UNITED NATIONAL, January 13 (IPS) – The 22-month-old coronavirus pandemic – has claimed the lives of more than 5.4 million people worldwide, ravaged economies and dropped another 100 million into poverty hunger – has also disrupted the work of part of the United Nations causing a potential cash crisis in the world.
Speaking to the United Nations Budget and Administrative Committee late last year, a spokesperson for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said that “any organization to succeed, The organization must be provided with sufficient financial resources to carry out its duties. However, COVID-19 has disrupted not only the work of the UN but also many of our economies.”
“It is conceivable that countries whose economies have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 may find it difficult to pay for their assessments (specifically, UN membership fees) . It is therefore of the utmost importance that Member States have the ability to pay their assessed contributions in full, on time and without conditions”.
A spokesman for ASEAN, a group that includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, said: and Vietnam.
Last year, 11 countries owed taxes under the terms of the UN charter, including Antigua and Barbuda, the Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Iran, Papua New Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia, Sudan, Vanuatu and Venezuela.
Article 19 of the Charter of the United Nations states that “A Member of the United Nations which lacks its financial contributions to the Organization shall not have a vote in the General Assembly, if its debt equals or exceeds contributions from it in the preceding two full years. However, the General Assembly may permit the member to vote if it is satisfied that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the Member. “
When asked about member states defaulting on their debt, Paulina Kubiak, Spokesperson for the President of the United Nations General Assembly, told reporters January 12 that there are 11 member states on the list, similarly. as in previous years.
She said these Member States cannot vote in the General Assembly until they have made the minimum payment. But there are a few exceptions.
In A/Res/76/2, the General Assembly decided that the Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe, and Somalia would be allowed to vote in the GA until the end of the current 76th session, leaving the 8 countries still in the process. in default.
Exceptions are made by the General Assembly at the beginning of its session as suggested by the Commission on Contributions. These exceptions are largely based on the state of a country’s slowing economy.
On December 24, the 193-member UN General Assembly adopted a regular budget of $3.12 billion for 2022 while the annual peacekeeping budget is around $6.5 billion.
The UN shutdown since March 2020 – with most of its 9,900 staff working from home – is starting to have an impact on the world agency’s operational services.
The lockout, which was partially lifted last month, has been reinstated twice. In a message to New York-based UN staff sent out on January 10, Gilles Michaud, chair of the UN’s Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, said after consulting with the leadership. UN senior leadership, staff will continue to work from home (WFH) and not return to the office (RTO) — through January 28 “at which point the situation will be reviewed again.” once again.”
The decision to renew WFH was largely driven by the rapidly spreading variant of Omicron, which last week averaged about 37,000 cases a day and overwhelmed New York City’s hospitals. But there is no official information on the number of virus infections among UN staff.
Guinea’s Ambassador Boubacar Diallo, outgoing Chairman of the Group of 77 plus China, the largest coalition of developing countries at the United Nations, warned late last year that the Group continued to be frustrated by concerns about Security, Administration and Budget Committee. are being deprived of interpreting services (in six official UN languages) during informal consultations.
This is mainly due to the absence of staff from UN facilities.
“We look forward to the day when multilingualism is fully restored and we can enjoy interpretation services as we are doing here today. We are committed to scrutinizing program items. agenda assigned to the Commission and in this regard, please note with disappointment that some reports still exist,” he added.
He pointed out that this endemic status significantly affects the work of the Commission.
“The global challenges we face today are becoming more complex and interconnected, and solutions require a shared global response. As we have heard from many of our leaders (during the sessions of the United Nations General Assembly in September), it is time for us to redouble our multilateralism and reaffirm our commitment to us towards a rules-based multilateral system,” said Ambassador Diallo.
With a resolution passed by consensus, consisting of 134 members of the G77, he said, “The resolution of the General Assembly cannot be ignored and deafens the ears of a two-thirds majority of the members of the General Assembly. Council.”
Speaking on behalf of the 27 members of the European Union (EU), Ms. Thibault Camelli, Counselor of the EU’s mission to the United Nations, said: “We call on all member states to make their full contribution and on time. We remain deeply concerned that the UN’s liquidity situation continues to affect the delivery of mandates. ”
The interim solutions offered so far, he warned, only alleviate the consequences of this crisis, and they leave the Foundation in a state of systemic inefficiency. The Member States of the European Union urge the Commission to take up this challenge. We will continue to advocate for sustainable solutions to this crisis,” he declared.
Joseph Chamie, an international demographer and former director of the United Nations Population Division, told IPS that the current crisis does not come as a surprise to member states as the coronavirus pandemic has had a huge impact on activity. action of the United Nations.
In addition to the majority of UN staff working from home, the Organization’s normal day-to-day operations have been greatly reduced and restricted, he said.
“It is understandable that many Member States are frustrated about the lack of interpretation services. However, with available technology, interpretation services for UN languages can be provided without difficulty”.
It is also not surprising, said Chamie, that many Member States, especially the poor and least developed countries, are calling on richer, more developed nations to increase their financial contributions to the United Nations.
“However, I find it somewhat ironic that many Member States, including less developed countries, say that they have difficulty paying UN assessments, but they have little difficulty in doing so. paying for his military expenses.”
The UN budget for 2021 is only US$3 billion, a relatively small expense for the international agency. By comparison, he points out, the annual UN budget accounts for a small percentage of military spending by many countries, including China, India, Russia, the United States and the European Union; 4% of the worldwide pet food market; 3% of US annual spending on soft drinks; and 1 percent of the wealth of the two richest Americans.
As far as cuts in the numbers, wages and benefits of UN staff are concerned, that makes no sense and appears to be primarily for domestic political consumption. It is hoped that Member States and the General Assembly will focus on the important global issues facing the world’s nearly 8 billion people.
The UN’s relatively small budget is a real bargain for its member states and the world.
As for the cost, the number of dead and wounded, the price of peace is much lower than the cost of war, Chamie claimed.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador Patrick Kennedy, Senior Advisor for United Nations Reform and Governance, told delegates that the US calls for budgetary discipline across the UN system and will examine closely the growing need for donations has been assessed.
This includes ensuring that only the necessary build work is done and that large projects avoid cost overruns. The UN should also seek to contain an increase in spending to meet new and expanding mandates by removing obsolete ones, consolidating duplicate work areas and re-locating existing resources. .
He said staff benefits and conditions of service account for nearly two-thirds of the UN’s costs. The re-establishment of a uniform wage scale remains a priority for the United States, including through addressing the different decisions of different administrative courts within the common United Nations system, improving transparency, and enhancing transparency. transparency on claims costs, including using commercially available data and reaffirming ICSC’s authority, and improving its methodology.
Speaking on behalf of the Africa Group, Ambassador Harold Adlai Agyeman of Ghana said: “We emphasize that, as far as possible, all face-to-face meetings are held with interpreting services at the request of the members. The General Assembly’s relevant rules of procedure and agreed resolutions on multilingualism are at the core of this organization”.
He said the Members of the Africa Group use four of the six official United Nations languages as working languages. It is therefore of the utmost importance that Member States be able to contribute to Committee discussions in the official language in which they are most effective.
The six official languages of the United Nations are: Arabic; Chinese people; English; French; Russian; and Spain.
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© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
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