UNITED NATIONS: U.S. Pushes for Dues Reduction

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 21 1997 (IPS) - The United States has warned the United Nations that relations will be in jeopardy if the world body refuses to modify the scale of assessments that determines how much each country pays in membership dues.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the failure to revise the scale of assessments for U.N. member states could seriously damage U.S. relationship with the United Nations,” U.S. Ambassador Bill Richardson told delegates here.

“I think every single person in this room would agree that such a development would be regrettable and sad portent for the future of the United Nations, the United States and the international community,” he declared.

As the U.S. representative at the United Nations, Richardson said his goal is to prevent such a scenario from occurring.

Arguing that countries such as Germany, Japan, China and the newly-industrialised Southeast Asian nations should shoulder a larger burden, the United States recently has been seeking a reduction of its own assessments, with the slack to be picked up by other rich nations.

Currently, Washington is the largest single contributor accounting for 25 percent of the U.N.’s regular budget of about 1.2 billion dollars annually, and about 30 percent of the U.N. peacekeeping budget, which varies from year to year.

The U.S. wants to reduce its assessment to 22 percent by 1998 and 20 percent by the year 2000, as well as an immediate reduction of its peacekeeping dues to 25 percent.

The majority of the member states, including most of the 132 developing nations, pay the minimum: 0.01 percent of the budget which amounts only to a few thousand dollars. In contrast, the U.S. pays about 312 million dollars, Japan about 166.6 million dollars and Germany 96.5 million dollars.

In percentage terms, the second largest contributor to the U.N.’s regular budget is Japan (15.6 percent) followed by Germany (9.1 percent), France (6.4 percent), Britain (5.3 percent), Italy (5.2 percent) and Canada (3.1 percent).

Richardson said Washington “believes very strongly” that the United Nations must end its “unhealthy overdependence on one nation and adapt new scales of assessment for member states that accurately reflect modern economic realities.”

Currently, the United States owes more than 1.2 billion dollars in outstanding dues – held up by Congress which wants a restructuring of the United Nations as a condition for settling Washington’s debt. As of end September, the overall outstanding dues to the United Nations amounted to about 2.4 billion dollars. This huge debt is being blamed for the cash crisis facing the Organisation.

Speaking on behalf of the 132 developing nations, Ambassador Daudi Mwakwago of Tanzania, chairman of the Group of 77, told delegates that the principle of “capacity to pay” remains the cardinal principle in the apportionment of the Organisation’s expenses. “It is democratic as well as equitable: deviation from that principle may have serious consequences in the well-being of the organisation,” he added.

Both the Group of 77 and China, he said, have consistently maintained that the continuing financial difficulties of the Organisation are the direct consequence of the non-payment of substantial arrears and overdue contributions by some major contributors.

“Viable solutions to the financial situation can emerge only when member states take concrete actions to clear their arrears and pay their future assessed contributions, in full, on time and without conditions or benchmarks,” Mwakwago said.

The developing nations firmly believe that the present financial crisis can be resolved only if member states show firm political will by fulfilling their legal obligations under the U.N. charter, he added.

Mwakwago said the Group reaffirms the view that the current financial situation is not linked to the methodology of the scale of assessments. “Any revisions to the current methodology will not solve the critical financial situation since it will neither change the aggregate level of revenues available to the Organisation, nor guarantee payment of assessed contributions promptly and in full in the future.”

Ambassador Hisashi Owada of Japan said his country, as the Organisation’s second largest contributor, was ready to participate actively in the current discussion.

While Japan’s gross national product (GNP) share in the world economy was about 17 percent, some proposed scales would have the country’s assessment exceed 20 percent, he said. Such a situation was a problem in terms of equity, he said. Japan had been advocating a concept of “responsibility to pay” to be incorporated with the principle of “capacity to pay.”

This concept would apply to the five permanent members of the Security Council – the U.S., Britain, France, China and Russia – in view of their special responsibilities under the charter. “Financial responsbilities should not exceed a state’s responsibilities,” Owada said.