Summary

To reduce its arrears and avoid losing the right to vote in the U.N. General Assembly, the United States will need to pay about $153 million in addition to the $508 million that the State Department now expects to pay before the end of 1999. The United States risks losing its vote in the General Assembly in January 2000 because the sum of its assessed contributions for the last two years--the "yardstick" for measuring U.S. arrears when applying Article 19--had declined each year since 1996. This decline largely reflects a decrease in assessments for U.N. peacekeeping operations since 1995. In essence, the United States now faces the loss of its right to vote in the General Assembly because its assessed contributions are substantially less than in 1996 while its arrears have stayed about the same. This explains why, with basically the same level of arrears as in past years, the United States narrowly avoided losing its right to vote on January 1, 1999. U.N. records show that U.S. arrears for regular budget, international tribunals and peacekeeping operations totaled $1,294 million on January 1, 1999. Of this amount, the United States has refused to pay $472 million--about 36 percent--for legislative and policy reasons. The United Nations reported in February 1999 that 44 of the 185 U.N. members had arrears equaling or exceeding their assessed contributions for the preceding two full years as of January 1, 1999. As of mid-May, six of these members had paid enough to regain their right to vote in the General Assembly; eight others were allowed to vote temporarily because their failure to pay was judged to be due to conditions beyond their control, such as civil wars or natural disasters. The remaining 30 members lost the right to vote in the General Assembly.

GAO noted that: (1) the United States will need to pay about $153 million in addition to the $508 million that the Department of State anticipates paying before the end of 1999 to reduce its arrears sufficiently to avoid losing its right to vote in the General Assembly on January 1, 2000; (2) GAO's estimate reflects the difference between projected U.S. arrears on that date of $1,435 million and projected assessed contributions for 1998 and 1999 of $1,282 million; (3) anticipated U.S. payments during 1999 consist of $3 million from fiscal year (FY) 1998 funds, $301 million from FY 1999 funds, and $204 million from FY 2000 funds; (4) State has requested congressional authorization to reprogram $66 million of FY 1999 funds to pay expected additional assessments for the U.N. peacekeeping operations in Kosovo and East Timor recently authorized by the U.N. Security Council; (5) payment of this amount would reduce GAO's estimates of the needed additional U.S payment to $87 million; (6) changes in these assumptions or U.N. financial needs during the remainder of 1999, particularly changes in the amount of peacekeeping assessments that the United States pays, would affect GAO's estimate; (7) the United States faces the loss of its vote in the General Assembly in January 2000 because the sum of its assessed contributions for the prior 2 years has declined each year since 1996; (8) this decline largely reflects a decrease in assessments for U.N. peacekeeping operations since 1995; (9) in essence, the United States now faces the loss of its right to vote in the General Assembly because its assessed contributions are substantially less than in 1996 while its arrears have remained about the same; (10) this explains why, with basically the same level of arrears as in past years, the United States narrowly avoided losing its right to vote on January 1, 1999, and will lose its right to vote on January 1, 2000, unless it reduces its arrears; (11) in February 1999, the United Nations reported that 44 of 185 U.N. members had arrears equaling or exceeding their assessed contributions for the preceding 2 full years as of January 1, 1999; (12) as of mid-May, six of these members had paid enough to regain their right to vote in the U.N. General Assembly, and eight others were permitted to vote temporarily, because their failure to pay was judged be due to conditions beyond their control; and (13) the remaining 30 members lost the right to vote in the General Assembly.