American Refugee Committee Urges Congress, Presidential Candidates To Support UN Funding

American Refugee Committee
Monday, 13 March 2000

The American Refugee Committee (ARC) today urged Congress to ensure that the United States stands by its financial commitments to the United Nations at a time of mounting humanitarian crises.

"We also call on the U.S. presidential candidates to demonstrate their support for the UN and for its peacekeeping missions, which can play a critical role in bringing stability to war-ravaged regions," ARC President Anthony Kozlowski said.

ARC and about 50 other organizations have signed a letter to members of Congress asking them to include enough money in the Fiscal Year 2001 budget to fully fund U.S. assessments for the UN's regular budget, peacekeeping operations and affiliated agencies.

The Administration has requested $739 million for the estimated U.S. share of UN peacekeeping missions - a significant increase over the current year. The money would help support operations in Kosovo, East Timor, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Administration has also requested $107 million in supplemental contributions to UN missions in Kosovo and East Timor for FY 2000.

"We work every day with hundreds of thousands of people who have suffered the consequences of violent conflicts across the world," Kozlowski said. "We believe a strong UN can help avert some of these crises and, when prevention fails, its peacekeeping missions can bring enough stability to allow the local population to rebuild their societies."

Kozlowski urged the presidential candidates to support UN funding in a bipartisan way. "Just as they did during the Cold War, the two major parties should work together to support a critical U.S. foreign policy goal supported by the majority of the American people - in this case, giving the United Nations enough resources to help maintain global peace and security."

BACKGROUND

ARC is one of about 50 organizations that have signed a letter to members of Congress, who are now considering budget priorities for FY 2001 budget, about UN funding.

The letter says that with sufficient resources and authority, the UN can help to prevent disputes from escalating to violence -and that peacekeeping missions can help "restore the basic elements of functioning civil societies in former war zones.

It notes that while the UN's record of success in peacekeeping has been mixed, "the UN is only as strong and effective as its members will allow it to be in any given situation.

"However, overall, UN peacekeeping missions have served the U.S., in particular, quite well by sharing the political responsibility, financial costs, and other burdens of maintaining global peace and security.

The letter urges Congress to "provide sufficient funds to fulfill our government's promise to the UN." It says that could encourage other countries to share the burden of new peacekeeping missions and help the U.S.-led effort to revise the UN's assessment rates for itself and other countries.

ARC

The American Refugee Committee works for the survival, health, and well-being of refugees, displaced persons, and those at risk, and seeks to enable them to rebuild productive lives of dignity and purpose, striving always to respect the values of those served. ARC is an international nonprofit, non-sectarian organization providing multisectoral humanitarian assistance and training to more than one million people in Africa, Asia and Europe.

For more information, or to contact American Refugee Committee, see their website at: www.archq.org