United States and Israel Exit UN Body Aimed at Establishing a Culture of Peace

The United States has decided to invoke Article II (6) of the UNESCO constitution to withdraw from the organisation which it helped to establish. Following the US, Israel also announced that it is exiting the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) because of the ‘anti-Israel biases. The Trump administration has been preparing for a withdrawal for months, according to reports.

Terming the decision as ‘brave and moral’, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “UNESCO has become a theatre of absurd. Instead of preserving history, it distorts it.”

The UN specialised body was established in 1945 with its headquarters in Paris. The organisation is responsible for coordinating international cooperation in education, science, culture and communication.

The US and Israel had been long manoeuvring against the organisation, especially after it referred to East Jerusalem as "Occupied Palestine" and a criticized "aggression by the Israeli Occupation Authorities" over restrictions imposed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

In May this year, the UNESCO executive body officially endorsed the resolution drafted by seven Arab countries - Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan - sharply criticizes Israel for restricting Muslim access to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The resolutions also condemn nearby excavation projects.

The resolution does acknowledge that the Old City is important to "the three monotheistic religions-Islam, Judaism and Christianity”.

In 2011, UNESCO welcomed Palestine as its 195th member. The US criticised the step effectively and stopped making payments which were about $70 million a year to the organization.

In 1985 the US administration under President Ronald Reagan decided to withdraw from the organization, at the height of the Cold War ‘citing corruption and what it considered an ideological tilt toward the Soviet Union against the West’. In 2002, under President George W. Bush US rejoined UNESCO.

Unesco’s director general, Irina Bokova, expressing her ‘profound regret’ said, “at the time when conflicts continue to tear apart societies across the world, it is deeply regrettable for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations agency promoting education for peace and protecting culture under attack. “This is a loss to the UN family. This is a loss for multilateralism”, she added.

European countries and Russia also expressed their disappointment and shock at the exit of United States. France’s ambassador to the UN, Francois Delattre, said Unesco’s ideals are “part of America’s DNA” and that “we need an America that stays committed to world affairs.”

Tatiana Dovgalenko, Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the agency, told that the departure of “one of the countries that founded the UN system” is “a shock and a pity.”

The withdrawal will take effect on 31 December 2018.