Biden to mark return to UNESCO
First lady to speak as US ends 5-year absence
WASHINGTON — Jill Biden has represented her country at the Olympics in Tokyo, a king’s coronation in London, and a royal wedding in Jordan. She gets another chance to put her ambassadorial skills to work this week when the United States formally rejoins a United Nations agency devoted to education, science, and culture around the globe.
Biden arrived in Paris early Monday, accompanied by her daughter, Ashley Biden, after flying overnight from Washington to join other VIPs and speak at a ceremony Tuesday at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The American flag will be raised to mark the US return to UNESCO membership after a five-year absence.
UNESCO aims to foster global collaboration in education, science, and culture. It also designates World Heritage sites, deeming them worthy of eternal preservation.
The agency on Sunday condemned Russia's attack on a cathedral in Odesa and other heritage sites in Ukraine in recent days and said it will send a team to the Black Sea port city to assess damage.
In a statement, UNESCO noted that Odesa's historic center was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site earlier this year and said attacks by Russian forces contradict recent promises by Russian authorities to take precautions to spare such sites across the country.
Before returning to Washington on Wednesday, Biden will tour a historic venue in France, Mont-Saint-Michel, a 1,000year-old Benedictine abbey that was listed as a World Heritage site in 1979. It sits on an island in Normandy, in the north of the country.
A daughter and mother of US service members, the first lady will also visit Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial to pay respects to the more than 4,400 US service members buried there, most of whom died in Normandy and Brittany during World War II.
She will also stop at the Elysée Palace in Paris on Tuesday to catch up with Brigitte Macron, a former teacher and the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron. The women have met several times over the past two years, including in Washington last December when Macron was on a state visit to the United States.
Senior Biden administration officials said returning to UNESCO fits President Biden’s goal of strengthening global partnerships and recommitting to American leadership at the UN and other international organizations to serve as a counter to nations that do not share US values. Others said Jill Biden, who teaches English and writing at a Virginia community college, was best suited to represent the United States in Paris on Tuesday.
“The first lady, as a lifelong educator and believer in the power of educational opportunity across the world, is honored to help celebrate this important milestone,” said Elizabeth Alexander, a spokeswoman. “She looks forward to raising the flag for the United States once again at the UNESCO headquarters, showing our country’s commitment to international cooperation in education, science, and culture.”
The United States pulled out of the Paris-based organization in 2018, under then-President Trump, a Republican who claimed UNESCO was biased against Israel.
The administration of Biden, a Democrat, pushed to rejoin over concerns China was filling the void in leadership created by the US absence.
The administration said in June it would apply to rejoin the 193-member organization, which also plays a major role in setting international standards for artificial intelligence and technology education. The organization’s governing board voted earlier this month to approve the Biden plan to rejoin, and the United States delivered a document certifying it would accept the invitation to become the 194th member of UNESCO.
The Trump administration in 2017 said the United States would withdraw from UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias. That decision that took effect a year later.
The Biden administration has requested $150 million for the 2024 budget to go toward UNESCO dues and arrears. The plan foresees similar requests for the ensuing years until the full debt of $619 million is repaid.