Little Bang For Big Bucks

The United States leads the way in contributing funding to the United Nations according to statistics compiled by UN watchdog, Eye on the UN.

The United States has the maximum assessed contribution to the UN regular budget – 22%. In 2005 the assessed amount is $439,611,612. The minimum assessed contribution is 0.001%. The scale of assessments for each UN member for the required contributions to the regular budget is determined every 3 years on the basis of Gross National Product (GNP).

Only nine countries (starting with the largest contributor: United States, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, Spain, China) contribute 75% of the entire regular budget. Cuba, which accounts for much of the behavior of the UN Human Rights Commission and its Sub-Commission, contributes .043% of the regular budget. Oil-rich Saudi Arabia contributes .713%.

So, what kind of bang-for-the-buck is the U.S. getting for its investment?

Despite our generous contributions, the United States has received comparatively little when compared to other countries. There are a total of 191 member states, yet only 88 are “fully free” according to Freedom House. No distinction is made in the UN between countries that are free and countries that are not free. The vote of a free country has the same weight as the vote of an un-free country.

Unfortunately, because of their lack of accountability and their willingness to tolerate non-free countries, the UN has fostered an environment where corruption may flourish. The oil-for-food scandal is one of the largest scandals to hit the UN. Just last week, Jean-Bernard Merimee, a former UN undersecretary general, was arrested in connection to the scandal. Authorities are continuing investigations of current and former officials.

The United States was also the target of 35 UN human rights criticisms in 2004, putting it alongside Cote d’Ivoire for receiving the fourth largest amount of such criticisms. Iran received 22 criticisms in 2004, China received 19, and Cuba and North Korea received just 9 each. It is difficult to understand why a free nation that has a proven record of commitment to freedom and liberty has garnered more human rights criticism than such dictatorships as Cuba and North Korea combined in one year.