About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (February 9, 2017)

handle is hein.crs/govebwa0001 and id is 1 raw text is: C o g e s o a R esearc S ervU 0 February 9, 2017 United Nations Issues: U.S. Funding of U.N. Peacekeeping Operations The United States is the single largest financial contributor to U.N. peacekeeping activities, contributing 28.47% of total funding (about $2.8 billion in FY2016). Congress authorizes and appropriates U.S. contributions, and has demonstrated 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 the establishment, renewal, and funding of U.N. peacekeeping missions. U.N. Peacekeeping Funding Operations and budget. The United Nations currently operates 16 U.N. peacekeeping missions worldwide, with about 120,000 military, police, and civilian personnel from more than 120 contributing countries. The Security Council adopts a resolution to establish each operation and specifies how it will be funded. In most cases, the Council authorizes the U.N. General Assembly to create a separate assessed account for each operation to be supported by member states contributions. Table I. Top Financial Contributors to U.N. Peacekeeping, 201 7 Country Percent Country Percent I. United States 28.47 6. United Kingdom 5.77 2. China 10.25 7. Russia 3.99 3. Japan 9.68 8. Italy 3.75 4. Germany 6.39 9. Canada 2.92 5. France 6.28 10. Spain 2.44 Source: U.N. document, A/70/33I/Add. I, December 28, 2015. Note: Italics represent permanent Security Council members. U.N. members voluntarily provide the military and police personnel for each mission. Peacekeepers are paid by their own governments, which are reimbursed by the United Nations at a standard rate determined by the Assembly (about $1,332 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 accumulated approved budget for U.N. peacekeeping operations for 2016-2017 is about $7.87 billion. Operations with the highest annual budgets are MONUSCO (Democratic Republic of the Congo) at $1.23 billion, UNAMID (Darfur, Sudan) at $1.04 billion, and UNMISS (South Sudan) at $1.08 billion. Scale of assessments. The General Assembly adopts the scale of assessments for U.N. member contributions to peacekeeping operations every three years. The scale is based on a modification of the U.N. regular budget scale, with the five permanent Security Council members assessed at a higher level than for the regular budget. The United States is assessed at 22% of the U.N. regular budget; however, its current peacekeeping assessment is 28.47%. Other top contributors include China, Japan, Germany, and France (see Table 1). US. Contributions U.S. Assessment Level and Cap. U.S. policymakers have long debated the U.S. assessment level for U.N. peacekeeping operations. In the early 1990s, the U.S. rate of assessment was over 30%-a level that many policymakers found to be too high. Accordingly, in 1995 Congress set a limit, or cap, of 25% for the payment of U.S. assessed contributions to U.N. peacekeeping operations. The 25% cap remains U.S. law; from calendar years 2001 to 2012, Congress included provisions in annual State/Foreign Operations appropriations at the full U.N. peacekeeping assessment rate for each of those years. Since FY2012, Congress authorized payment with appropriated funds at the calendar year 2012 U.N. assessment rate (27.14%), even though the assessed rate increased in calendar years 2013 through 2016. Opponents of the cap contend that the United States is obligated under the U.N. Charter to pay its dues, and that failing to do so could impact the effectiveness of U.N. peacekeeping operations and possibly limit the United States' influence within the U.N. system. On the other hand, supporters maintain that other nations can and should pay more for U.N. peacekeeping operations and the cap might play a role in preventing the General Assembly from significantly increasing U.N. peacekeeping budgets. Key accounts and recent funding levels. U.S. assessed contributions to U.N. peacekeeping operations are provided through three accounts funded in annual State Department/Foreign Operations appropriations acts. * The Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA) account is the primary funding mechanism for U.N. peacekeeping assessed expenses, currently providing contributions to 14 peacekeeping operations and two international criminal tribunals. * The Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) account, which funds most non-U.N. multilateral peacekeeping and regional stability operations, provides authority and funds to pay the assessed expenses for the U.N. Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS). * The Contributions to International Organizations (CIO) account funds two observer missions, UNTSO (Israel https:i/crsreports.congress.go

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most