The moment was long awaited. It represents the culmination of arduous behind-the-scenes diplomatic work and complex negotiations in Washington itself. Monday, June 12, in Paris, Audrey Azoulay, Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), informed its members that the United States is ready to return to its ranks, six years after the withdrawal decided by Donald Trump.
In a letter signed by Assistant Secretary of State Richard Verma, whose The world became aware, the Biden administration announces its intention to present a plan for his readmission, at an upcoming special session of the organization’s general conference. “Since our withdrawal from UNESCO on December 31, 2018, we have noted UNESCO’s efforts to implement key reforms in administration and management, as well as the concern to reduce politicized debates, especially on Middle East issues »welcomes the letter.
In 2011, the Obama administration applied congressional legislation and froze the American financial contribution, due to the acceptance of Palestine as a member of UNESCO before any negotiated settlement of the conflict with Israel. In 2017, Donald Trump announced his country’s withdrawal from the organization, due to a “continued anti-Israeli bias”, but also the financial cost deemed excessive by the president at the time, with no appetite for multilateral organisations. “When the Americans left the organization, they did not expect it to remain so alive, explains Audrey Azoulay to World. They see that they are losing something by not participating, in the name of their own interests, whether on normative issues, on artificial intelligence, or on our educational action in Africa. When your chair is empty, you have no say. »
Precious relay in the Arab world
Audrey Azoulay managed, after her election, to impose a new mode of deliberation on texts concerning the Middle East. For years, the resolutions on the old city of Jerusalem or the tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, in the occupied West Bank, had been the subject of controversy. “The parties concerned were torn over the terms, the names of the localities, the designation of the otherrelates Audrey Azoulay. The change in method consisted in no longer leaving them face-to-face and in protecting Unesco from sterile instrumentalisation. »
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