Valuable services that the United Nations provide to the world community are being threatened by the attitudes of some freshman congressman, a top official with the United Nations Association said Monday night.

James M. Olson, vice president of the United Nations Association of the United States of America, spoke in the Lesar Law School auditorium on the crucial role the United Nations plays in the environment, peacekeeping and human rights around the world.

Olson said a major problem facing the United Nations is legislation passed by Congress for more cuts in the United States’ U.N. funding.

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The United Nations is broke, Olson said. The United States is the single largest debtor among U.N. members.

The United States owes the United Nations $1.25 billion, he said.

Olson said a freshman U.S. Representative introduced a piece of legislation that calls for the withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations.

Rep. Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., also orders the United Nations to move its headquarters out of New York City in the legislation he put forth proposing the United States withdraw from the world body.

Olson said Scarborough’s proposal may be straw in the wind, because it probably will not get out of committee or passed. However, he said it is hard to tell what will happen to the Scarborough legislation.

Scarborough is not perceived as a kook, he is well focused, attractive member of congress, Olson said. His attitudes toward the U.N., unfortunately seem to be characteristic of many members of Congress elected in 1992 and 1994.

Olson said the end of the United Nations is a troubling prospect, and illustrated what the world would be like if there never was a United Nations.

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Olson said if there was no United Nations there would not be a universal declaration of human rights, established by the U.N General Assembly in 1948, and there would have been no international framework for negotiating an end to civil wars in Cambodia and El Salvador.

There also would not be a U.N. High Commission for refugees, an agency that deals with 25 million refugees around the world on a daily basis.Olson said.

It provides for their (refugee’s) immediate needs, he said. Looking after their resettlement or return to their homeland is dirty, unglamorous but essential work and the U.N. High Commission is there to do it.

Olson said a good example of why the United Nations, or something like it, is essential is the Montreal Protocol.

The Montreal Protocol is a treaty in which governments agree to curb or to stop the production of chemicals that deplete the Earth’s ozone layer.

No one country by itself… can deal with something like the holes in the ozone layer, Olson said. It absolutely requires nearly universal cooperation among all the nations on the Earth.

Olson said although the United Nations receives a lot of criticism and Congress’ attitued towards it is hostile, overall public opinion of the United Nations remains relatively high.

He said between 60 and 80 percent of respondents answer yes when asked in opinion polls if they believe the United Nations is doing a good job. Public opinion is particularly high in the area of the United Nation’s humanitarian work, but low in the areas of peace-keeping and security.

However, Olson said, the high level of public support for the United Nations is not based upon a large body of public knowledge.

Support for the United Nations is a mile high and an inch deep, Olson said.

Olson urged all citizens to take the time and learn about what the United Nations is doing and has done, and to watch how Congress is dealing with it.

Olson said that all of the work the United Nations does comes at a relatively low price.

Total U.N. expenditures equal $13 billion a year, and of that amount the United States provides $1.8 billion.

Olson the U.S portion of the U.N budget is about one-third of the New York public schools’ budget, and equals out to $7 a year for every woman, child and man.

Along with money, Olson said the United Nations needs a simpler, more streamlined administrative system, a strengthening of its peacekeeping machine and increases in its security council and leadership.

Olson said that these things, needed to build a stronger United Nations are going to come about by the demands of people. He said a strong, vocal public opinion is essential.

We have to show that we know that the U.N. has an impact on out community, Olson said.

To have a voice, Olson suggests voting and joining non-governmental organizations.

We need to take sometime to learn a little bit about what is happening at the U.N. just as we do at city hall, Olson said. Please take some time to express your point of view.