Question: Which of the following countries have officially disassociated itself from UNESCO?
(a) Russia and Qatar
(b) Japan and UK
(c) United States and Israel
(d) Iran and France
Answer: (c)
Related facts:
- On 1st January 2019, United States and its ally Israel officially withdrew from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
- Prior to this,the two nations had announced their intention to quit the international organization in October 2017, citing anti-Israel bias.
- This is the second such instance when the US has withdrawn itself from a major multilateral commitment after President Donald Trump took charge, first being its withdrawal from the 2015 Paris climate change agreement. It underlines Trump’s ‘America First’ policies.
- This is not the first time that the US has walked out of the UN body. The nation previously withdrew itself from the 195-member organization once before in 1984 under former president Ronald Reagan’s administration, as it viewed the agency as mismanaged, corrupt and used to advance Soviet interests.
- It was under President George W Bush that the US returned to the body in 2002, but relations soured again in 2011 when Barack Obama pulled the plug on funding to the body after its members voted to admit Palestine as a full member
Links
https://en.unesco.org/
https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/us-israel-leave-unesco-for-good/