Paris (EFE).- The United States will once again cease being a member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the third time in its history since its foundation in 1945.
The development was announced on Tuesday and is set to come into force in 2026. The move has not come as a surprise to the Paris-based UN agency, which had been preparing for it since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
The first time Washington, a founding member of the UNESCO, left the organization was in 1984, under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, in protest against what he considered economic mismanagement and excessive politicization. The US then accounted for a quarter of its budget.
It returned to UNESCO on Oct. 1, 2003, during its 32nd General Conference, when then-US Education Secretary Rod Paige said his country was returning as one more member, without a program of its own, and eager to participate and work as a team.
The second US exit occurred during President Donald Trump’s first term, citing alleged anti-Israel tendencies in the organization and its need for reforms.
The announcement was made in October 2017, and came into effect in 2018. The move signified distancing from the administration of his predecessor, Barack Obama.
Since that year, Washington had suspended its contributions to UNESCO following the admission of Palestine as a full member of the organization.
The decision was once again a severe setback for the organization, which was forced to reduce its level of activity in the face of the exit of its main contributor (22 percent at the time).
The US again returned as a full member in 2023 under the Joe Biden government, also paid the dues for that period, amounting to $619 million. EFE
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