I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2712 
To promote transparency, accountability, and reform within the United 
Nations system, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 14, 2007 
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN (for herself, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. 
CHABOT, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of 
Florida, Mr. LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART of Florida, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. 
FORTUN˜O, Mr. MACK, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. 
MCCOTTER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. PENCE, Mr. POE, Mr. ROHR-
ABACHER, and Mr. ROYCE) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To promote transparency, accountability, and reform within 
the United Nations system, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This title may be cited as the 
‘‘United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Re-
form Act of 2007’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents is 
as follows: 
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Definitions. 
TITLE I—FUNDING OF THE UNITED NATIONS 
Sec. 101. Findings. 
Sec. 102. Apportionment of the United Nations regular budget on a voluntary 
basis. 
Sec. 103. Budget justification for United States Contributions to the regular 
budget of the United Nations. 
TITLE II—TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR UNITED 
STATES CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE UNITED NATIONS 
Sec. 201. Findings. 
Sec. 202. Definitions. 
Sec. 203. Establishment and management of the Office of the United States 
Inspector General for Contributions to the United Nations Sys-
tem. 
Sec. 204. Transparency for United States Contributions. 
Sec. 205. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE III—UNITED STATES POLICY AT THE UNITED NATIONS 
Sec. 301. Annual publication. 
Sec. 302. Annual financial disclosure. 
Sec. 303. Policy with respect to expansion of the Security Council. 
Sec. 304. Access to reports and audits. 
Sec. 305. Waiver of immunity. 
Sec. 306. Terrorism and the United Nations. 
Sec. 307. Report on United Nations reform. 
Sec. 308. Report on United Nations personnel. 
Sec. 309. Limitations on United States Contributions to UNRWA. 
Sec. 310. United Nations treaty bodies. 
Sec. 311. Equality at the United Nations. 
Sec. 312. Anti-semitism and the United Nations. 
Sec. 313. Regional group inclusion of Israel. 
TITLE IV—UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL 
Sec. 401. Findings. 
Sec. 402. Human Rights Council membership and funding. 
TITLE V—INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY 
Sec. 501. International Atomic Energy Agency. 
Sec. 502. Sense of Congress regarding the Nuclear Security Action Plan of the 
IAEA. 
TITLE VI—PEACEKEEPING 
Sec. 601. Reform of United Nations peacekeeping operations. 
Sec. 602. Policy relating to reform of United Nations peacekeeping operations. 
Sec. 603. Certification. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this act: 
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(1) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ means 
an individual who is employed in the general serv-
ices, professional staff, or senior management of the 
United Nations, including contractors and consult-
ants. 
(2) GENERAL ASSEMBLY.—The term ‘‘General 
Assembly’’ means the General Assembly of the 
United Nations. 
(3) MEMBER
STATE.—The term ‘‘Member 
State’’ means a Member State of the United Na-
tions. Such term is synonymous with the term 
‘‘country’’. 
(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of State. 
(5) SECRETARY
GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Sec-
retary General’’ means the Secretary General of the 
United Nations. 
(6) SECURITY COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘Security 
Council’’ means the Security Council of the United 
Nations. 
(7) UN.—The term ‘‘UN’’ means the United 
Nations. 
(8) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
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(A) the Committees on Appropriations, 
Foreign Affairs, and Oversight and Government 
Reform of the House; and 
(B) the Committees on Appropriations, 
Foreign Relations, Homeland Security and Gov-
ernmental Affairs of the Senate. 
TITLE I—FUNDING OF THE 
UNITED NATIONS 
SEC. 101. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) According to the White House Office of 
Management and Budget, the United States paid 
over 5,300,000,000 dollars into the United Nations 
system in 2005, significantly more than was paid by 
any other nation. 
(2) Under current rules and contribution levels, 
it is possible to assemble the two-thirds majority 
needed for important UN budget votes with a group 
of countries that, taken together, pay less than 1 
percent of the total UN regular budget. 
(3) The disconnect between contribution levels 
and management control creates significant perverse 
incentives in terms of UN spending, transparency, 
and accountability. 
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(4) The United Nations system suffers from 
unacceptably high levels of waste, fraud, and abuse, 
which seriously impair its ability to fulfill the lofty 
ideals of its founding. 
(5) According to a February 2007 Gallup Poll, 
66 percent of Americans think that the United Na-
tions is doing a poor job, the UN’s lowest job-ap-
proval rating ever in the 54 years that those statis-
tics have been kept. Research polling by another 
firm in late 2006 found that 71 percent of Ameri-
cans think that the UN is ‘‘no longer effective’’ and 
needs to be significantly reformed, while 75 percent 
think that the UN ‘‘needs to be held more account-
able.’’. 
(6) Significant improvements in UN trans-
parency and accountability are necessary for improv-
ing public perceptions of and American support for 
UN operations. 
(7) Because of their need to justify future con-
tributions from donors, voluntarily funded organiza-
tions have more incentive to be responsive and effi-
cient in their operations than organizations funded 
by compulsory contributions that are not tied to per-
formance. 
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(8) Article XVII of the Charter of the United 
Nations, which states that ‘‘[t]he expenses of the 
Organization shall be borne by the Members as ap-
portioned by the General Assembly,’’ leaves to the 
discretion of the General Assembly the basis of ap-
portionment, which could be done on the basis of 
voluntary pledges by Member States. 
(9) Unlike U.S. assessed contributions to the 
UN regular budget, which are statutorily capped at 
22 percent of the total, there is no cap on voluntary 
contributions. 
(10) The United States, which contributes gen-
erously to international organizations whose activi-
ties it recognizes as credible, worthwhile, and effi-
cient, contributes more than 22 percent of the budg-
et of certain voluntarily funded UN Specialized 
Agencies. 
SEC. 102. APPORTIONMENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS REG-
ULAR BUDGET ON A VOLUNTARY BASIS. 
(a) UNITED STATES POLICY.— 
(1) It is the policy of the United States to seek 
to shift the funding mechanism for the regular budg-
et of the United Nations from an assessed to a vol-
untary basis. 
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(2) The President shall direct the United States 
Permanent Representative to the United Nations to 
use the voice, vote, and influence of the United 
States at the United Nations to shift the funding 
mechanism for the regular budget of the United Na-
tions to a voluntary basis, and to make it a priority 
to build support for such a transformational change 
among Member States, particularly key UN donors; 
(b) CERTIFICATION
OF
PREDOMINANTLY
VOL-
UNTARY UN REGULAR BUDGET FINDING.—A certifi-
cation described in this section is a certification by the 
Secretary of State to the Appropriate Congressional Com-
mittees that at least 80 percent of the total regular budget 
of the United Nations is apportioned on a voluntary basis. 
Each such certification shall be shall be effective for a pe-
riod of no more than 1 year, and shall be promptly revoked 
by the Secretary, with notice to the Appropriate Congres-
sional Committees, if the underlying circumstances change 
so as not to warrant such certification. 
(c) WITHHOLDING OF NONVOLUNTARY CONTRIBU-
TIONS.— 
(1) Beginning 2 years after the effective date of 
this act and notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, no funds may be obligated or expended for a 
United States assessed contribution to the regular 
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budget of the United Nations in an amount greater 
than 50 percent of the United States share of as-
sessed contributions for the regular budget of the 
United Nations unless there is in effect a certifi-
cation by the Secretary, as described in paragraph 
(b). 
(2) For a period of 3 years after appropriation, 
funds appropriated for use as a United States con-
tribution to the regular budget of the United Na-
tions but withheld from obligation and expenditure 
pursuant to paragraph (1) may be obligated and ex-
pended for that purpose upon the certification de-
scribed in paragraph (b). After 3 years, in the ab-
sence of such certification, those funds shall revert 
to the United States Treasury. 
SEC. 103. BUDGET JUSTIFICATION FOR UNITED STATES 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE REGULAR BUDGET 
OF THE UNITED NATIONS. 
(a) DETAILED ITEMIZATION.—The annual congres-
sional budget justification shall include a detailed itemized 
request in support of the contribution of the United States 
to the regular budget of the United Nations. 
(b) CONTENTS
OF DETAILED ITEMIZATION.—The 
detailed itemization required under subsection (a) shall— 
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(1) contain information relating to the amounts 
requested in support of each of the various sections 
and titles of the regular budget of the United Na-
tions; and 
(2) compare the amounts requested for the cur-
rent year with the actual or estimated amounts con-
tributed by the United States in previous fiscal years 
for the same sections and titles. 
(c) ADJUSTMENTS
AND
NOTIFICATION.—If the 
United Nations proposes an adjustment to its regular as-
sessed budget, the Secretary of State shall, at the time 
such adjustment is presented to the Advisory Committee 
on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), 
notify and consult with the appropriate congressional com-
mittees. 
TITLE II—TRANSPARENCY AND 
ACCOUNTABILITY 
FOR 
UNITED STATES CONTRIBU-
TIONS TO THE UNITED NA-
TIONS 
SEC. 201. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) As underscored by continuing revelations of 
waste, fraud, and abuse, oversight and account-
ability mechanisms within the United Nations sys-
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tem remain significantly deficient, despite decades of 
reform attempts, including those initiated by Secre-
taries-General of the United Nations. 
(2) Notwithstanding the personal intentions of 
any Secretary-General of the United Nations to pro-
mote institutional transparency and accountability 
within the United Nations System, the Secretary- 
General lacks the power to impose far reaching man-
agement reforms without the concurrence of the 
General Assembly. 
(3) Groupings of Member States whose voting 
power in the General Assembly significantly out-
paces their proportional contributions to the UN 
system, have repeatedly and successfully defeated, 
delayed, and diluted various reform proposals that 
would have enabled more detailed oversight and 
scrutiny of UN system operations and expenditures. 
(4) To an unacceptable degree, major donor 
states, including the United States, lack access to 
reasonably detailed, reliable information that would 
allow them to determine how their contributions 
have been spent by various UN system entities, fur-
ther contributing to the lack of accountability within 
the UN system. 
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SEC. 202. DEFINITIONS. 
In this title: 
(1) UNITED
NATIONS
ENTITY.—The term 
‘‘United Nations Entity’’ means any UN agency, 
commission, conference, council, court, department, 
forum, fund, institute, office, organization, partner-
ship, program, subsidiary body, tribunal, trust, uni-
versity or academic body, related organization or 
subsidiary body, wherever located, that flies the UN 
flag or is authorized to use the UN logo, including 
but not limited to those UN affiliated agencies and 
bodies identified as recipients of United States con-
tributions under section 1225(b)(3)(E) of the John 
Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fis-
cal Year 2007 (Public Law 109–364). 
(2) UNITED
NATIONS
SYSTEM.—The term 
‘‘United Nations System’’ means the aggregation of 
all United Nations Entities, as defined in paragraph 
(1). 
(3) UNITED STATES CONTRIBUTION.—The term 
‘‘United States Contribution’’ means an assessed or 
voluntary contribution, whether financial, in-kind, or 
otherwise, from the United States federal govern-
ment to a United Nations Entity, including con-
tributions passed through other entities for ultimate 
use by a United Nations Entity. United States Con-
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