Trump Administration Eyes $1 Billion in Cuts to U.N. Peacekeeping

"The White House is seeking to cut $1 billion in funding for U.N. peacekeeping operations and to eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars for other U.N. programs... according to two diplomatic sources briefed on the plan...

The White House budget office informed State Department officials this week that the administration plans to eliminate all U.S. funding to the $326 million International Organizations and Programs account, which provides more than $130 million to UNICEF - a sizable chunk of the more than $500 million the United States contributed to the U.N. agency in 2016 - and around $70 million to the U.N. Development Programme.

They were also told to brace for a 40 percent cut to the State Department's U.N. peacekeeping budget. The United States contributed more than $2 billion to the U.N.'s $8 billion-plus peacekeeping budget last year.

In New York, Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is planning to host an April 6 meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss an ongoing U.S. review of the U.N.'s 16 peacekeeping missions.

Haley, who will serve as the council's president for the month of April, will make the point that some of the U.N. missions may have outlived their usefulness and may need to be shuttered, reconfigured or shrunk, according to a confidential U.S. concept paper.

The paper, which was reviewed by Foreign Policy, urged Security Council members to 'consider whether current peacekeeping operations continue to be the best-suited mechanisms for meeting the need of those on the ground and achieving the council's political objectives, or if changes are needed. That is, are current missions 'still fit for purpose'?'...

The State Department and the White House declined to comment on the specific targets. A State Department official said simply that the 2018 'budget request will reduce funding requested for the U.N. and affiliated agencies. ‎Beyond this, more details won't be available until the president's full FY 2018 Budget is rolled out later in the spring.'...

Legislation introduced in the House would withdraw U.S. funding for the United Nations, and Graham threatened to cut all U.S. funding to the U.N. in December, after the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution denouncing Israeli settlements."