256. Memorandum From the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (Wallner) to the President’s Special Assistant (Schlesinger)1
SUBJECT
- United Nations Financing
The compromise “package” of resolutions of UN financing sailed through both the 5th Committee and the General Assembly with overwhelming majorities. On the 7 resolutions the favorable votes ranged from a high of 95 to a low of 79. But more significant, the negative votes did not exceed 12; the Soviet Bloc, Cuba, and France. The key vote was on the Principles resolution, 92–11–3 (with 5 absences).
The resolutions covered general principles for the sharing of future peacekeeping operations involving heavy expenditures; the appropriation of $9.5 million and $33.0 million, respectively, for financing the Middle East and Congo operations from January through December 1963; an appeal stressing the essentiality of payment of all the peacekeeping arrears as soon as possible; the extension to December 31, 1963 of the time during which the remainder of $200 million bond authorization can be sold; a request to the Secretary-General to study the “desirability and feasibility” of establishing a peace fund; and the continuation of the Working Group of 21 to study and report in 1964 on equitable sharing of costs among members, other sources of financing, and securing “widest possible agreement among member states on financing.” (The last quote is aimed at getting the United States, Russia and France to get together on a way out of the financing dilemma.)
Our insistence that no general agreement should be adopted that would apply to unknown future operations and our opposition to a “special scale” for peacekeeping by which the United States would be assessed at more than our regular budget percentage were successful (this time). The two resolutions providing funds for the Middle East and Congo operations assess the developed countries at 100% and the “economically less developed countries” at an overall percentage of 52%, of their regular scale rates. (Our hope to assess the LDC’s at 50% was slightly bettered: they had been paying 20% under previous financing schemes.) The U.S. assessed contributions, at 32.02%, will be $13.6 [Page 569] million: for UNEF, $3. million and for the Congo, $10.6 million. A supplemental appropriation request for State’s regular budget will be submitted soon.
The total “shortfall” due to the lesser assessments of LDC’s will be about $3.7 million. 17 Western developed countries (includes U.S., subject to its constitutional processes) have agreed to make up this shortfall through voluntary contributions based on their regular percentage scale relationships. This is especially heartening since only the U.S. and the U.K. (in a minor amount) made voluntary contributions last year. The U.S. voluntary contribution share will be about $2. million. Whether this amount should be contributed in airlift and other services under authority of the United Nations Participation Act—and reimbursement from the UN waived under Presidential determination that it is in the national interest—or whether we should face the Congress directly with an appropriation request as a part of AID Chapter 3 funds must be determined within the next several weeks.
We also managed to find a way which we believe will avoid the accusation that U.S. voluntary contributions are being used to give reductions to communist countries, such as Cuba. The resolutions provided that the voluntary contributions of the developed countries can only be used to match proportionally contributions actually paid in for these assessments by the less developed countries by December 31, 1965. Because the Satellites refuse to pay, Western funds cannot be used to offset their reductions. Any unused voluntary contributions revert to the donor members.
Although the results of the Special Session of the General Assembly are gratifying, agreement has been reached on UN financing for only six months. Many of the same questions, in varying degrees of urgency, will have to be faced again at the General Assembly this fall, in financing UN peacekeeping operations for 1964.