Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D. NY) has introduced legislation that would bar Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from receiving his retirement allowance from the United Nations.
Moynihan’s resolution came after the United States Justice Department last week barred Waldheim from the U.S. for his participation in the persecution of Jews and others during World War II. The State Department refused to comment on the resolution.
The resolution calls for the U.S. Ambassador to the UN to introduce an amendment to the current UN budget that would eliminate Waldheim’s retirement allowance. Waldheim is currently receiving $81,650 a year.
“To do otherwise would be to reward Waldheim for having deceived us so thoroughly, so brazenly, and for so long,” said Moynihan.
Moynihan, a former UN Ambassador, introduced similar legislation last May which was passed by the Senate as part of the Omnibus and Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act. Waldheim continued to receive the allowance.
The new resolution cites new evidence implicating Waldheim in “the activities amounting to persecution of Jews and others in Greece and Yugoslavia during World War II.” The resolution says Waldheim’s allowance “makes a mockery of the principles and ideals the United Nations was founded to uphold.”
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