Weapons of Mass Destruction
Global Green USA Urges Congress to Fully Fund International Arms Control Regimes
Calls for a Turnaround of Bush Administration Policies of Annual Under-Funding of International Organizations in the State Department Budget
April 22, 2009 - Washington, D.C. - In a letter addressed to congressional leaders, including chairmen of the Foreign Affairs and Appropriation Committees in the House and Senate, five arms control organizations urged the Congress this week to add at least $50-100 million to the current fiscal year 2009 supplemental budget request to help fund past and current annual assessments to international organizations.
Citing the specific cases of two multilateral regimes in The Hague and Vienna – the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), the letter writers pointed to the dangers of not paying annual assessments and voluntary contributions to important arms control regimes – endangering inspection and verification regimes for disarmament and nonproliferation, and undermining United States influence and legitimacy at a critical time in global security.
Global Green USA was joined by the Arms Control Association, Council for a Livable World, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and the Ploughshares Fund in pointing out that some $18 million is owed to the OPCW now, some $22 million in past contributions to the CTBTO, and another $24 million to the CTBTO in 2009. Dr. Paul Walker, director of the Security and Sustainability Program at Global Green USA, emphasized the following: “The State Department has been under-funded for several years now by Congress and the past Bush Administration for support of several dozen international organizations, leading to, at best, late payments or, at worst, no payments to these critical multilateral organizations. This is not the way to build a safe and secure world. It’s time for the new Congress and the Obama Administration to step up and rectify this ongoing crisis in multilateral arms control, verification, and global governance.”
The letter to Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs is included below.
Support Full U.S. Funding for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Preparatory Commission and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
April 20, 2009
Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Committee on Appropriations
127 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
RE: Funding of CTBTO and OPCW in FY 2009 Supplemental and FY 2010 Budget
Dear Senator Leahy:
We are writing you, the Chairman of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, to ask your help in providing adequate funding in the FY 2009 supplemental appropriations bill and in the forthcoming FY 2010 appropriations bill for international organizations, specifically the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Preparatory Commission (CTBTO) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
These two important multilateral organizations, along with others, have suffered in recent years with both late and non-payments of annual assessments and voluntary contributions from the Department of State. The OPCW, with an annual budget of about $100 million (of which 20% is funded by the United States), has received its U.S. contribution only in the final month – December – of its fiscal year. The 2009 U.S. assessment of €13,911,948 (about $18,487,927) has yet to be paid to the OPCW although it was due in January. We are told that without additional funding from Congress for FY 2009, it will once again have to wait until the FY 2010 cycle for payment in December.
In the case of the CTBTO, on February 26, 2009 the United States paid $20.5 million to cover all of its outstanding arrears. However, the U.S. still owes $24 million for its 2009 assessment and its 2010 assessment of approximately $24 million will soon come due.
In the absence of a substantial U.S. contribution totaling $45 million to the CTBTO through the supplemental appropriation request now before Congress and/or the FY 2010 foreign operations appropriations bill, the continued build up and maintenance of the International Monitoring System and other elements of the verification regime would be adversely affected. The United States pays 22% of the CTBO’s budget, which will be $113 million in 2009.
The Obama administration has expressed its strong support for the CTBT and all aspects of the international monitoring and inspection system. On January 13 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said: “The Obama administration will fully support the CTBT’s International Monitoring System, which gives the United States better capability to detect and identify very low-yield tests than we would on our own.”
We request that you provide for full U.S. funding for the CTBTO and OPCW in the FY 2009 supplemental appropriations bill (Contributions to International Organizations in the State Department budget) in order to put an end to this harmful and embarrassing practice of under-funding international organizations dedicated to nuclear and chemical weapons risk reduction. The U.S. delegations to these organizations will attest to the fact that this practice has undermined their influence and credibility and, in some cases, caused the U.S. to lose its voting power.
Secretary of State Clinton acknowledged this problem in her nomination hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 13th and pledged to seek sufficient funds for international organizations to pay outstanding arrears and fully fund annual assessments and contributions henceforth.
Only with full annual financial and political support from the United States will these important international organizations be effective.
Please let us know if we might provide any additional information for your staff regarding these issues.
Sincerely,
Paul F. Walker, Ph.D. Daryl Kimball
Director, Security and Sustainability Executive Director
Global Green USA Arms Control Association
(202) 222-0700 (202) 463-8270
pwalker@globalgreen.org dkimball@armscontrol.org
David Culp John Isaacs
Legislative Representative Executive Director
Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers) Council for a Livable World
(202) 903-2517 (202) 543-4100 x 2222
david@fcnl.org jdi@clw.org
Terri Lodge
Director of Government Affairs
Ploughshares Fund
Coordinator Arms Control Advocacy Collaborative
(202) 302-5683
tlodge@ploughshares.org
