Dear Editor:

On Saturday, March 11, I read Stephen O’Brien’s report to the U.N. Security Council about the ongoing status of 20 million people (mostly women and children) facing starvation and famine likely to die between now and the end of this year. The estimated cost to keep them alive is $4.4 billion. Today I asked everyone in church to pray for a miracle.

My research uncovered the fact that our country is in arrears of the assessed U.N. annual payments going back to 2011. The U.S. is assessed on the same basis as all security council members. A committee of the U.N. General Assembly determines the assessments based on a country’s capacity to pay - measured on key items of national income and size of population, with discounts for poor countries.

Assessments for 2015 indicate the following highest assessed countries:

• United States $654,778,938 [28 percent of annual U.N. $8.25 billion budget]
• Japan $293,960,454 Germany $193,775,648
• France $151,769,668 U.K. $140,535,510
• China $139,694,305 Italy $120,699,353

By 2014, the U.S. arrears to the U.N. had increased to more than $2 billion. This is in spite of the large revenue stream to our economy generated by the very presence of the U.N. in New York. About 2,700 staff are U.S. citizens. U.N. procurements from U.S. companies were $832,000,000 in 2010, and annual New York City benefits are estimated at $3.3 billion.

The U.N. was founded by 51 countries in 1945 “to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” The ongoing wars, shortages of food and water have contributed to this crisis.

Here a man risks his own life when he sees a woman trapped in a burning car, yet when we see 20 million people starving to death it seems we need a miracle to keep them alive. Could I be wrong?

Jarryl Larson

Edgecomb