Originally published on the CGS blog on April 28, 2009.
Yesterday, 43 international policy, humanitarian, and religious organizations sent a letter to the chair and ranking members of the House and Senate full appropriations and foreign operations sub-committees calling on them to support the $886,900,000 requested for United Nations and other peacekeeping accounts included in President Obama’s FY 2009 Supplemental Funding request.
The letter noted that while the United States has voted to support peacekeeping missions in the U.N. Security Council, our funding has not kept pace with our commitments. The money is needed to support U.N. and African Union missions in Darfur, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Somalia.
This money needs must be protected as the supplemental works its way through Congress. Not only is fulfilling our obligations to UN peacekeeping a smart investment – the Government Accountability Office reports that U.N. peacekeeping is 8 times less expensive fielding a comparative U.S. force – but it’s the right thing to do. These funds will finally get the U.S. current on paying its fair share of current peacekeeping dues. It’s excellent to see a great nation pay its fair share and keep its commitments to the U.N. If you haven’t already, send a message to your members of Congress to urge them to support President Obama’s peacekeeping request.
Don Kraus
