Statement of policy

It is the policy of the United States— (1) to support Somali- and African partner-led initiatives— (A) to contain and defeat al-Shabaab and ISIS-Somalia; (B) to foster peace, security, stability, and economic development within Somalia; and (C) to support the development of functional Somali state institutions at the national and federal member state level; (2) to ensure appropriate and fair burden sharing at the United Nations, including for United Nations peacekeeping missions and United Nations support to African Union peace support operations; (3) to uphold the conditions set forth in Resolution 2719 for the application of United Nations assessed contributions to African Union peace support operations on a case-by-case basis, including conditions that require— (A) that funding from assessed contributions cannot exceed 75 percent of the annual budget of an African Union peace support operation under a one mission, one budget model, with the remaining 25 percent mobilized by the African Union and United Nations from the international community as extra-budgetary resources; (B) compliance with— (i) the Human Rights Due Diligence Policy on United Nations support to non-United Nations security forces; (ii) the African Union Compliance Framework on International Human Rights Law; (iii) the African Union Policy on Conduct and Discipline for Peace Support Operations; and (iv) the African Union Policy on Prevention and Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse; (C) the prioritization of protection of civilians; and (D) the existence and application of appropriate accountability mechanisms of African Union-led peace support operations to member states of the United Nations; (4) to judiciously consider United States support for the application of United Nations assessed contributions to African Union peace support operations, including the selection of an appropriate first application of Resolution 2719 that— (A) responds to a new crisis or threat with the demonstrable need for a multi-lateral response led by the African Union; and (B) has clear and achievable objectives; and (5) to encourage the exploration and utilization of alternative funding mechanisms for AUSSOM that do not rely on United Nations assessed contributions to diversify AUSSOM’s financial burden and promote international responsibility-sharing.