On October 12, 2017, the United States announced its intent to withdraw from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), citing “concerns with mounting arrears …, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias.”Footnote 1 The United States will remain a full UNESCO member until December 31, 2018, when the withdrawal becomes effective.Footnote 2 Thereafter, it will continue to engage with UNESCO as a non-member observer state.Footnote 3
The United States joined UNESCO in 1946 pursuant to a congressional-executive agreement.Footnote 4 President Ronald Reagan withdrew the United States from the organization—without seeking congressional approvalFootnote 5 —in 1984. In his notice of withdrawal, Secretary of State George Shultz wrote,
[W]e have been concerned that trends in the management, policy, and budget of UNESCO were detracting from the Organization's effectiveness. … We felt that they tended to serve—wittingly or unwittingly, but improperly—the political purposes of a few member states.Footnote 6
Subsequently, on September 12, 2002, President George W. Bush announced in a speech before the UN General Assembly that the United States would rejoin UNESCO.Footnote 7 Explaining the decision to rejoin, the U.S. State Department observed that UNESCO “has recently made a concerted effort to institute financial and management reform and resumed efforts to reinforce founding principles, including an emphasis on international press freedom.”Footnote 8
Well before the United States rejoined UNESCO in 2002, Congress had passed two laws placing certain conditions on U.S. funding to the United Nations and its specialized agencies. The first, passed in 1990, prohibits funding to any UN entity that “accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states.”Footnote 9 The second law, while not mentioning Palestine or the Palestine Liberation Organization by name, prohibits funding for the UN or any affiliated organization which “grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood.”Footnote 10 Pursuant to the second law, the United States halted funding to UNESCO on October 31, 2011 when UNESCO admitted Palestine as a full member—a move which the United States described as “regrettable” and “premature.”Footnote 11 As a result, beginning in 2013, the United States lost its voting rights in the UNESCO General Conference.Footnote 12
Most recently, in July 2017, UNESCO designated the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, site of the historic Tomb of the Patriarchs, as a Palestinian World Heritage Site.Footnote 13 Along with what the State Department has characterized as chronic, structural problems plaguing UNESCO, this decision contributed to the U.S. decision to withdraw from UNESCO a second time. A press release of October 12, 2017 from the U.S. Mission to the United Nations reads:
In July, when UNESCO made its latest outrageous and politically based decision, designating the Old City of Hebron and the Tomb of the Patriarchs as part of Palestinian territory, the United States clearly stated that this decision would negatively affect our evaluation of our level of engagement with the organization. The United States will continue to evaluate all agencies within the United Nations system through the same lens.
“The purpose of UNESCO is a good one. Unfortunately, its extreme politicization has become a chronic embarrassment. The Tomb of the Patriarchs decision was just the latest in a long line of foolish actions, which includes keeping Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad on a UNESCO human rights committee even after his murderous crackdown on peaceful protestors. Just as we said in 1984 when President Reagan withdrew from UNESCO, U.S. taxpayers should no longer be on the hook to pay for policies that are hostile to our values and make a mockery of justice and common sense,” said Ambassador Nikki Haley.Footnote 14
In a press briefing that same day, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert described the U.S. decision as the culmination of a “long and deliberative process” related to the congressional funding limitations and the Obama Administration's decision to halt its funding to UNESCO.Footnote 15 Several factors, including arrears amounting to approximately $550 million, the need for overall UN reform, and anti-Israel bias, all factored into the decision to withdraw, she said.Footnote 16 She remarked that if UNESCO “wants to reform itself and get back to a place where they're truly promoting culture and education and all of that, perhaps we could take another look at this, but we haven't seen that taking place.”Footnote 17 Describing the decision as “deeply regrettable,” Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova expressed her “profound regret” for the U.S. decision to withdraw.Footnote 18 “This is a loss to UNESCO. This is a loss to the United Nations family. This is a loss for multilateralism.”Footnote 19
