 member states (two more than make up the UN, since Palestine and the Cook Islands are UNESCO members). Its self-stated mission is to “contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture.”

The founders of UNESCO saw fostering education, science, and culture as a means to peace, not an end in and of itself. As war-weary countries began to grapple with the enormous damage done during World War II, they worked to develop organizations, including UNESCO, intended to generate international dialogue and mutual understanding, in the hopes of preventing such an atrocity from occurring again. The first line of UNESCO’s founding constitution, adopted on November 16, 1945, articulates this grandiose goal: “That since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.”

It has pursued this mission through multiple means, supporting academic conferences and training journalists. Today, UNESCO supports programs including Holocaust and genocide education and literacy efforts for both children and adults.

Flags from several countries float in front of the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organiztion (UNESCO). Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images.

Most famously, UNESCO administers the World Heritage List program, which identifies places (from man-made structures to natural locations) across the world that are of shared international and human importance for protection and preservation. There are 23 sites in the United States, including the Statue of Liberty. The United States remains a signatory of the international treaty underpinning the program, the World Heritage Convention, which was originally modeled off the U.S.’s National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

In addition to its programming, UNESCO’s current director general, Irina Bokova, has also been an outspoken critic of the destruction of cultural heritage sites in Syria and Mali, labeling them “war crimes.” We can credit UNESCO with making such cultural heritage destruction a major issue that reaches the front page of world newspapers, said Stefan Simon, Director of Global Cultural Heritage Initiatives at Yale’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (IPCH).

The organization’s 1970 convention, titled “The Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property,” was ratified by 134 nations to date, including the United States.

Why is the United States leaving?

The U.S. Department of State cited “the need for fundamental reform” and “continuing anti-Israel bias” at UNESCO, along with “concerns with mounting arrears” owed by the U.S. in the statement formally announcing the withdrawal from the organization, a move heralded by President Trump’s anti-globalist base.

Most press attention around the withdrawal has focused on the allegation of anti-Israel bias, but all three reasons are important, said Brian Daniels, the director of research and programs for the Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania Museum.

The factors are intertwined to an extent. America’s strained relationship to UNESCO actually began well before the Trump administration. In 2011, the agency voted to allow Palestine to join as a member state over Israel’s vocal objections. As a result, the U.S. stopped funding UNESCO due to what the New York Times described as a “forgotten” 15-year-old law requiring that the U.S. to halt payments to any UN agency accepting Palestine as a full member. And this year, UNESCO designated the West Bank city of Old Hebron a Palestinian World Heritage Site, a move decried by Israel.

Daniels said that at the time Palestine was admitted, there was a flawed presumption by some at UNESCO that the U.S. could and would change the law easily. But a Republican-controlled House meant that even though the Obama administration wished to change the statute, it still remains on the books. Now, the United States owes in the region of $550 million to UNESCO, a sum that would keep growing should the U.S. remain in the organization and not foot its bill—the “mounting arrears” highlighted by the State Department. This ever-increasing figure was a significant factor contributing to the U.S. decision to leave.

When picking among the reasons cited by the State Department for leaving UNESCO, Daniels said he believes that the dues issue was the most important factor. Simon also said that his interpretation is that the U.S. was motivated by financial considerations and a desire to cap the increasing arrears, which, Simon added, do not go away even after the U.S. withdraws and must be paid back should the country return to UNESCO. 

Still, there are real questions about UNESCO’s financial management and the impact of its cultural programs. Following the end of the Cold War, UNESCO started doing more direct in-country programming. The agency employs 2,000 staffers primarily based in Paris, creating overhead costs that have been a source of concern even among proponents of the organization, Daniels noted……………..

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