The Tamesis
As the world processes the horrific news that ICE agents shot and killed an American civilian on the streets of Minneapolis on Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s administration is withdrawing the United States from 66 international organizations, conventions and treaties, including 31 United Nations-affiliated organizations. Some are dedicated to arts, culture, historic preservation and free speech.
The withdrawal was announced in a presidential memorandum, which stated that the organizations were “contrary to the interests of the United States.” The president has asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to conduct a review in a February 2025 executive order. Rubio asserted that many organizations are “dominated by progressive ideology.”
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In addition to organizations working on climate change, counter-terrorism, sustainable development, justice and the rule of law, there are cultural institutions such as the International Center for the Study of the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies (IFACCA), the International Center for the Study of the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, the Alliance for Freedom Online and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.
ICCROM and IFACCA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reactions varied, depending on whether they came from Trump’s critics or his allies.
“This is ridiculous and dangerous, reckless and malicious,” Nina Schwalbe, a senior scholar at the Georgetown Center for Global Policy and Politics, told NPR. The report also quoted U.N. expert Brett Schaefer of the center-right American Enterprise Institute, who “would like to see the U.S. withdraw from more organizations.”
Artists from Risk Connection, an international organization dedicated to promoting and advancing the right to artistic freedom around the world, issued a statement on Thursday expressing “deep concern” about the decision.
“At a time when artists around the world face escalating censorship, digital surveillance, forced displacement and gender-based violence, international collaboration is critical,” said Julie Trébault, executive director of Artists at Risk Connection. “The United States’ breakaway from institutions that uphold free speech, artistic freedom, cultural rights, and the rule of law weakens the global protective framework that artists and cultural workers rely on.
“The erosion of multilateral safeguards has real and immediate consequences for artists, exiles, women artists and others facing censorship, surveillance or violence who are at immediate risk,” Trebo said. “The vacuum created by this withdrawal also provides space for dictators to further suppress artists and cultural workers around the world.”
ARC noted that the latest round of withdrawals continues the Trump administration’s isolationist pattern, withdrawing from UNESCO, the UN Human Rights Council, the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement.
