UNESCO member states backed the United States' return to the United Nations' cultural organization almost five years after then-President Donald Trump ordered an American withdrawal.
"I am encouraged and grateful that today the (UNESCO) membership accepted our proposal, which will allow the United States to take the next, formal steps toward fully rejoining the organization," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
He spoke after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s 193 members met in Paris for the Fifth Extraordinary Session of the General Conference.
The UNESCO conference approved the US return with a 132-10, with 15 abstentions.
According to the Associated Press the Palestinian Authority, which has been recognized by UNESCO as a member state since 2011 voted the US membership. The other nine votes against the US rejoining UNESCO were from Belarus, China, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia and Syria.
Trump withdrew the US from the Paris-based organization in 2018 over accusations of anti-Israel bias and mismanagement. Already in 2011, the US had stopped paying its dues to UNESCO to protest its recognition of Palestine as a member state.
US law forbids Washington from funding U.N. bodies that have admitted Palestine as a full member. The American return to UNESCO was enabled after a waiver from Congress earlier this year, which will be in effect until the end of 2025.
The Biden administration has sought to rejoin UNESCO and after the Congressional waiver was approved the US told the organization it would repay the $619 million in arrears in installments over several years.
Israel also pulled out of UNESCO following Washington's departure. UNESCO's director-general Audrey Azoulay has said there are no negotiations for Israel's return at this stage.
She has worked in the last five years to depoliticize the organization around the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including neutralizing the resolutions on Jerusalem.
After the Friday vote, she said, that the US return to her organization was a “great day for UNESCO and for multilateralism.” She added, "Building upon the momentum achieved in recent years, our Organization is once again moving towards universalism with this return of the US.”