[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 937 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 937

     To withhold United States contributions to the United Nations 
                          Development Program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 8, 2007

Mr. Garrett of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. McCotter, Mr. King of Iowa, 
 Mr. Shuster, and Mrs. Blackburn) introduced the following bill; which 
            was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To withhold United States contributions to the United Nations 
                          Development Program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has for 
        years operated in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 
        (North Korea) in violation of United Nations rules and internal 
        auditing recommendations. Examples of such violations include 
        the following:
                    (A) The local staff of the UNDP in North Korea is 
                dominated by employees who are hand-picked by the 
                Government of North Korea. The Government of North 
                Korea provides only one candidate for each position and 
                does not provide detailed qualifications, work 
                experience, or personal details to the UNDP.
                    (B) The salaries of the local staff of the UNDP in 
                North Korea are paid to the Government of North Korea 
                and not to the individual staffers. Such local staff 
                are instead provided with cash food stipends against 
                UNDP regulations.
                    (C) Officials of the Government of North Korea have 
                performed financial and core managerial functions of 
                UNDP activities in violation of UNDP regulations.
                    (D) The UNDP pays cash to local suppliers of the 
                Government of North Korea in violation of UNDP 
                regulations.
                    (E) The UNDP provides funding to programs and 
                projects controlled by the Government of North Korea 
                without appropriate audits or other oversight in 
                violation of UNDP regulations.
            (2) According to the United States Department of State, in 
        2005 the Government of the United States contributed $108 
        million to the general fund of the UNDP. This amount accounts 
        for 11.8 percent of the total funding of the UNDP.
            (3) The Government of North Korea has developed and tested 
        nuclear weapons in violation of international treaties.
            (4) North Korea continues to pose a threat to East Asia and 
        the world in the form of its nuclear weapons program.
            (5) The Government of North Korea maintains a police state 
        wherein citizens are prevented from access to the outside 
        world.
            (6) Kim Jong-Il and other senior officials of the 
        Government of North Korea have used their power to purchase 
        personal luxuries, possibly with UNDP funds, while citizens 
        face starvation.
            (7) Representatives of the Government of North Korea are 
        members of the executive board of the UNDP, thereby governing 
        the amount of UNDP assistance that North Korea will receive and 
        overseeing UNDP programs around the world.
            (8) The Government of North Korea maintains a state of war 
        with the democratically-elected Government of the Republic of 
        Korea (South Korea).
            (9) Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein used United Nations 
        programs to launder approximately $100 billion into his regime 
        in what has become known as the ``Oil-for-Food Scandal''.
            (10) Illicit funding of this kind undermines the strong 
        sanctions that have been imposed by the United States and the 
        United Nations against North Korea.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the United Nations--
                    (A) should ensure that the United Nations 
                Development Program (UNDP) enforces its rules regarding 
                financing, staffing, accounting, and auditing of its 
                activities in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 
                (North Korea);
                    (B) should authorize an external investigation of 
                all UNDP activities in North Korea; and
                    (C) should ensure that--
                            (i) any local staff of the UNDP in North 
                        Korea who may have committed crimes are 
                        prosecuted in the appropriate court of law; and
                            (ii) any local staff of the UNDP in North 
                        Korea who have violated UNDP regulations are 
                        appropriately sanctioned; and
            (2) the President should instruct the United States 
        representative on the Executive Board of the UNDP to use the 
        voice, vote, and influence of the United States to ensure 
        that--
                    (A) the UNDP ceases any activities in North Korea 
                that are in violation of UNDP regulations;
                    (B) the UNDP conducts a full audit, open for review 
                to all members of the Executive Board, of UNDP 
                activities in North Korea since 1998; and
                    (C) the UNDP establishes regulations to ensure that 
                no funds allocated to UNDP activities in North Korea 
                are provided to the Government of North Korea.

SEC. 3. WITHHOLDING OF UNITED STATES CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE UNITED 
              NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.

    The Secretary of State shall withhold any United States 
contribution to the general funds of the United Nations Development 
Program (UNDP) until such time as the Secretary certifies to Congress 
that the UNDP meets the requirements of subparagraphs (A) through (C) 
of section 2(2) of this Act.
                                 <all>