The Paris Climate Agreement, the UN Human Rights Council, UNESCO: under the presidency of Donald Trump, the United States had failed several international institutions. On Monday, June 12, Joe Biden again demonstrated his desire to put them back in their place: after a five-year absence, the United States formally applied to be reinstated into the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
“If Unesco is doing well, it will be even better when the United States comes back,” said the organization’s Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, immediately at a meeting with member countries in Paris, the UN body’s headquarters. “It’s a great day for UNESCO, for multilateralism.”
“When the Americans left the organization, they did not expect that it would remain so alive,” the director continued in an interview with the press. “They see that if they don’t participate, they lose something.” […] If your chair is empty, you have no say.
In October 2017, due to tensions over Palestine, the United States announced its withdrawal from UNESCO. Washington specifically denounced a “persistent anti-Israeli bias.” This withdrawal, which coincided with Israel’s withdrawal, went into effect in December 2018. Even if the dispute actually goes back more than ten years: As early as 2011, the Obama administration had frozen the financial contribution of the USA after the takeover of Palestine as a member of the cultural institution.
An empty chair to be filled by China
But the Palestinian issue does not appear to be the reason behind this return of the United States to UNESCO. In April 2022, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken lamented that the presidency left by the US was benefitting the Chinese rival. “When we’re not sitting at the table, influencing the course of the conversation and helping to define norms and practices, someone else is there. And that other one is probably China,” he had explained.
Excluding Washington – which alone accounted for 22% of the organization’s budget – China is the first country to make a mandatory contribution within UNESCO of around $50 million a year. “Even the garden of the UNESCO headquarters was co-funded by a Chinese city,” explains Ashok Swain, professor of peace and conflict studies at Uppsala University, Sweden. “China made sure it was there.”
Enough to ensure it has a privileged place in the discussions, particularly in the World Heritage Committee. A group best known for designating cultural sites to be protected, but which plays a more political role than it appears: “It has a significant impact on tourism and the economy, and can cause controversy when selecting sites in disputed areas says Ashok Swain. This was the case, for example, in 2018 when the committee decided to designate the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank as a World Heritage Site – unsurprisingly sparking outrage in Israel.
In a 2021 article published by American media The Hill, an American diplomat and former administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, John Brian Atwood, also warned of the way countries like China were trying to “define UNESCO’s agenda in such a way to design”. they think it’s right”.
For example, he underlined Beijing’s efforts to move the International Bureau for Education from UNESCO to Shanghai or to sign a cooperation agreement as part of the “Belt and Road” initiative. Launched in 2013, this huge Chinese project will invest in road, rail and sea infrastructure to better connect China to Europe and Africa.
Concerns about artificial intelligence
Because Unesco is not only concerned with selecting sites that should become part of human heritage: the organization also develops educational programs, defends freedom of the press and supports scientific exchange.
And on that last point, the timing of this return from the United States is no coincidence. The United States wants to be more involved in the ongoing discussions about the rules of artificial intelligence (AI), since the institution already presented a recommendation on the ethics of AI in 2021.
“I am convinced that we should return to Unesco, not to give it a gift, but because the things that happen there are really important,” said Antony Blinken in March. “They work on rules, norms and standards for artificial intelligence. We want to be there.”
“Even if the framework provided by UNESCO is only of an advisory nature, it is nevertheless of great importance on an ideological level,” concludes Ashok Swain. “China has a very different view of democracy and human rights than the United States. Washington’s ideological interests may therefore be called into question if China succeeds in mastering the formulation of ‘artificial intelligence’ rules and regulations.”
However, accepting the American return can only come after a majority decision by the other states, which is expected in July. China has already indicated through its UNESCO ambassador Yang Jin that it will not oppose this. “China stands ready to cooperate with all member states, including the United States.”
This article was adapted from English by Cyrielle Cabot. You can find the original here.