Foundation experts outline ways to finance a more effective UN.

• Position: Ford Foundation; United Nations

The international community must provide adequate, assured and more timely financial support for the UN, if the organization is to discharge effectively and efficiently the critical demands placed upon it in the post-cold-war world.

This was the conclusion of an independent advisory group convened by the Ford Foundation, in consultation with the office of the UN Secretary-General, in response to growing concerns about the Un's financial problems.

Co-chaired by former Japan Development Bank Deputy Governor Shijuro Ogata and former United States Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Paul Volcker, the 11-member panel stated that existing financial arrangements had hampered UN efforts to respond to challenges posed by regional conflicts, humanitarian emergencies and obstacles to development in every part of the globe.

The panel called for the establishment of a $400-million revolving fund for peace-keeping, financed by three annual assessments on Member States, that would assure reliable funding in the critical start-up phase of operations.

In a 34-page report entitled Financing an Effective United Nations, the group outlined a comprehensive and detailed series of recommendations to place the Organization on sounder financial footing.

It noted that in no area had the international community's demands on the UN grown as quickly as they had in peace-keeping. Two years ago, the UN had some 15,000 peacekeepers deployed around the world; currently, it has nearly 55,000.

Despite this growth, lacks the permanent management, training and logistical infrastructure it needs to mount...