US bill for Durban II: $814,000
The United States paid $814,000 for its share of the hatefest known as "Durban II," according to a report in Thursday's Jerusalem Post. The gathering, dubbed "Durban II," has cost $5.3 million, including preparatory conferences, spokesman Ramu Damodaran told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.The Post also has information on some of the countries that gave 'direct donations' to the conference:
About $1.6m. of that has come from direct donations from individual countries, but the lion's share - $3.7m. - was funded from the regular budget of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Damodaran said.
The US, which as the largest single contributor to the UN covers 22 percent of the UN's overall budget, has specifically withheld funding for the Durban conference from its UN dues payments. But because of the way the budget process works, individual nations have little or no control over how their dues are ultimately spent, experts said.
"It's more of a symbolic thing - there's no way to direct the withholding to whatever you're trying to do," said Brett Schaefer, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank in Washington.
UN officials did not release a complete list of direct donations to this week's conference, but UN Watch, an affiliate of the American Jewish Committee that is based in Geneva, reported on its blog that Russia had provided $600,000 for the gathering. The group claims Saudi Arabia gave $150,000, Kuwait $100,000, and the Palestinian Authority $1,700.I wonder how much Iran gave.
The US certainly did not get its money's worth at Durban II. Showing up would not have made a difference.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:52 PM
1 Comments:
Had the US not footed the bill, I wonder if Durban II could have been held at all. One of the drawbacks to the current funding process is the US pays for UN activities regardless of whether they serve American vital national interests. That is what's in need of reform. Unfortunately, its not likely to happen under the UN-friendly Obama Administration so we can expect the UN to continue to indulge in its worst behavior with no real change simply because it doesn't have to pay a price for it - to the contrary, it is well funded to perpetrate such acts of provocative outrageousness. That's what no condemnation will change.
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