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1 1 (November 02, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdclj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: * ~ ~ tiE>sct~rch $3c ~ .................... Updated November 2, 2020 United Nations Issues: U.S. Funding of U.N. Peacekeeping The United States is the single largest financial contributor to United Nations (U.N.) peacekeeping activities. Congress authorizes and appropriates U.S. contributions, and it has an ongoing interest in ensuring such funding is used as efficiently and effectively as possible. The United States, as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, plays a key role in establishing, renewing, and funding U.N. peacekeeping operations. For 2020, the United Nations assessed the U.S. share of U.N. peacekeeping budgets at 27.89%; however, since 1994 Congress has capped the U.S. payment at 25% due to concerns that U.S. assessments are too high. For FY2021, the Trump Administration proposed $1.07 billion for U.N. peacekeeping, a 29% decrease from the enacted FY2020 level of $1.52 billion. U..N. Peacekep gFurding The United Nations currently operates 13 U.N. peacekeeping missions worldwide, with more than 80,000 military, police, and civilian personnel from over 100 countries. The Security Council adopts a resolution to establish each operation and specifies how it will be funded. Historically, the Council has authorized the U.N. General Assembly to create a separate assessed account for each operation to be supported by member states contributions. Recently, due to concerns about budget shortfalls, the Generally Assembly has temporarily allowed peacekeeping funding to be pooled for increased financial flexibility. The General Assembly adopts the scale of assessments for U.N. member contributions to peacekeeping operations every three years. The peacekeeping scale is based on a modification of the U.N. regular budget scale, with the five permanent council members assessed at a higher level than for the regular budget. For example, the United States is assessed at 22% of the regular budget; however, its current peacekeeping assessment is 27.89%. Other top contributors include China, Japan, and Germany (Table 1). Table I. Top Financial Contributors to U.N. Peacekeeping, 2020, by Assessment Rate Country Percent Country Percent I. United States 27.89 6. France 5.61 2. China 15.22 7. Italy 3.31 3. Japan 8.56 8. Russia 3.05 4. Germany 6.09 9. Canada 2.73 5. United Kingdom 5.79 10. S. Korea 2.27 Rest of Membership, Total Percent: 19.48 Source: U.N. document, A/73/350/Add. I, December 24, 2018. Note: Italics represent permanent Security Council members. U.N. members voluntarily provide military and police personnel for each U.N. mission. Peacekeepers are paid by their own governments, which are reimbursed by the United Nations at a standard rate determined by the Assembly (about $1,428 per soldier per month).The U.N. peacekeeping financial year runs from July 1 to June 30; the Assembly usually adopts resolutions to finance peacekeeping missions in late June. The total approved budget for the 2020-2021 peacekeeping year is $6.58 billion. Operations with the highest annual budgets are MINUSMA (Mali), at $1.18 billion; UNMISS (South Sudan), at $1.17 billion; and MONUSCO (Democratic Republic of the Congo), at $1.07 billion. U.S Po c akgroud an~d C fltext: Th EnXacted U., Cap In the early 1990s, the U.S. peacekeeping assessment was over 30%, which many Members of Congress found too high. In 1994, Congress set a 25% cap on funding for all fiscal years after 1995 (P.L. 103-236). Over the years, the gap between the actual U.S. assessment and the cap led to funding shortfalls. The State Department and Congress often covered these shortfalls by raising the cap for limited periods and allowing for the application of U.N. peacekeeping credits (excess U.N. funds from previous missions) to fund outstanding U.S. balances. For several years, these actions allowed the United States to pay its peacekeeping assessments in full. However, since FY2017 Congress has declined to raise the cap, and in mid-2017, the Trump Administration allowed for the application of peacekeeping credits up to, but not beyond, the 25% cap which has led to the accumulation of over $900 million in U.S. arrears from FY2017 to FY2020. U.S. assessed contributions to U.N. peacekeeping operations are provided primarily through the Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA) account, which is funded through annual State Department-Foreign Operations (SFOPS) appropriations acts. CIPA funds 11 of the 13 U.N. peacekeeping operations, as well as the U.N. criminal tribunals and mission monitoring and evaluation activities. In addition to CIPA, the Contributions to International Organizations (CIO) account funds two observer missions, UNTSO (Israel and the Palestinians) and UNMOGIP (India and Pakistan), through U.S. contributions to the U.N. regular budget. The Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) account, which funds most non-U.N. peacekeeping and regional stability operations, provides assessed contributions to the U.N. Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS), a U.N.-authorized logistics mission that supports the African Union Mission in Somalia. (The executive branch generally requests UNSOS funding through CIPA; however, Congress usually funds UNSOS through PKO.) For FY2021, the President requested $1.07 billion for U.N. peacekeeping through the CIPA account, a 29% decrease from the enacted FY2020 level of $1.52 billion (Figure 1). In its request, the Administration highlighted its L N \ \I \N,\ \\ \ \ Q\\ \\\ \\\

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