The United States will withdraw from the UN Educational, Scientific, Cultural and Communication Organisation (UNESCO) by the end of 2026, the government said on Tuesday, only two years after rejoining the United Nations cultural agency.
“Today, the U.S. informed Director-General Audrey Azoulay of its decision to withdraw from UNESCO,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement. Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the U.S.,’’ it added.
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a review of the country’s involvement and funding in the UN in early February, just days after taking office for a second term.
At the time, Trump said the UN had “tremendous potential but it’s not being well run.’’
UNESCO is tasked with promoting cooperation across those sectors and is best known for its World Heritage list.
It included sites recognised for their special cultural, historical or natural significance.
In the statement, the State Department accused the organisation of working “to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsised focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
“A globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy.’’
“UNESCO’s 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 organisation.’’
Trump first pulled the U.S. from the cultural agency during his first term in 2018, before the country rejoined under the Joe Biden administration in 2023.
World Heritage Sites in the U.S. included Yellowstone National Park, Statue of Liberty and the 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright.