ADVERTISEMENT The United States has announced it will once again leave UNESCO, the UN’s educational, scientific and cultural agency, only two years after rejoining.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce linked the withdrawal to what Washington sees as UNESCO’s push to “advance divisive social and cultural causes.” She added that the 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.”
This marks the third time the US has pulled out of UNESCO, which is based in Paris, and the second time during the Trump era. Donald Trump’s administration withdrew from UNESCO during his first term, after which the US stayed away for five years. The Biden administration later reapplied and rejoined the agency.
The latest withdrawal will take effect at the end of December 2026.
While the US contributes a significant part of UNESCO’s budget, the organisation, the Associated Press writes, should be able to manage without American funding. The US share of funding has fallen in recent years and now accounts for just 8% of UNESCO’s total budget, with other countries stepping up their contributions.
The US first pulled out of UNESCO back in 1984 under President Reagan, citing mismanagement, corruption, and accusations that the agency was advancing Soviet interests. It rejoined in 2003 during George W. Bush’s presidency.
In 2017, the Trump administration announced the country’s second withdrawal over similar concerns about anti-Israel bias, which took effect a year later. The US and Israel had already stopped funding UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member state in 2011.
This is a developing story and our journalists will provide updates as soon as possible.
