UN’s Financial Troubles Jeopardize Critical Human Rights Work
www.hrw.org
A cash crunch and hiring freeze at the United Nations threaten to hinder UN human rights investigations in places like Sudan, Ukraine, and Syria. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned UN member countries on January 25 that if those with outstanding dues do not pay up soon, the UN will be broke by August.

The United States owes the most but continues to make partial payments. According to UN sources, the US owes $1.1 billion to the UN’s regular budget for 2023 and 2024 plus additional arrears. The Biden administration wants to pay, but Congress has not passed a budget that would allow it to do so.

China, the second biggest contributor, didn’t pay its dues until November, which exacerbated the UN’s liquidity problems.

Delegations from China, Russia, Cuba, and others have been trying for years to defund UN human rights work in the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee, which oversees the budget. Their attempts in December to block funding for investigations into grave human rights abuses in Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Russia, Nicaragua and elsewhere failed.

  • DarkGamer
    -9•9 months ago

    The UN is a dysfunctional, toothless organization, that assigns power based on the state of the world after WW2, and now it’s clear they are being used as a hamas front. Something needs to change if they are to remain relevant and worthwhile.