First lady Jill Biden arrived in France on Monday for a three-day visit highlighted by a ceremony marking the United States’ return to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
What You Need To Know
- First lady Jill Biden arrived in France on Monday for a three-day visit highlighted by a ceremony marking the United States’ return to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
- The U.S. officially rejoined UNESCO earlier this month after a nearly five-year absence
- The first lady will attend and speak at a flag-raising ceremony Tuesday and also meet with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay
- Jill Biden will also meet with French first lady Brigitte Macron and visit Mont Saint Michel, a 1,000-year-old Benedictine abbey on an island in Normandy
The U.S. officially rejoined UNESCO earlier this month after a nearly five-year absence. The organization, formed in 1945, promotes collaboration in education, science and culture and designates World Heritage sites — such as India’s Taj Mahal, the Pyramids of Egypt and several U.S. national parks — which aims to help preserve them.
The United States officially withdrew from UNESCO at the end of 2018, citing anti-Israel bias. The U.S. also had accumulated $600 million in unpaid membership dues after it stopped funding the organization in 2011 to protest its admission of Palestine as a full member.
But President Joe Biden’s administration elected to rejoin over concerns that China was filling the leadership void.
“When we don’t show up in these organizations, other countries will fill the void,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters last week. “And in an era of increasing geopolitical competition, competitors are working hard at the U.N. to shape the global agenda. If we aren’t in the room, we can’t push back.”
The absence was hurting U.S. interests, and after rejoining, Washington plans to push for investments in STEM education for women and girls in Africa, Holocaust education, artificial intelligence, the safety of journalists and the preservation of Ukraine’s cultural heritage, administration officials said.
The first lady is set to attend and speak at a flag-raising ceremony Tuesday and also meet with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.
Earlier this month, Azoulay called the United States’ reentry “a historic moment.”
“Our Organization is once again moving towards universality,” she said in a statement. “I also want to share this victory for UNESCO with the entire United Nations family, because it is excellent news for multilateralism as a whole. If we want to meet the challenges of our century, there can only be a collective response.”
UNESCO now has 194 members.
Jill Biden, accompanied by daughter Ashley, landed in Paris on Monday morning. She met with U.S. Embassy staff later in the day.
On Tuesday morning, before the UNESCO ceremony, Jill Biden will meet with French first lady Brigitte Macron at the Élysée Palace, and on Tuesday night will attend a reception hosted by U.S. Ambassador Denis Bauer.
Before returning to Washington, the first lady on Wednesday will visit Mont Saint Michel, a 1,000-year-old Benedictine abbey on an island in Normandy and one of UNESCO’s more than 1,100 World Heritage sites.
