Today I have signed H.R. 12934, which makes appropriations for the Departments of State, Justice, and Commerce, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies.

Although I have signed this appropriation bill, I strongly oppose a provision which compromises this government's ability to fulfill its legally binding financial obligations to the United Nations and its specialized agencies. The Congress has enacted unacceptable prohibitory language in reducing the appropriation for "Contributions to International Organizations" by declaring that no part of the appropriation "may be made available for furnishing of technical assistance by the United Nations or any of its specialized agencies." If allowed to stand, this action would cause the United States to violate its treaty obligations to support the organizations of the United Nations system. Withholding of, or assigning conditions to, U.S. contributions to assessed budgets of these organizations would make it virtually impossible for these organizations to accept such contributions, would seriously impair their financial and political viability and is contrary to the policy of collective financial responsibility continuously advocated by this government since establishment of the United Nations system.

This precedent would also weaken the ability of organizations of the United Nations to withstand efforts by other governments to impede their effective work. The United States has consistently opposed the Soviet Union's withholding of its assessed contributions to those programs of the United Nations which the Soviet Union has found politically unpalatable. Our efforts to stem such politicization of organizations of the United Nations would be severely weakened if the action of the Congress is allow to stand.

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Accordingly, I intend to recommend promptly to the,. Congress the restoration of funds for this appropriation and the elimination of the language which jeopardizes our ability to support these international organizations. will be important that the Congress respond positively to my recommendation, so this government can meet its clear obligations under the United Nations Charter and related treaties.

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OBLIGATION TO PAY ASSESSMENTS

Mr. SLACK. Mr. Maynes, it is alleged that the United States has a mandatory legal obligation to pay assessed contributions to the United Nations organizations. Would you give us some specifics on this requirement, please.

Mr. MAYNES. Yes, Mr. Chairman. When we joined these organizations, we accepted provisions in the constitutions which made it a treaty obligation to meet our assessment to the organizations.

In the case of the United Nations itself, Article XVII-2 of the charter provides "The expenses of the organization shall be borne by the members as apportioned by the General Assembly."

The ratification of the UN Charter was advised by the Senate of the United States on July 29, 1945. Therefore the United States has a legal obligation to pay its share of the expenses of that organization. We have similar Congressional action, Senate advice and consent to ratification, of the other organic statutes, for the specialized agencies.

Mr. SLACK. I gather from what you have just said that the Congress has no choice but to appropriate whatever sums are assessed by these organizations. Is that a fair statement?

Mr. MAYNES. Mr. Chairman, theoretically that might be so. But in fact there is a considerable amount of influence which the United States and other member states have over the budget of the organization.

Initially, in the case of the UN itself, a two-thirds vote is required to adopt the budget of the UN. Secondly, although a majority of members of the UN may pay only a small share of the budget, in fact it represents a significant obligation to them in terms of their own economic position.

I must say the United States was heartened to see, at the General Assembly, a number of developing countries for the first time in many years speak out in favor of budget restraint by the UN. The Cameroons, Guatemala, Indonesia, Mexico and Morocco all made statements in the General Assembly urging the Secretary General to take steps leading to budget restraint.

Finally the United States has the option, if the budget does become uncontrollable from our point of view, of reassessing the advantages and disadvantages of membership in the organization itself.

PENALTIES FOR NON-PAYMENT OF DUES

Mr. SLACK. What penalties will the United States suffer if it fails to pay its dues?

Mr. MAYNES. The most immediate is that we will suffer the penalty of the loss of vote in several of the organizations. There are seven of them where this will be a mandatory action of the organization. In three cases it is permissive.

In the case of two organizations, the International Telecommunication Union and the Universal Postal Union, there are provisions for charging interest on overdue assessments.

In the longer run, the penalty that we will pay will be a signficant decline in U.S. influence in order to achieve some of our objectives in these organizations. I might give just one example.

The International Telecommunication Union this year is having a major conference which is going to determine radio frequencies for the rest of this century. This country has $5 billion [worth of] communications equipment exports.

There is probably no conference that is going to take place this year which is more important to the national interests of this country, both commercially and from the standpoint of defense. Yet we are going into that conference without being able to pay our full assessment before it convenes. It is precisely the wrong time for us to be risking a loss of our influence in that organization and in that conference.

Mr. SLACK. How long must you be in arrears before you are denied a vote?

Mr. MAYNES. It varies by organization. In most of these organizations we will lose our vote as of January 1, 1981. In some cases it will be January 1, 1980.

PROHIBITION ON USE OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FUNDS

Mr. SLACK. With respect to the prohibition on the use of funds for technical assistance, why don't these organizations just accept the funds and agree not to spend the moneys from the United States for these technical assistance purposes?

Mr. MAYNES. Mr. Chairman, they have provisions in their constitutions and their financial regulations which prevent them from accepting conditional funds. The action that our government has taken is unprecedented in the UN system, and for both legal and programmatic reasons the organizations are unable to accept these funds.

Mr. SLACK. Have any of the funds appropriated for FY 1979 been paid to the UN or its specialized agencies?

Mr. MAYNES. No, sir.

Mr. SLACK. What attempts have been made to advise them of Congressional concern over technical assistance funding?

Mr. MAYNES. Mr. Chairman, we have made several attempts. We have written all of the heads of the specialized agencies, calling attention to the prohibition on the use of U.S. funds for technical assistance which the Congress imposed last year.

We have received answers from the heads of the specialized agencies. They have replied that they are unable to accept funds under those conditions.

In addition, we have tried to address the substance of the issue. The administration's policy position is that the UN Development Program should be the primary and central source of funding for technical assistance in the UN system.

As I indicated in my statement, we have taken the position in the specialized agencies that they should keep existing assessed budget technical assistance programs at minimum levels, that they should avoid the introduction of new programs, except under exceptional adjustments circumstances, that they should transfer where appropriate existing funds to other agencies, particularly UNDP, utilizing voluntary funding.

At the same time, however, we have tried to take into account our own national interests in the technical assistance programs of these agencies. I think probably the most dramatic example is the World

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Health Organization, which for thirty years has funded its technical assistance programs out of the assessed budget, with our strong support, and with major benefits to this country.

Of course, the most dramatic example of the program of that agency benefitting this country is the control and eradication of smallpox, which saves us more than we have contributed to the organization since 1945.

I might point out in that regard the advantage of funding programs which provide global benefits through the assessed budgets.

In the case of the World Health Organization's smallpox program everybody benefits if smallpox is eliminated. If we fund the program through the World Health Organization's assessed budget everybody shares the cost, e.g., the Soviet Union's share of the WHO budget and that program is about eleven percent.

If it were funded through the voluntary programs, its share would be about one percent. We think it is in the U.S. interest, that programs where everybody benefits, everybody pays.

U.N. CHARTERS PROVIDING FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE

Mr. SLACK. Mr. Secretary, which United Nations agency statutes or charters provide for technical assistance being funded from assessed budgets?

Mr. MAYNES. There are five that explicitly do, Mr. Chairman. The World Health Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the Universal Postal Union.

In addition, the UN charter itself has provisions which make it clear that technical assistance in the assessed budget would be an appropriate activity of that organization.

In none of the organizations, with the exception of the International Maritime Consultative Organization, is there an explicit prohibition against the use of assessed budget funding for technical assistance.

U.N. AGENCIES TO RECEIVE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FUNDS

Mr. SLACK. Would you please insert at this point in the record a breakdown of the $27,716,000 portion of your request by agency? Mr. MAYNES. We will be happy to, Mr. Chairman.

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