Paris: The star-spangled banner gradually rises on the mast, the Eiffel Tower on the horizon, while the American anthem rings out. The United States, led by the First Lady, has certainly returned to UNESCO, the body they left under Donald Trump.
After five years without an American inside the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Washington has done everything it can to materialize its comeback. Jill Biden personally attended the raising of the American flag at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, between the two countries in Portugal and Qatar.
“When we take our place in this coalition, we can fight for our values like democracy, equality, and human rights,” the First Lady explained during her speech.
“President Biden understands that if we want to help create a better world, the United States cannot do it alone, but we must help lead the way. That is why we are so proud to be associated with UNESCO,” she said.
“We are honored to return the star-strewn banner to its place today,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, happy to “celebrate” a “rare moment, a happy moment in the lives of nations.”
“In times of division and rupture (…), we reaffirm our union,” she praised. “In this fractured world where the lust for power has sometimes led to questioning of pluralism, the resurgence of the United States has significance beyond UNESCO.”
Jill Biden arrived in France in the middle of the morning on Monday, and entered the heart of her official visit to France on Tuesday, the first since her husband, Joe, assumed the presidency of the White House.
At the end of the morning, she was received by the French First Lady Brigitte Macron, accompanied by their daughter Ashley. The two women who knew each other warmly kissed on the steps of the palace.
Ashley Biden and Brigitte Macron were also present at the UNESCO ceremony, as were the French Ministers of Education and Culture, Gabriel Atal and Rima Abdelmalek, as well as Judith Bessar, the mother of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is also an American figure in culture.
Moscow and Beijing opposition
On Wednesday, Jill Biden will go to the American Cemetery in Brittany to “honor the American soldiers who lost their lives” during World War II.
She will end her trip to France at the famous Mont Saint-Michel, a World Heritage Site. And Brigitte Macron will be there too.
The United States recently joined UNESCO, after a referendum in its favor on June 30 by the member states of this UN organization, and despite the opposition of Russia and China.
They left it under Donald Trump when, in 2017, they denounced this institution’s “persistent anti-Israel bias”. This withdrawal, accompanied by the Israeli withdrawal, has been in effect since December 2018. Since 2011 and Palestine’s admission to UNESCO, the United States, led by Barack Obama, has suspended all funding to the organization.
Their return is part of a general context of growing rivalry with China, while Beijing desires to change the multilateral international order set up after World War II, of which UNESCO is an offshoot.
In March, the head of US diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, estimated that the US absence had allowed China to weigh more than the US in artificial intelligence (AI) rules, when UNESCO issued a recommendation on AI ethics from 2021.
Only ten countries opposed the US return at the end of June, including Iran, Syria, China, North Korea, and especially Russia, which significantly slowed down the discussions, and failed to reverse its results.
The United States had already left UNESCO in 1984, under the leadership of Ronald Reagan, and then rejoined it in October 2003.
Their return is a financial relief to the organization. Washington pledged to pay its arrears in full, amounting to 619 million dollars, more than the annual budget of UNESCO, estimated at 534 million dollars.
