UN says US has ‘legal obligation’ to fund agencies
The top United Nations official on Thursday said the United States has a “legal obligation” to keep paying its dues that fund UN agencies after the White House announced that it is withdrawing support from more than 30 initiatives operated by the world body.
Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he regretted President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from 31 UN-related agencies, including the UN’s population agency and the UN treaty that establishes international climate negotiations. The United States will also depart from dozens of other global organizations or initiatives not affiliated with the United Nations.
“As we have consistently underscored, assessed contributions to the United Nations regular budget and peacekeeping budget, as approved by the General Assembly, are a legal obligation under the UN Charter for all Member States, including the United States,” Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for Guterres, said in a statement.
Strong retort
The strong retort from the Unired Nations comes after the world body has spent the better part of the past year in a somewhat hostile and fragile back-and-forth with US officials, who, after Trump’s return to office, zeroed in on eliminating billions of dollars in aid and funding to international organizations like the United Nations and humanitarian assistance at large.
Through many conciliatory public and closed-door appeals, UN officials, including Guterres, had been able to convince Trump and his allies not to completely abandon the institution the United States helped found on the ashes of World War II, including through a $2-billion agreement for humanitarian assistance announced last month.
But America’s retreat had already influenced other Western countries, including France and the United Kingdom, to reevaluate humanitarian funding, with many shifting that money toward military spending.
But Wednesday’s announcement surprised diplomats at the highest levels of the United Nations, who said they learned about the withdrawal through news reports and the White House social media. There has been no formal communication from the Trump administration outlining the decision, Dujarric told reporters.
66 groups
Following a yearlong review of participation in and funding for all international organizations, Trump signed an executive order suspending American support for 66 groups, agencies, and commissions.
Many of the targets are UN-related agencies, commissions, and advisory panels that focus on climate, labor, migration, and other issues the Trump administration has categorized as catering to diversity and “woke” initiatives.
The administration previously suspended support for the World Health Organization, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, the UN Human Rights Council, and the UN cultural agency Unesco.
The withdrawal from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, came as less of a surprise as Trump and his allies had previously withdrawn US support from other climate initiatives.
Regular budget
The 1992 agreement between 198 countries to financially support climate change activities in developing countries is the underlying treaty for the landmark Paris climate agreement. Trump withdrew from that agreement soon after returning to the White House.
Simon Stiell, UNFCCC executive secretary, warned the United States that the decision to pull back will harm “the US economy, jobs and living standards, as wildfires, floods, mega-storms, and droughts get rapidly worse.”
The United Nations’ regular budget, which finances its day-to-day operations and primary activities, is funded by its 193 member nations, each paying a percentage based on the size of their economy.
The United States, the world’s largest economy, is supposed to pay 22 percent, followed by China, with 20 percent. There is a separate budget to fund the United Nations’ peacekeeping operations, where the United States is required to pay 25 percent.
UN officials said the United States did not pay its annual contributions to the regular budget last year, an obligation outlined in the UN Charter. The penalty for the US not paying its dues is losing its vote in the General Assembly.
“The charter is not à la carte,” Dujarric said. “We’re not going to renegotiate the charter.”
All four other veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council—China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom—have paid in full. China paid over $685 million.
