July 6, 1998: Germany makes a payment of $51 million, the second installment of its regular budget assessment for 1998. Germany becomes the 81st country to have paid in full for the year, compared to only 73 on the same date last year.
July 13, 1998: The "Group of 77" developing nations and China, tells the Economic and Social Council that the tragic shortfall between the growing demands of the UN system for operational activities and the diminishing level of available financial resources is the central dilemma facing the entire development cooperation process. Unless the bleak situation is rectified, it says, the goals and objectives of the UN development programmes will have to be drastically reduced. On the same day, the Spokesman for the Secretary General, Fred Eckhard, discusses Sierra Leone and the possible approval of a seventeenth concurrent UN peacekeeping mission there. In past years, the peak deployment for United Nations forces was 78,744 troops in 17 missions, in July 1993. The budget for peacekeeping at that time was over $3 billion, compared with the current 15,000 troops and a budget of less than $1 billion.
July 15, 1998: A House Appropriations Committee report says that arrears payments for $475 million cannot be released unless reforms are undertaken reducing US contributions to the regular budget to 22%. The UN currently assesses the US at 25% based on its share of the world economy. A recently-available copy of a Senate bill makes payment contingent on an even greater reduction to 20%. Based on the current session of the UN General Assembly's budget committee, these reforms are not likely to go into effect in the near term, making the payment of arrears even more unlikely. On the same day, in a speech to the Uruguayan Parliament, the Secretary General cites the contributions of small states to the UN regular budget. "The big Powers may seem to be the only important players, with the top eight contributors accounting for nearly three quarters of the budget. But quite a different picture emerges when one considers the regular budget and UN system funding in per capita terms…[where many small states] give well out of proportion to their size."
July 20, 1998: In a report to the Security Council regarding the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, the Secretary General draws attention to the serious shortfall in funding for the 4,480-member Force. Unpaid assessments amounted to $103.5 million, he said, appealing to all Member States to pay their assessments promptly.
July 21, 1998: The Senate Appropriations Committee approves its version of the FY1999 foreign assistance appropriations bill recommending US contributions at $270 million, $44 million less than the Clinton administration's request and $24.5 million less than last year. The latest figures from the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations recommends $57 million below the President's request and $34 million less than last year. The House Subcommittee would delete $25 million that the Administration requested for the UN Population Fund, presumably because of resumed programs in China. The Senate bill also approves cuts in regional peacekeeping contributions recommending $69 million, in comparison to a requested $83 million. The cuts are a result of reduced contributions to the African Regional Peacekeeping account.
July 23, 1998: The Senate passes the FY 1999 State Department Appropriations bill (S.2260) after deleting a potentially damaging provision that would have reduced US-UN peacekeeping arrears by 25% of the total expenditure for US military mobilization in support of UN weapon's inspections in Iraq. Senator Joseph Biden worked with Senate leadership and the support of the Clinton Administration to strike the provision. Commenting on the funding that was passed in the bill, for contributions to the UN and other international organizations, the Clinton Administration notes that it "significantly underfunds, by about $75 million, the annual assessed contributions to these [international] organizations [and peacekeeping]."
July 27, 1998: A Spokesman for the Secretary General announces that the United States has made a payment of $23 million toward its peacekeeping assessment, leaving $72 million due for 1998 out of a total $943 million due including peacekeeping arrears
July 29, 1998: The London-based Financial Times begins a series on dubious financial practices in the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, a major humanitarian assistance agency. The series documents a number of dubious financial practices that have resulted in waste of millions of dollars. In the days to come, UNHCR vigorously defends its practices, but the series shows the lack of tight financial controls and the problem of responding to multiple emergencies in a way that is sufficiently fiscally sound.
Late August 1998: Secretary General Kofi Annan issues his annual report on the work of the UN. The report notes, among other things, the elimination of close to 1,000 posts and a budget "that has been reduced to less than that of the previous biennium."
August 5, 1998: Two amendments to FY 1999 State Department appropriations, seeking to strike payments of $475 million toward UN arrears are voted down in the House of Representatives. The amendments are based on the notion that the US does not owe the amounts claimed by the UN. Rosco Bartlett, who sponsored the amendments, proclaims that the amount owed to the US for peacekeeping operations heavily outweighs that owed by the US to the UN.
September 2, 1998: Sens. Rod Grams (R-MN) and Joseph R. Biden (D-DE) are appointed to serve as US delegates for the 53rd Session of the UN General Assembly, which runs from 9 September through mid-December, 1998. In a statement released by his office, Grams outlines "reform goals" for the UN. He says he plans to work with the UN in developing a no-growth budget and eliminating or consolidating "ineffective management structures." Grams also reaffirms the US role as a world power in the international organization, and says he plans to continue his work with the Senate and the Administration to pursue repayment of US arrears due to the UN.
September 21, 1998: President Bill Clinton, speaking at the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York, largely avoids the financial issue. He affirmed US "strong support" for UNDP, the UN High Commissioners for Human Rights and Refugees, UNICEF and the World Food Program and he refers in passing to "the importance of all countries, including the US, in paying their fair share" of UN dues. Clinton is welcomed by delegates with warm applause, but his presidency is seriously weakened by scandal and possible impeachment proceedings. On the same day the New York Times runs a story by UN columnist Barbara Crossette entitled "Darkest Hour at U.N. for Biggest Deadbeat."
September 22, 1998: The Chicago Tribune runs an editorial entitled "The World's Biggest Deadbeat." The situation is embarrassing and intolerable," the editors write. Concluding: "both Clinton and Congress, before it recesses next month, had better figure out a way to pay our bills, or the U.S. will be sitting on the sidelines."
September 30, 1998: Eleven former officials in Republican administrations call on Congress and the Clinton administration to set aside differences and pay the US back dues to the UN. Former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci and former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh are among the signatories of a statement and presented it at a news conference in Washington. Other signatories include former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft. A survey issued at the news conference by Wirthlin Worldwide polling organization shows broad public support for paying the dues.
October 7, 1998: Press Briefing on the UN Financial Situation by USG Connor
October 15, 1998: The US Congress finally agrees on its budget for the 1999 fiscal year, but "not a penny" is earmarked for the $1.6 billion debt owed to the UN. CNN: UN Budget Plan Excludes Money for UN Debt
October 16, 1998: Kofi Annan, in a speech to Empower America, said that the US will likely "squeak by" with the minimum contribution required to maintain their vote in the General Assembly, but that the US was undermining its claim to international leadership by not paying its UN debt. Annan did, however, praise the decision to fully fund the IMF with a $17.9 billion allotment.
October 21, 1998: As expected, US President Bill Clinton vetoes a measure to pay $1 billion in back dues to the UN because the bill contains an amendment that would have barred Federal spending for international family-planning organizations that address abortion policies. In a statement, Secretary General Kofi Annan comments bitterly on how the US Administration has failed once again to deliver on funding for arrears owed to the UN -- despite all of the reforms the UN has undertaken to comply with Congress.
October 22, 1998: The New York Times reports on the Clinton veto of the $1 billion UN arrears legislation. In an article placed next to that report, the Times runs a story entitled "Big Cash Infusion Aims to Rebuild Anemic C.I.A." about how the CIA budget will be increased by about $2.5 billion. Reporting on a speech by CIA Director George Tenet recently made public, the Times reports that "He pledged 'to mount increasingly complex and expensive operations' to steal secrets. He vowed to build up the agency's clandestine service of spies, open more overseas stations, undertake more covert operations, hire more in-house experts, buy faster and better computers, and bring in a new generation of recruits." So much for Washington's priorities!
October 23, 1998: The Third Worldwide Vigil takes place in 43 cities worldwide, protesting against the UN's financial crisis. At the vigil in New York City, across from UN Headquarters, Assistant Secretary General Gillian M. Sorensen delivers a message from the Secretary General, while at the Vigil in Washington, held in Lafayette Park across from the White House, Actor Michael Douglas is one of several prominent speakers. Vigils are held in Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Calcutta, Accra, Santo Domingo, eight cities in Canada and many cities across the United States.
October 28, 1998: The UN Fifth (Budget) Committee considers requests by Bosnia Herzegovina, Congo and Iraq for exemption to UN Charter Article 19 due to their inability to pay their dues. On discussions over the assessment scale for apportioning expenses, speakers point to the importance of considering a country's true ability to pay. Suggestions to shorten the base period for case by case assessments are made, while the contrary opinion maintains that this would cause many more states to fall under article 19.
November 4, 1998: Under Secretary General Joseph Connor gives a Press Briefing in which he reviews the financial situation. He announces that the United States today paid $197 million, and that its total payments to both regular and peacekeeping budgets for the year have amounted to $586 million. Though it still owes $1.28 billion, the US will now not fall under Charter Article 19, that would deny it a vote in the General Assembly. As a result of the US payment, Connor makes a revised estimate of the UN's regular budget deficit at yearend: from the previous estimate of $287 million to a new estimate of $50 million.
November 6, 1998: The United States is defeated for the second consecutive year in its bid for a seat in the ACABQ (UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions). The main reason for this result is clearly the US refusal to pay its debt to the UN. Considering that the US mounted a vigorous election campaign, the vote is very lopsided. With four candidates running for two seats in the "Western Europe and Other" group, the US manages to garner only 55 votes, vs. 105 for the high-vote-getter, the candidate of the United Kingdom. The German and Italian candidates both get 92 votes. (The Italian eventually wins in a runoff with 105 votes.) The total valid votes were 177 in these elections.
December 21, 1998: UNA-USA Chairman Luers and Vice Chairman Whitehead write a letter urging President Clinton to include funds for the UN's Educational, Social, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in his budget. The two point to the importance of this body in promoting tolerance and peace and in preventing religious and ethnic war.
