Palestinians Trigger Federal Provision for Defunding of U.N. Climate Organization

"A group of 28 senators wrote to Secretary of State John F. Kerry Monday, demanding that, in compliance with U.S. law, no funding be provided to an obscure U.N. agency, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The little-noticed development raises larger questions about executive nonenforcement of federal law and the collateral damage to international institutions caused by the Palestinian issue.

UNFCCC (pronounced phonetically) has recently accepted the Palestinian Authority as a state party. The move is part of the Palestinian effort to be declared a state outside of negotiations with Israel. U.S. policy opposes such moves, and thus requires the defunding of any U.N. organization that grants the Palestinian Authority such status.

Federal law bars any funding for U.N. agencies or affiliates that 'grants full membership as a state to any organization or group that does not have the internationally recognized attributes of statehood.' In the official U.S. view, 'Palestine' is not a state. Thus when the Palestinian Authority joined the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2011, it triggered federal defunding of that organization. Now, federal law requires a similar cessation of any funding to UNFCCC...

The question is whether the executive branch will follow the law and make the UNFCCC pay the (fairly small) price for dabbling in Middle East politics.