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1 1 (April 20, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govehnd0001 and id is 1 raw text is: C o n gr e s s o n a e s a c S e r i c 0 Updated April 20, 2022 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 2022, the United Nations assessed the U.S. share of U.N. peacekeeping at 26.94%; however, since 1994 Congress has capped the U.S. payment at 25% due to concerns that U.S. assessments are too high. Congress appropriated $1.5 billion to most U.N. peacekeeping activities for FY2022 (up to the 25% cap). Most recently, President Biden's FY2023 budget proposes full U.S. funding for U.N. peacekeeping, including the payment of U.S. peacekeeping arrears. U.N. Peacekeeping Funding The United Nations currently operates 12 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. In recent years, due to concerns about budget shortfalls, the General Assembly has pooled peacekeeping funding to allow 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 26.94%. Other top contributors include China, Japan, and Germany (Table 1). In December 2021, the General Assembly adopted the assessment rates for the 2022-2024 time period. Table 1. Top Financial Contributors to U.N. Peacekeeping, 2022, by Assessment Rate Country Percentage Country Percentage I. United States 26.94 6. France 5.28 2. China 18.68 7. Italy 3.18 3. Japan 8.03 8. Canada 2.62 4. Germany 6.11 9. S. Korea 2.57 5. United Kingdom 5.35 10. Russia 2.28 Rest of membership, total percentage: 81.04 Source: U.N. document, A/76/296/Rev. I/Add. I, December 28, 2021. 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 2021-2022 peacekeeping year is $6.38 billion. Operations with the highest annual budgets are MINUSMA (Mali), at $1.17 billion; UNMISS (South Sudan), at $1.11 billion; and MONUSCO (Democratic Republic of the Congo), at $1.04 billion. U.S. Policy Background and Context: The Enacted U.S. Cap In the early 1990s, the U.S. peacekeeping assessment was over 30%, which Congress found too high. In 1994, Members capped U.S. funding at 25% of the peacekeeping budget 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 by raising the cap for limited periods and/or by allowing the application of U.N. peacekeeping credits (excess U.N. funds from previous missions) to fund outstanding U.S. balances. For many years, these actions allowed the United States to pay its peacekeeping dues 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 led to the accumulation of over $900 million in U.S. arrears from FY2017 to FY2020. In early 2021, President Biden reversed the Trump Administration policy and allowed for the applications of peacekeeping credits beyond the cap. Key Accounts and Recent Funding Levels 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 10 of the 12 U.N. peacekeeping operations, as well as the U.N. criminal tribunals and mission monitoring activities (see Figure 1). 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. https ://crsreports.congr

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