Unisco

Why the U.S. Is Rejoining UNESCO After much delay, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels to China this weekend, hoping to prevent U.S.-China tensions from spiraling further. The bilateral relationship remains the focus of intense attention, but multilateral organizations have long been sites of U.S.-China conflict. The latest arena is UNESCO, which the United States just announced plans to The United States Things at UNESCO have Although UNESCO isn’t a major geopolitical player, the U.S. absence has—to name one example—aided China’s The United States returning again should give UNESCO a big financial boost; it owes Washington gets in its own way on other issues, too; it might set up an China’s own For now, Washington remains the What We’re Following Expats in decline. A prominent Chinese commentator, Wang Wen, recently gave an According to Wang, fewer than 0.05 percent of residents in China are foreign citizens, compared to 2 percent in South Korea and Japan. (For The authorities now enforce systems of control that were once largely ignored, such as registering with the police for an But as a foreign resident in China from 2003 to 2018, I’d say one of the biggest factors is the lack of hope about the future. Before the rule of Chinese President Xi Jinping, basic human rights were slowly improving, and now they are regressing. Fentanyl furor. A recent Chinese state television documentary that tackles To me, China’s actions seem to be largely the result of Tech and ...

PARIS— The United Nations’ cultural and scientific agency, UNESCO, announced Monday that the U.S. plans to rejoin — and will pay more than $600 million in back dues — after a decade-long dispute sparked by the organization’s move to U.S. officials say the decision to return was motivated by concern that China is filling the gap left by the U.S. in UNESCO policymaking, notably in The move will face a vote by UNESCO’s member states in the coming weeks. But approval seems a formality after the resounding applause that greeted the announcement in UNESCO’s Paris headquarters Monday. Not a single country raised an objection to the return of a country that was once the agency’s single biggest funder. The U.S. and Israel stopped funding UNESCO after it voted to include Palestine as a member state in 2011, and the Trump administration decided in 2017 to UNESCO’s director general, Audrey Azoulay, has worked to address those concerns since her election in 2017, and that appears to have paid off. “It’s a historic moment for UNESCO,” she said Monday. “It’s also an important day for multilateralism.’’ The United Nations’ cultural agency has added the historic center of Ukraine’s Black Sea port city of Odesa to the list of endangered World Heritage sites. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma submitted a letter last week to Azoulay formalizing the plan to rejoin. Verma noted progress in de-politicizing The decision is a big financial boost to the Unite...

Each member state has one vote in UNESCO’s General Conference, which meets every two years to set the agency’s budget, its program of activities, and the scale of contributions made by member states to the agency. The 58-member Executive Board, which is elected by the General Conference, generally meets twice each year to give advice and direction to the agency’s work. The

Since wars begin in the minds of women and men, it is in the minds of women and men that the defences of peace must be constructed. These opening lines of UNESCO’s Constitution bear witness to our effort to understand and respond to the very origin of conflict. They are the backbone of all our action. UNESCO was created in the aftermath of two world wars, in response to one of the most radical attacks against the dignity of human beings, when violent, racist and antisemitic doctrines were taught in schools, legitimized by pseudo-science and fuelled by systematic propaganda, using the modern tools of culture, communication and information. UNESCO was born from a simple but firm conviction: that lasting peace must be built on more than the political and economic ties between states alone. That reconciliation and development demand stronger foundations, deeply rooted in mutual understanding, in the respect for the equal dignity of all human beings, and the intellectual and moral solidarity of humanity. ㅤ Education, science, culture and the free flow of ideas and knowledge are humanity’s fundamental needs. They are also building blocks for lasting peace. More than 75 years since it was founded, UNESCO reaffirms the importance of its humanist vision to uphold human dignity. Our world needs education, science, culture and information. Our world needs humanity.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay delivers a speech Monday at the group's headquarters in Paris to announce the United States' request to resume membership in the organization. Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images The U.S. may soon rejoin UNESCO several years after exiting the body, in part because of what the Trump administration called a bias against Israel. UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — said "This is a strong act of confidence, in UNESCO and in multilateralism," UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay said in a statement. "Not only in the centrality of the Organization's mandate — culture, education, science, information — but also in the way this mandate is being implemented today." Congress agreed last year that the U.S. could make financial contributions to UNESCO, and the group said in December that the country could return as a member, though the proposed plan must be approved by member states. The State Department did not immediately reply to NPR's request for comment. In late 2017, the State Department The U.S. The State Department said the move triggered "longstanding legislative restrictions." The Foreign Relations Authorization Act, passed in 1990, forces the U.S. to cut off support to any UN group that gives the Palestinian Liberation Organization the same standing as other member states. This isn't the first time the U.S. has pulled out of UNESCO only to rejoin later. The country exited UNESCO in 1984 under ...

A graduate of France’s Ecole Nationale d’Administration and of the Paris Institut d’Etudes Politiques, she holds a diploma in Business Administration from the University of Lancaster (UK). Having worked in the sector of culture since the start of her professional career, Audrey Azoulay has notably focused on the funding of French public broadcasting and on the reform and modernization of France’s film support system. She has also served the European Commission providing her expertise on issues concerning culture and communication. In 2014, as an advisor on culture to the President of the French Republic, she notably initiated the development of a protection plan for heritage in danger, which she was able to implement in 2016 as Minister of Culture and Communication. She has also prioritized improving children’s access to culture with the launch of artistic and cultural education school programmes “Création en cours” and created innovative cultural outreach programmes for people in remote and vulnerable areas “Microfolies”. With a longstanding commitment in favour of intercultural and intergenerational dialogue to advance education for all and the dissemination of scientific and cultural knowledge, she is determined to maintain this commitment as the head of UNESCO. She will spare no effort in ensuring that UNESCO fulfills its universal mandate fully in promoting values of humanism and openness and serving as a driving force in the United Nations system. The Organization is...