Jesse Helms Addresses UN, Offends Paying Members

by Jim Wurst

"It is a fanciful notion that free peoples need to seek the approval of an international body...to lend support to nations struggling to break the chains of tyranny and claim their inalienable, God-given rights," the Southern Senator declared.

According to Helms, "The United Nations has no power to grant or decline legitimacy to such actions. They are inherently legitimate."

The senator's remarks were swiftly rebutted by Jeremy Greenstock, British ambassador to the UN, who stressed that the Security Council is a vital enforcer of international peace and security.

"There isn't a substitute," Greenstock asserted. "The interests of all responsible nations are served by an international rules-based system -- which they themselves have designed."

Helms, a right-wing Republican from North Carolina, is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In this role, he has been instrumental in blocking U.S. dues payments to the UN and linking limited payments to certain conditions, including a zero-growth budget, cuts in U.S. assessments, and staff reductions.

In 1999, the Helms-Biden law permitted the release of some of the arrears in three increments if the UN meets the conditions. As a result, the U.S. paid $352 million in December.

The chronic arrears have led the U.S. to be labelled a "deadbeat," a charge, Helms said, the American people "resent." He said that in 1999, the U.S. paid $1.4 billion in assessments and voluntary contributions, and $8.7 billion "to support various UN resolutions and peacekeeping operations."

Noting that some nations are resisting the Helms-Biden conditions, he said, "I ask you to consider the alternative. The alternative would have been to continue to let the U.S.-UN relationship spiral out of control.

Britain, France, the Netherlands and Canada have all criticized the U.S. withholding of arrears and making payments contingent on reform.

French Ambassador Alain Dejammet said that his country -- if it used the same bookkeeping as Helms -- has spent $6.3 billion on peacekeeping. He said peacekeeping missions "operate cheaply: $1.6 billion for all 10 current missions."