The United States will leave UNESCO due to what Washington sees as an anti-Israel bias and need for reform. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said his country will also begin preparations to leave the UN cultural agency.
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What does UNESCO do?
The UN's educational and cultural arm is best-known for naming World Heritage Sites. But UNESCO is also tasked with managing a series of other programs. DW looks at some of the other things UNESCO does.
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Name World Heritage Sites
UNESCO is responsible for identifying and promoting landmarks across the world that it considers to be of "outstanding value to humanity." Whether the sites are manmade wonder or part of Earth's natural beauty, they are listed they become legally protected by international treaties. Notable World Heritage landmarks include the Colosseum in Rome, the pyramids of Giza and the Great Wall of China.
Image: Reuters/A. Bianchi
International Literacy Day
One of UNESCO's main educational programs is World Literacy Day, held every year on September 8. The date highlights the importance of literacy to individuals and impoverished communities. Particular attention is placed on boosting literacy rates among girls in developing countries As part of the program, schools and teachers are provided with training and materials aimed at encouraging reading.
Image: picture-alliance/epa/S. Shahzad
Holocaust remembrance and education
While the United States and Israel both announced that they will quit the body, citing anti-Israel bias, UNESCO has increasingly worked in recent years on promoting Holocaust awareness projects, such as providing educational material and organizing visits to former Nazi concentration camps.
Image: picture-alliance/Schoening
Combating climate change
As part of UNESCO's task to preserve World Heritage Sites, the body also aims to improve education and awareness of climate change. The UNESCO "Man and the Biosphere Program" monitors the effects of climate change and promotes new, multidisciplinary approaches to dealing with its impacts. The organization also seeks to improve worldwide education around the causes and affects of global warming.
Image: Getty Images/L. Schulze
Endangered language projects
UNESCO is also tasked with identifying and trying to preserve endangered languages. One of the UN organization's reports, "Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger," categorized almost 2,500 languages into five levels of endangerment. It found that 200 languages had become extinct over the last three generations, while around 60 to 80 percent risk becoming extinct within the next 100 years.
Image: Sebastian Drude-DoBeS
Freedom of expression and protection of journalists
Along with the UN's Plan of Action for the Safety of Journalists, UNESCO calls for the worldwide protection of journalists and decries those who show impunity against freedom of the press. The organization reports and raises awareness around cases where reporters have been threatened or even killed. It also helps reporters in dangerous regions receive safety training.
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The United States on Thursday announced it will withdraw from UNESCO over what it said was an anti-Israel bias at the UN’s cultural and education agency.
"This decision was not taken lightly, and reflects US concerns with mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organization, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO," the State Department said in a statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said later on Thursday that his country will also begin preparations to leave the UN cultural agency. He called the US decision "brave and moral," according to a statement.
Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon called the US withdrawal "a turning point."
"Today is a new day at the UN, where there is a price to pay for discrimination against Israel," he said in a statement, adding that UNESCO would now realize its "absurd and shameful resolutions against Israel have consequences."
The US stopped contributing funds to UNESCO in 2011 after it voted to include Palestine as a member and now owes about $550 million (€464) in back payments.
The UN agency also came under Israeli and US criticism late last year after it referred to East Jerusalem as "Occupied Palestine" and a criticized "aggression by the Israeli Occupation Authorities" over restrictions imposed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
US officials told the AP news agency that Washington was particularly angry over UNESCO resolutions denying Jewish ties to holy sites and references to Israel as an occupying power.
Critics of UNESCO say its views reflect that of Arab members and its allies, who can outvote pro-Israel members.
The State Department said it would retain a permanent non-member observer mission at the Paris-based body after the withdrawal officially goes into effect on December 31, 2018.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova in a statement expressed "profound regret" at the US decision.
The UN cultural body is best known for its World Heritage program. It also promotes education and culture.
The United States withdrew from UNESCO in the 1980s before rejoining in 2003.
