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Trump announces US withdrawal from UNESCO: ‘Woke and anti-American agenda’

Washington leaves the UN cultural agency. UNESCO: ‘A regrettable but expected decision.’ The withdrawal will take effect on 31 December 2026

The United States will once again leave UNESCO. The Trump administration made the announcement, denouncing ‘anti-American, anti-Israeli’ positions and a ‘woke’ agenda, a term used by the US right wing to criticise progressive and inclusive policies. ‘Continued participation in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States,’ said a State Department spokeswoman after the White House announced the decision to the New York Post.

According to Washington, the United Nations agency for culture and education ‘is biased’ and promotes ‘divisive’ causes, particularly for its positions on Palestine, China and issues related to diversity and inclusion. The decision comes at the end of a 90-day review ordered by Trump in February. Already in 2017, during his first term, Trump had withdrawn the United States from UNESCO, before Joe Biden brought the country back in 2023.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay called the decision ‘regrettable but expected’ and assured that the organisation is ready to deal with the consequences. ‘This decision contradicts the principles of multilateralism,’ Azoulay said, noting that the United States currently contributes 8% of the agency’s total budget. ‘The same reasons were put forward in 2017, but in the meantime, structural reforms have been introduced and international support has grown,’ she added.

Azoulay then claimed UNESCO’s central role in the fight against anti-Semitism and Holocaust education, recalling the recognition received from US Jewish institutions. The US withdrawal will take effect on 31 December 2026, but UNESCO will continue, the director-general assured, ‘to collaborate with American partners in academia, the private sector and non-profit organisations, and to maintain open dialogue with the US administration and Congress.’

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