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WASHINGTON, the United States | Xinhua | The United States announced Tuesday its decision to pull out of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization two years after rejoining.
According to a statement by the U.S. State Department, the withdrawal was due to what Washington saw as the UN cultural agency’s policy to “advance divisive social and cultural causes” over the Israel-Palestine conflicts.
“UNESCO’s decision to admit the ‘State of Palestine’ as a member state is highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization,” the statement said.
The U.S. exit will take effect at the end of December 2026.
UNESCO reacts
Meanwhile, UNESCO said Tuesday the U.S. exit was regrettable but came as no surprise.
“However regrettable, this announcement was expected, and UNESCO has prepared for it,” UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said in a statement.
Audrey Azoulay, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said on Tuesday that U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO contradicts the fundamental principles of multilateralism.
Deeply regretting the decision made by U.S. President Donald Trump, Azoulay warned that the withdrawal might affect foremost UNESCO’s partners in the United States, in particularly communities seeking site inscription on the World Heritage List, Creative City status, and University Chairs.
According to a statement by the U.S. State Department, the withdrawal was prompted by what Washington perceived as UNESCO’s tendency to “advance divisive social and cultural causes,” particularly regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict.
In response, the UNESCO director-general expressed regret over the U.S. decision, rejecting the stated reasons. She emphasized that UNESCO remains a “rare forum for building consensus through concrete, action-oriented multilateralism.”
“These claims also contradict the reality of UNESCO’s efforts, particularly in the field of Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism,” she added.
Despite the loss of funding from the United States, Azoulay affirmed that the U.S. withdrawal from UNESCO in 2026 will not affect the organization’s normal operations, as its financial position has been significantly strengthened.
“We have implemented major structural reforms and diversified our funding sources. Thanks to the efforts made by the Organization since 2018, the decline in U.S. financial contributions has been effectively offset,” she stated.
Azoulay also emphasized that UNESCO has intensified its efforts to take meaningful action wherever its mission can contribute to peace, reaffirming the critical importance of its mandate, even in the wake of the last U.S. withdrawal under President Trump in 2017.
This will be the third time that Washington has left UNESCO, and the second time during the administration under Donald Trump. Since his second term in office started early this year, the Trump administration had announced its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Washington has long had a contentious relationship with UNESCO, repeatedly withdrawing over political grievances. In 1984, the Ronald Reagan administration pulled the United States out of the agency, citing what it called the UN body’s ideological tilt toward the former Soviet Union against the West, and the United States stayed away till 2003.
In November 2011, the Barack Obama administration cut off funding for the UN cultural agency, after its member countries defied a U.S. warning and approved a Palestinian bid for full membership in the body. ■
