Washington - Arab Today
The Trump administration is preparing executive orders that would clear the way to drastically reduce the United States’ role in the United Nations and other international organizations, as well as begin a process to review and potentially abrogate certain forms of multilateral treaties.
The New York times obtained two draft orders, titled "Auditing and Reducing U.S. Funding of International Organizations" which calls for terminating funding for any United Nations agency or other international body that meets any one of several criteria. Those criteria include organizations that give full membership to the Palestinian Authority or Palestine Liberation Organization, or support programs that fund abortion or any activity that circumvents sanctions against Iran or North Korea, New York Times said.
The draft order also calls for terminating funding for any organization that "is controlled or substantially influenced by any state that sponsors terrorism" or is blamed for the persecution of marginalized groups or any other systematic violation of human rights. The order calls for then enacting "at least a 40 percent overall decrease" in remaining United States funding toward international organizations. Carrying out with the signed orders means severe curtail of the United Nations agencies work, which rely on billions of dollars in annual United States contributions for missions that include caring for refugees.
Under former President Barack Obama, the United States cut funding to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization when it accepted Palestinians as full members. The United States provides about a quarter of all funding to United Nations peacekeeping operations, of which there are more than a dozen, in the Middle East and around the work. At least one of these, the operation in southern Lebanon, directly serves Israeli interests by protecting the country’s northern border, though the draft order characterizes the funding cuts as serving Israeli interests.
The orders call for reviewing any funding that could go toward the International Criminal Court, though the United States currently provides no funding to that body. They also call for terminating funding to United Nations bodies that include full Palestinian membership, though this is already United States law.
The second executive order, "Moratorium on New Multilateral Treaties," calls for a review of all current and pending treaties with more than one other nation. It asks for recommendations on which negotiations or treaties the United States should leave, such as Paris climate agreement which could curb international efforts to contain global warming.
Source: QNA