UN Charter’s Voting Rights Suspension

Recently, 7 countries have lost their right to vote in the United Nations General Assembly. These countries have lost their voting rights due to unpaid dues.

Key Points

• Seven countries now do not have voting rights in the United Nations General Assembly because of their unpaid dues.
• The 7 countries are Iran, Libya, Niger, Congo Brazzaville, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Zimbabwe.
• As per the UN charter, the voting rights of a member country can be suspended if its arrears equal to or surpass the amount of the contributions due from them to the UN in the previous two years.
• A letter was written by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the Assembly President Volkan Bozkir (Turkey) informing the names of the countries and the amount to be paid by each of them to get voting rights again.
• Iran is required to pay at least $16.2 million.
• The budget of the United Nations is approximately $3.2 billion per year. However, there is a separate budget for peacekeeping operations which totals approximately $6.5 billion.

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)

UNGA is one of the 6 major organs of the United Nations. It is responsible for the UN budget, appointing the Secretary-General of the United Nations, appointing the non-permanent members to the Security Council, making recommendations through resolutions, and receiving reports from other parts of the UN system. It was formed in the year 1945.