One of the ABA's primary goals is to advance the rule of law in the world. In furtherance of that goal, the ABA strongly supports adequate funding for international organizations that promote democratization and the development of the rule of law - in particular, the ABA supports the prompt payment of the United States' obligations to the United Nations for its general assessments and peacekeeping expenses.

During the 106th Congress, legislation was enacted to authorize the repayment of U.S arrears owed to the United Nations. The measure, commonly referred to as the Helms-Biden agreement, authorizes $926 over three years - the payment of $819 million of debt the U.S. owes the U.N. and the forgiveness of $107 million the U.N. owes the U.S. The payment plan authorized the release of the arrears in three stages upon certification that certain reforms have been enacted by the U.N. and requires the U.N. to accept the $926 million package as full repayment for the approximately $1.56 billion it has assessed in U.S. arrears. The first payment of $100 million was made in the fall of 2000. The second payment of $582 million was authorized on October 5, 2001 (P.L. No. 107-46) after the U.N. revised the scales of assessment for dues - reducing the U.S. share of the regular budget to 22 percent and of the peacekeeping budget to 26 percent, over three years. The final payment of $244 million was authorized on September 30, 2002 (P.L. No. 107-228). The legislation also released an additional $78 million to cover a shortfall in recent peacekeeping payments, raises the cap on U.S. contributions to U.N. peacekeeping missions, authorizes the U.S. to pay its dues on time for the first time in 20 years, and authorizes funds that will allow the U.S. to rejoin the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

A number of continuing budget practices have once again placed the U.S. in a position of incurring significant arrearages to the United Nations and UN specialized agencies.

1. Insufficient Funding for Contributions to International Organizations (CIO) and Contributions to International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA). These accounts provide funding to pay US assessed dues to 45 treaty-based agencies, including the UN, the World Health Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency and NATO, as well as for peacekeeping costs. The Administration should request, and Congress should appropriate, sufficient funding to allow the U.S. to is assessed dues in full.

2. Late Payment of Dues. In addition to the insufficient funding provided for CIO and CIPA, the U.S. fails to pay its assessments to many of the agencies until nearly a year after they are due. Without the U.S. dues - nearly 1/4 of the operating budget - the UN must borrow internally from its peacekeeping accounts, which means that countries that contribute to peacekeeping missions aren't reimbursed on a timely basis. Other countries have also begun to follow the U.S.'s example, and not pay their dues at the time of assessment. To put our payment schedule back on track, the U.S. could either make a lump payment through an advance appropriation, or incrementally increase each year's payments over several years.

3. 25% Cap on Peacekeeping Dues. Legislation enacted in the mid-1990’s caps the amount of funding for US contributions to UN peacekeeping expenses at 25%. However, under a scale of assessments agreed to by UN member states in 2000, the U.S. is assessed approximately 26% of peacekeeping expenses. While the cap has been temporarily adjusted in some years, in others it has not, resulting in an annual gap of approximately $150-200 million between US assessed and paid expenses. Congress needs to enact legislation to permanently repeal the 25% cap.

Fiscal Year 2009 Funding
President Bush requested $39.8 billion in FY 2009 funding for the International Affairs account. On 7/17/08, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY 2009 State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations bill with $36.6 billion in funding for the International Affairs budget. The House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs approved its version of the bill on 7/16/08, also providing $36.6 billion in funding. This amount, when combined with the proposed $1.3 billion for the International Food Aid Programs (through the Agriculture Appropriations bill) and $300 for the Global AIDS Fund (through the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill) totals $38.2 billion. While this amount is $1.6 billion lower than the request, it is a 4% increase over the total funding enacted for FY 2008.

On September 30, 2008, President Bush signed into law legislation to provide continued funding for most government agencies and programs at FY08 levels thorough March 6, 2009. This legislation, H.R. 2638, Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, but often referred to simply as the “continuing resolution,” also contained three completed FY09 bills which provide funding for the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. The remainder of the FY09 funding bills, including the Foreign Operations bill, will be taken up, likely in an omnibus appropriations package, early in 2009.

The ABA supports funding the international affairs amount at or above the $39.8 billion level requested by the President, and supports increased funding for democratization and rule of law programs. On March 20, 2008, , then-ABA President William H. Neukom submitted a statement (PDF) to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs. Neukom noted that programs that promote the rule of law abroad are a sound investment of U.S. dollars that enhance the national security and economic prosperity of the U.S., as well as of the emerging democracies themselves. He urged the subcommittee to increase the overall amount of funding available for agencies and programs that support international rule of law initiatives and, specifically, for the ABA’s international technical legal assistance projects.

• Payment of U.N. Assessments
  Payment of assessed contributions to the UN is a legal obligation owed by all member states under Article 17 of the UN Charter. It is inconsistent with that legal obligation to condition payment of U.S. assessments on either reform or reorganization at the United Nations, or to link payment to restrictions on funding for specific programs.
  
  Failure to pay our financial obligations damages U.S. political credibility and marginalizes U.S. influence on the very reforms it seeks to implement at the U.N. If we fail to pay our assessed contributions, we do grave damage to our ability to insist that other countries abide by their international agreements, undermine our leadership role in strengthening human rights and erode the nation's commitment to expanding the rule of law in the world.
• United Nations Development Program
  UNDP delivers high-quality, high-impact assistance to developing countries to strengthen legal institutions, promote sustainable democratic development and provide an environment conducive to the adoption of a free market economy.
  
  U.S. security interests are served by UNDP governance programs. Countries with effective governance structures are less likely to experience internal conflicts that create pressure for international intervention. In addition, U.S. economic interests benefit when developing countries improve their institutions of governance. UNDP assists countries in establishing stable and transparent legal systems needed to encourage private sector investment and promote trade in goods and services.

The ABA supports Congressional appropriation of funds for the full and prompt payment of arrears owed by the U.S. to the United Nations for general and peacekeeping assessments, and opposes linking the payment of arrears to any actions by the UN or its bodies. In addition, the ABA supports funding for organizations and programs that assist in the establishment of rule of law abroad, including the United Nations Development Program, and International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group.