Nine African countries, who are owing membership dues to the United Nations, are about to lose their voting rights in the general assembly. Niger, Central African Republic, Somalia, Comoros, Libya, the Congo, Zimbabwe, South Sudan and Sao Tome and Principe are reported to be indebted to the United Nations.
U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, says the African nations, and Iran, should lose their voting rights as required under the U.N. Charter after defaulting on payment of their dues to the united nations’ operating budget.
Guterres listed in a letter to the United Nations General Assembly president, Volkan Bozkir, on monday, the minimum each country must pay for their voting rights to be restored.
The U.N. Charter gives the 193-member general assembly the authority to decide “that the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the member,” and in that case a country can continue to vote. That has not been invoked in these cases.
Iran topped the list and needs to pay $16,251,298 followed by Somalia, which must pay $1,443,640. Comoros $871,632, Sao Tome and Principe $829,888, Libya $705,391, Congo $90,844, Zimbabwe $81,770, Central African Republic $29,395, south Sudan $22,804, and Niger $6,733 are the remaining countries. And Iran
The Republic of Congo was also sanctioned. Brazzaville must pay 90,844 dollars to recover its right to vote. South Sudan (22,804 dollars) and Zimbabwe (81,770 dollars).
While Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe and Somalia are on probation.
The annual operating budget of the un is about 3.2 billion dollars. The separate budget for peace operations is about 6.5 billion dollars.