The return of the USA to UNESCO is excellent news not only for the organisation itself but also for the entire multilateral system, said Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Wlachovsky on Tuesday. At the venue of the NATO summit in Vilnius, the minister stressed that UNESCO currently has an important role to play in regulating the use of artificial intelligence and neurotechnology, as well as in addressing global challenges related to climate change, the spread of misinformation and hate speech online.
The USA, one of UNESCO's founding members, was a major contributor to the organisation's budget until 2011, when Palestine joined. At that time, the USA suspended its contributions. In 2017, former US President Donald Trump announced the USA's departure from the organisation, claiming that it was biased against Israel. Both countries withdrew from UNESCO as of January 1, 2018.
The USA recently deposited its instrument of acceptance of the Constitution of UNESCO with the depository in London, officially becoming the 194th member state of this specialised agency of the United Nations. The US did so following a decision by the UNESCO General Conference at its fifth special session at the end of June, which granted the USA voting rights within the organisation as well as the right to stand for election to UNESCO bodies.
Source: TASR
