and preparatory meetings; $1.2 million for the World Food Council; and $0.5 million for preconstruction planning of UNEP headquarters in Nairobi.

Before the vote in plenary, the U.S. Representative, Mr. Haugh, explained the U.S. position. He said that several considerations had inclined the United States to a negative vote. Those considerations included the sheer size of the budget; the astonishing increase, which was only partly accounted for by inflation, over the last biennial budget at a time when throughout the world individuals and governments were being forced to economize; the lack of evidence that economy-mindedness had begun to take hold in the United Nations; the UN grave financial situation as reported by the Secretary General; and the Secretary General's "full-budgeting" approach whereby an extra appropriation for expected inflation was requested for a full 2-year period in advance. However, since many sections of the budget as refined by the ACABQ and the Fifth Committee were sufficiently acceptable that the United States could either support them or abstain, and taking into account also the willingness of the Secretary General to scale down his inflation estimates for 1976, Mr. Haugh explained that the United States would abstain on, rather than vote against, the budget.

INFLATION AND CURRENCY INSTABILITY

The 29th General Assembly in 1974 had requested the Secretary General, in consultation with heads of the other agencies in the UN system, to keep the problems stemming from inflation and currency instability under review and to report to the 30th Assembly. In his report, the Secretary General reviewed developments in the UN system during the year but made no recommendations.

The Fifth Committee considered the subject at seven meetings between November 10 and 20, 1975. It had before it the report of the Secretary General and the related report of the ACABQ.

During the debate Cuba introduced a draft resolution which would have called for developed countries in which UN organizations have their headquarters to pay 80% of the losses to the organizations resulting from

2/Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, an expert body of 13 members appointed by the General Assembly for 3-year terms. David L. Stottlemyer of the United States was a member during 1975. On Oct. 30 he was reappointed for a term beginning Jan. 1, 1976.

inflation and currency instability.

The remaining 20% would be financed by other member countries in proportions derived from the UN scale of assessments. Under this draft resolution losses experienced at the headquarters of organizations in developing countries would be absorbed by the budget.

The United States opposed the draft resolution on the grounds that inflation and currency instability were phenomena that transcended national borders and could not be attributed to any one country or group of countries, and that it was a fundamental principle of the United Nations that responsibility for meeting its expenses was a collective responsibility. After lengthy debate the draft resolution was defeated by a rollcall vote of 20 to 35 (U.S.), with 33 abstentions.

On December 12 the General Assembly, on the recommendation of its Fifth Committee, without vote took note of the report of the Secretary General and endorsed the views of the ACABQ, which called mainly for a more serious UN effort to cut costs in order to ease the pressures of inflation and currency instability and called on member states to provide to the Secretary General as policy guidance their views on the ordering of priorities in the face of ever-increasing tasks and responsibilities.

PROGRAM BUDGETING MACHINERY

A further step toward establishing an integrated system of planning, programming, budgeting, and evaluation in the United Nations was taken with the approval by the 30th General Assembly of the 1976-77 biennial budget, the second one prepared in a program budget format. The program budget presents expenditures in terms of organizational unit and program (outputs) in contrast to the object-of-expenditure budget which emphasizes goods and services (inputs) such as travel, equipment, and the like. Use of the program budget has been strongly supported by the United States and others as a means, inter alia, of improving program effective

ness.

In 1974 the 29th General Assembly had established a 22-member Working Group on UN Program and Budget Machinery 3/to review the existing intergovernmental and expert machinery for the formulation, review, approval, and evaluation of UN programs and budgets; to recommend means of improving the existing system; and to report to

3/ Bangladesh, Brazil, Byelorussian S.S.R., Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Guyana, India, Iran, Japan, Kenya, Netherlands, Poland, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, U.S.S.R., United Kingdom, United States, and Zambia.

the 30th Assembly. and May 20, 1975.

The Committee met between March 21

The United States presented to the Working Group a detailed proposal for the establishment of an independent evaluation mechanism within the UN system. This proposal was in line with U.S. legislation passed in late 1973 that called upon the President, acting through the U.S. representatives to the United Nations and its affiliated organizations, to propose and actively seek the establishment of a professionally qualified group to provide an independent and continuous program of selective examination, review, and evaluation of the programs and activities of such organizations. The United States also submitted with its proposal, as called for in the legislation, a statement of auditing and reporting standards prepared by the Comptroller General of the United States.

The Working Group considered the U.S. evaluation proposal and a consensus emerged that the proposal should be referred to the CPC/ and ECOSOC for their consideration. It was further agreed that the CPC should be the intergovernmental focal point for reviewing evaluation reports (both internally and externally prepared) on UN activities. The Working Group recommended, among other things, that the CPC should be the main subsidiary organ of both ECOSOC and the General Assembly responsible for planning, programming, and coordination; that it should review the 4-year mediumterm plan and the biennial program budgets in alternate years, recommending an order of priorities among UN programs; that it should provide guidance to the Secretariat on program design by interpreting legislative intent; and that it should consider and develop evaluation procedures and their use in the improvement of program design.

The Fifth Committee of the 30th General Assembly considered the Working Group's report at four meetings in October and approved without a vote a resolution sponsored by Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Federal Republic of Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, and Turkey. The resolution, inter alia, (1) decided to consider the medium-term plan and biennial budgets in alternate years, beginning in 1976 with the medium-term plan for 1978-81; (2) referred to ECOSOC the recommendations of the Working Group and recommended that ECOSOC (a) take the necessary measures to implement on an experimental basis in 1976 the recommendations for

1971.

4/Public Law 93-189 amending the Foreign Assistance Act of

5/The Committee for Program and Coordination consists of 21 states elected by ECOSOC for 3-year terms; the United States is a member.

strengthening the CPC and improving its work and (b) report to the 31st Assembly on the rest of the recommendations which would be considered along with the report of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Restructuring of the Economic and Social Sectors of the United Nations System (which had been established by the Assembly at its seventh special session).

The Assembly in plenary session adopted the resolution without objection on November 20.

UNEF/UNDOF FINANCING

On October 23, 1975 the Security Council extended UNEF for an additional 1-year period and followed this with an extension of UNDOF for an additional 6-months period on November 30. (See Part I, pp. 5 and 6.)

On the recommendation of its Fifth Committee the General Assembly on October 30 adopted by a vote of 100 (U.S.) to 3, with 2 abstentions, a resolution providing interim funding for UNEF and UNDOF by continuing the then existing funding resolution through November 30 to allow time for adequate consideration of a new financing resolution.

A resolution appropriating $94.3 million for the third year of UNEF was subsequently adopted on November 28, by a recorded vote of 90 (U.S.) to 3 (Albania, Libya, Syria), with 11 abstentions. A third resolution, adopted December 2 by a vote of 76 (U.S.) to 2, with 10 abstentions, appropriated $7.7 million for the next 6 months of UNDOF and also authorized the Secretary General to enter into commitments for up to $1.3 million per month for an additional 6 months should the Force be continued beyond May 31, 1976. As in earlier votes on UNEF and UNDOF, China did not participate in the voting.

Aside from the transfer of Portugal from the list of developed member states to the category of "economically less developed member states" and the assignment of new members--Bangladesh, Grenada, and Guinea-Bissau-to the category of those member states assessed the minimum amount, the resolutions were essentially the same as those adopted by the 28th and 29th General Assemblies. Thus, the principle of the special responsibility of the permanent members of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security and the implicit endorsement of the collective responsibility of the entire membership of the organization for meeting peacekeeping costs were once again reaffirmed.

SCALES OF ASSESSMENT

The U.S. shares of the assessed budgets of the United Nations, the specialized agencies, and the IAEA were as follows:

The General Assembly fixes rates of assessment for the members of the United Nations on a triennial basis. Interim rates of assessment for new members are adopted as required. The General Assembly bases its action on 6/ the recommendations of its Committee on Contributions. The assessment rates of the specialized agencies are determined by the agency concerned and are in many cases, but not all, based on the UN scale.

In 1975 the 30th General Assembly on October 30 unanimously adopted a resolution that had been recommended by the Committee on Contributions and approved by the Fifth Committee which set assessment rates for the three states that had been admitted to UN membership in 1974--Bangladesh--.08%; Grenada--.02%; and The next triennial scale, for the years 1977-79, is scheduled for adoption by the Assembly in 1976 at its 31st session.

Guinea-Bissau--.02%.

6/A 13-member expert body appointed by the General Assembly for 3-year terms. Richard V. Hennes of the United States was a member during 1975.