WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced they are withdrawing the US from UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. They’re an arm of the United Nations that aims to promote international cooperation in education, science, culture and communication to encourage worldwide peace.
UNESCO is best known for designating world heritage sites that must be of outstanding universal value, like the Great Wall of China and the Grand Canyon. The Statue of Liberty and Independence Hall are also UNESCO sites.
The State Department announced the US is withdrawing from the organization by the end of next year.
“Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States,” said Tammy Bruce, spokesperson for the State Department.
This is the third UN body the US is pulling out of during Trump’s term. Global affairs expert Samantha Karlin said the US is withdrawing because the President doesn’t like multilateralism.
“Trump is all about America first,” said Karlin, who also hosts a global politics podcast “Smantharopolitics”. “Unfortunately, what Donald Trump doesn’t understand is that we don’t exist in a vacuum anymore. We’re a globalized world that depends on each other for international cooperation.”
Karlin said leaving UNESCO will create an opportunity for competitors, like China, to fill in that open space.
“We’re supposed be in competition with China and China’s influence. However, we keep doing things that allow China’s influence to grow. For example when we dismantled USAID, China stepped in to fund those programs the US is supposed to fund.”
The administration also accused the organization of being biased against Israel.
“That is malarkey because UNESCO is the only UN body with the explicit mandate to promote Holocaust education,” said Karlin.
The American Jewish Committee is frowning on the decision to withdraw, in a statement they said in part: American “engagement is critical to ensuring that UNESCO does not once again become a platform for anti-Israel animus.”
According to sources, the US contributes for only eight percent of UNESCO’s total budget. UNESCO officials stated they anticipated, even prepared for the US to withdraw. They said there will be a minimal financial impact.
